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The U.S. Accountant Shortage IS REAL

by BusinessFinance & accounting
The Importance of Financial Accountants and Advisors for Your Business

As businesses grow and financial complexities increase, the demand for skilled financial professionals is skyrocketing. However, the supply of qualified accountants seems to be struggling to keep up with this rising demand.

The Accountant Shortage: Unraveling the Challenge

The shortage of accountants is not a new problem, but its impact is becoming increasingly severe in recent years. The reasons for this crisis are multifaceted:

  1. Economic Growth and Complexity: As the global economy expands, businesses have to navigate complex financial regulations, tax laws, and reporting standards. These complexities demand specialized expertise from financial professionals.
  2. Aging Workforce: The baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, resulting in experienced accountants leaving the workforce. The number of graduates and new entrants into the accounting field is not enough to fill this gap.
  3. Technology Advancements: Automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping the financial landscape, automating repetitive tasks that were once done manually. While technology streamlines operations, it also calls for accountants with advanced skills in data analysis and interpretation.
  4. Changing Education Trends: Fewer students are pursuing accounting degrees, leading to a decline in the number of qualified professionals entering the industry.

When and Where Do You Need Financial Accountants and Advisors for Your Business?

Now that we’ve explored the accountant shortage, it’s vital to understand when and where your business needs the expertise of financial accountants and advisors. Here are some critical scenarios:

  1. Startup Phase: When you’re launching a new venture, having a financial accountant is invaluable. They will help you set up your financial systems, create budgets, and provide insights into financial projections.
  2. Tax Planning and Compliance: Tax laws can be complex and ever-changing. A financial advisor can help your business navigate tax regulations, minimize tax liabilities, and ensure compliance.
  3. Financial Reporting: Whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or annual reports, having an accountant to prepare and analyze your financial statements ensures accuracy and provides valuable insights into your company’s financial health.
  4. Business Expansion: When your business is growing, you need strategic financial planning to manage cash flow, assess investment opportunities, and optimize financial resources.
  5. Mergers and Acquisitions: During business acquisitions or mergers, financial accountants and advisors play a crucial role in conducting due diligence, valuing assets, and assessing financial risks.

Download Your A-Team Checklist

To ensure your business has the best financial support, download our exclusive A-Team Checklist. This checklist will guide you through the essential qualities to look for in financial accountants and advisors, helping you build a solid financial team that drives your business forward.

Click here to download the A-Team Checklist and secure your business’s financial success!

The accountant shortage poses a significant challenge to the financial industry, but businesses must continue to thrive despite this obstacle. By recognizing the importance of financial accountants and advisors, businesses can make informed decisions, stay compliant, and achieve long-term financial goals. Thank you for reading, and we’ll be back soon with more valuable insights from the world of finance!

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High-Yield Savings Accounts: 4 With Over 1.50% APY

by Finance & accountingUncategorized

Did you know there are several ways to let your money make you money? Including, putting your money into a high-yield savings account. Yes, that’s all you have to do, is just put your money into an account that will pay you to keep it there. You can literally make money while you sleep! 

A traditional savings account is a great way to save your money and earn more over the years. However, most of the traditional banks require you to pay high fees but have low interest rates. The average rates from traditional banks goes from 0.01%-0.07% annual percentage yield (APY). With this type of rate, you are paying more for fees than interest earned on your traditional savings account.

Bar graph with online banks and traditional banks average APY.

Is there a better savings account where you can receive more money? Yes! high-yield savings accounts are online banking with higher annual percentage yield for consumers and have lower or no fees. They offer safety, growth, and ease of use. With a high-yield savings account your emergency funds can grow fast with over 1.50% APY.

A graphic of the benefits of high-yield savings accounts

While you are searching for a high-yield savings account, make sure you are looking for the ones that are insured with FDIC to protect your deposits from bank failures. Also, compare the rates and requirements that each one offers. Once you find the best one for you, complete the application online, deposit money, and begin saving! If you download the online bank app and turn on alerts for notifications, you can see how much you are saving each month!

Here are 4 high-yield savings accounts with over 1.50% APY, insured with FDIC, and $0 of monthly fees as of July 14th, 2022:

  1. BrioDirect          = 1.80% APY 
  2. CitBank             = 1.65% APY
  3. Bask Bank       = 1.61% APY 
  4. LendingClub     = 1.52% APY

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How To Establish Business Credit

by with No Comment BusinessFinacialFinance & accountingUncategorized
Learn step-by-step how to establish business credit

When it comes to business credit, most business owners do not realize the benefits. One of the biggest benefits of business credit is that it is entirely separate from your personal credit. However, to be able to leverage the many advantages business credit has to offer, your business needs to have a solid foundation. A solid business foundation includes entity formation, bookkeeping, and an active business bank account.

The first step in building a solid business foundation begins with the formation of your entity. The most common entity types are Limited Liability Company (LLCs) and Corporations. When you first start your business, it is important to register your business, apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN), and apply for a DUNS number. Your EIN is a number similar to your social security number. It is how the IRS identifies your business. Your DUNS number is how your business is identified with the credit reporting agency Dun and Bradstreet.

Another important step to take before applying for business credit is to set up proper bookkeeping for your business and open a business bank account that can be linked to your bookkeeping software. Having proper bookkeeping in place will make it easier for you to prove that your business has adequate cash flow. Similarly, a business bank account separates your business expenses from your personal expenses which to accurately prove profit and loss  

Next is to establish trade lines with your suppliers. If you buy supplies, ingredients or other materials from third-party vendors, those purchases could help build your business credit. Many suppliers extend trade credit, which means they allow you to pay several days or weeks after you receive the inventory. If you have this type of accounts-payable relationship, ask your supplier to report your payments to a business credit bureau. Your business credit score will get a boost as long as you stick to the terms of the trade agreement.

You need at least three tradelines to get a Dun & Bradstreet Paydex score, which measures past payment history. Even if you don’t work with a lot of suppliers, you can set up tradelines with any small vendor, such as your water or office supplies distributor. If those vendors don’t report to a credit bureau, you can list them as a trade reference on your account, and Dun & Bradstreet will follow up to collect your trade data.

A business credit card can be one of the best tools for building business credit. Additionally, many business credit cards offer benefits and rewards for your spend, from cash back to travel points.

If you have thin or poor personal credit, you may want to begin your card search by improving your personal credit score, since many card issuers will use your personal history to evaluate creditworthiness. If that isn’t possible, applying for a secured credit card will likely be your best choice.

While secured cards typically don’t offer rewards and may have a low ceiling for how much you can spend, they can still be valuable for contributing to your business credit profile. And some issuers will allow you to upgrade to an unsecured card if you can demonstrate a consistent pattern of responsible repayment.

In conclusion, having a good foundation for your business is the key to being granted business credit. Once given, you can then leverage your business credit to scale your business. If you need help building your business’s foundation, apply to become a client of Fola Financial!

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Investing

by Finance & accountingPublications

Hey FOLA Fam,

We hope you’re enjoying financial literacy month!

Along with budgeting, another important aspect involved in mastering financial literacy is investing. According to Merriam-Webster, investing is the process of committing your money in order to earn a financial return. Investing is an important step to take toward cultivating your financial future.

Before investing, it’s important to assess your goals and timeline. Ask yourself the following questions: why am I investing and are my goals short-term or long-term? Assessing your investing goals and whether those goals are short-term or long-term is important because there are risks involved in investing. For someone with short-term goals, it’s important to invest in less risky options such as bonds. However, a long-term investor with a higher risk tolerance may choose to invest in riskier options such as stocks.

After assessing your risk tolerance, the next step is to open an investment account. If you’re a full-time employee and your employer has a 401(k) plan, this would be a great place to start because most employers match the contributions of their employees up to a certain percentage. As of 2022, the max amount that can be contributed to a 401(k) plan is $20,500. If you’re not an employee, your employer doesn’t give you the option to invest in a 401(k) plan, or you have maxed out your 401(k) plan for the year, you can open a Roth IRA account. As of 2022, the max amount that can be contributed to a Roth IRA account is $6,000. However, something to note is that the max contribution amount for each of these investment accounts increases for investors 50 and older.

Another important aspect to consider when beginning your investing journey is diversification. A common saying in the investing world is “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Diversifying your investments reduces your risk. A good way to diversify is by investing in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Investing in mutual funds and EFTs is also more affordable than investing in individual stocks and bonds.

In conclusion, along with budgeting, investing is an important part of financial literacy. Investing can be a major step toward cultivating your financial future!

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14 Questions to Ask Your CPA

by Finance & accountingPublications

Before your consultation with your CPA, it’s important to think about the specific questions you would like to ask them! Your family at Fola Financial put together a list of 14 questions to help you get started! Reference the image below, or click to download the PDF for your records!

Click To Download!
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Budgeting 101

by Finance & accountingPublications

Hey FOLA Fam,

Welcome to FOLA Financial Literacy Month!

To kick off financial literacy month, we wanted to talk about one of the most important concepts in the personal finance community, budgeting. When it comes to budgeting, like most things, there isn’t a one size fits all technique. Personal finance is exactly what it says it is, personal. Therefore, it is important for those embarking on a personal finance journey to find the budgeting method that works best for them. In the personal finance community, there are four main budgeting techniques used by most people within the community: envelope system, 50/30/20, zero-based, and pay-yourself-first.

Envelope System

The envelope system of budgeting is a form of budgeting that focuses on the use of cash. You set up envelopes for each of your spending categories. For example, you would have a different envelope for groceries, gas, rent, utilities, etc. In each envelope, you would have the amount of cash you have budgeted for the respective category. Once the cash in the envelope is gone, you have no more to spend for that category until your next pay period or the next month, whichever you prefer. Most people in the finance community use the envelope system for categories they tend to overspend in, such as entertainment.

50/30/20

50/30/20 is the budgeting technique that states you should allocate 50% of your income to your needs, 30% to saving/investing, and 20% to wants. However, those in the personal finance community who use this technique of budgeting adjust the percentage categories to fit their lifestyle. For example, instead of using 50/30/20, you might decide to allocate 70% of your income to your needs, 20% to saving/investing, and 10% to your wants.

Zero-Based

When using zero-based budgeting, you give all of your income for the pay period or month a job.\Whatever amount of income you receive will be allocated to something to the point where when you are done budgeting, there is nothing leftover. This is a great budgeting technique for beginners who start their personal finance journey not knowing where their money goes. With this technique, you will know where every dollar you make is going.

Pay-Yourself-First

The pay-yourself-first budgeting technique’s main purpose is for you to allocate money to your savings, debt, or investing before you start paying your bills for the month. Once you pay yourself first and pay your bills for that period, the rest of your income can be used for whatever you want. Along with zero-based budgeting, this technique is one that is widely used by beginners within the personal finance community.

Start your April off with a bang by taking the FOLA pledge and joining us for FOLA Financial Literacy Month! To begin your personal finance journey, explore each of these budgeting techniques and find the one that works best for you and that will propel you into financial health.

OWNERSHIP MATTERS (1)

Do You Need To File 1099s?

by Finance & accountingPublications

Did you pay any contractors during the 2021 tax year ? If so, you may be required to file a form 1099.

Form 1099 filings are due for any person or business to whom you have paid the following during the year:

  • At least $10 in royalties (see the instructions for box 2) or broker payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest (see the instructions for box 8).
  • At least $600 in:
    • Rents (box 1);
    • Prizes and awards (box 3);
    • Other income payments (box 3);
    • Generally, the cash paid from a notional principal contract to an individual, partnership, or estate (box 3);
    • Any fishing boat proceeds (box 5);
    • Medical and health care payments (box 6);
    • Crop insurance proceeds (box 9);
    • Payments to an attorney (box 10) (see Payments to attorneys, later);
    • Section 409A deferrals (box 12); or
    • Nonqualified deferred compensation (box 14).

The 1099-MISC Form is due  by Friday, January 31, 2022. 

Please note that if you do not issue 1099’s timely you will be at risk of incurring penalties and fees.

Fola Financial has a quick 3 step process to help you get your 1099 forms filed and delivered to your contractors on time!

Step 1: Complete the 1099 Intake form

Step 2: Complete & Submit the Fola Founder’s Contractor Worksheet Spreadsheet Sent to you

Step 3: We will E-File your 1099’s & E-Deliver it to your Contractors for you

Remember, the deadline to file is January 31st, 2022! Don’t delay and click below to get started!

Click To Get Started