1 - 8 - 0 - 0 - H - A - R - T

Background

In Manitoba, if you are a licensed establishment and can sell Beer, Liquor and Wine .. you need to account for the purchases in the accounting records. It can be difficult, because most of the time (I believe), the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) holds on to preauthorized blank cheques .. the hotel or establishment just places an order, and a cheque is issued, or automatically debited out of the company’s bank account. There are usually invoices emailed to the business and just packing slips included with the shipments.

In Manitoba, Vendors selling Beer have a special price. The price is preset, plus GST and plus GST .. and then a refundable bottle deposit price is added. Individuals can return the empty beer bottles and receive that bottle deposit back. Beer drinkers do not just have to bring back the bottles purchased at one particular establishment, they can return it to any vendor that will accept returns. Usually, the MLCC (I believe) pays these vendors an extra 2 cents per bottle as a handling fee. Believe me .. it can start to get quite complicated - especially if you are “in tune” with what is really happening and monitoring your gross profit percentages.

More →

I recently picked up a new monthly account and my client asked me the following two questions ..

(1) What do you need to get each month?
(2) What do I get back from you each month?

I pretty much explained it to be similar to what you will read below the fold. If this type of stuff interests you, you can hit MORE to continue .. or go to the next post upwards!

More →

There are two main reasons why businesses today should care about the proper coding of cheque stubs, before giving them to the accountant or bookkeeper for input and preparation of the monthly financial statements …

* (1) Because your accountant or bookkeeper was not present when you issued the cheque, it makes sense to put as much detail on the cheque as possible to describe why you issued the cheque .. instead of letting them guess what it is for

More →

In my travels, I have worked with many individuals, such as students and associates in public practice, clients and ex-clients over the years, and well .. even in general - ones who can pass a test, get an A+ on exams, have respectable degrees, high paying jobs, a lot of respect in the community .. yet - they can’t reconcile the bank.

I’ve discussed earlier about the concept of reconciliation .. which just goes to show that identifying the transactions is not the end-all process in reconciling your cheque book … This happens when you will find that generally, in a given month:

More →

In the past year I have been engaged to do monthly accounting and bookkeeping for several clients. Although my rates are higher than a normal part-time bookkeeper that a company may hire, sometimes it makes sense to hire your accountant do also perform interim financial statements. Because I am familiar with the work and detail needed when comes time to perform the Year End Financial Statements and Income Tax Returns, it is “BETTER” and “EASIER” getting information while it is fresh in everybody’s head.

Overall, professional fees for the year might be a little highe, but some clients can appreciate the benefit of having their accountant “in the loop”. I make sure (or at least try to the best that I can) that the client is “COMPLIANT” with all reporting requirements. This would include reminders for:

More →