Jeff Haskett, CEO of Clarus R+D, and Kevin Dehner, CPA at Clark Schaefer Hackett, authored this article for Accounting Today.

Remember strolling through the aisles of Blockbuster Video to find just the right movie on Friday night? At its peak, Blockbuster owned over 9,000 video-rental stores throughout the United States and had 65 million customers. Today, aside from the lone Blockbuster storefront in Bend, Oregon, Blockbuster has essentially disappeared. Why?

With Netflix nipping at its heels, Blockbuster was well aware of the future trend of streaming video. However, it underestimated how quickly the future would come. Once it decided to prioritize the change, it was too late. As people have begun to talk about “Accounting 4.0,” the change in our industry is now.

Accounting 4.0

As a result of increasing technology and automation, accounting firms are finding themselves at a crossroads where they will need to shift their primary focus from compliance to a more balanced approach including value-based consulting services.

Compliance work will always be needed, but the question is who will provide it? As this work gets more commoditized and automated with technology, firms are already feeling competitive pressure from new tech-forward services offered online. To use the Blockbuster reference, people didn’t stop watching movies; they just shifted to a new delivery model when they struggled to see the value in the old one.

Accounting 4.0 offers a more comprehensive and holistic approach to accounting. It connects physical with digital and allows for better collaboration and access between CPAs and their clients. Accounting 4.0 empowers firms to better control and understand clients, leverage data to boost productivity, improve processes and drive growth. Let’s embrace it as the opportunity that it is.

Read full article

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Some folks think they will love it and after a year realize they miss the structure, security, and paid time off that often comes with working for someone else. Our partner, Brooklyn FI, lays out a brief overview of what it takes to start a business and the things you should be thinking about at each stage of revenue.

What really matters

• Keep personal and business expenses separate.
• Books and records should be overseen by a professional bookkeeper.
• Save 40% of every dollar you receive to prepare for filing your tax return.
• Use a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k) to defer taxes.
• Choose an entity type that fits your business needs.
• And more…

Read full article by Brooklyn FI

Revenue recognition and revenue reconciliation are crucial parts of a successful month-end close. Often, startups only focus on recording and recognizing transactions, but that’s only the first step. In this article, Furey covers the basics of revenue reconciliation—what it is, how to approach it, and why it’s important for your business. You’ll learn:

1. The difference between revenue recognition and revenue reconciliation
2. Why is revenue reconciliation important?
3. How to approach revenue reconciliation
4. Common mistakes when reconciling revenue
5. Preparing your startup for revenue reconciliation

Read full article by Furey

Your clients trust you to help them minimize their tax obligations. Recent enhancements to the R&D credit make it a viable and lucrative incentive for early-stage as well as established innovative businesses.

More SMBs qualify for R&D tax credits than ever before and need help claiming them. We partner with accounting firms, financial advisors, investors, payroll providers, and more to increase access to this meaningful tax incentive. Our mission aligns with yours, put hard-earned money back into the hands of the innovative companies that are fueling the growth of our economy. Partnering with Clarus R+D is a win for you and your clients.

We partner with accounting firms, financial advisors, investors, payroll providers, and more.

The R&D tax credit

The R&D tax credit is the most lucrative tax credit in the U.S. The PATH Act of 2015 greatly expanded the credit’s usefulness to startups and SMBs by making three significant changes:

• Early-stage companies that are not yet paying income tax can now utilize the credit as an offset to payroll taxes.
• Many companies can now use the credit to offset their AMT liability.
• The R&D tax credit is now written into permanent law.

We believe companies that are investing annually in R&D have a fiduciary duty to take advantage of the R&D tax credit every year. As a financial partner to these companies, you have an opportunity to add value. And this is where we come in. Clarus R+D offers partnership options that best fit your needs and those of your clients.

Types of partnerships

• Referral: A good way to start. Clarus R+D is your trusted partner that performs R&D tax studies for your clients.
• Outsource: Power your own R&D practice. Clarus R+D provides white-label software and all the backend heavy lifting, but you present R&D as one of your service offerings.
• Software: High tech autonomy. Use only our software to help you ensure compliance, drive efficiency, and increase profitability.
• Co-Marketing: Partner with Clarus R+D to educate and inform your audience about the value of R&D tax credits.

Referral partner

Your clients trust you and look to you for advice. By referring clients to Clarus R+D for R&D tax credits, you add to their bottom line and help drive innovation. The referral option is an easy way to get started with R&D tax credits. If you think you have a client that qualifies for the R&D tax credit, refer them over to us and we’ll keep you up-to-date on their progress. In the end, you’ll receive qualification reports to document eligibility and form 6765 to include in their return.

Outsource

The outsource partnership works well if you are familiar with the R&D tax credit and have a number of clients that qualify. You offer the credit as a service under your firm’s brand but without the risk and overhead. A white-label version of our software helps you drive efficiency and compliance. We do the backend study review. At the end of the day, you add value for your clients and your firm, but without the expense of a new R&D practice.

Software

Already offering R&D tax credits to your clients? Need ways to increase compliance and efficiency? With our software partnership, all R&D studies are completed between you and your client using a white-label version of our platform. If you need any technical help with the software, Clarus R+D is available.

Co-Marketing

Many growing businesses continue to miss the R&D credit. Some perceive it to be too complex or costly. Others mistakenly believe they don’t qualify. Many businesses perform activities that qualify for the R&D tax credit without realizing it. Co-market with Clarus R+D to educate and inform your audience about the value of R&D tax credits.

Our partnership options make it easy for you and your clients to take advantage of the R&D tax credit.

Schedule a demo to learn more

If you’re not a financial wizard (but you are a business owner), it can be daunting to assess all of your financial statements, keep them up-to-date, and truly understand them. Book+Street looked at the three most important financial tools they use and how they can help you build and maintain a financially healthy business.

1. Cash flow forecast
2. Profit and loss statement
3. Balance statement

Read full article by Book+Street

Too often, business leaders get stuck in the weeds when it comes to daily administrative tasks. Things like expense management, benefits admin, and payroll questions are time consuming. Suitless looked at hundreds of successful business leaders and how they focus their energies. This is a pretty darned good list of things they all adopt. And it does not include back-office work.

1. Build culture
2. Impart strategy
3. Integrate effective metrics
4. Engage stakeholders
5. Think about optics
6. Handpick for management and leadership
7. Keep friends and family near
8. Take care of yourself

The end of the year is an important time for your business. Whether it’s corporate tax filings or company parties, there are a multitude of things to get right before saying goodbye to 2020.

That’s why Gusto put together this checklist to help you get your business—and your employees—ready for next year.

1. Verify employee data
2. Verify employee benefit information
3. Verify contractor information
4. End-of-year extras

Read full article by Gusto