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Business Management
Vital To Business Health
This is one of the most dangerous
areas of your home business. The danger comes from
spending either too much time or too little time with it.
If you spend too little time, you jeopardize your
business by not having proper recording keeping, so you don't
know where you stand and what resources you have available.
Too little time can mean you have not developed good banking
relationships with your banker. It can mean you have not
taken the steps necessary to protect your business legally and
not have the proper insurances to protect your business from
the unexpected.
Too much time means that you are not focusing enough on the
activity that will bring the money into your business.
Accounting, Finance and Taxes
Unless you love numbers, this can be a really dull area.
The record keeping necessary for it is not always fun to
do, particularly filling out the government tax forms.
Fortunately accounting has been made much easier with the
computer accounting
software programs available today. They have
eliminated the need to "know" accounting. They are, after
a short learning curve, relatively easy to use. They also
have many useful reports built into them to help you understand
where your business stands financially.
Proper accounting helps you to get the credit and financing
you need to expand your business.
Tax preparation is made easier. You can print out a
report to do the taxes yourself or have your accountant do
them.
Accountant vs
CPA
Most home based businesses do not need a CPA. If you
are a public corporation with stock holders, then you
might want to consider it. They have the credentials to
be able to issue certified financial statements, that they were
compiled in accordance with the laws and with generally
accepted accounting practices.
A good bet is an accountant
who is certified to represent you before the IRS. That
means that they can operate as your agent before the IRS on any
tax matters. You do want an accountant who knows
taxes
The government will get enough of your money without your
giving them more than they are legally entitled too. You
keep your money by taking advantage of the
tax deductions that you are entitled too.
Legal
If your like most Americans, you think of attorneys as
someone you turn to in case your in trouble. At one time
that was true, but we have become a very legalistic society.
Today you are three times more likely to be in court than
you are to be hospitalized. You do not have to be in the
wrong for someone to sue you.
So what does this mean to your business? It means you
must become proactive. To protect your home based
business you must think in terms of taking preventive measures.
You do that by consulting an attorney before you take any
action, you use them to help keep you out of trouble.
While you may not be able to stop someone from filing a law
suit against you, you can at least take the steps to lessen the
chance that they can win.
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