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TWO-MINUTE TUTORIAL
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THINGS TO DO
THIS QUARTER
Certain steps and
tactics can save you time, money, and stress. So start
the new year right with these common best-practices:
• Update, and make current your accounting If you’re on a calendar year, you might be getting ready to close the year and/or print 1099 reports and forms. Settle down with a nice cup of tea and take the
year-end guided tour.
• Delay, or defer income When income is higher than usual, or when tax rates in the coming year are going to be lower, any payments your shop can receive in early January as opposed to December cuts your current year tax bill.
• Increase expenses If your shop has a profit, consider paying some anticipated expenses before next year. Purchase items your shop requires in the immediate future to maximize deductions for this year, e.g., office supplies, monthly bills (rent, insurance, etc.). Doing this can result in additional deductions on your current year’s taxes.
• Contribute to a retirement fund Make payments to your retirement plan or set one up before the year-end to reduce your income for this year. The IRS has provided incentives for small companies to establish retirement plans.
• Reassess health insurance coverage To deal with probable increased premiums next year.
• Make charitable contributions Don’t forget to make any early 2006 donations in 2005. Remember to get a receipt for your records.
By developing a year-end
“To-Do” list, you’ll consider financial
and tax issues that can reduce tax liability and affect
your shop’s finances in the current tax year and
for years to come.
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Can you believe that Microsoft
Excel is 20 years old? Back in 1985, if you did business planning
you probably used Lotus 1-2-3 (remember that?) on an IBM PC. Excel
was different. It ran only on the then-new Macintosh. Unlike the
cryptic 1-2-3, Excel had the real Mac look-and-feel, and you could
format your spreadsheet any way you wanted.
Excel arguably saved the struggling Mac. And it
made electronic spreadsheets as easy to use as the Mac itself.
Chances are, if you do business planning today,
you’re still using Microsoft Excel. But you’re probably
relying on it too much. Why? Because some terrific business planning
and analysis tools are built into the system you’re already
using to track jobs, costs, and billings: Clients & Profits!
What is Clients & Profits’ advantage?
The numbers you need to manage your shop are compiled automatically
from the day-to-day entry of estimates, time, costs, invoices, etc.
There’s no rekeying into rows and columns to get key metrics
about sales, margins, and utilization.
As a planning tool, Clients & Profits excels
(pun!) at budgeting and estimating. Client billings can be projected
then compared to actuals in real-time, helping your account service
staff focus their efforts on your most valuable clients.
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To see the big picture, the
budget worksheet lets you project your billings, costs, and expenses
for each month.
As a analytical tool, Clients & Profits offers
hundreds of reports that measure and analyze almost every part of
your business anytime throughout the year. What are your shop’s
strengths and weaknesses? Productivity reports provide not only
the number of hours spent on jobs, but also reveal key stats like
the cost of that labor, billable vs. unbillable hours, and staff
utilitization.
It’s not difficult at all to get numbers
from Clients & Profits’ reports into Excel. Most reports
are spreadsheet-ready. Just print a report to screen, choose Edit
> Select All then copy it. The data can now be pasted into Excel
fully formatted.
Only Clients & Profits gives you both inside
information and planning tools to set goals and track results without
juggling applications. It reduces inaccuracies and uncertainties
because its numbers are real, not guesses plugged into a spreadsheet.
You know there’s nothing more virtuous than good planning.
And with Clients & Profits, you have everything you need to
make it happen.
Mindy
Williams is a senior member of the Clients & Profits Helpdesk
and teaches the New User Training Class.
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