Dear {Name}, Folasade, your Accountability Accountant®, has been featured on forbes.com.

My dream to reach out and help underserved businesses grow is growing momentum and reaching people from many parts of the country and the world.

I am excited to let you know that I have been featured on Forbes.com as a business that helps write millions of beautiful stories in the small business community.

I would not have achieved such a significant milestone at this point in my journey as your Accountability Accountant® without your support. Thank you to all my clients, past and present, as well as thousands of our social media followers who keep us engaged. This dream is continuing because of you. From my team and I, we are grateful and look forward to creating more magic within the small business circles.

You can also read the article here. It will be worth your time. Remember to share it with your loved ones. Someone might be motivated by our beautiful story!

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The post We have been featured on Forbes appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

Her parents instilled the importance of higher education and encouraged her to rise above their circumstances. “I remember sitting with my father as he pointed out drugs deals and criminal activity. He told me that would be my future if I didn’t get an education and take control of my financial independence.”Living in a thriving community building generational wealth in one city and struggling to survive in another, Folasade wanted to help the Black community that lacked access to continuing education. And provide them with tools and resources for launching a business.

Folasade followed in her father’s footsteps and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting. In 2011, newly married and pregnant. She started her own accounting firm but was unsure of how to get her business up and running. When she found a small office suite in Maryland at an affordable price. Folasade took a leap of faith, signed the lease and Suncrest Financial was born.

As seen on Forbes and she was featured on it.

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Tax planning presents so many opportunities to save money using various strategies that are legal. Taxes take a massive chunk of business profits. And making it with great aplomb. When running a small business becomes a challenge in the absence of tax planning. But, what if I tell you that there is a legal loophole (hiring your child) that you can utilize to save yourself more than six figures annually? Indeed, what we are about to discuss here works as one of the strategies you can implement in your tax planning. And, after reading this, there is always an icing on the cake. Coming in the form of the Hire Your Child Masterclass to soon be conducted by myself and my team. For more on this, read this article until the end.

So, back to hiring your child, depending on how much money that people’s businesses are making. Some are saving an average of a hundred thousand dollars of tax money simply by giving some of this money to their families. Well, this is not literally giving them this money – but you will be paying them to do work in the family business, legally – and in this article, we will be discussing how to hire your child because you got to hire them first before paying them.

Nevertheless, the snippet above tells us that hiring your child is going to be a good thing to do for your business. But, you must also know that there is a very thin line between doing it right and doing it wrong. So, the discussion is around how do you hire your child the right way? Because if you did not do it right, the savings that you are after might not be realized after all.

Hiring your child is the biggest tax strategy, according to my knowledge. I have gathered this knowledge over years of practice, from which I grew to know what works. And what ‘somewhat’ works. Just to give a snippet into what it means; so, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxes all your profits, but guess what, the money you pay your child will not be taxed by the IRS, and the child, too, does not have his or her income from the business taxed. That is more like a double benefit pulled from just a single move. But besides the above, there are plenty more benefits that are derived from hiring your child in your business. Let’s take a look below.

Benefits of hiring your child

• It saves money.

This goes without saying – money is got to be saved since saved money adds to your profits. For a small business, it goes a long way in increasing your profits annually, and could pave the way for expansion, if need be – well, every business needs to expand, so this is a need for everyone. If you do not have ambitions to grow, then you got to be attending many of our business coaching classes to get more of what you could do, no matter where you stand. All in all, hiring your own child saves your business money through tax.

• It builds their work experience

Not everything is done to save money alone, and hiring your child is an example. As such, hiring your child helps them gain the much-needed working experience. To many, this might come as a small reason for hiring them, but it actually puts them way ahead of the curve, especially when compared to others their age. Just imagine your child finishing college with more than 3 years of working experience? They go into the job market with a huge advantage – that is if they decide to leave the family business.

• It safeguards your wealth and helps build generational wealth

Well, this is more like you got to keep it in the family for it to make sense. Building generational wealth is no child’s play. And it takes someone skilled enough to know how to pass on the button. As such, keeping your children in the family business does not only save your tax money. But also prepares your children for taking over when you retire and keep the family making more money. For small black businesses, this is something that you got to take note of. And use it to destroy the dark financial patch that most of us are at (because of the side of history we stand). It takes time, craft, and consistency – your children can help build this consistency.

There is plenty more to learn, make sure to book a seat for this time’s Hiring Your Child Masterclass.

The post Benefits of Hiring Your Child in Your Business first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post Benefits of Hiring Your Child in Your Business appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

Last year, we came across something from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Where they were educating taxpayers about the importance of keeping your records. For the sake of tax planning. We couldn’t agree more with this information as we noticed, over the years, that many small businesses are paying more than what they should be paying because they do not keep all financial records in place.

Records-keeping plays a vital role when the reporting time comes, and here are a few ways you can use to make sure records are safely kept;

• A software-based system that keeps all information, including receipts, together, electronically.
• If using paper storage, invest in labeled files that should be clearly sorted in order of date of transaction.
• Add tax records to your files as you receive them throughout the year.
• Also, keep records relating to property disposed of or for sale.

In addition to the above, taxpayers should make sure to notify the IRS of any changes to their address or legal name as it may result in overlooked deductions. Generally, the IRS encourages for documents to be kept for three years from the date that taxpayers filed a return.

Even though this is an important part. We encourage taxpayers to be wary of the electronic filing system that they choose. In case your details end up in the wrong hands and they fall victim to tax scams. For more information about this, or any other questions you may have regarding tax planning and how keeping your records intact can help you, get in touch with one of us. We will gladly assist with your tax planning and record-keeping.

The post What You Need To Know About Tax Planning and Record Keeping? first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post What You Need To Know About Tax Planning and Record Keeping? appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post 3 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Business Now? first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post 3 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Business Now? appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

Introduction

Business is good business when it’s planned out nicely, and executed with utmost surety. Over the years, I have noticed how much small business owners wail in agony as they watch their businesses sink. I always looked and wonder, what exactly could have been going wrong? Upon pondering, and inquiring, I realized that it came down to one problem; there is just not enough preparation.

What does this mean? Year in, year out, entrepreneurs have been freestyling. There have not been plans in place to successfully connect from this year to the next, and to the next. For business to go on well, there has to be a clear, and conjoining chain of activities. In other words, year one must have activities that are related to year two. The same applies to year three, and so forth. Connecting these years without a proper plan in place is an unachievable process.

Therefore, I wrote this article to show you just how much businesses are failing to do well. I wrote it also to show you why is there such a huge failing rate that is characterized by wide losses. More so when entrepreneurs don’t plan for the year ahead well in advance.

So, why are businesses failing in the next year?

The fact is that year end is upon us, and nothing is going to stop it from happening. What does end of the year mean? It means the new year is coming, and, many organized businesses have long made plans for it. How about you? How much have you planned for it, how long have you gone into making your plans work? I ask this with the view that everything that you plan on doing for 2020 should already been on paper right now, with your team already geared enough for it.

Below are some of the reasons why your business could struggle in 2020.

1. You do not have a plan in place

If you anticipate on being successful in any way, you will make it this way; go into the following year with an exact plan. If with no plan, you are telling the universe to throw anything at you. And, you are also saying that you are ready to accept whatever the universe will throw at you. Doing business like this is always going to leave you stressed out for the rest of your days. And, it’s not healthy for you and your business.

What is a plan? This is typically a list, or diagram that details the steps, timing, and resources allocated to achieve a certain goal. Now, here is the beauty of planning, it’s in the definition, and it’s the phrase ‘to achieve a certain goal.’

Indeed, the best way to go about in business is to plan – set goals – set financial goals, and set business goals. This way, you set your business up for success.

When you plan your coming year, you would know what you want to achieve. Put everything on paper, your ideas, your targeted clients, and product development ideas. There should be already a plan in action, and a plan written down by September of each year. By October, you should all be starting to implement. So, if your goal is to increase your sales revenue, you would have a good marketing budget in your plan.

Lastly on this, never have a plan that is only known by yourself, but, communicate everything to your employees.

2. You have not re-evaluated your business plan

Every successful entrepreneur always revisits their business plan to make sure that the services and products they offer are in conjunction with their mission statements. As a matter of business principle, make sure that what you offer matches your mission. What is going to keep you at the top is sticking to your original ideas. This is so important, especially in marketing. Why do I say so? When customers buy your products and services, they buy into your brand, as a whole. As such, failure to adhere to your original principles may be fatal. Therefore, by this time, you must have evaluated all your plans for 2020, and evaluated how they support your business plan.

Again, this is not something that can be done as a quick fix at the beginning of 2020. There is no way that you would be struggling to plan during the new year when other businesses are already drawing contracts with clients. In order to compete well, plan ahead, align your plans with your business plan, and approach clients with clear goals.

3. You do not re-evaluate your financial statements

Just as the above point, going into the history of the company always works in your favor. Nevertheless, this is the different kind of history, but very critical in the way it assists your 2020 planning.

When looking at your financial statements, my recommendation is always to look at how the cash is flowing. Look at where has the money gone to, and where has it come from. After knowing this, know how much you have been making for you to set realistic goals. I mean, you cannot expect your company to just jump from making 100K in profits to a million the following year! Realistic goals will aim for a decent growth, like 40% in revenue, to, perhaps 140K.

It is always important to be realistic when setting business goals.

4. You do not have the love for the numbers

This part is in support of the above point. However, there is one more thing to be added here; always do it with an expert. The underlying principle is; you must not hesitate to spend money in order to make more money. Hiring an accountant to do your books does not steal from your purse, but results in organized financial statements. When you have these in place, your planning for 2020 will be coming from a well-informed position.

5. You do not have the proper business acumen

We spoke about this in the past, and today, we still emphasize on how important it is to have a good business acumen. People with a good business acumen are the best decision makers. Remember, the environment you operate your small business in is not balanced, and hard to predict with 100% accuracy. But, the people with a good business acumen always find ways to manipulate this environment.

You might not be sure if you have the right business acumen, if so, visit Business University for Entrepreneurs and learn all the business tips that you require.

The post 14 days left in 2019. 2020 Money and Results starts now! Are you prepped or playing?  first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post 14 days left in 2019. 2020 Money and Results starts now! Are you prepped or playing?  appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

Why? Well, I believe entrepreneurs need these after reading about how much small businesses fail in the USA. We may argue all day, but the statistics are there for all to see. She said 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, and 30% also fail in their second year. She also said that 50% fail in their first five years, and 70% in the 10th year.\

What we see there is just the word ‘fail’, and one wonders what could be going wrong?

But, I can only say that, you ought to be vigilant in business, because it simply comes with no manual. What I mean is there are no instructions to how you will take your first ‘sharp’ curve in business. And, because there are no instructions, many consistently fail.

As such, it has been reported that almost 47% of all businesses make less than $23,000 annually. This was according to the SPA’s most recent survey. It’s so sad, and we ought to discuss this in detail.

Therefore, I intend to show just how businesses fail:

No instructions are given on conquering everyday business puzzles. You just start your business, and from that moment, the reality is, you are on your own!

I must say, when I read about the shocking statistics from SPA, I got worried for a while. The reason for this was that in today’s world, we got so many technologies for businesses to tap into. It does not matter which size the business is, there is always a software here and there to increase sales.

However, in as much as we use software, sometimes it can’t help increase sales.

There is simply no manual to help you with new tricks when business takes a certain turn. We have seen businesses investing in websites for like $5,000. But, when you make a follow up, they do not have the means to mobilize $5,000 worth of sales.

And, when the maintenance fee for the website, and other costs kick in, the business fails a few months later. I was asking myself, what should be done in such cases? Because surely, we cannot keep counting backwards; entrepreneurs need to be profitable.

My answer is, we require to learn as many growth strategies for small businesses. More so, small businesses fail to manage their income because of neglecting taxation, and bookkeeping. If you find yourself in this category, you also need to learn about bookkeeping tips for small business.

As an accountant with as many clients, I have seen failure, and I have seen success in equal measure. As such, I would like to dwell a little on business owners. These, sometimes, I have observed they do not invest much in their businesses.

In order to garner more sales, you ought to market, and you ought to improve on your product offering. Customers love quality, and they also need the marketing strategy to let them know about your products, and services.

Did you know? Most of your business success is dependent on how successful your marketing strategy is.

Without a proper budget, both in money and time for it, expect less sales growth. And, without a significant sales growth, your business comes down crushing.

These are just facts. Marketing has gone digital, and so has accounting, but I understand cloud computing may be expensive. However, these are investments that you need to make.

Remember, we mentioned before just how you must practice proper bookkeeping to capture all your business patterns. What do I mean by patterns?

Well, these are numbers that tell you how you are making money, or not. When you successfully master this, you then have sort of a manual as in what to do next.

Remember also, we mentioned that business does not come with a manual as in what to do when you hit a sharp curve. But, I want you to know that you pick these up as you move.

And, you can only do this by carefully studying your business trends, as well as how your customers behave. You can learn your customers’ patterns by using digital marketing tools that are available. Invest as much in these.

They tell you exactly what your customers want, and at what time.

It’s just unfortunate that most businesses ignore this. In a 2017 survey by Smart Insights, only 34% of businesses agreed to have a defined digital marketing strategy integrated into their overall marketing strategy.

And, 17% had it in a separate document, which really does not help. A huge 49% did not have a defined digital marketing strategy at all!

I will re-emphasize, businesses do not come with a manual that is clearly defined.

Every trick and development angle, you learn them as you study your customers, and sales patterns. Thus, ignoring marketing, and the technology that comes with it, is tantamount to digging your own business’ grave.

Besides marketing, there is the work that you have to put into your product.Product development must be an ongoing process, and deliberate too. There is no such a point where you would have made it. I speak mostly to small businesses, therefore, at such a stage, everyone must surely have room to improve their products.

As a parting shot, I would like to mention something that’s very important, something like a business tip for entrepreneurs. Most of the work for successful businesses is done behind the scenes.

You should never underestimate the power of hiring an accountant to look at your numbers.

And, you should never underestimate the power of hiring a marketer to look at your sales patterns.Once you have these in place, you have the power to develop your own business manual.

More importantly, when starting a business, tell yourself that you have nothing to refer to (like a manual). Therefore, you have to work hard to develop one that’s unique to your business.

The post Growth Strategies For Small Businesses: There Is No Manual For Conquering Business Puzzles first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

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The post 4 Techniques For Effective Planning Ahead first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

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It’s time for us to do a mid-year review! It’s similar to going to the doctor for your annual physical (though I hope you visit your doctor more than annually!) where they take your blood pressure, weight, and run blood tests. A mid-year check for businesses encompasses the same thing! This is truly something that you should do twice a year; one at the beginning of the year, and one in the middle. As it currently stands, we have a couple of months left to get those business goals reigned in! A mid-year check means that we’ll need a few things; an accountant (which you should already have!), and all numbers for the year. This is going to be a rapid fire check.

There will be approximately 15 items, write them down (or answer in your head), and answer “Yes”, or “No” for each item.

1. Is your business profitable?
2. Do you know how to leverage your business finances to close more profitable deals?
3. Do you know that your financial statement data is a strategic weapon that can be deployed as a real asset in this competitive marketplace?
4. Has your financial data been translated into actionable steps?
5. Do you know how to read or comprehend your financial statements?
6. Are you focused on increasing sales, but have run into cash flow problems?
7. Do you receive monthly, quarterly, or annual financial statements from your accountant?
8. Were you ever informed on your KPI? (Check the previous post if that’s a no!)
9. Do you know how your business compares to others within your industry?
10. Are you not receiving payments quickly, and if so, do you know why?
11. Do you know the value of your brand? (Yes, your brand has a value!)
12. Are you certain that your taxes are being optimized? (In a legal manner!)
13. Are your business trends in every profitable area highlighted to assess improvement?
14. Do you have targets for financial performance?
15. Do you have sales and production targets?

This may have been a brief one, but this is a rapid-fire segment that can be re-used. Being an accountant for small business owners, I see many of you that fail to do this mid-year checkup. An important thing to keep in mind is that all mistakes can be corrected, so if you’re on the lower end of the spectrum with the amount of times you answered “Yes”, that’s okay; you have time to fix it! A mid-year check is also designed to prevent your business from failing (and in truth, it has worked for me!). If you can’t make heads or tails of your business, lack P&L statements, profit margin statements, then hire an accountant; get some help! Your mid-year checkup is here, and I am the doctor that can help bring your business back to good health!

The post Mid-Year Review first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

The post Mid-Year Review appeared first on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

1.  CONSISTENTLY CONSULT AND CHECKING IN WITH YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISER 

2.  RETAIN YOUR WORKS U.S. – BASED AND ARRANGE A SOLO 401(K) PLAN 

3.  BE AWARE TO YOUR FINANCIAL STATUS AND APPLY THE CASH SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING

The post 3 TIPS OF ARRANGEMENT REGARDING YOUR BUSINESS TO BE READY TOWARDS FOR TAX REFORM first appeared on Suncrest Financial Services | Tax Preparer in Upper Marlboro Md.

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