For most people, the holidays are a happy time – but the jolly feeling may be particularly strong for a small business that is looking forward to hearing the jingle of the cash register, notching up Christmas sales to be recorded by their accounting software.
Creating a budget is no fun. It’s even worse if you’ve never actually created a budget before and this is your first time. It’s a bit intimidating.
Traditionally, a budget is created for an entire year at a time, with amounts shown for each month of the year. For any first-timers, here’s how you can get started today.
Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to begin in creating a budget when you have no prior experience from which to draw. I recall my first year in business I did not have a budget and it hurt my business and personal finances. I started my business as an extension of my career and I jumped in with both feet. After a few months of I realized I needed help. I used LinkedIn Groups to ask for accountant referrals and it led me to visiting a local entrepreneur group of women. From there I found my accountant, along with a source of financial and business advisors.
Independent contractors need to be handled in a different way than employees, and there are several things that you need to consider when you are working with contractors: (more…)