Your project commences with the end goal of getting the right data to make informed business decisions. We begin by understanding your systems and current processes to discover root issue and potential challenges. Having performed thousands of QuickBooks implementations and engagements in all fifty states, our team of certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors has knowledge and experience you can rely on in a business partner. Get help with implementing and optimizing the right QuickBooks solution for your business. We unlock the potential of businesses in the real estate, property management, cleaning, and government contracting industries with meticulous bookkeeping.

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An experienced bookkeeper can save time in addition to minimizing tension and avoiding mistakes that might cost you. Trained accountants and bookkeepers manage financial complexities and offer practical business solutions. Hiring a Bookkeeper for a small business can provide many benefits and can help to ensure that your business is financially sound.

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I’m very impressed with the professionalism and competency of everyone at Fourlane, without exception. We had a short deadline and Fourlane in to make sure we were able to meet it, as well as to patiently explain the process. We’re based in Austin, TX with consultants located throughout the US. When working with Fourlane, you’ll deal with an English-speaking team that deeply understands American taxes, economics, bookkeepers near me and supply chains – and, most importantly, your business. Our ongoing review of systems & output to ensure processes are being followed and your investment is being executed.

Find the Best Bookkeepers Near You For Your Business

• Whether you’re a small start-up or an established national business, we offer customized pricing specifically for you with no commitments or long-term contracts.
• Locate a bookkeeper or accountant near you that offers tax and accounting services to businesses in your area.
• An experienced bookkeeper can save time in addition to minimizing tension and avoiding mistakes that might cost you.
• They’ve been very patient in the planning phase of our new ERP system.
• If you’re running a company as a business owner or working in a CPA firm then tracking finances becomes a very important thing to do.
• Your accountant or bookkeeper can be a valued business advisor so check what to look for when you choose one.

Our team of experts is ready to support you no matter where your business grows. It’s important to note that, as with any service, it’s a good idea to check the bookkeeper’s qualifications, references, and experience before hiring them. It’s also a good idea to ask for a free consultation so that you can get a sense of the bookkeeper’s skills and expertise before making a decision.

Bring years of best practices on accounting and financial reporting to your team. Move your business from “what we’ve been doing” to “what the Retail Accounting best businesses do.” Have an expert in your corner to help you make strategic business decisions like hiring, equipment upgrades, and spending reduction.

Outsourcing you bookkeeping eliminates the need to make your bookkeeper an employee. When your bookkeeper is your employee your company becomes responsible for withholding taxes, disability insurance, workmen’s compensation, sick days, paid vacations among other costs. All of these costs are immediately eliminated when you outsource your bookkeeping and accounting to GoodAccountants.com. Locate a bookkeeper or accountant near you that offers tax and accounting services to businesses in your area. Fourlane’s consultants have collaborated with thousands of businesses across diverse industries to help tailor QuickBooks and their ERP systems to fit their industry’s unique needs. By keeping these factors in mind when hiring a professional bookkeeper, you will be able to find a bookkeeper who is a good fit for your business and can help you manage your finances effectively.

Get valuable financial insight from a company that’s implemented QuickBooks & ERP solutions within thousands of businesses. Collaborate with your peers, support your clients and boost your practice. I’m a CPA offering accounting, bookkeeping, tax, forecasting and budgeting to privately-owned businesses. Cut your bookkeeping cost by as much as half the cost of hiring an in-house bookkeeper simply through outsourcing your bookkeeping. They’ve been very patient in the planning phase of our new ERP system. We’ve entrusted Fourlane with the future of our business and it’s been the best move we’ve made to date.

• We begin by understanding your systems and current processes to discover root issue and potential challenges.
• Hiring a Bookkeeper for a small business can provide many benefits and can help to ensure that your business is financially sound.
• Eliminate the stress and headache of doing it yourself or using in-house bookkeepers that are far more costly.
• Our bookkeeping services are more cost-effective and secure than hiring a traditional, in-house bookkeeper.
• With today’s technology, there is no need to hire an in-house bookkeeper which in many instances will be less skilled than our accounting professionals.
• We had a short deadline and Fourlane in to make sure we were able to meet it, as well as to patiently explain the process.

At Fourlane, we tailor our small business bookkeeping services around your unique business, budget, goals, and processes; and, it’s all done in the software you already use. Our bookkeepers are experts in QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and Acumatica. By utilizing Fourlane’s unrivaled experience with the leading bookkeeping and ERP software, Fourlane is able to help your business stay organized, focused, and prepared for the future. We’ll dedicate a bookkeeping services team to your business, and provide contra asset account insightful solutions to your most important financial system challenges. GoodAccountants.com is the nation’s oldest and largest network of independent Certified Public Accountants, Public Accountants, Auditors and Bookkeepers.

These accounts are created specifically for the reason to be able to decrease the amount reflected in a corresponding account in an indirect way. Double-entry accounting plays an important role in the way bookkeepers record each and every transaction. Based on this equation, each account in the general ledger has a debit or a credit normal balance, which is used to identify whether an account should be debited or credited to increase its balance. Accounts Receivable is an asset account that represents the amount of money due to a business for goods or services that have been delivered or used but not yet paid for by customers. Contra asset accounts also provide a clear picture of the companies’ accumulation of assets.

Is Premium on Bonds Payable a Contra account?

Another example is for industries that rely on natural resources such as mining, oil, gas, or logging, the depletion process is used to track the extraction of the natural resource, which is gradually exhausted over time. This process calculates the decline in value of the natural resource and offsets it against the initial appraisal of the land where the resource is being extracted from. Provision for a discount from creditors and discount on bills receivable are other widely used examples. My Accounting Course  is a world-class educational resource developed by experts to simplify accounting, finance, & investment analysis topics, so students and professionals can learn and propel their careers. Shaun Conrad is a Certified Public Accountant and CPA exam expert with a passion for teaching.

To obtain a cash payout before the note reaches maturity, you can sell these notes to a bank or other financial institution for some price below the note’s face value. A contra account is an asset account that is kept at either a negative or zero balance and is used on a balance sheet to offset the positive balance of a paired asset. To put it another way, a contra account is an account listed within a general ledger with the purpose of capturing the reduced value of a paired or related account when the two are added together.

The revenue contra accounts Sales Returns, Discounts and Allowances are subtracted from the main Sales Revenue account to present the net balance on a company’s income statement. The contra equity account treasury stock is reported right on the balance sheet. Home Depot has repurchased more than $72 billion of stock to date, with around $7 billion coming during this accounting period.

• The allowance for doubtful accounts is not specifically reported, but the 10(K) reported that the allowance is immaterial to the amount.
• So an Accumulated Depletion account would serve as the contra for the parent Fixed Asset account.
• The allowance for doubtful accounts is a contra asset because it reduces the value of the accounts receivable (AR) account on the general ledger.
• This make sense because Home Depot wouldn’t be carrying accounts receivable with long payment terms.
• A contra account is an asset account that is kept at either a negative or zero balance and is used on a balance sheet to offset the positive balance of a paired asset.

1. Owner’s Drawing Account Equity Contra

Consider a business that offers an early payment discount to its customers, cutting their invoiced total by 3% if they pay within 1 week of invoicing. If every single buyer had taken advantage of the early payment discount, the company would have provided roughly $10 thousand in discounts during that same timeframe. In reality, the actual number of company discounts came closer to $5 thousand. These accounts can be listed based on the respective asset, liability, or equity account to reduce their original balance. They are crucial for compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

In bookkeeping terms, a contra asset account refers to an account which is offset against an asset account. If you’re valuing a low-growth company based on its equipment contra asset assets, you want to use the net value to be conservative. On the other hand, if you’re looking at a high-flying growth stock that reports new revenue growth records each quarter but has a massive allowance for doubtful accounts, there may be problems ahead.

Contra Asset Account Explained

In other words, contra revenue is a deduction from gross revenue, which results in net revenue. The points below explain the importance of passing a contra account entry. Double Entry Bookkeeping is here to provide you with free online information to help you learn and understand bookkeeping and introductory accounting. Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Double Entry Bookkeeping.

How are contra accounts recorded?

Accurate contra account use also smoothes out budget forecasting and financial planning, as businesses are not caught off-guard by suddenly realized losses or overstated assets. Baking in room for bad debt, asset depreciation, and returned goods means fewer surprises and more confident stakeholders. While accumulated depreciation is the most common contra asset account, the following also may apply, depending on the company. A contra asset is a negative account used in double-entry accounting to reduce the balance of a paired asset account in the general ledger.

• In this scenario, a write-down is recorded to the reserve for obsolete inventory.
• Contra asset accounts also provide a clear picture of the companies’ accumulation of assets.
• For instance, it is common to keep the purchase price of a piece of equipment as a historical cost in the debit asset account when it comes to fixed assets.
• A contra account is an account listed within a general ledger with the purpose of capturing the reduced value of a paired or related account when the two are added together.

A contra asset is a negative asset account that offsets the asset account with which it is paired. The purpose of a contra asset account is to store a reserve that reduces the balance in the paired account. By stating this information separately in a contra asset account, a user of financial information can see the extent to which a paired asset should be reduced. A sample presentation of a contra asset appears in the following exhibit, where the accumulated depreciation line item offsets the total fixed assets line item; this presentation shows the fixed asset detail within a balance sheet. However, the “Allowance for Doubtful Accounts” (or “Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts”) is a contra account related to the concept of bad debts.

Cash Flow Statement

This contra account holds a reserve, similar to the allowance for doubtful accounts. For each debit against the inventory account, there will be a corresponding credit against the obsolete inventory contra account. Similarly, allowance for receivables will pair with accounts receivable balances. The Notes Receivable account documents the total value of any promissory notes held by the company. Typically, these notes reflect purchases made on credit by your customers.

Income Statement

Therefore, these companies must maintain an obsolete inventory reserve account to net off any unusable stock from the account. This requirement also comes from the accounting standard for inventories. The net of the asset and its related contra asset account is referred to as the asset’s book value or carrying value.

Contra liabilities are common in companies that sell bonds to raise capital. For example, a bond with a principal amount of $1,000 may be sold for only $950. The bond is listed on the balance sheet at the full amount of $1,000, but the cash received is just $950, so a contra liability for the discount is listed to make the entry balance. Accumulated depreciation is the total of all depreciation that has been charged to existing fixed assets such as equipment and buildings. There can be hidden value in stocks that have a lot of fully depreciated buildings.

By reporting contra asset accounts on the balance sheet, users of financial statements can learn more about the assets of a company. For example, if a company just reported equipment at its net amount, users would not be able to observe the purchase price, the amount of depreciation attributed to that equipment, and the remaining useful life. Contra asset accounts allow users to see how much of an asset was written off, its remaining useful life, and the value of the asset. Contra revenue is a general ledger account with a debit balance that reduces the normal credit balance of a standard revenue account to present the net value of sales generated by a business on its income statement. Examples of revenue contra accounts are Sales Discounts, Returns and Allowances. For instance, when a company buys back their own shares, they register them in a ‘Treasury Stock’ contra equity account, which reduces total shareholders’ equity.

Accumulated amortization is an account similar to accumulated depreciation. This account only relates to a company’s intangible assets rather than tangible. And let’s not forget the all-important Allowance for Doubtful Accounts, acting as a financial crystal ball that estimates the portion of accounts receivable that might just turn into fairy dust. Businesses benefit by forecasting more realistic revenue figures, which helps in strategic planning and maintaining investor confidence. Now, if that sounded like a lot of mumbo-jumbo jargon to you, don’t worry.

Intuit QuickBooks Self-Employed ($15 per month) is a good choice for a self-employed individual or freelancer who needs to separate business and personal expenses, send invoices, and track bookkeeping and payroll services mileage. It also has useful mobile apps and helps you estimate your quarterly taxes based on your income and expenses. As I mentioned earlier, it can also track your mileage, using your phone’s location services.

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• Wave lacks dedicated time and project tracking, and its mobile apps are on hiatus at this writing.
• Solopreneur is intended only for one-person businesses looking to organize and grow their business.
• If you rely on ecommerce apps like Shopify and Expandly to manage an online store or track inventory, Xero is your ideal freelancer accounting platform.
• It tracks money coming in and going out, making sure you know your financial situation.

For example, delegating bank reconciliations, accounts receivables, and payable tasks to global support teams ensures your operations run smoothly without needing to hire in-house staff. Managing the day-to-day bookkeeping, financial reporting, and administrative tasks can quickly overwhelm a solo accountant. Outsourcing these repetitive tasks to virtual bookkeepers or data entry specialists allows you to focus on high-value activities like financial planning and client acquisition. For one-person operations, whether that means freelancers or one-person businesses, FreshBooks stands out in terms of pricing.

Timing for Filing Credits

Zoho Books offers comprehensive, automated, and affordable accounting software for freelancers. If you make under $50K USD, Zoho Books’ free plan gives you features comparable to QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Xero—all at no cost. And Zoho’s paid plans are similarly comprehensive with even more integration, accounting features, and client collaboration tools. Unfortunately, QuickBooks’ features—at least those included with its base plan—aren’t quite enough to justify its high starting price. And you’d think a company as popular as Intuit would invest in stellar customer service . As a freelancer, bookkeeping will help you keep track of all expenses, tax payments, and income.

Be Transparent About Your Income and Expenses

In summary, OneUp stands out for its ease of use and all-inclusive plans, making it a top choice for those managing their own businesses. Self-employed users will find it particularly beneficial for keeping their finances organized and accessible. In summary, Zoho Books combines flexibility and depth, making it a top choice for self-employed individuals and small businesses alike. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, it can help users manage their finances with ease. Wave Accounting is a great tool for self-employed individuals who want to manage their finances without spending extra money.

• Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a great tool for self-employed individuals looking to simplify their financial management.
• Otherwise, you might pay as low as $7.50 for the first many months, though the price will eventually increase to between $10 and $15.
• This process typically involves exporting data from your current system and importing it into the new software.
• By knowing what you need, you can find an accountant who fits those needs perfectly.
• Fortunately, you can grow your business acumen with these kinds of free accounting courses with certificates.
• In creating your branding and marketing strategies, decide what you want your firm to be known for.

An accountant for self-employed individuals helps with various financial tasks. This includes planning taxes, keeping track of money, and giving advice on how to grow your business. In summary, maximizing the benefits of your accountant involves clear communication, regular reviews, and embracing technology. This approach not only simplifies financial management but also positions your business for success. Remember, your accountant is there to help you navigate the complexities of self-employment, including self-employed tax credits and deductions that can save you money.

Support Options

Brightbook is another free accounting software product that’s particularly designed for businesses with one to five employees. Freelancers and solopreneurs who travel frequently for work are eligible for tax reimbursements per miles traveled. If you drive for hours each month, you’ll want to capitalize on that reimbursement—and QuickBooks Self-Employed can help. accountant for self-employed With built-in mileage tracking and report generation, QuickBooks simplifies the reimbursement process so you can get that gas money back a little faster. Other tax features, like quarterly tax estimates and tax date reminders, ensure you’re ready for tax time.

Wave Accounting: Most affordable

It’s important to follow the software provider’s guidelines to ensure a smooth transition and to verify the accuracy of the migrated data. Here are some trends I’ve noticed for accounting software for the self-employed and what they might mean for the future. I reviewed numerous product updates, press releases, and release logs to extract the most important insights.

• Plus, you’ll be prepared for tax season and the potential for an audit.
• Fiverr Workspace integrates invoicing, time tracking, and cost management in a single application.
• Our top tested performers provide all the tools and features freelancers need to keep a tight rein on their finances, without costing them fortune.
• The timing of filing tax credits is essential for compliance and maximizing financial benefits.
• If your monthly workload and expenses are higher than that, you’ll have to scale all the way up to Xero’s Growing plan, which includes unlimited invoices at $37 a month.
• Atomic Invest also shares a percentage of compensation received from margin interest and free cash interest earned by customers with NerdWallet.
• However, it can be challenging to keep track of and record these expenses.

Get a Complete Picture of Your Client and Business Health

Remember, the best choice depends on your specific business type and what features matter most to you. Whether you need help with invoicing, tracking expenses, or managing clients, there’s a tool out there for you. Take your time to explore these options and find the one that makes your work easier.

As with any platform, great accounting software should be easy to use and navigate from the ledger account very moment you log in. Only choose platforms you can intuitively move through from the initial dashboard all the way through sending an invoice. It now charges a modest fee for features that used to be free, but Wave’s approachable design and reworked mobile apps still make it a worthy choice for very small businesses. In 2020, vast numbers of people joined the gig workforce, both by choice and out of necessity. Many of the newly unemployed have taken work as independent contractors or started their own businesses, many of them working out of their own homes.