If you are an early-stage or growing business, there is a good chance you are using a basic accounting system like QuickBooks because at that stage, accounting is relatively simple. But soon your business will grow and the need for US GAAP-compliant financial reporting requires greater time and effort for accounting to keep up. Many QuickBooks users may not be aware of the software’s growing capabilities for automation even within its most basic version – saving you the time needed for other strategic initiatives. Read on as I share a few pro tips to update your QuickBooks experience – whether you’re an employee or contractor.

Ask anyone who works in professional services if they’ve ever had trouble filling their 8-hour day with work. You will be hard-pressed to find someone who answers with a yes. In fact, more often than not, employees are burning the candle at both ends trying to complete their projects within their work week, which, at large professional service firms, is often much higher than the standard 40 hours. In fact, for many, working long hours at grueling jobs is a badge of honor, which creates a culture of peer pressure for everyone to hit those milestones. How do we enable our employees to actually achieve work-life balance?

Last week we began to demystify crypto. We talked about the US GAAP scope of guidance that it is believed to fall under, and how to recognize and hold it on your balance sheet. Now let’s tackle when to consider impairment, and how to derecognize it through use, sale, or exchange.

Admit it – cryptocurrency is a strange concept; it didn’t even exist 15 years ago. But in just two years, the crypto market cap has reached unbelievable levels of up to $3 trillion (and crashing down to $1.7 trillion in January 2022). Tesla started (and stopped) accepting Bitcoin as payment for car purchases, investors pay millions for a Bored Apes NFT, the Los Angeles Lakers now play in the Crypto.com Arena, and some people ended up crazy rich buying Dogecoin just because it featured a picture of a famed Shiba Inu meme. Needless to say, the world of cryptocurrency is a weird place, and it’s high time we start making sense of the madness.

Communication, integrity, respect… These are qualities for which any company would like to be known. And yet, it might be hard to believe that in 2000, Enron claimed these exact values were part of their core mission. Today, I don’t think anyone associates Enron with integrity. So, what is the point of corporate values and how do you ensure they actually reflect your culture and mission?

If you work with a start-up or early-stage company, chances are that you have experienced “doing a lot with a little.” When initial investment is low, rationing your cash is critical. Accounting becomes a lower priority and budgets include the bare minimum to meet record-keeping requirements. Enter: QuickBooks. Thousands of businesses use and highly rate the software for its ability to perform the most essential bookkeeping functions. At just a few hundred dollars a year, it may seem like a no-brainer. But what happens further down the road?