Utilizing Key Business Operating Statistics

Checking your business credit worthiness is not for the meek of heart and can be done without ever leaving the office, calling your bank or logging on to the Internet. All you need to do is to print out your internal financials and utilize a few basic mathematical calculations and you are well on your way.
Entrepreneurs often feel they need outside professional advisors and CPA's, which frequently they do for many of the more complex tax and management issues they face. However, there are a few key internal management statistics each and every owner should be well apprised of and able to put their hands on at a moment's notice. Ownership of these statistics will set you well ahead of your peers and give you key operating information which when used properly will grant you a competitive edge in the marketplace.

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Sample Installment Agreement Cover Letter

Most states like Georgia, and the IRS, allows both corporate and personal/individual taxpayers, who cannot pay their taxes in full, to set up an installment agreement to pay the taxes over time. Though this is a good plan for many, it is often the most expensive as during the time period, when the payments are being made, both penalties and interest continue to accrue adding even more monies to be due and payable that would otherwise be due.

Often paying the taxes and interest in full while asking for penalty abatement or an Offer in Compromise are frequently good options to consider and evaluate when dealing with Tax Representation Issues and Tax Advocacy. Frequently these options are the best when dealing with a wage garnishment, levy, lien, back taxes or the filing of old past due tax returns. Cover Letters should tell a story leading to the taxing authorities leaning toward agreeing with the particular position you have claimed. If there are any substantive other tax for financial issues that would be important it would be prudent to cover them in the Cover Letter. If you were to submit an individual request to Georgia, for example, here is a Sample Installment Agreement Cover Letter you might use. Read more

Being Ever Diligent...While Collecting Unpaid Invoices

The Apostle Paul Commands us to be ever diligent as Satan is always seeking for those he might devour. It is by our readiness and putting on the very armor of Christ that we are able to do God's bidding. When we are addressing collection issues, it is easy to fall into righteous indignation as others fail to live up to their end of the bargain, after we have strived to be Christ-like in the services that we have provided. It at these times, when the devil as the opportunity to gain a foothold and to encourage us to judge others, and to sin in our anger.

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Following Christian Precepts...While Collecting Unpaid Invoices

God guides us, throughout the Bible, to be good stewards of our time, money and resources. To this end, there are many variables to be explored when making collection efforts that I have detailed below of situations and circumstances where we tried to go the extra mile in being a Christian and a Believer on both collection issues and difficult economic times. These principles will do much to guide and direct you as you handle the collections of your business.

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Keeping Your Christian Principles...While Collecting Unpaid Invoices

I am frequently asked as well as challenged myself in ensuring that all of the collection procedures of my business are performed in a matter, that is conducive to the Body of Christ and is according to God's word. Certainly there are times when we should give our time away, just as Jesus modeled, as others have needs that far outweigh our own. It is when the Holy Spirit prompts us to be obedient to help out others in their time of need that we must comply and serve. However, this article is geared towards working with the clients well beyond what the world would consider the breaking point. That is where our teachings meet reality and our principles are put to task to ensure that we look to help others in all the ways that we can. Of course, if we did free work for all of our customers we would soon be the most popular persona in town as well as its most bankrupt.

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Collection Issues for Your Christian Based Business...New Series Starts Today. ...The Christian Collection Series

The Christian Collection Series is for business owners who are seeking both to emulate and honor God with their actions and deeds in all of their regular business activities. Often when reading both the Bible we are left to consider for ourselves that the words mean, as well as their successful implementation. At His CPA PC (where we serve God, by serving you) we strive to make not only tax law understandable and applicable but also the words of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. To this end we beginning a new series today to help Christian Believers work to keep God at the center of their business and their collection procedures.

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Serving God by Serving Others...Taking Christianity Into the World

Though I have worked hard over the decades of experience serving as a CPA to Atlanta are business for decades. It is our faith in Jesus Christ alone that gives us strength and the encourage to go one. When all fails, it is in our weakness and in our supplication to Him alone that we are one with him. All that I am and all that I will ever be is from the Saving Faith of God.

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Living in the Moment...Taking Christianity Into the World

I have known many who were here today and then gone tomorrow, as God calls those he loves home. Maybe you have a friend today that you have unresolved conflict with or need to reach out to. Perhaps there is someone in your life that you have not told you love them lately or could there be something in your own life, that you still need to ask God for forgiveness and to repent.

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Tax Negotiations Saves Tax Client Tens of Thousands of Dollars

A Good CPA Should Ultimately Save You Money

We have recently received commitments from the IRS to save one of our clients tens of thousands of dollars. Though many would see this as successful, and I would certainly agree, but we are not done yet. As Believers we march to the tune of a higher drummer and therefore we do not stop to "smell the roses" or "count our successes" but rather seek to serve God by serving our clients. This is the actual note to a client that we have recently prepared but we are not done yet. Though we have gotten the IRS to reduce substantial fees and penalties we continue to believe we can do more still. We work by the Golden Rule...where we "Serve God...By Serving You...One Tax Return at a Time." As with our faith, staying true, determined and dogmatic are essential to both our successes whether we be students, leaders, workers or stay at home parents. Our faith challenges us to continue to seek excellence in all that we do. Below is just one of the recent correspondence with one of our clients. As a CPA and a Christian I have learned that often the point of our biggest success is just around the corner, do continue to fight the good fight and never give up when God and truth are on your side.

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Knowing When to Take Your Business to the Next Level

Incorporating in Georgia is still one of the best things you can do as you plan for your long-term business's success. Incorporating gives you several advantages that you otherwise could not enjoy.

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Incorporation Procedures for Your LLC

Incorporating as an LLC...Understanding the Incorporation Process

Incorporating as an LLC is not necessarily difficult but those who do it alone without the services of a good attorney are a sitting recipe for disaster. Frequently I will see clients, who have incorporated themselves soon to learn that although they have filed the Georgia Articles of Incorporation they have failed to: Read more

Top Five (5) to a Successful IRS Audit Experience

If you have just received a tax notice these tax tips will do much to ensure that you stay out of trouble with the IRS as well as mitigate it, once it occurs and will be one you will want to refer to again and again. These are the most common mistakes business owners and taxpayers make resulting in much extra stress and additional penalties and interest that can be legally avoided.

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Sample Cover Letter When Getting Ready to Prepare for an IRS Audit

When getting ready for an IRS audit it is good to start off the relationship with both the client and the IRS to build trust, confidence, availability and goal setting. As none of us in life will be able to do it all by ourselves, finding a CPA who has a proven track record of success in IRS Representation issues whether you are facing a lien, levy, IRS assessment, garnishment or readying to submit an Offer in Compromise is essential To that end and to assist I have provided a sample letter to the IRS that we use to begin an audit for a client with the end in mind. Having served as an Atlanta CPA for decades I have learned the best tactic is to know where you are going, before you get there.

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Christian Business Leaders Summit 2009..Taking Christianity Into the World

Christian Business Leaders Needed for Summit in Uganda for October, 2009

Christian Business Leaders in Uganda are putting the final touches on their walk of faith in having the first ever Christian Business Leaders Summit. Below is the organizers letter I just received. Pray what God would have you do as we Take Christianity Into the World.

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Free Keynote Speaking by Speaker/Author John Dillard CPA for Your Business Group or Church

In my pursuit of speaking engagements, I am looking to promote and offer:

-Free tax and business advice to entrepreneurs. To gain a feel for what I do feel free to visit www.HisCPA.com Just a small sampling of what we can over includes:

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Amending Income Tax Returns Can Save Thousands

Often taxpayers feel after they have filed an income tax return that they are etched in stone. Though you want this to be the case as no one likes to tax returns twice, frequently having a CPA critique your past returns, especially if you are a business owner and had returns filed by someone who is not a CPA, is often a great way to "find unclaimed money." In reviewing past business/corporate as well as personal income tax returns we have amended returns to reflect:

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Loan Procurement in a Down Economic Market...How to Market and Promote Your Business Financing Needs

Despite the news of the times and the severity of the downturn in the economic market, there remains financially sound quality lenders who are seeking to extend credit to qualified business owners. As you would expect, however, banks are getting back to the basics of lending practices that ruled the decades of lending practices before the recent downturn in the economy. Rather than the "free wheeling" lending business practices of the past, banks and other traditional lenders are seeking to lend monies to well-run companies who have an idea to expand both the revenue and profit of the business.

Lenders are now more than ever looking to the Five C's of lending:
-Credit
-Cash Flow
-Character
-Collateral
-Conditions Read more

Getting Your Banker to Say Yes to Financing Needs...Getting Financing For Your Business

Business Banking 101

Knowing how to best package your business and to present yourself to a banker is essential to getting your bank to say yes to your financing needs. This is the third part of the series of Getting Financing For Your Business. Integral building blocks to this series can be found on this blog and are entitled and are available on this blog:

Building Your Business Credit...Getting Financing For Your Business

Top Five Criteria Banks Use to Extend Financing/Credit Lines...Getting Financing For Your Business

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Business Credit & How to Acquire It...Getting Financing For Your Business

There is no magic pill to take that will make you business "bankable." As you would expect, banks make loans with the goal of being repaid, thus some of their primary concerns will center on your most recent past history, experience and the basics of your business itself. Frequently however business owners instead will look at a bank in the hope that they will do Venture Capital (VC) funding. VC funding is commonly used when you have a new business idea or a start up venture that is more speculative in nature. This could be for either an established business or a very new one, but the central theme in VC funding is that there is more uncertainty and much more risk that one would find in traditional bank funding.

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The Five C's of Lending...Getting Financing For Your Business

"Knowing the Ropes" is essential to positioning your company to be able to be in a position to be bankable and to get a line of credit or more permanent financing when it is most needed by your business. Just as you cannot obtain fire insurance the day after a fire and to have it cover a past loss. Similarly is it true, that you cannot one day decide to "get a loan" and acquire needed financing as easy as picking up the phone and ordering it, as if off a menu. Though restaurants respond well to that sort of relationship and, in fact, they cater to it, banks and lending institutions often have Lending Boards, Boards of Directors, Review Committees, Shareholders, Officers and many regulatory authorities they all answer to. As such being aware of what they are looking for is essential to any search for financing. Getting "your financial ducks in a row" is the first part of the process. Failure to satisfactorily address all of these variable components will do much to impair your firms ability to procure monies for operating and capital financing needs.

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