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As you plan for your giving budget in this holiday season, remember that THIS YEAR ONLY (per the CARES Act), you can take the standard deduction, as well as up to $300 of cash donations. It has to be cash though, and it's up to $300 per return, so if you file jointly, it's still only $300. (Since most people use the new higher standard deduction, charitable giving is not deductible. But this year, you can claim up to $300 on top of that standard deduction.)

Hi, Natalie here. You have a great selection of tools on hand that will cover every job a customer will bring into your shop. Whether it’s Mac Tools, Snap-on, OTC, or Wright, the right tool for the job is priceless. The tools we’re talking about in this post are for finances, but the same strategy holds true. If you’re planning to do your own bookkeeping, the right tool for your financial job is also priceless. They can take what may appear to be a daunting challenge and save you a ton of time. You’ll be back to running your shop before you know it. Stick around until the end and I’ll outline what’s in my bookkeeping toolbox. Here is an overview with some suggestions on how to choose great financial tools Here are the top 10 categories: 1. Accounting Software QuickBooks has been the go-to software for accounting for decades. There are online tools that may be a better option for you. The most popular choice is Xero and the numbers of small business owners that are using Xero is increasing. Compare several and pick the one that is both robust and flexible. According to the 2015 edition of the Business News Daily’s Buyer’s Guide here are the features you should look for:  Invoicing  Expense Tracking  Client/Vendor Contact Management  Billing and Recurring Payments Automation  Quote and Estimate Creation  Tax Preparation  Multiple-User Access  Payroll Processing  Mobile Access  Integration with Programs Such as Point-Of-Sale Software, Credit Card Processing, and Google Apps 2. Budgeting Tools Creating a budget is the cornerstone of your shop’s financial success. Staying on task within your budget is equally as important. If your accounting software has this feature, you may already have the proper tool to create that budget. If your preference is a tool dedicated to this task, a recommendation is PlanGuru. 3. Payroll Management System Payroll management can occupy so much of your time and mistakes are easy to make. Look for tools that streamline the payroll process and cut costly errors. A tool that integrates with your other tools is another feature to look for. Some tools like SurePayroll can calculate and pay payroll taxes. Simple. A couple of other tool suggestions are ZenPayroll and ADP. These combine payroll and HR functions in one. 4. Agile Billing Speed and flexibility in your billing process means quicker cash flow back to you. With a tools like FreshBooks or Bill.com the billing process will be quicker and give your customers an easy experience. Improving the billing process will serve you and your customers better and shorten delays in receiving payments. 5. Financial Dashboard The dashboard gives you a quick look at your shop’s financial health. See at a glance if your shop is thriving or surviving. Tools such as LivePlan or InDinero give you clear visuals and show you if you’re starting to go off course. Then you can take the actions to keep moving towards your financial destination. 6. Cash Flow Analysis Your accounting software should have cash flow statement capability. As with the budgeting tools there are specialty tools for cash flow tracking. A couple of suggestions are Float or a simple spreadsheet. These give you patterns from the past to offer a forecast of your shop’s financial future. 7. Inventory Management This is all about efficiency and tracking. From the purchase of parts and consumables to generating sales reports and low inventory alerts, this is a very valuable tool. A couple of cloud-based options are SOS Inventory and Scout’s top Shelf. 8. Expense Tracking Those tiny expenses can quickly add up and may be hard to track. Using an expense report tool such as Expensify or Xpenditure makes this much easier. Track those meals, gas, and incidental expenses by scanning receipts and typing in cash expenses. Some tools have the capability to link to mobile devices helping to track these instantly.. 9. Business Credit Card A business credit card, when used properly has several benefits  Improve your shop’s credit history  Earn higher credit limits  Receive rewards and discounts  Manage employee cards (ease of tracking expenses)  Boosts employee morale due to convenience and trust 10. E-commerce Solutions Imagine your customer paying for their oil change before the service is completed. They need a couple of quarts of oil to tie them over. It’s easy to buy them online from their trusted repair shop. Many businesses have seen an increases in cash flow since the beginning of the pandemic by using E-commerce solutions. These are powerful and create revenue streams that you may not have thought of. 11. Three Rivers Bookkeeping With my 5-years of experience, these are the tools I use:  Accounting software – QuickBooks  Payroll Management System – ADP  Agile Billing – bill.com  Financial Dashboard – LivePlan I’m passionate about books and service to my clients. If you’d like to have a conversation about tools and why I selected the one’s above, contact me. I can also outline the services I provide and why adding me to your team may make perfect sense to you. Saving you time and headaches is the value I bring to you, the Auto Repair Shop Owner. View full article

With the end of 2020 fast approaching, we’re going to look at annual financial reports. Your shop’s financial report is being prepared and there are some steps for you to take. There are also steps you can take to prepare for a solid start to the new year. The content of this blog comes from two checklists provided by Three Rivers Bookkeeping. If you would like copies of these checklists, ask by phone or email at the bottom of this post. I would love to deliver these useful tools to you. Let’s start with a quick explanation of the annual report. Annual reports contain your repair shop’s operating and financial activities over the past year. These reports serve two functions: 1. To evaluate your shop’s financial performance 2. Guide you to make future strategic financial decisions. Here is an end of year checklist. You, the shop owner use these items and so does your bookkeeper. These items are the foundation of your annual report. End of Year Checklist:  All bank and credit card account reconciled  Are there any duplicate transactions? Income Statement for the year  Compare to the previous year  Are all the transactions properly categorized?  Are there items in miscellaneous/uncategorized accounts?  Are there any “Ask my Accountant” items?  Do payroll expenses match what was paid for the year? (940/941, state unemployment)  Calculate gross profit percentage of net revenue Balance Sheet for the year  Review each Balance Sheet account  Assets  All transactions are like type and belong in that account  All adjusting entries are accounted for and  All account balances make sense  Liabilities  All transactions are like type and belong in that account  All adjusting entries are accounted for and  All account balances make sense  Equity  All transactions are like type and belong in that account  All adjusting entries are accounted for and  All account balances make sense Last, let’s look at a checklist that will prepare you for the new year and thinking ahead. New Year Checklist:  Make updates to payroll withholding rates, if the rates have changed  Does payroll reflect the correct unemployment rate?  Start a new budget  Fill out the business calendar of important tax dates  Set some goals! My goal in showing you this information is that you will see what to expect at the end of the year. Looking at the new year, this should get you thinking and planning for an outstanding 2021! If I may assist you in any way or if you’d like copies of the checklists outlined above, send an email to me at [email protected]

Within this post we’re going to pull back the covers and take a look at what goes into a quarterly report. For this conversation we’ll be talking about privately owned auto repair shops only. By definition a quarterly report is a summary or collection of unaudited financial statements. These include balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. These are prepared by your bookkeeper every quarter (three months). Some quarterly reports may also include year-to- date figures and compare last year’s quarter to this years quarter results. Companies fiscal years may begin on January 1st and end on December 31st. Some will mirror the federal government’s fiscal year which begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th. For calendar year accounting the quarters end on March 31st, June 30th, September 30th and December 31st. Using the government fiscal year model the quarters end on December 31st, March 31st, June 30th, and September 30th. File quarterly reports within a few weeks of a quarter’s end. Quarterly reports include key accounting and financial data for a company. This includes gross revenue, net profit, operational expenses, and cash flow. If there are investors in the shop, there may be a meeting where the owner presents the quarterly report. The quarterly report is a summary or a collection of the shop’s financial statements. These include balance sheets and income statements and the comparison reports mentioned earlier. Other ingredients in quarterly reports may include an executive summary, goals and objectives, highlights, and new and ongoing challenges. When addressing challenges, the quarterly report may include strategies planned and implemented to overcome them. The specific reports and other ingredients depend upon the ownership structure and what financial data is relevant to the shop. Ownership decides what to include and shares with your bookkeeper so these reports are available on time with accurate data. The presentation of the data is also important. The format is also a decision that is made during a conversation between the shop’s owner and their bookkeeper. Besides the written line-by-line data, graphs and spreadsheet provide a visual representation of the date and help to add context. There are also quarterly payments due and reports that are filed with the IRS, state, and local governments. An example of these is on a quarterly checklist available from Three Rivers Bookkeeping and include the following items::  Make estimated tax payments  Make payroll payments which include  State report and payment  941 report  940 deposit Communication is the most important ingredient to achieve accurate and timely quarterly reports. This ensures quarterly payments are made and reports are filed. I am your source for which reports and payments are needed. Requirements vary depending upon your state and local regulations. You as a shop owner need to communicate what your expectations are for the quarterly report. One sign that you have a competent and professional bookkeeper is the questions she asks. I can guide you to having the quarterly report that will serve you best.

Before this installment, I talked about the balance sheet and before that I educated you about the income statement. Let’s learn about your statement of cash flows and how to read it. My goal today is for you to totally understand the statement of cash flows The statement of cash flows is also called the cash flow statement. It is a general-purpose financial statement and the numbers are related to the information on the balance sheet. When the balance sheet changes, so does the cash account on the cash flow statement for the same time (for this blog we'll be using a month. It also reconciles beginning and ending cash and cash equivalents account balances. Don’t get frustrated by the terms. These will be broken down as we move forward. This statement shows what transaction affected the cash accounts. It also shows how effectively and efficiently your shop uses its cash to finance operations and if needed, expansions in equipment and facilities. In other words, does your shop have good cash flow? A healthy statement of cash flows is very valuable should you look for investors or when is comes time to sell your shop. Generally ‘cash flow’ defines your shop’s ability to collect and maintain positive cash flow and balances to pay upcoming bills. Another way to look at this is that when you have good cash flow, you can pay for your operations and pay your debts without making late payments. The statement of cash flows has three main sections. Cash flows from: Operating Activities Investing Activities Financing Activities Let’s take a look at operating activities Cash flows generated from operating activities include transactions from the operations of the business. This section represents the cash collected from the primary cash generating activities (revenues) of the business like service and sales. These are short-term activities and only affect the current month. An example is, payment of supplies is an operating activity because it relates to the shop’s operations and is used in the current month. Operating cash flows are calculated by adjusting net income by the changes in current asset and liability categories on the balance sheet. Now let’s shift our attention to investing activities. Cash flows from investing activities consist of cash coming in from sales (inflows)and cash going out for purchases of long-term assets (outflows). As defined in an earlier blog a long-term asset is an asset that is not expected to convert to cash within one year of the date shown in the heading of the balance sheet. In other words, the investing section of the statement represents the cash that the shop either collected from selling a long-term asset or spending money on buying a new long-term asset. You can also think of this section as the shop investing in itself. Investing cash flows are calculated by adding up the changes in long-term asset accounts. Drum roll please?! Now for the final topic, financing activities Depending upon the size and structure of your shop financing activities may not apply to your situation. Check out the rest to see if it does. The financing section on the cash flow statement represents the amount of cash collected from issuing stock or taking out loans and the amount of cash disbursed to pay dividends and long-term debt. You can think of financing activities as the ways a shop finances its operations either through long-term debt or investment financing. Financing cash flows are calculated by adding up the changes in all the long-term liability and equity accounts. These numbers come from your balance sheet If you need a bit more help understanding your cash flow statement, sit down with your bookkeeper and she will show you the money until you have total understanding of what your cash flow statement means to your shop.

Check out this post to learn about the three parts of your balance sheet; Assets, Liabilities, and Equity. We’ll break them apart but first here’s a statement about a balance sheet in general. A balance sheet is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of what a company owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by owners, investors and/or shareholders. In other words, the balance sheet shows a shop owner(s) the shop's net worth. Now let’s talk about assets. Within the assets segments, accounts are typically listed from top to bottom in the order they convert into cash. The term for that is liquidity. Assets are separated into current assets (converted into cash in one year or less) and non-current or long-term assets (cannot convert into cash within 12 months). In general, this is the order that current assets are listed on your balance sheet: Cash and cash equivalents The most liquid and can include Hard currency Treasury bills Short term certificates of deposit Marketable securities Equity and debt securities for which there is a liquid market Accounts receivable Money that customers owe the shop Consider subtracting a percentage of customers who can be expected not to pay Inventory Goods available for sale Value these at a lower cost or market price Prepaid expenses The value that has already been paid for: Insurance Advertising/marketing contracts Rent/Mortgage Long-term assets are listed in any order and they include: Long-term investments Securities that will not or cannot be liquidated in the next year Fixed assets Land Machinery Equipment Buildings Other durable, capital-intensive assets From the plus side of the sheet, assets, now let’s move into the minus side or liabilities. Liabilities are the money that a shop owes to outside parties, to include invoices to suppliers and/or vendors to rent/mortgage, utilities and salaries. As with assets, these are separated into current liabilities (due within one year,listed in order of their due date) and long-term liabilities (due after one year). Current liabilities may include the following: Current portion of long-term debt Bank loans Interest payable Wages payable Customer prepayments Earned and unearned premiums Within the insurance category; talk to your bookkeeper or insurance agent Accounts payable Long-term liabilities may include the following: Long-term debt Example: interest and principles on bonds issued Pension fund liability The contributions the shop pays into employees’ retirement accounts like a 401K Deferred tax liability Taxes that the shop owes but will not pay for another year See you tax professional for an explanation The final category, equity, known as owners’ equity or shareholder’s equity, depending upon the size and structure of the shop ownership. This is also called “net assets,” which is calculated by subtracting liabilities (debt owed to non-shareholders) from total assets. A sub category to equity is retained earnings. These are earnings retained by the shop owners and is not paid to investors in the form of dividends. Retained earnings are used to pay down debt or invest in the shop for expansion or to take advantage of growth opportunities such as new or upgraded equipment or expanding the footprint of the shop. Balance sheets have some limitations. This snapshot contains valuable information is it static and represents one moment. When combined with the other financial reports, the income statement and the statement of cash flows shows you the complete picture of your shops financial health. If you have any questions or concerns about your balance sheet, sit down with your bookkeeper and she will be able to pull back the covers until you have total understanding of what the balance sheet means to your shop.

Last time we took a quick look at three financial reports: Balance sheet Income statement Statement of cash flows We talked about how you should read/review each of these monthly like reading the financial GPS to your repair shop’s finances. How financially healthy is your shop? Not-so-subtle hint, if you haven’t talked to your bookkeeper about the three reports, book an appointment with her today. In this day and age, this is a bare minimum service that your bookkeeper should be providing for your business. Your bookkeeper should also be able to easily explain what each point on these reports mean specifically for your business. We’re diving deeper into what an Income Statement is. You may want to take notes as you read along or print this out. Great, useful information coming your way… Income statements show how much profit a business generated during a specific time slice. This includes the amount of expenses incurred while earning revenue. Talk to your bookkeeper about the most effective interval for your specific situation. Income statements are also known as a profit and loss statement (P & L) and can be called a statement of operations, statement of earnings, or statement of income. Remember the income statement shows: Revenues Cost of goods sold Expenses Gains Losses You can also learn a great story from the income statement: Is the business making money? Are the products and services the right ones? Are products and services priced correctly? Do we know what our true direct costs are? Do we have the right mix of clients? It does not show: Cash receipts (money you receive) Cash disbursements (money you pay out) The income statement shows how profitable your repair shop was during the previous month, quarter, and year. This part of your financial road map is important because it is a clear snapshot of how healthy your shop is. Let’s take a look at other users of the income statement. Income statements are not only used by business owners. Others who also place high importance on Income Statements and the information they show are: Accountants Bookkeepers Current Investors Prospective Investors Banks and other Lenders Each one of these people glean crucial information from this profit and loss statement. Looking at the structure of an income statement it finds the net income of a business. This is described as total revenue minus total expenses. Start from the gross income from revenue the business received and work from there to get to the net income. Depending upon how many different sources of revenue or expenses a shop may have this can involve a lot of figures. Common income generating services may include: Diagnostics Alignment checks Suspension A/C and Heating Oil changes Brake jobs Tire repair and replacement Engine work Transmission tuneups and repairs With each of these services come their own specific expenses. You can see how valuable your bookkeeper is as she creates an accurate profit and loss statement. Overhead is also listed in the expense side of the statement and examples of these expenses are: Rent/mortgage Advertising Marketing Office Supplies Utility bills Insurance Depreciation of fixed assets Not all of these may apply to your shop and there may be more overhead expenses which are not listed here. Subtract the operating expenses from the gross income and you have a total known as your operating income. This may also be your net income if there are no other figures to factor into your shops finances. We mentioned investors, banks, and lenders earlier. They, as the shop owner, use Income Statements for comparison from previous months, quarters, and/or fiscal years. With this information, you and they can better analyze if your shop is getting financially stronger. When looking to buy, lease, or repair your equipment, these numbers are valuable to securing financing at the most attractive terms available. We hope you have learned more about how an income statement is structured and the critical information it shows you. Sit down with your bookkeeper and let her teach you what your profit and loss statement says. That’s part of her job she enjoys because she wants you to have the full financial picture of your successful repair shop.

Let's take a look at three financial reports, balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows. You should read/review each of these monthly. Looking at the numbers from these three reports is a clear picture of your shop’s financial health. This is a road map to planning your future. Let’s begin with the balance sheet. A balance sheet is a snapshot of your shop's financial condition at a moment in time. In the this article, we’re going to use a month as the bookkeeping period. Assets and liabilities are short- and long-term obligations. These include cash accounts such as checking, money market, or government securities. An asset is anything the business owns that has monetary value. Liabilities are the claims of creditors against the assets of the business. Now that we know what a balance sheet is, let’s take a look at how you use a balance sheet. A balance sheet helps a shop owner get a handle on the financial strength of the business. Is the business in a position to expand? Can your shop handle the normal financial ebbs and flows of income and expenses? Should the repair shop take immediate steps to increase cash reserves? Now let’s shift our focus onto the second type of report, the income statement. Income statements show how much profit a business generated during a specific time slice (in this discussion, one month). This include the amount of expenses incurred while earning revenue. Income statements are also know as profit and loss statement (P & L). This is a statement of operations, statement of earnings, or statement of income. Keep in mind the income statement shows revenues, expenses, gains, and losses. It does not show cash receipts (money you receive) nor cash disbursements (money you pay out). The income statement shows how profitable your repair shop was during the previous month. This part of your financial road map is important because it is a clear snapshot of how healthy your shop is. Another use of income statements is they are critical to obtaining credit should the need arise. Balance sheets, along with income statements, are the most basic elements in providing financial reporting. Provide these to potential lenders such as banks, investors, and vendors who are considering how much credit to grant the firm. Ready for the third piece of your monthly financial tripod? Let’s move forward to the statement of cash flows. The statement of cash flows also known as the cash flow statement, reports the cash generated and used during the time interval specified; monthly for this conversation. Generally, the period of time is the same as the income statement. The statement of cash flows reports a businesses major cash flows in the following categories: Operating Activities - Converts the items reported on the income statement from the accrual basis of accounting to cash. Investing Activities - Reports the buy and sale of long-term investments and property, plant, and equipment Financing Activities - Reports the borrowings and repayment of short-term and long-term bank loans and other debt. Supplemental Information - Reports the exchange of significant items that did not involve cash and reports the amount of income taxes paid and interest paid. Now that you have an overview of income statements, balance sheets, and statement of cash flows, consider your next action. Having a conversation with your bookkeeper so she can teach you how each of these reports apply to your specific situation. Her explaining how these reports crafted to your business shines a light on how to understand what all the numbers mean. By reading and reviewing these reports on a monthly basis, you will keep your finger on the financial pulse of your business. Know exactly what moves you can make that will protect and move your repair shop forward. Like a road map or GPS that guides you to your destination, these reports are the coordinates you plug into your financial GPS to keep you on course to a solid financial future.

Are you thinking about hiring a bookkeeper to handle the day to day finances of your business but not sure of the price tag? Not to worry, here at Three Rivers Bookkeeping, we want to give you as much information as possible so that you can make an informed decision about hiring a great bookkeeper. What is the initial cost? When outsourcing a new bookkeeper there might be some up front costs that are incurred and they can range anywhere from $200 - $5000. Why can this range be so big? There are several questions and considerations that a bookkeeper will have for you that will go into the initial cost. A good bookkeeper will request read-only access of your financial information. In order for them to give you an accurate initial cost, they need to be able to see the current state of your finances. A few questions that they might have for you include: Are your books up-to-date? Are your taxes up-to-date? Has the bookkeeping been kept up or is there clean up that needs to taken care of? Do you already have accounting software or does this need to be set up? Is there payroll for the business? If there are several months worth of clean up work, some of these initial costs may be paid over several months and that can ease the payment of the initial cost. What are the monthly costs? The costs of outsourcing a good bookkeeper for your business are dependent on many, many different variables. Company size, the number of bank and credit card accounts, the number of transactions per month, the number of employees, how payroll is handled, how many invoices need to be sent out and how many bills the business incurs every month are just a few of the variables that can go into the monthly cost of hiring a bookkeeper. When considering these variables, a good outsourced bookkeeper can charge anywhere from $550 - $2500 per month depending on the level of service that your business needs, their expertise or specific industry that they work with. There's no doubt that you get what you pay for and unfortunately hiring a good bookkeeper is not going to be cheap, however, a good bookkeeper is worth their weight in gold when it comes to saving you money during tax time, keeping your finances organized and up to IRS standards and keeping your accountant happy when tax time comes around. However, one of the all time best benefits for you, is that your bookkeeper will be able to prepare critical financial statements and best of all be able to educate you on what these key business documents mean for your business. Now I know you're probably sitting here with your jaw almost to the floor with those numbers but in all reality, a great bookkeeper is going to save you more money than you actually spend for their monthly services. What should be included in monthly services? The three biggest reasons to have a bookkeeper is to make sure that you are staying in compliance with IRS regulations, are ready for tax time and to help you understand where your business stands financially. A quick, bare minimum list of the services that your bookkeeper should be providing for you: Correct organization and classification of transactions in accounting software Monthly reconciliation of bank and credit card accounts Monthly financial statements Takeaways Hiring a good virtual bookkeeper can not only keep you in compliance but can help your business reach ultimate financial success. Three Rivers Bookkeeping specializes in outsourced bookkeeping for auto shops. If you have any more questions after reading this article, please do not hesitate to reach out. Now get out there and do what you do best... run your business like the champ that you are!