Bookkeeping

BEWARE: Quickbooks & Windows 10

Published on

frustrationJust a quick note to let you know that Quickbooks is NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTING its product on Windows 10.  This means that if you upgrade your operating system and your Quickbooks stops working, you are going to be out of luck until Intuit finishes their testing and irons out the glitches.  I am speaking from experience, as I have spent numerous hours on tech support today with no resolution in sight.

I strongly encourage you to WAIT.  Don’t upgrade until Quickbooks adds Windows 10 to it’s list of supported operating systems.  When this happens, it should be listed on the Quickbooks Support page.

Best of luck!!

Minimum Wage Increase in Ontario

Published on

On June 1, 2014 the minimum wage in Ontario will increase to $11.00 per hour for most employees.

1A min wage
http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/guide/minwage.php

 

This change is going to have an impact on both Ontario businesses and wage earners. If you are a small business owner make sure you have all the facts ahead of time.

 

DEFINITIONS

General Minimum Wage – this rate applies to most employees

Student Wage – This rate applies to students under the age of 18 who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session, or work during a school break or summer holidays

Liquor Servers Wage – This hourly rate applies to employees who serve liquor directly to customers or guests in licensed premises as a regular part of their work. “Licensed premises” are businesses for which a license or permit has been issued under the Liquor License Act

Hunting and Fishing Guides Wages – The minimum wage for hunting and fishing guides is based on blocks of time instead of by the hour. They get a minimum amount for working less than five (5) consecutive hours in a day, and a different amount for working five hours or more in a day – whether or not the hours are consecutive

Homeworkers Wage – Homeworkers are employees who do paid work in their own homes. For example, they may sew clothes for a clothing manufacturer, answer telephone calls for a call centre, or write software for a high tech company. Note that students of any age (including students under the age of 18 years) who are employed as homeworkers must be paid the homeworker’s minimum wage.

 

OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS

Commission Employees: If you have employees who are being paid wholly or in part by commission, their bay must amount to at least the minimum wage for each hour the employee has worked. If said employee is working overtime, the calculation becomes more complicated. There are some industry-specific rules and exemptions regarding commission sales people – follow this link to the Ministry of Labour website for more specific details.

The Three Hour Rule: When an employee who regularly works more than three hours a day is required to report to work but works less than three hours, he or she must be paid for at least three hours at the minimum wage or the employee’s regular wage for the time worked. This rule does not apply to students, employees whose regular shifts are three hours or less, or where the cause of the employee not being able to work at least three hours was beyond the employer’s control.

 

 

 

Starting the New Year Off Right

Published on

One thing I love the most about the New Year is that it’s a chance to start over and get things right this time.

This is how you should look at your small business bookkeeping.  Who cares if last year you got so your have a chance to do things differently.

new year pic

 

Here are some hints and tips to start the New Year off right:

Create a good filing system.  Take the time to file away the old and make way for the new, and organize your filing in a way that is easy to do and easy to understand.

Dedicate a space for your paperwork.  The dollar store is an excellent resource for buying folders, basket, decorative boxes and other wonderful paper holders.  Every day, empty your pockets, purses, wallets and briefcases of all their receipts and store them in one location.

Stop shuffling paperwork.  Handle each piece of paper once, if possible, and twice if necessary.  Pick up the receipt, post it in your bookkeeping software, and file it away.  I don’t have statistics on how much time is wasted sorting through piles of paperwork and “organizing” it without actually accomplishing anything, but I can imagine it’s massive.

Do you often take employees, clients or business associates for lunches or dinners?  Make sure to note on the back of the receipts who attended the meal and what business was discussed.  This will make your life easier in the case of a visit from the CRA.

Enjoy your bookkeeping time.  Turn on some internet radio, or get the iTunes going.

Make a to-do list of your bookkeeping tasks, and cross things off the list when you finish them.  It’s easy to forget that Record of Employment, or that WSIB return that’s due, but if you write it down when you think of it, you will have a reminder.  Plus, it’s satisfying to cross things off when they’re completed.

Don’t get behind.  Bookkeeping might not be everyone’s favorite task, but it is a lot less daunting to do it one month at a time than to tackle a whole year.

If it’s taking too much time and detracting from your other business obligations, consider hiring an outside bookkeeper.  A good bookkeeper will take all this trouble off your hands and help you use the financial data she compiles to help you manage your business.

Hello Business Owners!

Published on

Welcome to my first blog.

Water loving labbe
Gratuitous doggie picture

A friend shamed me into starting this blog.  He pointed out to me that I expended a lot of time, energy and money pursuing a University degree and that I don’t use this knowledge for anything practical.

I majored in Creative Writing.   Real life had not yet jaded me.  I enjoyed writing.  My teenaged self was convinced that the only way to lead a happy life was to pursue your passion.  I hadn’t yet learned the value of practicality.  I was going to write the great Canadian novel by the time I was 25 and make tons of money.  Everyone would love it and I would buy a cabin in the woods and write fiction on my porch while squirrels squirreled around at my feet.  Romantic?  Yes.  Likely?  Not really.  After thousands (emphasis on the “S”) of dollars in student loans and three years I will never get back, I came to my senses.

Why accounting?  Why did a teenager who hated trigonometry so much she dropped the class decide on a career with so much MATH?   Accounting, to me, is like a big puzzle with money.  I like puzzles.  I started working in accounting because I was at the right place at the right time, and I pursued it as a career because I really loved it.  It satisfies my need to always keep things in order.  The left side of my brain is content.

This blog will consist of a lot of general small business tips.   I will try to provide you with useful knowledge of a wide range of business topics without boring the socks off of you.  Occasionally there will be pictures, and possible a guest writer here and there.  Thank you for reading.