Financial Archives - Page 2 of 2

December 21, 2018 admin Financial, Productivity

Avoiding the Financial Pitfalls of a Startup

Startups are exciting, and the work is fast-paced! For good reason, everything you do is likely focused on what you know and do best – and not always on your finances. Many entrepreneurs are experts at the products or services they are offering, but need some help when it comes to running a successful business.

It’s easy for the financial component of your business to get away from you quickly and it’s often why new businesses fail. Since funds are not there to hire a staff member dedicated to managing the finances, or there’s a “we’ll get to that later” mentality, things can fall by the wayside – fast.

Here are some common financial and accounting issues new companies face:

Bookkeeping has not been done consistently, sometimes not at all.
Income taxes have not been paid on time, even after two or three years in business.
Payroll taxes have not been paid.
Appropriate payroll tax forms have not been obtained from employees or contractors.
Expense, credit card and loan record keeping is incomplete.
Appropriate bank accounts are not set up.
Bank and credit card statements may not be reconciled regularly.
Personal and business finances are intermingled.

For some industries, like those in construction for example, there are additional issues that are common including how to correctly differentiate between contractors and employees, job costing issues, and handling payment, record keeping, and tax reporting accordingly.

Perhaps you see your own business in one of these scenarios and here’s what we can do to help:

You haven’t been maintaining your books. You have multiple spreadsheets to manage income and expenses or your Quickbooks hasn’t been updated in a long time; bank account and credit cards haven’t been reconciled, loan balances are off, you have several piles of receipts and you just don’t know where to start. We’ll dig in and sort through whatever records you do have and set up or update QuickBooks. We’ll reconcile old bank and credit card statements, determine loan balances, and give you a clean and manageable bookkeeping system.
Your income and payroll taxes are lagging. The penalties and fees are starting to add up because you didn’t know which reports needed to be filed and when payments were due. The State and the IRS are sending you notices that seem very threatening, but they’re not very clear about what they want you to do. Do you just pay the amount on the notice or could you owe less because they need a report first? We’ve brought income and payroll taxes up to date even when years behind, ensuring that correct forms are on file, and working with the IRS to abate some of the penalties that had been incurred.
Your business and personal finances are intermingled. This situation happens often with startups, and it can be a challenge to set up bank accounts appropriate to the business so personal and business finances remain separate. We’ve helped companies get their business and personal accounts differentiated so your reporting is seamless.

The Minerva Group has over 25 years’ experience dealing with challenges like these. Just as important, we understand how overwhelming it can feel to realize your finances have gotten out of control. Your financial success is our business, and we are ready to help you tackle your toughest accounting obstacles so you can focus on growth! Give us a call or contact us to learn how we can help you.

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November 2, 2018 admin Financial

Get Clear About Your Business Growth with The Minerva 360 Blueprint™

We’re not your average accountants.

You probably had that same thought when you first heard our company name, The Minerva Group. Back in 2011, we set out to build a company that would serve business owners in the places they were most vulnerable – their financials. We did so by creating a level of trust that only comes from responsive service, attention to detail, and timely, accurate information.

This is what we’ve done for the last 7 years, and as our business continues to grow, we continue to expand our service offerings to best meet the needs of our clients.

Who are our clients? Small to mid-size business owners who live and breathe their businesses. These are the passionate people who have the best ideas, run with them, and want to keep growing. These are also the people who simply don’t have time to review their books, prepare their taxes, and understand their financials.

We understand this conundrum and have asked our clients what else we can do to support them in their growth efforts.

And thus, the Minerva 360 Blueprint™ was born!

The Minerva 360 Blueprint is all about keeping your business momentum going . . . and growing! It’s a fast-track program designed to help business owners gain a comprehensive understanding of their financial position and its implications for growth. Specific tools for improving profitability are built in, as are tools to help you:

Say yes to the most profitable opportunities
Identify financial gaps and uncover areas to grow
Take a deep dive into what’s working and what’s not
Optimize your processes
Make more informed decisions about your business
Understand how your leadership style effects your entire business

The Minerva 360 Blueprint is designed for companies with revenues of $1M to $10M and begins with “discovery process” where we identify your company’s most urgent needs as it relates to your overall financial picture. From there, we help the owner develop a clear vision for where and how the company can grow, and pinpoint which areas may need some work.

We do this by performing an in-depth financial assessment of the health of your company, using your past financials as our guide.

From that information, we’ll develop the 360-degree overview, including:

Comprehensive review of financial statements
Written analysis of gaps and opportunities in financials
Written summary of key items to be addressed
Initial tools enabling the owner to take immediate action

And, true to form, we take it a step further.

Part of the 360 Blueprint includes Minerva’s Energy Leadership Index (ELI) certification. This index sets us apart by equipping us with the ability to take a holistic look at the business and its owner in ways that help to better understand your goals and motivation. It provides unique tools to assess leadership capabilities, perceptions and attitudes, to implement changes quickly, help owners become more efficient and effective decision makers, and map out Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to achieve more rapid growth.

Upon the completion of the 360 Blueprint, we continue to help in a variety of roles – from keeping your books clean and up to date, to developing and implementing a detailed, strategic Blueprint for growth, and helping you achieve your vision by acting as an accountability partner.

The Minerva 360 Blueprint was created with the business owner’s comprehensive success as its objective. It provides business owners with one-on-one support – focused on your business, your financial picture, and your growth objectives. You’ll also get customized financial and leadership tools that are essential for taking your company to the next level.

To get started take the Minerva 360 Blueprint Quiz. We’ll email you a personalized assessment and recommendations and offer a complimentary follow-up phone call during which we will dive into your results in even greater detail. Click here to set up your call. Regardless of your next steps, taking the quiz can provide you with valuable insights about you and your business. Take the short quiz now!

About The Minerva Group

Our team of bookkeepers, QuickBooks experts, and Accountants make sure your books and taxes are accurate and up to date. Even if you think your books are in disrepair, give us the challenge. We are experts at getting them in tip-top shape.

But we don’t stop there, because our passion is supporting business stability and growth. Beyond general accounting services, we work with growing companies to help them get to the next level. We do this by partnering with business owners in a one-to-one, advisory setting – helping them make better strategic decisions by using financial statements as the guide.

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September 10, 2018 admin Financial, Productivity

Does Bookkeeping Keep You from Working On Your Business?

We hear it time and again from business owners.

“I need to keep my arms around my business, so it’s important that I do the bookkeeping myself to make sure I’m on top of how my business is doing.”

We get it. The same argument could probably be made (and you probably made it) when you first opened your doors for business. You did everything – that is, until everything was no longer getting done. Things started slipping through the cracks or they were not being delivered according to your high-quality standards.

So, you hired an assistant, or a laborer, or a “do-er” of some sort who was no longer you.

That gave you the flexibility to work on the higher-level things or perhaps get more business in the door. And, so is true when you think about hiring a bookkeeper.

While the basic accounting is easy to do, it takes you away from working on your business. Meanwhile, your accounting and tax planning has likely become more complicated over the years you’ve been in business.

I read recently how the CEO of meal delivery company out of Miami ran his company for five years without a bookkeeper before hiring one just three months ago. The bookkeeper found expenses and assets that were co-mingled, duplicate records of employee purchases, and other common mistakes. Fortunately, she was able to clean everything up and get them back on track. This allowed the CEO to get “out of the weeds” and look at his business from a higher level so that he could make process improvements that impacted the company’s bottom line – much more so than he could’ve done had he been working on the books.

The truth is, you’re probably not being as strategic as you could be if you’re always in the weeds. Outsourcing bookkeeping services is widely available in today’s marketplace. Hiring the right one is of utmost importance.

Back in 2011, we set out to build a company that would serve business owners in the places they were most vulnerable – their financials. The Minerva Group has done just that by creating a level of trust that only comes from consistently responsive service, attention to detail, and providing timely, accurate information to our clients.

We work with companies whose revenues are between $500K – $10M. We work with business owners who live and breathe their businesses but desire to get out of the weeds so they can be more strategic about growing their companies. That’s where we can help. We’d welcome a chance to talk with you to see if we’re a good fit.

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August 5, 2018 admin Financial

Getting to Your Profit Plan by Understanding Your Financial Statements

Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World, is the starring entrepreneur of the hit CNBC show, The Profit. If you’ve ever watched the show, you likely enjoy the entertainment value it affords as Lemonis invests his own money in small businesses that are struggling.

Lemonis goes through a vetting process before making an investment in a business. That process includes understanding the company’s people, products and processes, as well as getting a look behind the curtains at the company’s financials.

What strikes me more than anything about this process is how, more often than not, the business owners on the show are clueless about their financials.

Sometimes the owner is savvy enough to have an accountant who has put the financial statements together, however, rarely is the business owner able to flawlessly navigate their way through the statements.

One of the main reasons why understanding your company’s financials is so important is that it allows you to do one of the most important things for your business, and that is, to create a profit plan. You don’t need to become an accountant or a CPA to read a financial statement, but you do need to keep tabs on the numbers in order to run your company and achieve your profit plan.

The Minerva Group can help by showing you how to navigate your way through your financial statements.

Imagine having the ability to collect more cash each year. The secret to doing this might just be hidden in your financial statements. Uncovering those hidden treasures could help you:

Improve your cash flow
Borrow less
Invest in new equipment
Hire staff to help grow your sales

There’s really no shame in not understanding how to read a financial statement. The real missed opportunity is not doing something about it.

We are experts at helping business owners get a handle on their financial statements so they can build a profit plan that gets results. We do this by performing an in-depth financial assessment of the health of your company, using your past financials as our guide or creating financial statements based on your books.

We also help in a variety of roles – from keeping your books clean and up to date and preparing and filing your taxes, to developing and implementing a detailed, strategic blueprint for growth. We take it a step further by acting as your accountability partner, helping you achieve your profit plan for the company.

We’d welcome the opportunity to connect with you and help you get a handle on your financials. Contact us today to learn more.

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Category: Financial