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Categories for General Business News

  • How Secure 2.0 Will Impact Employers’ Tax Situations

    Posted Date March 1, 2023 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readThe Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement 2.0 Act of 2022, otherwise known as SECURE 2.0, is a piece of legislation that focuses on how employers and their employees are able to save for retirement and how it impacts their bottom lines. Businesses with as many as 50 employees can receive a tax credit when they offer a defined contribution plan to employees. The start-up tax credit permits up to 100 percent of start-up costs ($5,000 annually) to offset administrative expenses to implement a start-up plan. However, for businesses with 51 to 100 employees, the... View Article

  • Defining an Impaired Asset

    Posted Date February 1, 2023 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readWhen it comes to defining an impaired asset, its fair market value is worth less than the original cost of the asset – or, more formally, its carrying value. As a company re-evaluates its assets’ value, and when it determines there’s a discrepancy between the book or original value and the current market value, impaired assets that are lower in value are written down on the balance sheet. The business’ income statement shows a loss for the negative difference in value. Impaired assets can be Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E), goodwill, or fixed assets. Making a... View Article

  • Understanding the Weighted Average Cost (WAC) Method for Inventory Valuation

    Posted Date January 1, 2023 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readWhen it comes to businesses and their inventory and accounting methods for managing it, there are a few different ways to approach the task. The three different options to value inventory/implement cost flow assumptions, include: Last In, First Out (LIFO); First In, First Out (FIFO); and Weighted Average Cost Accounting (WAC). This article will focus only on the WAC method. Weighted Average Cost (WAC) Method WAC is a way to value inventory based on how much each tranche contributes to the overall valuation of its cost of goods sold (COGS) and inventory. Recognized by both GAAP... View Article

  • Defining and Calculating Amortization

    Posted Date December 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readWhen there’s a question of the benefit that tangible or intangible assets provide businesses, there are many factors that must be weighed to make internal accounting procedures effective. Businesses must determine how the cost of business assets can be expensed each year over the asset’s lifespan. Looking at how amortization and depreciation work, implementing both processes depend on the type of asset being expensed. There are noticeable differences for each method, including how to salvage value is considered, whether accelerated expensing is allowed, and how each type is expressed on financial statements. Amortization Amortization is an... View Article

  • Auditing: What it is & Why It’s Done

    Posted Date November 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readThe Importance of Auditing Auditing typically refers to an objective review of a company’s financial statements, which consists of the cash flow statement, the income statement and the balance sheet. It analyzes the level of accuracy that the business has characterized its financial records. The process looks at how a business documents investing, financing and operating ventures. Depending on the type of audit and what it aims to accomplish, it can be conducted by internal employees or independent, third-party examiners like a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm or a government agency such as the Internal Revenue... View Article

  • Financial Accounting Overview

    Posted Date October 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 5 min readFinancial accounting is how accounting professionals document, compile and outline how a business performs financially over a discrete period of time. Unlike cost accounting, which is used primarily for internal short and long-term strategic planning, financial accounting focuses primarily on producing relevant documentation for outside parties interested in short- and long-term financial performance. Small businesses, large corporations and nonprofits use the following financial statements produced for relevant parties: the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and the Income Statement. When it comes to publicly traded companies, their financial accounting standards are overseen by generally accepted accounting... View Article

  • How Cost Accounting Helps Businesses Measure Performance

    Posted Date September 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readCost accounting is a type of accounting that analyzes a business’ complete production costs by looking at both variable and fixed costs. This includes the concepts of marginal costing, lean accounting, standard costing and activity-based costing. It’s used by a business’ management to evaluate fixed and variable costs involved in the manufacturing operations. The initial step is to assess and document such costs one-by-one. Once production is finished, it will contrast projected costs to what actual costs ended up being and see how processes can be improved. Management gleans information on how funds are used, revenue... View Article

  • How Businesses Can Mitigate Inflation & Maintain Pricing Power

    Posted Date August 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 5 min readWhether it’s tariffs, trade wars, or post-pandemic inflation caused by kink-ridden supply chains and what many experts believe to be excess money printing, inflation is an insidious drag on businesses’ operations. When it comes to energy’s contribution to inflation, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that crude and natural gas prices in 2022 have increased on an annualized and weekly basis. Looking at the snapshot of 7/21/2022, WTI crude on the futures market was $96.35 a barrel. This was up more than $26 compared to 12 months ago, and $0.57 higher than a week earlier.... View Article

  • Measuring the Margins

    Posted Date July 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 5 min readCorporate profits, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, grew by $20.4 billion in the final quarter of 2021, a 0.7 percent increase. For the first quarter of 2022, corporate profits fell by 2.3 percent or $66.4 billion. On an annualized basis, corporate profits fell 5.2 percent in 2022, but grew 25 percent in 2021. With the economy facing inflation, the uncertainty of the Russia/Ukraine conflict, and the world working its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty abounds. For companies, measuring margins is one way to evaluate performance and strategize ways to survive and... View Article

  • How to Calculate the Cash Conversion Cycle

    Posted Date June 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readThe Cash Conversion Cycle, also known as the Net Operating Cycle, answers the question, “How many days does it take a company to pay for and generate cash from the sales of its inventory?” However, before an analysis like this can take place, it’s important to consider the company’s primary line of business. If the company sells software, it’s more challenging to measure performance if it generates revenue primarily on intellectual property – by developing computer code and licensing its use to clients. For online marketplaces, especially those that make the majority of their profits from... View Article

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