Forbes Articles
Your Small Business Doesn’t Need A CFO—Yet
Vlad explains five accounting roles and how to choose the level of support your small business needs.
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The Centaur blog
Tax strategy and accounting, minus the jargon.
Practical insights for small business owners. Written by a CPA & CMA who also contributes to Forbes and Entrepreneur. 84 articles and counting.
Forbes Articles
How Small-Business Owners Can Prepare For A Mortgage Application
Planning to buy a home while running a business? Vlad discusses ways to prepare for the mortgage application process.
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5 Tax Implications Of Selling A Small Business
A look at the tax questions business owners should understand before deciding to sell their company.
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4 Ways Spreadsheets Are Still Relevant In Small-Business Accounting
From projections to checking financial data, Vlad explores where spreadsheets can complement your accounting software.
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Alternative Small Business Insight: Understand Expenses To Maintain Vs. Grow
Not every dollar a business spends does the same job. In this Forbes Finance Council column, Vlad breaks down the difference between expenses that simply keep the lights on and the ones that actually move the business forward, and how to weigh the two when deciding where to put your money.
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5 Accounting Tips To Better Manage Your Small Business
Vlad shares practical accounting ideas for owners who want useful business information without an overly complicated system.
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5 Tips To Maximize Interest Income On Your Estimated Tax Payments
Explore the role of cash management when setting money aside for estimated tax payments.
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How The PTET Can Help Businesses Reduce State Taxes By Up To 37%
Vlad examines pass-through entity tax elections and their potential role in a business owner's state and federal tax planning.
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How To File A Business Tax Extension
An introduction to the steps involved in requesting more time to file a business tax return.
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4 Tips To Successfully Deploy AI In Your Accounting
Vlad discusses considerations for small-business owners bringing AI tools into their accounting processes.
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Why An S-Corp Can Still Be A Top Tax Strategy For Small Businesses
A discussion of S-corporation taxation and why business owners may want to evaluate it with their tax professional.
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How To Organize Your Tax Documents For A Smooth Tax Season
Vlad looks at how organizing your records before tax preparation can make the process easier to manage.
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How To Create A Simple Business Budget
Build a practical budget using your business's financial history, spending categories and plans for the months ahead.
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A Solopreneur’s Guide To Retirement Accounts
Vlad introduces retirement account choices for people running a business on their own.
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5 Ways AI Can Help Small Business Owners With Accounting
Explore potential uses of AI in bookkeeping, financial analysis and planning, along with the limits owners should understand.
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The 10 Expense Categories Your Online Service-Based Small Business Needs
A starting point for organizing expenses when setting up bookkeeping for an online service business.
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How To Maximize The Business Gift Deduction
Vlad discusses tax considerations that can depend on the gift you choose and who receives it.
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Your Accountant Fired You. Now What?
An accountant ending an engagement can leave an owner unsure of the next step. Vlad explores what that change can mean.
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Eight Must-Have Items On Your Small-Business Tax Checklist
Review key records and deduction topics to discuss with your tax professional when preparing your business return.
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5 Small-Business Tax Tips For Beginners
Vlad introduces tax planning topics for new business owners learning how to manage their responsibilities.
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Filing LLC Taxes For The First Time? Here’s What You Need To Know
LLC tax filings depend on how the business is taxed. Vlad outlines issues first-time filers should discuss with their preparer.
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Are Embedded Bookkeeping Tools Sufficient For Small Business?
Vlad considers whether built-in bookkeeping features can meet a small business's needs without separate accounting software.
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7 Year-End Tax Planning Tips For Small-Business Owners
A look at tax planning topics business owners can review as the calendar year comes to a close.
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4 Creative Ways For Small-Business Owners To Manage Estimated Tax Payments
Vlad explores approaches to managing estimated taxes and the consequences owners should consider when planning payments.
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4 Managerial Accounting Tips For Marketing Agency Owners
Simple accounting systems can help agency owners better understand their finances and make operating decisions.
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Five Tips To Avoid A Cash Shortfall In Your Small Business
Vlad discusses budgeting, cash reserves and other ways owners can prepare their businesses for a cash shortage.
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Three Alternative Ways Small Businesses Can Set Their Prices
Explore approaches to pricing that go beyond using competitors' rates as your starting point.
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Common Expenses For Small-Business Owners That Are Not Deductible
Vlad examines common expenses that can create confusion about the boundary between personal spending and business deductions.
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Why Small Business Should Pay Attention To Sales And Cash Flow
A discussion of why sales and available cash deserve close attention when managing a small business.
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Why Traditional Working Capital Management Doesn’t Work For Small Businesses
Vlad examines why working capital approaches used by larger companies may not translate well to smaller businesses.
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Categorizing Common Small-Business Transactions
An introduction to classifying everyday business transactions in your accounting records.
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Helpful Tax Tips For Digital Nomad Business Owners
Vlad discusses tax considerations for U.S. business owners who move abroad while continuing to run their companies.
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Three Investments With Immediate Tax Benefits
A starting point for discussing investments with potential upfront tax benefits with a qualified professional.
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Common Letters A Mortgage Company Asks of Small Businesses
Running a small business when applying for a mortgage can bring complexity into an already stressful application process. Due to this added complication, the mortgage lender might ask for extra…
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Six Big Life Changes to Discuss with Your Accountant
So many events can result in big life changes. Joyous or sad, we usually experience these events with friends and family. Unless your accountant happens to be in that circle, they are usually the…
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Tax Advantages of Charitable Donations for Business Owners
The philanthropic act of giving to those less fortunate is a great way to feel better about yourself and make the world better. In addition, you get to deduct that money as a charitable donation…
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College Savings Tax Planning for Business Owners
When you have children who are in or about to start college, there is quite a bit of tax planning that can be done to maximize tax and financial aid (FAFSA) benefits. Ideally, college savings…
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Boost Your Tax Strategy with Asset Purchases
When you have a profitable year, you might be looking at ways to decrease your taxable income, and thus your taxes. There are many ways to achieve this, and many business owners come across advice…
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Hire Your Children and Save Money on Taxes
Business owners are always looking for ways to save money, whether on expenses or taxes. In many family businesses, children can start to help from a young age. In addition to nonfinancial…
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Three Ways to Save on Taxes by Paying for Education
Camilla runs a family bakery. Her kids are getting older and they help out a significant amount, for which Camilla compensates them reasonably. She has seen some talk online about tax advantages…
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Five Ways to Make Investment Losses Work for You
In years when the stock market trends downward, investors often look to make the best of a bad situation by using those losses to gain tax advantages. Some incorrectly believe that losses in their…
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Health Insurance Tax Benefits for Small Business Owners
Most business owners would agree that health insurance premiums should be deductible. After all, when you work as an employee, you typically pay your health insurance premiums pre-tax. Luckily,…
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The Augusta Rule Tax Strategy for Business Owners
The Augusta Rule is a tax strategy that some business owners can take advantage of to save money for their business while getting a large tax deduction. This rule allows someone to rent out their…
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Mileage Deduction for Business Owners (Plus a Bonus Tax Strategy Explained)
Bianca started her massage therapy business three years ago after getting her license. She began by offering in-home services to the local area. However, as more referrals poured in, her business…
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If You Run a Home-Based Business, Don’t Miss the Home Office Deduction
Business owners have a goal, and often a fiduciary duty, to pay the minimum amount of tax allowable. Tax planning is the process by which to achieve this goal. One strategy that should be included…
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Accounting Topics Every Small Business Owner Should Understand
Only a small percentage of Americans own a business, but that is increasing with the proliferation of side businesses and the gig economy. While your business might not be traditional like a…
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How to Set Up a Tax-Ready Accounting System
Business ownership is no longer the domain of a small percentage of the population, at least not according to the IRS. If you freelance or have a side gig, you have a business. Today, over…
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Tips for Small Businesses to Efficiently Hire the First Employee
There are a lot of opinions about when a business owner should hire their first employee. Each situation is different, so you need to consider what stage your business is in, how much capital you…
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Mindset Changes to Propel Your Business Forward
There are many ways to be successful in your business, your career, your life. The internet is ripe with examples of people achieving tremendous success by doing one thing right and seemingly…
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How I Set Up My Company To Be Virtual
When I began my accounting practice in 2017, I set myself some clear guidelines. In truth, I didn’t set out to start an accounting practice: I had a greater goal of living and working from…
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Bring More Value to Your Clients with Impressive Deliverables
Harlan has had a few successful years as an insurance salesman, and he’s excited to expand his business. However, he feels his clients don’t truly understand what he does for them, which leads to…
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Tips To Be Successful In Business Through Perseverance
Two years ago Dave opened a marketing company. He was great at his job and able to grow his company to two dozen employees. When needed, he used consultants and coaches to elevate him to the next…
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Five Tips To Outsource Your Accounting Department
There are various departments and functions within any business that must collaborate to offer products and/or services to its customers. Not all businesses are the same and thus functions like…
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How to Manage Lifestyle Creep: Use a Two-Step Budget
Over the last two years Samantha has been steadily growing her marketing business. Compared to the first year her income has doubled, but somehow she finds herself still struggling to pay all her…
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Common Pitfalls S-Corps Need To Consider
Small business owners prefer to organize their businesses as LLCs, and for many the best tax strategy is to have their LLC taxed as an S Corp. This strategy allows owners to effectively manage the…
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Ideas Small Business Owners Should Discuss with Their Accountant
As the tax year comes to a close for her business, Elvina contacts her accountant to discuss filing tax returns. Elvina’s small business, which provides counseling services, has allowed her to…
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How Small Business Owners Can Perform a Year-End Balance Sheet Audit
Wiley noticed that his business showed a loss for last year. He feels that can’t be true so he decides to set an appointment with his accountant. “I know we made money last year, but the income…
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Is This Expense Deductible for My Small Business?
Steve started a business three months ago providing personal training services online. Like many new business owners, Steve didn’t start with any accounting or tax knowledge, and has had to pick…
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How To Shift Taxable Income To Next Year
On a slow day in November, Tim logs into his accounting software to see where his profits are this year. His business has been on an amazing growth trajectory since last year: sales grew tenfold…
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Pricing Strategies for Small Service-Based Businesses
Mary has been operating her life coaching business for two years. Three months ago, she was able to leave her full-time job to focus solely on her business. This major transition away from a…
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Supercharge Your Small Business Retirement Account
Small business owners start out investing the majority of their money back into their own business. This makes sense since you want to grow the business and benefit from the growth in the future.…
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How I Changed My Business Trajectory and Designed the Life I Wanted
In January 2019 I decided that I would focus my business in a new direction by January 2020. I intended to fully shift from managerial work to accounting work. I had recently passed my CPA exam…
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How small business owners can manage lifestyle creep
After a very productive tax season, I find myself analyzing my lifestyle spending more than I have in a few years. I’m very aware of how lifestyle creep, also known as lifestyle inflation, can…
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What is basis and when is it relevant?
It’s tax preparation season, and like most business owners, Kim decided to just file for an extension to give herself more time. After reviewing the return prepared by her accountant Frank, she…
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Tips for Optimizing Your Accounting Software
Jose has been using an online bookkeeping system for the last five years. He’s hired multiple bookkeepers and accountants but his accounting remains messy. The last accountant he hired cleaned up…
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Make AI Work For Your Small Business Accounting
Rick has been managing his small business accounting using a spreadsheet for the last eight years. He has a fair amount of number crunching to do, but it still seems faster than trying to enter…
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Quick Accounting Tips for Rental Property Owners
For many people, acquiring a rental property is the first major investment they make that they also must actively manage. Many property owners don’t move past a couple of properties while others…
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Better Small Business Management: Four Ways to Use Yearly Cost
Many aspects of our lives revolve around a monthly schedule, and bills are no exception. We expect to make car, mortgage, and utility payments each month. However, there are other expenses, like…
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Eight Ways to Simplify and Optimize Your Accounting System
Clint has a small business and draws heavily from his business degree and corporate experience when setting up his accounting system. The process was long and tedious but he’s happy with the…
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Five Simple Steps to Evaluate Business Investments
When I purchased my first large business asset, a semi truck to be used in my family’s trucking business, I got a great deal of 30% down and 30% interest, and full repo if 14 days late. Talk about…
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Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Any Business Purchase
Martin had a very profitable year with his home remodeling business. He knows he will need to pay a lot in taxes. His accountant warned him to pay estimated taxes but Martin was too busy to…
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A Commonly Missed Tax-Saving Move For Self-Employed Workers
Jane starts a wedding photography business. She is excited since this is what she’s always wanted to do. She already has bookings on most weekends for the rest of the year to keep her busy and…
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Five Steps Business Owners Can Take To Stop Living Paycheck To Paycheck
Bob started an online store two years ago selling his favorite coffee from around the world. It started out as a fun idea, merging his passion for coffee with his desire to travel. The store took…
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A guide to the top three financial reports for small businesses
There have been a few times in my consulting and accounting career that I have had to explain very basic financial topics to seasoned business owners. I have talked to VPs of billion-dollar…
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Applying Robotic Process Automation to Your Small Business Accounting
I recently attended IMA’s annual conference, ACE2021. One of the hot discussion topics was Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The technology itself isn’t new—let’s face it, we’ve all dealt with…
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Attention Small Business Owners: Save These Important Documents
I’ve owned and managed businesses for over a decade and been around business owners for even longer than that. Some businesses drown in paperwork while others exist with a debit card and a wallet…
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Double Check These Five Tax Return Advanced Deductions
Katie sat down with Marissa, her CPA, to finalize her taxes. It’s already past the deadline, so the pressure is on to get them filed promptly to avoid any more penalties. After a grueling two…
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Multistate Tax Planning For Small Business Owners
The majority of small businesses don’t file taxes outside their home state. This is simply because they are typically local and don’t have physical locations or connections to any other states.…
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Never Miss a Tax Deduction Again
Small business owners wear many hats. They tend to fill every role—from the chief executive to the janitor. Business owners also need to keep in mind their business taxes and the complexities…
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Should You Turn Your Hobby into a Second Business?
Christina has a small bakery. As a hobby, she has been designing websites for fun for the last 10 years. What she enjoys most is trying all the new web building software. In the past three years…
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Simplify your accounting and taxes with per diem payments
Due to the current pandemic, business travel has decreased dramatically. No more large conferences, trade shows, or company retreats. But although travel has declined, it hasn’t stopped, and some…
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Six Steps to Retirement Security for Business Owners
My family comes from Romania, and like most Eastern bloc countries, the brush with communism left many people to rely on the government for their retirement. There is also a strong family support…
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The Best Budget Strategy for Small Business
Small businesses don’t budget—or at least that’s the overall consensus I get from most small business owners. Outside of the vague, “I need six thousand to cover operating costs” or “Sure we have…
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Tips To Leverage Coaches To Grow Your Business
When it comes to hiring a business coach, finding a mentor, or asking professionals for advice, small business owners have a plethora of options. Business knowledge can be obtained through…
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