Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with accounting

Is it worth pursuing accounting designation at 39?

cst — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:40:35 -0800

Is it worth pursuing accounting designation at 39? I am about to immigrate into Canada and am considering CGA (Certified General Accountant) certification as a way to jumpstart my career there. However, I have doubts whether my age (39) is going to be an issue. Brief background:
I have MBA degree from an American University; it's not a top tier -- just a small private university in the Northwest -- but they are often voted among the best regional universities in the US. I don't have prior accounting experience, but while in business school I was an A-grader in all the accounting and financial classes I took, and enjoyed them greatly.

Due to personal reasons/decisions I made I haven't worked for the last 5 years full-time (let's call it early semi-retirement) and been mostly doing freelance translations (dealing exclusively with business topics, if it's of any relevance). Before that, my professional experience included management consulting, B2B sales/account management.

I don't have any career plans for large auditing firms; I am thinking about employment at local accounting/tax return practices, local businesses, service/manufacturing companies.

So here are my questions to the collective wisdom of MeFi comunity:

Is it worth investing time (3 to 4 years?) in obtaining CGA certification at my age, or I'd be better off exploring other venues? Will it improve my career prospects? Am I not going to be the oldest student in this program (sorry, Canadians, programme :))?

I do agree that it's never too late to learn, but really, should I go down this path at my age? I will really appreciate your honest opinions, suggestions, and (especially!) real life examples.
Input from CPA/CMA perspective is also more than welcome as those are basically the same kind of things.

Many thanks!

Do you capitalize the cost of software development?

dhacker — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:03:23 -0800

Does your company capitalize the cost of software development? Why or why not? Just because I'm curious. If you work for a software company specifically, does your firm capitalize the cost of software development or do they expense it. Are there any plain language (i.e. "non-account) reference materials out there that would explain the pros and cons of each approach?

Quick! I need a Quickbooks Wizard!

jeanmari — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:04:20 -0800

Feh. I'm straightening out the accounts of a not-for-profit as a volunteer and putting them onto Quickbooks. Before I got my hands on their books, someone paid the same bill twice. How do I enter two checks for one bill and still take the credit on a future bill? One bill paid with two checks. This was done before they had Quickbooks. I'm entering the data since 1/1/2008 so that they can have a clean set of numbers for their annual reporting this year.

I entered the bill into Quickbooks. Applied the first check to that bill. Now I have a second check to enter and no bill to apply it to.

I could enter it as a credit but that wouldn't supply an entry that could be used in the account reconciliation. Frustrating.

Any ideas, oh Quickbook wizards?

SAS112 Risk Assessment help

nax — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:18:41 -0800

My midsized arts organization needs to complete the new audit risk assessment form SAS112. Has anyone done this yet? We need to know if there is standard language, suggested scope, any tips for getting through it with no staff time to spare. Found some stuff on google, but I'm still at sea. I've only made it up to page 19 with about 15 hours put into it, so either I don't know what I'm doing or this is a mess o' hard.

Accounting firm in need of client management software

Tinen — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:03:30 -0800

Background - I work for a small accounting firm of six people right now. We have 1 cpa, 2 staff accountants (Im one, currently working on my CPA) and the rest is bookkeeping/admin staff. We just hired a new administrative assistant because of the growth we experienced this year and plan on hiring more CPAs in the future. With this growth comes the need to be more organized, no longer is it possible for my boss to keep track of where every project is, how far it is along and who it is assigned to it. So we need some sort of well known software. (Nothing terribly obscure please) So what sort of software is available to help us with this situation? Currently we use Lacerte for returns, outlook for mail and contacts (though we use a third party addon to bandaid a group contact list and share calendars). I would even be interested in a practice management software that replaces outlook if it could handle email and a shared contact list.

Please help! :)

How do I report Section 1250 Related Party Capital Gains?

Incognita — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:22:32 -0800

Accountant Filter: I'm a taxation student, working on a theoretical 1065 Return of Partnership Income (real tax return, theoretical situation). I've got a gain on the sale of a building that is a related-party transaction... A 70% partner buys a section 1250 building from the partnership at a very small gain. There are no recaptured gains involved, but because it's a related party, this particular situation involves capital gain treatment of the gain.

Do I report the sale on the 4797 or is it reported on the schedule D instead?

Also, are there any suggested resources that would provide me more information? I've read everything I can get my hands on, but as a lowly student, there isn't much available to me at this point!

Thank you!

Free and Easy Open Source Accounting Software Recommendations?

franklen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:57:38 -0800

Looking for your experiences with open-source accounting software. I am helping co-found a non-profit organization and need software that is free (if possible), easy to use for non-accountants, and preferably open-source. Someone recommended OSAS (Open Systems Accounting Software) and gnucash. Has anyone used these or any other programs they would recommend or not recommend?

How much was that stuff worth?

nakedcodemonkey — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:11:37 -0800

How much was that stuff worth? I have to prepare a fairly precise net worth statement for Sept 93 on short notice. Most is easily pulled off old statements, but how do I come up with a solid fair market valuation for household/personal goods? It's peak tax season, so impossible to get an fast answer from an accountant. The only obvious calculator just throws validation errors. The place has been through several clutter purges and a couple buying sprees in the interim. Darned if I recall what was and wasn't here so long ago. What's a good method for estimating the value of household contents?

How does my company pay this Israeli?

BillBishop — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:31:11 -0800

What is the proper way, in terms of accounting and tax laws, for my small business to pay an independent contractor who is an Israeli citizen in the US on a student visa? My production company is an S-Corp registered in NY state.
I began working with a freelance animator who was previously based in Israel but is now on his way to the US to study on a student visa.
He began the work in Israel and will finish the job once he reaches the US (he's attending school in Georgia).
The total we negotiated for is $3500, $1500 of which he has already billed me for.
I'd like to pay him asap, but my accountant is waffling on the proper way to decide withholding taxes in this situation (or if any is needed) and has referred me to an outside consultant. This consultant can not deal with me until after tax season. I really don't feel I can wait this long to begin paying this contractor. He has done a lot of work for me already on good faith, and I don't want to make him anymore nervous about getting paid than he already is.
Can anyone out there give me some advice on this? His invoice includes an "ID number" and a passport number.
I can likely get any other information about the contractor that I need from him. Can I simply send him a check for the full amount and issue him a 1099 next year as I would for a US citizen contractor?
Any help on this would be great. There's a very talented designer/animator type out there who I'd like to pay promptly, but I'm afraid of screwing with the IRS.

Are there special accounting requirements for dealing with the Defense Department Acquisitions program?

mrhappy — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:20:41 -0800

Looking for tips on dealing with the defense department acquisitions system. Basically, I am preparing taxes for a new LLC that expects to land some government contracts, and they are asking me about how best to deal with DFARS. None of my accounting connections knows anything about this. Should I just refer them to a D.C. based CPA who has experience, or is it not a big deal?

Good Accounting Software Recommendation

deadparrot — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:23:22 -0800

I work for a billing company and we would like to use an accounting software that can process credit cards and deposit the funds into our clients respective bank accounts. Does anyone have any experience doing this or have any recommendations?

Australian tax question EXCITING. Not.

mooza — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:55:46 -0800

Any Australian mefites out there with tax accounting knowledge for film/tv workers? I am so confused about this "income averaging" thing everyone's talking about. I get the theory of why and how income averaging works, but I'm a bit confused about who is eligible, as I've been hearing conflicting stories... Apparently, income averaging is available to people who work in the film/tv industry and who are "special professionals" - writers, performers, production associates, that sort of thing - whose incomes fluctuate year to year. My accountant tells me that you need to be operating with an ABN in order to be eligible, not PAYG, which is what I've been doing.

I have a several colleagues who are doing income averaging who are in the same job as me (film editing) and work under the PAYG system. How? Do they have dodgy accountants or is mine just extremely conservative/doesn't know what he's talking about? I just don't see the difference between being a PAYG employee or a freelancer, you're still being booked for short term projects, the job security is just as precarious and the income fluctuates just as wildly.

Do I need to find another accountant? Anyone know a know good one in Sydney?

What's the perfect app to track expenses?

mathowie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:04:39 -0800

Is there an expense reporting app that's flexible, handy, and will help me finish next year's taxes quickly and easily? I know about excel, quicken, and various financial transaction apps, but what if I drive 100 miles to a tech conference and want to note my mileage? And what if I'm out entertaining clients and I want to pop onto my iPhone to note the total bill for the evening (before I forget the next day to open excel). Are there any web-based flexible apps for doing all the expense reporting you might need for a small business' bookkeeping needs?

Should I get my Master's in Accounting instead of MBA?

icollectpurses — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:46:40 -0800

I am contemplating on pursuing a Master's degree in Accounting. I am hoping to eventually be a CFO of a public company one day, and it seems having a CPA is better than spending additional year or two getting an MBA in Finance or something. I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this! With the recent change in CPA requirement, I can't take the CPA exam after a few CPA courses. Instead, I think it might be better for me to get a Master's in Accounting to prepare myself for the exam than take college level courses. My question is if the MSA (Master's in Accounting) + the certification(CPA) + law degree is the same as MBA + law degree?

I think MBAs are overrated and I see more and more people with CPA becoming CFOs of public company. I am not sure if that trend will change as Sarbane Oxley evolves, but with the evolution of capital markets, I actually think CPAs will be of even higher demand than now.
On the other hand, I see some people that have all three degrees...MSA, JD, AND MBA, why is that? For management aspect of education? I am sure the school attended makes difference as well, but I am considering top tier schools.

I paid my kid sister's tuition last year. How do I approach that for tax purposes?

joshjs — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:17:27 -0800

I paid my kid sister's tuition last year. How do I approach that for tax purposes? Can I possibly get a tax credit? Can she?

In need of easy method for tracking multiple sources of income.

mintchip — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:43:43 -0800

I want to simply my recording-keeping. Seeking an *easy* method for tracking multiple sources of income. I am a student who does odd jobs, participates in market research, sells on Ebay, and does freelance gigs.

I track my income, which varies significantly week by week, but haven't really come up with a good system of doing this. Basically, I'd like to keep accurate records of how much I'm making from each type of work every month. Also, a system for recording whether freelance invoices have been paid.

So far I've been using Excel, but I am not an Excel wizard and wonder if there's a better program that would allow me to run reports (average income by month, pie charts, etc). However, I have very limited time and patience for learning new software. Since I want to simply my recording-keeping, I am looking for a simple system. Something dummy proof!

If it turns out that Excel is the simplest solution, are there pre-formatted Excel templates that I can download that would help me with this sort of record-keeping?

I'm walking out to be a bookkeeper. Or am I?

iguanapolitico — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:37:36 -0800

You know all the boring, tedious stuff that you have to do to keep your business running? The stuff that you think is a waste of your creative genius time that you'd like to just pay somebody else to do? The bookkeeping, invoicing, budgeting ... everything having to do with spreadsheets, numbers, QuickBooks and filing cabinets? Well, what careers might that describe? I run my own business and I've lost all interest in what I do. I've been agonizing over whether to keep working from home or to go get a full time job doing what I do, because I need a change. But the fact is, I just don't want to do what I do.

The only part of my work that I enjoy is, well, bookkeeping. I absolutely can not WAIT to get my paperwork in the mail so I can start on my taxes. I love tracking my expenses in Quicken. At the end of the week I can't wait to invoice all my clients. And, needless to say, I pay my bills the moment they arrive in the mail.

I could also spend ALL DAY LONG on Scottrade (where I have my brokerage account). And sometimes I do. I love crunching numbers and creating my own investment strategies, even though I know nothing about this stuff other than what other small potatoes retail investors know. No economics courses or anything remotely related.

(What I really want to be is a day trader, but I don't have enough money to start and I don't know enough yet to take that kind of risk.)

So. What do I want to go back to school to study? What are the available degrees here? I never thought I had any interest in "business," per se ... I don't want to run or build businesses; I only care about the numbers. I imagine it's "finance" I'm interested in. Or is "accounting" enough? I know that's what's required to start down the path to the CPA exam. Are there any careers that involve numbers but that do not involve paperwork? Because I'd like to avoid those. I love paperwork. I love having a desk job. This is counterintuitive to everything that everybody bitches about, but it's time I faced the facts. I want a desk job and I want to do your lousy paperwork. And it must be lucrative. Which direction should I go? Is there anything that doesn't require another degree? (I want to study, but the thought of going through another degree program kind of makes my belly ache. Except in this case, I imagine I'd be working with a lot of numbers, so I might enjoy it.)

I'm looking for people who have experience in these fields and who could throw some ideas my way. Be my career counselor for 30 seconds.

My head's about to explode...

Zé Pequeno — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:20:43 -0800

Can someone please point me in the right direction to find practice test papers for Financial Accounting? (Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Statements of Returns on Equity, Cash Flow Statements, Depreciation, Ratios, etc. etc.) Assorted business schools worries inside. Coming from a liberal arts academic background, I'm starting to really feel the pressure from my recently-started international business masters and get the impression I need to study ten times as hard as my classmates, most of whom have studied the subject at undergraduate level. At the moment, I'm fretting over Financial Accounting. Please help me to understand this subject!

Extra points for whoever can help me with Corporate Finance...

I was never strong at mathematics in school. Though I'm pretty good at mental arithmetic, I found the subject boring and didn't pay attention in class. Now I'm faced with the daunting task of getting to grips with Corporate Finance and have some decent books to help me, all of which cheerfully claim that the author needs no prior knowledge of Finance, just a knowledge of algebra! At the risk of appearing extremely dumb... I can't remember any algebra! What do I need to learn in order to understand the nimiety of equations by which I'm beginning to feel very overwhelmed?

IR35 (UK) News as RSS feeds?

monkeyforest — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:03:50 -0800

Any advice on which websites offer the best information on IR35 in the UK in a format that would allow me to easily keep up to date with the latest developments or issues? I'm ideally looking for RSS feeds, but email newsletters would be okay.

As a UK qualified (CIMA) accountant, I've been through the IR35 legislation on www.hmrc.gov.uk to ensure I'm compliant, but need a resource that lets me know if anything changes that I should be aware of. As I work in big businesses, I don't have to keep up to date with IR35 as part of my job - I just need to make sure my own business is compliant.

Is it possible to open a QuickBooks 2006 company file in QuickBooks 2004?

doomtop — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:08:55 -0800

Is it possible to open a QuickBooks 2006 company database file in an older version of QuickBooks, namely QuickBooks 2004? Or is there a way to downgrade a 2006 database to a version that would open in 2004? Basically need to open a new database in an old version. Is it possible?

Need accounting software design with IT consulting in mind

Merdryn — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:58:03 -0800

I've been struggling to find accounting software, online or PC/Mac based (either will do) that is suitable for a computer consulting practice. I need to be able to handle the typical basic things done by QuickBooks, like invoicing and estimates, simple A/R and A/P reports, etc. But that isn't enough. I need to manage multiple bill rates on a per consultant/per customer/per job or work order basis. QuickBooks doesn't do that, and I've tried hard to find out how to make that work. Any advice, hive mind?

Accounting Question

josher71 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:13:28 -0800

What is the difference between an accounting association vs. an accounting network? Also, how does this distinction relate, if at all, to the Parmalat scandal?

Will I have to retake the CPA exam if I move?

bkpr — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:56:08 -0800

If I take (and pass) the CPA Exam in one state, will I have to retake the exam if I move to another state?

What's better: Get paid less now, or more later?

Wild_Eep — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:13:30 -0800

AccountingFilter: Client convenience aside, does receiving "instant payment" for my services via PayPal make financial sense rather than waiting for a check to come in the mail 30 days later? Help me unlock the secrets of the Time Value of Money. I'm sure this is a complete textbook example of TVM, but humor me.

An example:

Let's say that on July 1st, I perform work for a client, and the total for the work is USD $150.

In which scenario do I come out ahead on July 31?

Scenario A.) In which I process an "instant payment" for the client at the time of the services, and the client pays immediately via PayPal. PayPal takes out their 3%+$.30. I get the rest, and put it into my high-interest savings account which earns 5% annually and compounds monthly.

or

Scenario B.) In which I wait 30 days for a check to arrive in the mail, deposit the check's funds into the same 5% high-interest savings account. Assume that the check clears instantly, and that I have access to the full $150 on July 31.

So far, my guess is that if the 30-day window were expanded to 90 or 120 days, it would make sense to get-what-you-can right now, paypal fees be damned, but at 30 days, waiting for the check nets me more money.

I've checked out the wikipedia entry for Time Value of Money, but can't figure out the interest rate (decimal or integer?), period (month? year?). It sounds so easy, but my brain keeps getting in the way when it sees the equations.

FASB Pronouncements in HTML?

aliasless — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:08:46 -0800

Accountingfilter: Does FASB provide HTML versions of their pronouncements? If no, why not? All of the links on their website are pdf-based, as far as I can tell. If ever there was a set of documents suited to hypertext, it would be these (widely distributed and used for "serving the investing public", heavily footnoted, outline-styled, often tabular, frequent references to other paragraphs and documents, etc). It seems like such a waste to have something as mark-up-able as these documents to go languishing away in such an unwieldy format.