Great Miscalculations

When you spend your days working with numbers, you become familiar with miscalculations. Something is coded as travel expense when it’s really a meal, someone transposed a 5 and an 8, and you’d swear that 7 really looked like a 1. All of these are things we need to get right in our business, the same way engineers need to be exact in their calculations and contractors measure twice and cut once.

Once in a while though, everyone makes a misstep in the process, most times it’s caught, rarely it’s not. This article, inspired by an order of trains by the French that are too wide for most of the platforms in the stations, describes a few of the more humerus ones, proving asking “does this make sense” is usually the right thing to do. It’s from the BBC, so please excuse the British English.

About the author

Brady is the owner of Ramsay & Associates. He specializes in financial statement preparation and personal, fiduciary and corporate tax and accounting.

His professional experience includes seven years' experience for local and national CPA firms before joining Ramsay & Associates in 2006.

He has a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Minnesota Society of CPA's, an Eagle Scout, as well as an active volunteer in the community.

Do You Have A Job Or A Business?

Most people that start their own businesses do it because they are good at what they do, they enjoy it, and want the challenge and opportunity to put their individual spin on what they do every day.  In addition, many believe that owning a business leads to having more freedom both financially and in how you spend your time away from work.

Unfortunately, many people who run their own business end up with a job and not a business.  Sure, they probably have employees that work for them, an office or storefront, and their name listed as the owner of the business.  But in many cases, the business would cease to function without the daily interaction of the business owner.  The owner is the only one who knows how to do everything, and insists everything be done as well as they can do it themselves, which usually means they end up doing a little of everything.

One of the keys to building a business that can work well without your constant interaction is to become OK with the idea of having something done 80% as well as you can do it yourself.  Hiring the right people and training them well can put them in the position of being able to do what you’re doing almost as well as you do, which will then allow you to work more on your business rather than in your business.  It will also allow for better balance between running your business and your personal life.

About the author

Brady is the owner of Ramsay & Associates. He specializes in financial statement preparation and personal, fiduciary and corporate tax and accounting.

His professional experience includes seven years' experience for local and national CPA firms before joining Ramsay & Associates in 2006.

He has a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Minnesota Society of CPA's, an Eagle Scout, as well as an active volunteer in the community.

Happy Holidays From Ramsay & Associates!

As we enter the last week of the year, we’re busy working on year end tax projections and wrapping up other projects before the New Year dawns and brings with it the 2014 tax season.

We wanted to take a moment and thank all of our clients and the great communities of Mahtomedi and White Bear Lake for their support and patronage during 2013.  We’ve had a front row seat for the ups and downs of the economy over the last five or so years, and it’s great to see that things seem to be, at last, turning for the better.

There have been a bunch of changes around here over the last year; we spruced up the building, made a slight change to our name and a big change to our website, which is now found at ramsaycpa.com.  We have a couple new team members, and are poised to make 2014 even better than 2013, which was pretty great already.

From all of us at Ramsay & Associates, have a great holiday and a prosperous New Year.

About the author

Brady is the owner of Ramsay & Associates. He specializes in financial statement preparation and personal, fiduciary and corporate tax and accounting.

His professional experience includes seven years' experience for local and national CPA firms before joining Ramsay & Associates in 2006.

He has a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Minnesota Society of CPA's, an Eagle Scout, as well as an active volunteer in the community.

Tips for Business Founders Who Can’t Delegate

For those people who choose to strike out on their own and build a business from the ground up, the business can become a part of who they are and how they define themselves as a person.  This has the great advantage of brining their passion and all their energy to the business, but has the unfortunate tendency to result in them micro-managing everything that happens in an ordinary day.

For those with the vision to start and build their own business, allowing someone else to manage part, or all, of the daily operations can be exceptionally hard.  This article from Inc. Magazine has some great words of wisdom for those looking to lead their business, rather than manage it.

Protecting Yourself – And Your Returns

Lately, it seems like there is a news story every week about problems with tax returns.  One of the largest providers of tax software to home users, as well as professional accounting firms, had numerous issues correctly completing Minnesota tax returns.  The largest commercial tax preparer in the country had tens of thousands of returns prepared incorrectly, causing delays in their customers getting their refunds.  Both of these happened within the last two weeks, and point to an unsettling problem: tax preparers expecting their software to be smarter than they are.

More disturbing though are the stories of tax preparers cheating and defrauding their clients.  These stories are usually far less publicized – we learn about them through professional publications.  A tax attorney in New York recommended fraudulent deductions to clients – to the tune of $7 billion.  A former tax partner in a national accounting firm was arrested for stealing payments his clients made to his firm.  Numerous preparers have been arrested for claiming fraudulent deductions on client’s returns and pocketing the additional refunds for themselves.

Given all this, choosing a competent, trustworthy tax professional is crucial to keeping you in compliance with the law, and getting you the most accurate tax return.  Below are a few steps to take when choosing a preparer.

  • Get referrals from friends and family whose opinions you value.
  • Be leery of anyone who promises outcomes that seem too good to be true.
  • Check with the Board of Accountancy in your state to see if the preparer you are considering is currently licensed, and if they have had any disciplinary action taken against them.
  • Never be afraid to get a second opinion if you think something doesn’t seem right.
  • Use a search engine, like Google, to see if anyone has posted reviews or comments about the firm online.

As always, we’re here to help, as we have been for over 30 years.