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5 Ways Bookkeeping Services Can Help You Grow Your Business

Growth is an important part of your small business. But if you want your business to keep growing and reaching the goals you know your business can achieve, as a business owner, you must have the tools in place to help your business grow and succeed. Bookkeeping services is one of these tools. (more…)

Posted in: Bookkeeping and Accounting, Operating a Small Business

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Financial Records Tracking for Small Business Success

As a small business owner, do you have file folders filled with receipts for expenses and invoices that you haven’t inputted into an accounting system? Do you have people who owe you money, because you haven’t taken the time to invoice them? When you want to make a business purchase, how do you know if you will have sufficient funds to cover the cost? Keeping accurate financial records is a must if you want your small business to be successful. (more…)

Posted in: Bookkeeping and Accounting

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The All Important Audit Trail: What Is It and Why You Need It

Whether you own a large or small business, every business generates documents that record your company’s daily transactions. These records are important because they provide you with documentation to support your bookkeeping entries. Whether or not your small business is ever audited, it’s a must that you maintain a complete and accurate audit trail to manage your operations, detect fraud, and ensure compliance with government regulations. (more…)

Posted in: Bookkeeping and Accounting

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6 Reasons Your Business Needs Proper Bookkeeping

Proper bookkeeping is an essential element for any size small business – larger or smaller. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs often neglect this task in favor of growing and running their business, which is understandable. After all, you’re a business owner – not a bookkeeper. (more…)

Posted in: Bookkeeping and Accounting, Operating a Small Business

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Get Your Expenses and Receipts Under Control

Are you a solopreneur? How do you handle keeping track of your expenses and receipts? Do you just throw your receipts into a big box to handle at a later time? Maybe you tell yourself that you’ll make time to scan your receipts and input your expenses on a monthly basis. But you know what ends up happening. Just like every other small business owner, you get too busy, and the task just continues to accumulate until tax time comes along and you scramble to get everything organized. So stop putting yourself through this added stress by hiring a bookkeeper. (more…)

Posted in: Bookkeeping and Accounting, Operating a Small Business

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Employee Bonuses, Awards and Fringe Benefits: What Employers Need to Know

Many small business owners (SBOs) think they don’t need to have a human resources or payroll department. They think they can handle all of the HR and payroll paperwork themselves. The problem is, not having a payroll department means these employers are taking on a considerable financial risk. (more…)

Posted in: IRS and Tax forms, Payroll, Rules, Regulations and Laws

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Fraud: Under-reporting Payroll to Reduce Worker’s Compensation Premiums

Worker’s compensation fraud is “the fastest growing segment of insurance fraud,” according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. One way, small business owners commit insurance fraud is by under-reporting payroll to avoid paying worker’s compensation premiums to their insurance carrier. If your small business is under-reporting payroll to save on premiums, you need to know that you’re playing with fire. If you’re caught, you could face financial penalties and jail time.

Be sure you are not committing fraud with your reporting.

Last year, Sung Hyun Kim and Caroline Choi, CEOs of sewing companies Meriko Inc. and SF Apparel Inc. were arrested, along with their accountant Jae Kim, on suspicion of workers’ compensation insurance fraud. Beginning as early as 2006, they’re accused of underreporting $78 million to more than a half-dozen insurance carriers. The trio conspired to hide payroll to avoid paying workers’ compensation insurance premiums. They fabricated payroll records and paid employees under the table through an undisclosed bank account. Sung Hyun Kim faces up to 28 years in prison, Choi faces more than 15 years behind bars, and Jae Kim could get a 22-year prison term, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Creative Under-reporting

Employers can use a variety of “creative” methods to under-report payroll. Some common under-reporting methods used include:

  • Misclassifying employees into “safer” jobs.
  • Paying employees under the table.
  • Hiring employees as independent contractors.
  • Paying bonuses off the books.
  • Paying employees on a non-wage basis, such as a reduction in rent or free meals.
  • Setting up dummy companies to “hide” employees.
  • Understating payroll to insurance companies.
  • Fabricating phony payroll

Perhaps, business owners don’t realize the impact their dishonesty can have on their company, employees and other companies. Employees who are hurt on the job may not have workers’ compensation coverage to pay their medical bills. Or, in cases where there’s no worker’s compensation insurance, your small business may be considered “self insured,” which means as an employer, you must pay the employee’s medical bills and lost wages. If the injury is severe and the costs are high, you may be forced to go out of business.

The Real Cost of Payroll Fraud

Additionally, when you cheat the insurance companies out of the premiums they’re owed, this causes the rates to go up for everyone else. Businesses pass these premium increases on to their customers in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Therefore, fraud hurts everyone. So don’t do it! It’s not worth the risk.

Payroll fraud can be a costly issue for employers. By outsourcing your payroll services to a reputable external payroll provider, like The Payroll Department, you can help ensure your payroll information is secure and reviewed regularly for errors and other discrepancies. Contact Teresa Ray of The Payroll Department at (317) 852-2568 to learn how outsourcing your payroll can protect your company from fraud and give you peace of mind.

-Ariane of The Payroll Department blog team

Posted in: Payroll, Payroll Processing, Rules, Regulations and Laws

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4 Benefits of Outsourcing for Your Small Business

As an entrepreneur, are you trying to do it all when it comes to running your small business? While you may think you’re the only one who can do the work efficiently, that’s not really the case. If you want your small business to grow, you need to learn how to let go and start delegating tasks that really aren’t your forte. However, some entrepreneurs don’t want to hire full- or part-time employees to take on these responsibilities. That’s when outsourcing makes a lot of sense. (more…)

Posted in: Churches and Non-Profit Employers, Operating a Small Business, Payroll, Payroll Processing

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Employers Must Pay for Short Employee Breaks

As an employer, you set the policies for managing your small business and your employees. But you better make sure your payroll policies follow government rules. Otherwise, you may have to pay back wages and fines. Just ask Progressive Business Publications. The Pennsylvania company owes current and former employees about $1.75 million in back wages and damages for docking its employees’ pay for bathroom breaks. (more…)

Posted in: Operating a Small Business, Payroll, Rules, Regulations and Laws

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Employee Record Retention and Destruction: Make Sure Your Business Is in Compliance

Business owners accumulate substantial volumes of employee records like employment applications, performance reviews, payroll records and disciplinary actions. At the beginning of the year, when many employers can’t stuff another piece of paper into crowded filing cabinets, they often decide it’s time to purge old files. But, before you start throwing out any documents, you need to make sure you’re in compliance with federal, state and local laws that require you to retain employee records for a specified time period. (more…)

Posted in: IRS and Tax forms, Operating a Small Business, Payroll, Payroll Processing, Rules, Regulations and Laws

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