Your Guide To Financial Peace Of Mind

Read more: Found here

At their core, accounting services are professional solutions that manage and analyze financial transactions, records, and statements. They encompass everything from basic bookkeeping to advanced financial planning and tax preparation. Here's a breakdown of common accounting services:

Accounting services are vital for maintaining order in financial records, which, in turn, helps businesses make informed decisions. Here's why they're indispensable:

Bookkeeping is the foundation of all accounting services. Bookkeepers manage daily financial records, such as sales, expenses, and payroll. This meticulous record-keeping forms the basis for more complex accounting tasks.

Tax preparation is one of the most popular accounting services. It involves calculating taxes owed, preparing tax returns, and ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal tax regulations. Accountants who specialize in tax services often help clients identify deductions and credits that reduce tax liabilities.

Auditing involves examining financial statements to ensure accuracy and adherence to standards. Audits are essential for businesses looking to maintain trust with shareholders and comply with regulatory requirements. An audit can be internal (conducted by employees) or external (conducted by an independent firm).

Payroll processing is more than just issuing paychecks. It includes managing tax withholdings, employee benefits, and year-end documentation. Outsourcing payroll to accounting services simplifies this complex task, ensuring accuracy and compliance.

Financial advisory services are designed for businesses aiming to improve profitability, manage cash flow, or prepare for future growth. Accountants offer advice on budget management, financial forecasts, and investment opportunities, aligning financial goals with business strategy.

Forensic accounting delves into financial discrepancies and fraud detection. Often called upon during legal cases, forensic accountants analyze records to uncover fraud, embezzlement, or financial misconduct.

What Can Wales Expect From The Budget Next Week?

More details: Visit website

Headlines:

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford has said he does not expect ⁘a bumper Budget for Wales⁘ from Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday.

Drakeford said he had been ⁘in conversations⁘ with the Treasury and prime minister about coal tip safety , and he was ⁘hopeful that we will see a movement in that direction⁘ when it comes to paying for making former coal mines safe.

He added if it was not forthcoming this week then he expected it would be mentioned in the Spring statement.

Meanwhile, opposition parties warned that there would be negative impacts, particularly for rural Wales, in the Budget.

Sam Kurtz, Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire and the Welsh Conservative's economy spokesman, said increases to National Insurance contributions for employers would ⁘negatively impact⁘ Wales' small and medium-sized businesses, and a hike in fuel duty would have a disproportionate impact on rural households.

Ceredigion Preseli MP Ben Lake MP, Plaid Cymru's Treasury spokesman, said he was ⁘very concerned⁘ about speculation that scrapping relief on inheritance tax for agricultural land, ⁘would devastate the family farm model that is the bedrock of the agricultural industry in Wales⁘.

Drakeford also said there would not be any changes to the model used to calculate how much money the Welsh government receive from the UK Labour government, despite Welsh Labour long campaigning for a shake-up to the Barnett formula .

He said one of the chancellor's most ⁘difficult decisions⁘ was cutting winter fuel payments to pensioners and making it a means-tested benefit.

#news

The Economics Of Thinness (Ozempic Edition)

Read more: See here

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "Hunger games"

000 Illinois Residents Sent Checks For Unclaimed Property: 'It Is Not A Scam,*

Read more: Found here

Thousands of Illinois residents may have a check from the state waiting for them in their mailboxes.

The Illinois State Treasurer's office recently sent unclaimed property checks to 138,561 people in Illinois, totaling a record $13.2 million.

Treasurer Michael Frerichs held a news conference Tuesday to remind Illinois residents to cash these checks.

"We have done such a good job convincing people in the state that there are identity thieves out there, that they think it's a scam. They think it's a hoax and these checks go uncashed," Frerichs said.

These checks are part of the latest wave sent out through the Enhanced Money Match program, which allows the treasurer's office to automatically return money to Illinois residents without them filing a claim.

Overtime Fraud Trial Set For Baltimore School Officer

More details: Visit website

Smith, a Baltimore City Public Schools police detective and eight-time state champion football coach, is accused of tax violations and using police overtime pay to fraudulently obtain more than $215,000 taxpayer dollars. According to federal court records, his jury trial has been scheduled for May 12, 2025. If convicted, he faces decades in prison.

As FOX45 investigated Smith⁘s overtime earnings, more potential issues were uncovered concerning how your tax dollars were being spent. But once Smith was indicted, city school officials stopped answering questions or releasing records ⁘ saying they didn⁘t⁘ want to compromise the federal investigation. As a result, there are still significant questions that remain unanswered. Among them:

When a City Schools officer submits an overtime form, it⁘s approved and signed by multiple supervisors. FOX45 News obtained 857 of Smith⁘s overtime forms.

Lt. Danaena White signed 659 of Smith⁘s overtime forms. Lt. Alphonso Small signed 462. Many of those signatures were for overtime Smith claimed to work at COVID sites in the city during the pandemic.

Santa Rosa Ramps Up Crackdown On Illicit Massage Businesses With New Regulations Targeting...

Source: See here

Santa Rosa officials and police highlighted significant progress in cracking down on illicit massage businesses during a public safety meeting Tuesday, including efforts to address suspected trafficking and a proposed overhaul of outdated city ordinances that may have allowed illicit activity to flourish.

Officials anticipate a draft of the new regulations by the end of the year. The updated statute, to include added restrictions and enforcement, is expected to go before the planning commission and City Council early next year.

While details of that operation haven't been released , Santa Rosa police on Tuesday provided more information about their surveillance of other illicit massage parlors in the city.

None of the people were cited, but police said the customers were provided educational resources on commercial sex crimes and human trafficking.

"If you're somebody that frequents massage parlors to participate in sexual acts for money, know that you're likely to be contributing to trafficking," said Lisa Diaz-McQuaid, human trafficking caseworker for Verity. "You might think it's harmless. It's really not."

Cregan said at Tuesday's meeting that investigators will continue monitoring suspected illicit massage businesses and their patrons. They are also targeting business owners who "clearly are promoting commercial sex trafficking."

Nobel Economics Prize Awarded To Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson And James Robinson - The New York...

Read more: Visit website

They received the prize for their research into how institutions shape which countries become wealthy and prosperous — and how those structures came to exist in the first place.

The laureates delved into the world's colonial past to trace how gaps emerged between nations, arguing that countries that started out with more inclusive institutions during the colonial period tended to become more prosperous. Their pioneering use of theory and data has helped to better explain the reasons for persistent inequality between nations, according to the Nobel committee.

"Reducing the huge differences in income between countries is one of our times' greatest challenges," Jakob Svensson, chairman of the economics prize committee, said while announcing the award. Thanks to the economists' "groundbreaking research," he said, "we have a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed."

Countries with "inclusive" institutions that protected personal property rights and allowed for widespread economic participation tended to end up on a pathway to longer-term prosperity. Those that had what the researchers called "extractive" institutions — ones that helped elites to maintain control, but which gave workers little hope of sharing in the wealth — merely provided short-term gains for the people in power.

"Rather than asking whether colonialism is good or bad, we note that different colonial strategies have led to different institutional patterns that have persisted over time," Dr. Acemoglu said during a news conference after the prize was announced.

Here's What Corpus Christi Voters Need To Know About Sales Taxes On The Ballot

Source: Visit website

Correction: Corpus Christi voters last considered changes to sales taxes last year. A previous version of this story misstated when sales taxes last appeared on the ballot.

How the city uses two voter-approved sales taxes will be back on the ballot next week — meaning residents can again choose whether to continue the sales taxes under their proposed new purposes.

Proposition E and Proposition F request that voters reauthorize the two existing sales taxes and reallocate the revenue for a spread of projects in the downtown area, citywide flood mitigation and work on certain types of streets.

If approved, Proposition E and Proposition F would be in effect for 20 years, according to ballot language.

City officials estimate each sales tax would garner about $200 million over the term, a city-published informational booklet shows.

Because Proposition E and Proposition F are separate propositions, voters have the option of supporting one, both or neither.

Below is a breakdown of what voters need to know about the sales tax propositions before arriving at the polls.

One 1/8-cent sales tax is invested into the American Bank Center's arena, while the second 1/8-cent sales tax benefits the seawall, downtown's first line of defense in a storm.

Art Of Accounting: System Changes

Source: See here

Systems run a business, not people. People run the systems. Without good systems and compliance, most businesses will have as many systems as there are people. Think about any successful franchise, with McDonald's, Subway and Jersey Mike's coming quickly to mind. None of these could be successful without a system that is followed by everyone everywhere every time . And the people working there follow the system because they have to. Now, let's compare this to a CPA practice or any service business.

Most service businesses and particularly CPA practices employ highly intelligent knowledgeable staff who usually know how to get their work done; and unless they are at the lowest level, they do not need much supervision on most of what they work on. The problem comes with supervising and training younger level staff and also higher level who aspire to move up to the next level and then on from there. Systems need to be established for every level regardless of the technical expertise required to get the services successfully performed.

Making system changes means making changes. This only is accomplished if the firm leaders are committed to improvements. Yesterday's methods must have worked quite well to bring you to today but cannot be relied upon to bring you past today into the many tomorrows that will come.

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.

11 Marketing Budget Templates That Cost Nothing

Source: Visit website

A well planned marketing budget helps you ensure costs align with planned expenditures throughout the year. As a side effect, they can also help measure campaign ROI.

The best way to stay on top of marketing finances is with an easily repeatable system. The free marketing budget templates below will help you create one so you can categorize expenses, plan ahead, and allocate resources without blowing your budget.

Smartsheet combines everything you appreciate about spreadsheets and relational databases with project management features. Beyond budget tracking, marketing teams can use it to assign tasks, collaborate with each other, and share updates with stakeholders.

You'll get the most from these templates using them inside of Smartsheet. However, there's no free plan.

Smartsheet's simple marketing budget template is beginner-friendly and super straightforward. It comes with the basics any decision maker needs to plan and track marketing expenses — including the ability to show projected costs against your actual budget across every marketing category.

It's easy to track costs by week, month, quarter, or year, so you can increase or decrease spending based on budget availability at any given time.

Once you've entered all of your financial details, the template has built in formulas that handle all of the calculations for you.

I specifically chose this template because it includes all the essentials without going overboard. It has all of the information you need to look at each quarter in isolation and compare to the others on a single page.

Hannaford Makes Midlevel Managers Eligible For Overtime

Reference: Visit website

Hannaford Supermarkets, one of Maine's largest private employers, has announced it will start paying hundreds of midlevel managers for overtime hours that previously went unpaid.

The company says the move is meant to boost employee satisfaction, retention and recruitment amid a labor shortage that has many people working overtime.

But some impacted workers may see little change – or even a cut in pay – because they'll have to work 45 hours per week to earn the same salary they got for 40.

The change follows recent federal lawsuits charging Hannaford with overtime violations, including one filed Wednesday in Maine that company officials declined to talk about for this story. The company also says the shift in overtime policy has nothing to do with the Biden administration's ongoing effort to expand overtime pay requirements for middle managers.

Hannaford has notified department managers, evening operations managers and associate relations managers that starting Sunday, they will be reclassified from overtime-exempt salaried personnel to nonexempt salaried personnel.

The responsibilities of affected managers won't change, and they will remain eligible for all salaried benefits, including annual performance bonuses, Cortelyou said.

We Need An Economics That Recognizes The Greater Good

Read more: See here

Whenever anybody writes about the failure of mainstream economics as a discipline, they usually have only a handful of issues with the discipline in mind. The failings, however, are systematic. Training in economics has incorrectly been seen as foundational to ordered, logical, rational thinking. Econ 101, as the basic course is often called, also feeds a career track in law and business administration. So what⁘s being taught matters, especially since only a few students will pursue any further studies in economics and any intricacies.

University students learn that on the supply side, people are atomized as production labor (L), and all other means of production are reduced to capital (K). L and K combine in a mathematical equation to produce Q (output). On the demand side, what is produced is unimportant as long as it meets demand, achieves a mythical equilibrium for profit-taking and provides an amorphous satisfaction, called utility. Because we can⁘t measure utility directly, it⁘s equated with consumption of all that output, weighted by market prices (P). The joy of consumption, as we⁘re told, does not distinguish between needs and wants. Externalities, always unpriced (an indirect cost or benefit) to a third party, are ignored. The benefits of growth and accumulation are taken for granted.

The textbook lubricant of this philosophy, as Jon Erickson writes in ⁘The Progress Illusion,⁘ is the belief that putting a price on everything in a way that presumes people and the planet are disposable, tradable and otherwise serves profit-taking and the invention that we call the economy. In a 2007 survey of North American professors, economics stood out as the only field where a majority (57.3%) disagreed with the statement, ⁘In general, interdisciplinary knowledge is better than knowledge obtained by a single discipline.⁘

Abiding by this understanding, we would never confront the catastrophes of today⁘s fossil-fuel-driven climate catastrophe in the form of physical breakdown and social destruction. That matters.

Best Real Estate Accounting Software (2024)

Reference: Visit website

*Prices reflect the lowest cost of a provider's paid plan and are current as of Oct. 2, 2024. Some users may be offered different prices, and variation should be expected.

Best for: Real estate investors and property managers with several hundred units or more

Why we like AppFolio for real estate businesses: AppFolio can be considered an industry standard for businesses that focus on real estate properties as investment assets. It allows owners and property managers to efficiently track the cash flow generated from a virtually limitless number of units in their portfolio, both residential and commercial and everything in between. AppFolio combines property accounting with a platform for customer communications, maintenance, work order tracking, and leasing.

What you need to know: AppFolio is the most expensive option in this list, so it's likely not cost-effective for real estate businesses that own or manage smaller portfolios. Additionally, AppFolio clients have complained about AppFolio's interface's user-friendliness, and tenants have noted transaction charges for paying rent through AppFolio's system.

Price range: AppFolio no longer publicly lists its pricing, but as of July 2024, its price tiers were $1.49 per unit per month with a 50-unit minimum and a $298 minimum spend (Core plan); $3.20 per unit per month (Plus plan) or $5.00 per unit per month (Max plan) with unlisted unit and spend minimums. Additional features cost extra.

Standout features: 

New DepEd Rule Allows Overtime Pay For Teachers

Read more: Visit website

Headlines:

THE Department of Education (DepEd) has issued an order defining new guidelines in rationalizing the teachers' workload and prescribing compensation for rendering overtime services.

DepEd Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara issued DepEd Order No. 005 embodying the the Implementation Guidelines for the Rationalization of Teachers' Workload in Public Schools and Compensation for Teaching Overload.

Under the new rules, public school teachers are not required to work more than six hours a day, in accordance with the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act No. 4670). In exceptional cases where teachers exceed this six-hour limit, they will be eligible for overtime pay for up to two additional hours per day.

In instances where teachers have fewer than six hours of actual teaching, they may be assigned to other teaching-related tasks, proportionate to the time available.

The DepEd reiterated that these guidelines ensure that teaching overloads are managed transparently, with clear procedures for compensation and equitable workload distribution.

Moreover, teachers working beyond their regular six-hour duty may earn vacation service credits (VSC), providing additional recognition for their contributions.

"By optimizing teachers' workloads and providing fair compensation for additional duties, we are creating a more balanced and sustainable environment for our educators. This will ultimately enhance student learning outcomes," Angara explained.

To facilitate the smooth rollout of these policies, DepEd will provide standardized templates and materials through its online platforms.

#news

New Financial Regulations Hitting The UK In October

Source: See here

These payments, worth up to £300, will be received automatically by most eligible individuals, but some will need to apply. Here are nine other changes and financial rules and laws which will impact people.

Energy bills are set to increase in October after the industry regulator announced a 10 per cent hike in its cap on energy prices. Under the new price cap, the average annual energy bill will jump to £1,717 for gas and electricity, a rise of £149 from the current level of £1,568, which has been in place since July.

READ MORE: Martin Lewis highlights loophole for higher pension income earners to secure up to £300 Winter Fuel Payment

The average price cap for standard credit households will see an increase of £161, bringing it to £1,829, reported Manchester Evening News.

This government initiative provides support to some of the UK's lowest earners with dedicated help towards their energy bills. The scheme reopens this October, and anyone eligible for the help will receive £150 towards their bills through the scheme.

Mobile customers are set to enjoy enhanced protection as Ofcom rolls out new measures. From October 5, 2024, mobile providers will be required to alert customers when they begin roaming and provide clear, cost-free information to enable informed decisions regarding mobile phone use abroad.

⁘The last thing holidaymakers want when returning from a trip abroad is an unexpected mobile phone bill. At the moment, some customers aren't getting clear information from their provider to help them manage their mobile use and plan their spend. Our new protections will mean you're told what it'll cost when you start roaming, so you can be confident that there won't be any surprises when it comes to your mobile bill while on holiday,⁘ explained Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom's director of telecoms consumer policy.