Blog Archives - BMP ACCOUNTING & TAX INC.

Reducing Turnaround

5/22/2021

Nothing is more frustrating than hiring someone only to have to start all over again within a short time…In addition to the cost of high turnover rates, your quality of service may be a casualty as well.
Addressing turnover rates can be challenging for many employers, but luckily, we have put a list of things to implement to help you address the issue.

The first step in reducing turnover is to establish a recruiting and hiring process that enables you to identify candidates that have the right temperament for the industry. Ask potential employees about their goals to ensure that their long-term goals fit with the employment being offered to them to ensure this isn’t a temporary stepping stone for them.

Once hired, you may find it useful to have employees sign a code of conduct document to not only set the expectation of appropriate behaviour, but hold them accountable when the need arises.

Providing ongoing training enables your employees to keep sharpening their skills and learn your industry better. Training to new employees is necessary for them to work more effectively and efficiently and most importantly bridge the expectation gap between what is expected of them and what is being delivered. Confident employees generally have more pride in the work they deliver. Training manuals may also provide more legitimacy to your company.

Ongoing training may be useful to develop either soft skills or specific skills necessary to perform the job. In addition to training, incentives for good service provided may also boost employee moral. Intrinsic rewards (rewards of a non-monetary base that provides a positive emotional reaction) are more effective than monetary rewards. Employee of the Month awards may provide employees with a boosted sense of accomplishment. Choosing what type of assignments they work on can make them feel part of the team and foster more loyalty on the long term.

Modern and quality equipment increase the quality of service and increase quality of service expectations among staff. Setting the stage is always important because working with old broken-down equipment sets expectations low. Do your employees come to work and have everything they need to perform their duties? If not, it may foster unnecessary frustrations. Salary packages should be competitive to retain staff and real advancement opportunities should be made available. Being a manager requires a lot of psychology work and may not be suited to everyone. If turnover is one of your issues in your business, I would consider hiring someone who has the necessary skills to help you manage staff.

Accounting Rescue

5/14/2021

Today is May 15th and we are exactly 29 days away from filing your sole proprietor tax return. If you are incorporated and your year end is December 31st, you are about a month and a half away from your filing deadline. This might be a stressful time of year for you…trying to find receipts left in your glove compartment…catching up on entering data into your accounting software…maybe you do not know who still owed you money as of December 31st.

Whatever your situation is, it may be a good time to think about whether your system is working for you or against you. A client of ours constantly asks two questions on her social media: what is holding you back in your business and how can I help? Your business’ finances are usually an overlooked piece of the puzzle and we can definitely support you keeping everything in order. But what if you cannot afford a $500 per month bookkeeper you ask? Not all clients need us the same so we offer different accounting support.

1 - Light Involvement: we have some clients that like to do their day-to-day and maybe even their bank reconciliations…but staying current with filing their GST returns and remitting payroll remittances might be where they need support. In this scenario, we would set you up with a cloud-based accounting system so that we can both access your information. There is also an option that is very cost-effective if you do not wish (or need) for a hands-on accounting system where the system automatically compiles the information for you on a daily basis. The initial set up takes some work, but it’s definitely worth it in the end because your year end is ready come tax time.

2 - Getting Deeper: some clients prefer to leave their invoicing and keeping track of payments coming in to us. We have some clients set up on cloud accounting software for those who still wish to see their information at any moment. Other clients are set up on our desktop software and are provided with monthly financial statements. We do all of their GST, payroll support, etc. We also provide our clients with what we call the decoding of financial statements to enable the client to understand their financial position to make good business decisions.

3 - High-Level: we have some clients that require more guidance in making business decisions. Business strategy support is why they came to us on top of bookkeeping support. We can answer questions of where are we and where are we going? They need cashflow projections, growth projections, government grants support, and other business decisions.

If you are struggling to keep everything organized, come have a chat with us. We can work out a plan to let you focus on what you do best.

Can I Write That Off?

5/7/2021

Can I write that off? If you have asked this question, you are in good company. Getting to know what is a true business expense can save you bundles at tax time and prevent CRA to disallow your expenses. It can be pretty hairy, as a tax accountant, to figure out what your expenses should look like if you mixed your groceries bills with office supply receipts. The more you ask your accountant to pull out their calculator, the more it will cost you to get your taxes done. Here is what we recommend to make your life easier (and cheaper).

1. Keep your business account for business.

It is tempting to run through the drive through and reach for the business debit card. I would caution you against that. It blends business expenses with personal. At the end of the year, if you have not done anything with your books, it can be hard to remember if you bought that printer paper for personal use or for business use…or maybe that purchase was for the kids’ school supplies…who really knows?

The real bad news in this equation is that if CRA decides three years down the road that your paper purchase was in fact the kids’ school supplies, you will not only owe the taxes on the increase in your income, but the interest on the date that the taxes were due. For example, if CRA is auditing your books on May 15, 2021 for the 2018 year, your interest charges will be calculated using the date of April 30, 2019. That is two years of interest to add to the tax bill.

2. Get an app.

An app is a cheap solution to your accounting problems. We have people with apps that pull data directly from their business bank and credit card accounts automatically. It requires a bit of work initially to set it all up…but once the set up is done, the app gets it done for you. You can take pictures with your phone using the app for it to match it to bank transactions. It even breaks out the GST!

3. Know what you can claim as a business expense.

The big question is: did you use it to earn income? The $40,000 kitchen renovation you just did probably did nothing to help your yard maintenance business. I think the meals and entertainment receipts are one of the most questionable ones you might have. If you meet a client for business, keep the receipt and write the name of the client you met with. It is the surest way to ensure it does not get disallowed by CRA.