Beyond the Margins Podcast

On this episode we discuss the future of accounting, why it is important to have a strong understanding of your numbers and one big mistake many business owners make when it comes to the finances of their business.Terrell Turner, CPA is the host of a show called Business Talk Library. Business Talk Library is a series of shows and resources created for business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals that address important business topics and issues relevant to you and your business. Terrell also is able to use his experience from Fortune 500 companies to consult with start ups and mid sized companies through his Fractional CFO company, TLTurner Group.

In this episode we discuss the future of the accounting industry and the importance for financial professional to build their brand online.Katie Thomas, CPA is the founder and owner of Leaders Online LLC. She is a digital marketing strategist, content creation expert, and national speaker.Katie’s superpower is helping leaders implement the right marketing strategies to reach their target audience in a way that they're sure to captivate their attention, cultivate a genuine relationship, and grow their business. 

In this episode Dave talks with Ann Angelucci about some of the myths surrounding payroll. Ann Angelucci has always been passionate about small businesses. She started her career in payroll over 9 years. After working at Paychex she eventually  got the opportunity to partner with a local provider whose customer service and attention to detail aligned with her values. Ann also has a passion for giving back and volunteers with SCORE and Wings for Success. 

After working at a regional accounting firm for several years, Nikole became frustrated with the structure of traditional CPA firms. She felt there was so much more accountants could do to help people throughout the year, rather than just once per year at tax time. She also recognized that many of her clients’ accounting departments were run very inefficiently— using outdated technology, with people often performing the wrong tasks for their skill-set.In 2016, Nikole founded Momentum Accounting with the goal of providing an alternative way for people to handle their bookkeeping, back-office tasks and financial reporting. Nikole uses a systematized approach, combining the right people, process and technology to build custom accounting systems for her clients.After transforming the underlying processes, Nikole and her team are able to regularly deliver timely, accurate financial data to clients so they can make informed decisions about their business based on facts and numbers rather than guesses and out of date information.When she isn’t busy helping her clients, Nikole enjoys playing Australian Rules Football, attending live music events and spending time outdoors. The name “Momentum” was inspired by Nikole’s love for playing team sports and competing.

The Rapping CPA, Drew Carrick, is a modern day polymath, or jack-of-all-trades. He understands the importance of preparing for the future and having an innovators mentality towards the way the world works. His entrepreneurial mindset is what led him on a path toward shattering the accountant and CPA stereotypes, where he incorporated creativity and passion into his perspective on the industry. As the Director of Operations for C3EG’s Evolve Now project and mission, he has focused on moving accounting content into the future by engaging with other influencers and thought leaders who show that CPAs can be so much more than what they are typically categorized as. He created The Rapping CPA brand after his early success of his accounting music and videos, and quickly become a spokesperson for millennials in the profession, speaking and presenting, as well as writing various publications on the topic. When it comes to understanding a modern work culture, putting people first, gaining insight on millennials, and looking towards the future of business, Drew provides the answers. 

Chris Hawn is the Managing Director for Nividous Software Solutions in Moorestown, NJ where he is focused on building out new markets for Nividous’ revolutionary Hyperautomation platform in North America. Prior to Nividous, Chris has helped to build and scale multiple emerging technology companies in the US. He also has a background in Asset Management where he has raised over a billion dollars in capital for various funds and alternative investments. Chris is a frequent guest speaker for myriad technology focused media and events, and is the proud father of 2 young girls, a passionate soccer coach, avid mogul skier and general outdoor enthusiast. On this podcast we discuss the future of automation and how companies can leverage robots to be more efficient and more profitable.

Let’s face it, the world will never be going back to normal. We’ve experienced such a shift in the way things are done, I truly believe there is no way to completely reverse it at this point. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think we have all learned a lot about ourselves and our businesses. I think many people are realizing that working remotely can actually work. I am not just talking about the 3 person company. Very large Fortune 500 companies have also realized this and are potentially making permanent changes to their business model.I am a firm believer there are countless advantages to running your business remotely. However, what I wanted to touch on today was the one major drawback to running a remote business.How do you build a company culture if everyone is working from home?

5 Ways to Better Manage Your Bookkeeping Keeping good books for your company can feel overwhelming at times. As soon as you get behind, it seems impossible to catch up or keep up. I wanted to discuss 5 ways to get ahead and stay ahead. Separate Business and Personal In general, you should not have any personal expenses running through the business. I wont even touch on the legal implications of this, but they can be severe. Everything gets muddy when you are using bank accounts and credit cards for business and personal use. Not only that, it just creates even more transactions to sort through each month. You should have separate bank accounts and credits cards for your business. Are there times when you make a mistake or simply need to use those for personal purposes? Sure. But that should not be the norm and you need to avoid that at all costs.Weekly Bookkeeping I know this appears to be adding more work but in reality, it can really help to stay on top of things. If you can, set aside some time each week to enter transactions. The further you get behind, the harder it is to catch up. Every day/week/month you don’t have your books up to date, the workload only grows. Even if you plan to do it weekly and miss a few weeks here and there, you will still be way ahead of the game.Use the Right Accounting Software Having a good accounting software can make all the difference. We use QBO but that might not be the right solution for you. There are plenty out there and some make accounting extremely easy. If you are having to fight with your software, it will deter you from doing your bookkeeping and you won’t get it done.Utilize Technology Technology has come such a long way as it relates to accounting. There are so many good app integrations that can save you time. The best way to approach this is to figure out where your pain points are and then look for apps to help. One thing that is crucial is setting up the bank and credit card feed. This will bring all the transactions into the accounting software and all you need to do is categorize things. Not only does this make it easier but it all but assures that you have captured all the transactions.Hire a Bookkeeper Lastly, we always feel it is best to hire an outside bookkeeper to help you. There is just so much you need to be doing as the business owner. Bookkeeping is something that is so important, you do not want to get behind.  How do you make sure that the bookkeeping in your business is getting handled in a timely fashion?

Would you like to buy a Lamborghini for the price of a Honda Civic? Obvious answer, right? So why does a company, who is getting poor service, expect to get better service somewhere else but at the same price? As the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. While in certain situations this may not be the case, I have found over the years that a majority of the time, this holds true.Being the owner of a service company, I have seen this situation play out far too often. Countless times I have had prospects approach us looking for someone new because their current solution is not working. We go through the process, they love everything they hear and then it all falls apart when we talk pricing. It can be extra frustrating when they tell you all along the way how much better this will be and how much value we can bring. Yet, they aren’t willing to pay more? I am not doing this podcast just to complain (although I do think I have a valid reason to do so). I am writing to the other business owners who have run into this situation and to hopefully provide some remedies.

I have always been a person who enjoys the nuances of each day. One of the reasons I love what I do is because every day looks different. Some days I am filled up with zoom meetings, some days I am focused on content and other days I am working on developing business. I love the variety. However, one thing that I have noticed over the years is that a lack of organization tends to hurt my productivity. I sometimes forget things I should be doing or I will dive into things without being in the right mindset (more on that later).A couple months back I came across this amazing planner called the Panda Planner. If you haven’t hear of it, you should check it out now. No seriously, here is the link, go do it…Panda PlannerWhat I was in search of was something that I could use to start my day, but not be so overwhelming that I wont do it. For me personally, having to spend 30 minutes in a planner each day is just too much. I need simple and to the point. The Panda Planner has been that for me. I want to walk you through my morning routine. Most of the steps below are directly out of the planner but I have also tweaked it a little so it makes sense for me. Let’s dive in!

A term often tossed around when discussing accounting or bookkeeping is the Chart of Accounts. I want to take some time today to make sure you know what it is and why it is important. But first let us look at a basic definition…The chart of accounts (COA) is an index of all the financial accounts in the general ledger of a company. In short, it is an organizational tool that provides a digestible breakdown of all the financial transactions that a company conducted during a specific accounting period, broken down into subcategories.Now that we have an idea what it is, let’s look at the component of the COA… 

What a crazy world we live in. As scary as it sounds, it seems like telling the truth and being honest is an afterthought in today’s culture. I don’t want to get political but let’s just look at this election for example. Every media company is telling a different story, most likely based on their political affiliation. Each candidate is saying things about the other candidates that may or may not be true. As citizens, how are we to know what to believe anymore? Not knowing who to trust is a dangerous situation to be in. The best thing you can do is intentionally seek after truth in the right ways. 

QuickBooks Online (QBO) has been our preferred platform of choice for quite some time now. It is probably the most popular accounting package and it works very well for our clients and their needs. In this episode we break down the 4 reasons why we choose QuickBooks and also the 3 different plans that QBO offers.

Many people love the idea of delegation but have a hard time putting it into practice. As a business owner, I know how hard it can be to let go of control at times. We want things done a certain way and the only way to truly ensure that is to do it yourself. But is that always the best move? Lets first take a look at the definition of delegate…Entrust (a task or responsibility) to another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself.I want to talk about the importance of delegation for a moment, specifically related to business owners.

Starting a business can be a scary thing. Making the decision to head out on your own carries a lot of risk. Given the current situation of our world and country, I am sure the timing has never felt worse. However, I would argue that the timing is PERFECT to launch a new business. Lets discuss!

Getting “burned out” is a real thing. I have been there in the past and it can wreck even the very best of us. For me, my productivity and creativity suffered miserably. For some people it happens much quicker than others. Be aware of where that line is for you and make sure not to cross it. Having time to completely unplug from work needs to be it’s own kind of priority. I’m not saying that you need to take a 3-week vacation and leave your cell phone at home. But I am saying that you need time where you step away from your business or your job. For some, it may be as simple as an hour at the gym a few times a week. By doing this you will be able to re-calibrate, re-prioritize, re-focus, re-energize, and any other positive “re-“ you can think of.Bottom line, life is hard and people are emotional. Don’t be a tough guy (or tough girl) and think you can burn the candle at both ends without getting burnt.

Starting a business can feel like a very daunting task. It seems like there are endless things to do just to get up and running. We’ve created a list of 10 questions that you must answer before you launch your startup in an effort to help make the process easier.

Have you ever seen a hawk flying in the sky with a few crows close on its tail, bothering it? I never really understood this. A hawk is much more fierce predator capable of destroying the crows if he chose to. But for some reason he doesn’t. He just continues flying and focusing on his task at hand. If you pay close attention, you will also notice that many times when a crow is by himself, smaller birds will follow him around and bother him. A little but of karma if you ask me.Why am I telling you this?Check out the podcast to find out!

As a professional, we owe a certain level of service to our clients. As a way to Quantify this, we have developed 10 promises that we make to all of our clients. These promises are the foundation of our business. 

As your company begins to grow, one of the first people you look to hire is a bookkeeper. Maintaining strong financial records is crucial on so many levels. However, as your business begins to grow, you will eventually have the need for an accountant the next level up from a bookkeeper. This could be a controller, CFO or someone in an outsourced role. Just to be clear, this most likely will not entail replacing your bookkeeper, it will be simply adding to your team. So how do you know when it’s time to start looking for an additional solution? Glad you asked! Here are 6 signs to be looking for…