Archive for January, 2011
1. Update Your Accounting: It’s important as part of your year-end tax strategy to have a good understanding of your company’s financial situation. Spend extra time ensuring your books are up-to-date and accurate. It won’t hurt to plan time with your accountant for year-end advice, particular to your operations.
2. Defer Income: Any payments your company can receive during the first week of January as opposed to December cuts your tax bill. Every cent deferred until January 2008 will not owe taxes until April 2009. Any deferral strategy will depend on your profit and losses for the year and business legal structure (LLC, partnership, corporation, etc.)
Depending on your income tax rates in the foreseeable new year, deferral of income can make the best sense for many sole proprietors, partnerships, LLC’s, and S corporations. Ensure your cash flow can handle the deferred income.
Don’t forget to push any early 2010 charitable donations back to 2009. Make sure you get a receipt for the tax deduction.
3. Increase Expenses: Purchase items your business will require in the immediate future to maximize deductions for this year. If you can see a need for goods and services in the first quarter of the new year, buy them now, if cash flow permits.
Consider the following items for expenses:
1. Office Supplies: Stock up on fax paper, printer cartridges, stationary, and other office items.
2. Pay Bills Early: Pay your bills before the new year in areas such as; cell services, subscriptions, rent, insurance, and utilities.
3. Equipment Purchases: If you will be buying new office equipment, consider purchasing now. You’ll have to decide whether an immediate write off is best or spread out the depreciation over years. Consult with an accountant to examine your circumstance and company structure to maximize your deductions. In addition, your equipment will have to be in your office, “in use” by year-end.
4. Other Items: This category includes: pre-payment of subscriptions, travel bookings, equipment repairs, and maintenance.
4. Inventory Write-Offs: Depending on your accounting methods, you may wish to check inventory for goods that have been damaged or have become obsolete. The drop in market value of the inventory can provide your company with added deductions.
5. Contribute to a Retirement Plan: Make payments to your retirement plan or set one up before the year-end to reduce your income for this year. Check the contribution limits for your type of plan. In Canada: an RRSP. Discuss the best strategy with your financial planner or accountant.
These year-end tax tips will apply differently to each business owner’s situation and accounting method. The cash method of accounting allows for deductions and income reported for the year they are paid or received. The accrual accounting method applies income and deductions in the year incurred. Take the time to review the best strategy with a professional advisor and make the most of the year-end tax planning for your small business.
The health services industry continues to deliver services to patients through various arrangements such insurers, self payers and government programs. However, the institutions need to observe financial health and accounting practices in order to gauge their performance. This is whether such organizations provide for profit or not-for profit health care.
Financial management
One element of financial management in the heath care organizations is heath care revenue cycle. This entails working with various payers, the government agencies and individuals in verifying payments and collecting revenue (James, 2004). The health care providers strive in having efficient billing systems, manage payer contracts and enhance cash collections.
Another aspect of health care financial management is profitability and financial analysis. Hospitals and other health care providers frequently loose revenue and face escalated cost of providing the services due to the overwhelming data and complex reimbursement systems. As such, health providers also strive to provide on demand financial accounting in all departments for better monitoring of profitability. Indeed, the payer mix and accounts receivable are also analyzed. Financial management also involves planning for the future. The heath providers utilize the history of the financial statements in forecasting targets and making projections, enabling use of past data in decision making, use the information in delivering quality services to the patients and streamlining the its functions with the providers. Finally financial management involves internal control and accounting. This could involve managing and controlling expenditure of the common supplies like medicine and other medical products which constitute a third of the operating expenses.
Financial Reporting
According to (Sarah, Elizabeth and Victoria, 2001) the hospitals obtain revenue by providing medical services, non medical services, through donations sourced from individuals, institutions and other donors or through returns from investments. This can generally be categorized into three where firstly operating revenue is obtained for the care given to a patient. On the other hand, revenue is also obtained from non patient care activities (Sarah et al, 2001). Finally non operating revenue could be obtained from other business activities in which a heath care provider is involved. Services which can help a health care provider like a hospital to create operating revenue are the shops and other hospitality services-related businesses that may be within its premises. On the other hand the non operating revenue may be derived in investments made for instance in real estates, stock, securities and donations received.
In studying the health care finances it may be necessary to study some terms synonymous with the environment. For instance, a charge is the price the hospital or any other heath care provider has determined for each type of care being provided. However, the sticker price is usually subject to negotiation. A payment on the other hand refers to the amount of money the heath care provider actually receives for the service provided. It is worth noting that, this amount varies among the insurers and the individuals who are not insured. Finally there is also the cost which refers to the cost the hospital incurs in providing the service (Sarah et al, 2001).
There are some financial reporting practices that are unique with the heath care providers. For instance, the bad debts in a health care provider must be written off and then recorded as expenses. In addition, for any credit the provider gets it is required to pay an interest expense for the funds that have been borrowed. AICPA (1996) observes that the heath care provider do not pay the non salaried physicians who are instead paid by the insurer or the patient. Further more, the cost of equipment and other assets is also spread over the estimated life with the appropriate portion of the cost of purchasing the product treated as an expense with each accounting period. This spreading of cost over the estimated life of an asset is referred to as depreciation for tangible goods and amortization for intangible goods.
The financial statements for a health care provider are prepared by an independent auditing firm. In particular, the auditing firm examines the evidence that supports the disclosures in the statements. There are several documents used in the financial accounting of a health care provider. In brief, the income statement generally offers a presentation on how the provider has gotten the money and how money has been spent. The total margin is reflected in the income statement and is indicative of the provider’s performance and profitability. However, non-profit providers may make profit but is ploughed back into the operations and not awarded as dividends. The excess revenues over expenses could also be hidden in instances where the contractual settlements with the payer are not certain.
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financial accounting in healthWhen watching TV or flipping through a magazine you often see advertisements from large corporations like Coca Cola, Ford, and Nike, have you noticed that these companies aren’t selling you a specific product or service. The reason for this, is that the purpose of their advertisement is to sell you brand preference and brand loyalty. This is great, if you have millions of dollars to spend on a branding campaign and your comapny is a household name with millions of people. Unfortunately most small businesses do not have the luxury of immediate brand recognition and loyalty by millions of consumers. So what can you do to have more effective adverting on a shoestring budget? Let me share with you a few secrets of effective small business advertising.
Advertising: Does Yours Work?
Secret 1
Stop trying to sell with your ads. You adverting is not a vehicle to sell a product or service.
When you do this, most of the time, you are throwing your advertising dollars down the drain. I believe that less than 1% of the audience that sees an ad that tries to sell will actually take the next step and make a purchase. It is probably much less than 1% but I’m being optimistic that your advertising dollars spent up until now have been well spent.
Secret 2
Look for and then identify the main concerns of your target market and use these as the basis for each ad or mini article you use as a promotional tool. Whether you write a 30 word print advertisement, a 30 second radio commercial, or a 600 word advertorial (an advertisement made to look and sound like a news story), take a look at what you wrote and see if you are trying to sell something to your audience or are you trying to inform them.
Consumers, for the most part are looking to be educated about a product or service, told that the features and benefits of using are right for them and then made to feel that by purchasing your product or service they have made the correct decision. You still need to grab your audience’s attention and keep them interested in your advertisement, but make them feel as if they are learning something that will help solve a problem or need.
Secret 3
Don’t expect one advertisement to do all the work and bring in loads of clients and customers. Advertisement is a system of engaging and informing consumers at all points of contact. You need develop a marketing and advertising system where all you advertisements work together to relay key messages to your audience.
Advertising is part art but also part science. There is a proven formula for making small businesses advertising more effective. The trick is what you say within the confines of the advertising formula. But that is another article. Stay Tuned!
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It includes permanent relief from any capital gains taxes when new start ups are formed. A one billion fund is set aside for companies in the early stages of development if they need an investment capital between one and five million. They must ensure however that they produce or introduce promising new products on to the market. Where possible it is advised to be able to create an opportunity to at least one unemployed individual.
An emphasis on going green is made for any company with an increase in tax credit ranging between $ 3.5 and billion annually. A special grant program of million to aid new companies getting started when they generate ideas from a federal laboratory is also set aside.
The program also consists of initiatives from the private sector for the setting up of special mentoring programs to accelerate entrepreneurship. It is shown that most new jobs have been from the employment of individuals from new businesses thus the special grants from government. Unemployment will boost the economy as fewer loans are demanded from small firms as opposed to larger companies demanding loans from banks.
To help the development of businesses in poor communities there is a totally expanded tax credit as well as the Capital Gains Taxes exemption for start ups. This should sparks the imagination and creativity of entrepreneurs is the believe of governments. Several large companies have pledged their support and corporate investment to start ups and fledgling companies.
The proposal to increase the loan guarantees of young companies will require more tax dollars, but the end result in creating opportunities will outweigh the costs and will not cost the average tax payer much. Yet it will positively boost the economy with the increased loan fund of million.
Incentives and support to young companies and the training of young entrepreneurs are something everyone agrees with. It will establish a recovery in the workplace and create jobs which are much needed. Some leaders also propose million incentive plans from government seriously proving their commitment to all individuals.
The small business administration also committed themselves with a billion investment which is for the private sector. Other investment companies will match money offered and together they plan to establish entrepreneurs financially as well as educating them positively.
Keeping small business taxation to a bare minimum and allowing them to grow will positively influence any economy and unemployment. To ensure they stay afloat is imperative and the reduction of government regulations as well as taxation will positively influence entrepreneurs with a great idea but limited funds. The stabilization of the economic environment is imperative as well as making the country as business friendly as possible.
The first indication that there may be a problem with your credit score might be when you try to obtain a new home mortgage and are unable to find a lender that will talk to you. Actually, most people, even those with a really low credit score will be able to find a loan of some sort to purchase their home. It just may cost a lot more in interest rates than you had planned. If you can obtain a loan, it may take more justification and documentation than would be required with a good credit score. Which lender to selectIf your credit score is too low, you may not be able to get a new home mortgage with your lender of choice. The difficulty with having to switch to another lender is that you need to document your second try just as thoroughly as your first effort. In the meantime, because of the reviews on your credit bureau report, your score may actually drop, particularly if the report that the first lender denied you credit before the second lender is approved hits the report.
The extra time to document your information for the lender can be one of the most discouraging parts of applying for a mortgage loan. Loan termThe length of time that you will set in order to complete repayment of your new home mortgage loan will be affected by your credit score. This factor is probably of less significance than some of the others, but still must be taken into consideration. The direct impact is caused when a low credit score causes the requirement of higher interest rate. This may make the payment too high for the borrower if the shorter term loan is selected. So, the borrower ends up paying more interest over a longer loan term just to keep the payment within manageable levels. oan rateThe new home mortgage loan will almost certainly be impacted by the credit score of the borrower. Generally, the lower the score, the higher the interest rate. If the score is too low, the borrower may not be able to obtain a conventional home mortgage at all. Conversely, better terms will be available to the borrower who has high credit scores. It is important to