Small business owners, we recognize you have a lot to do. Starting a new business or growing a small one means that there's a lot of action occurring all at once. When too much happens too quickly, there simply may not be time to stay organized. A back office necessity, that is crucial to your business, is organized accounting and bookkeeping. 

At a minimum, here's what you can do to organize your small business accounting.

Nearly every business will struggle with cash flow problems at some point or another. The challenge is when your client's cash flow struggles affect your business' cash flow. You do have options to deal with slow-paying clients including collections, writing off their accounts, or even firing them as a client. If you're stuck trying to decide what to do next, have you considered how late paying clients put your business at risk?

The definition of working capital, in accounting terms, is the difference between your business' current assets and current liabilities. Investors and business analysts will use this as a balance sheet measurement of overall liquidity or financial health of the company. When an organization has enough working capital, they are able to easily pay short term expenses and liabilities and maintain daily operations. 

When your business' cash flow is tied up in accounts receivable, what are your options? If you have enough working capital, you may be able to wait for 30 - 90 days for payments to come in.  If not, you may need to get your hands on some of that capital immediately. Depending on timing, accounts receivable factoring vs. accounts receivable collections may be better. 

When should your business use factoring? When is a collection agency the best option?

Becoming a freelancer means leaving a traditional job in the hopes of feeling more respected, empowered, and excited to start each day.  It also means taking on the task of running a business, from sales and marketing to accounting and paying taxes. Finances may be different every month, with a large payouts one month and then smaller or non-existent payments at other times. Budgeting is very important as well as getting paid on time. Unfortunately, most freelancers experience late paying clients or those who don't pay at all.

Here are the reasons freelancers don't get paid and what can be done about it.

Deciding to hang out a shingle is a nerve-wracking leap into the unknown. You obviously need enough salary to sustain your lifestyle but you also face the delicate challenge of not scaring away potential clients. Trying to decide what to charge for your services and how to invoice new clients doesn't have to take too much brain power. 

Here are a few tips to set rates for your freelance business and invoice your clients.

Sometimes your business accounting department has to make the choice between chasing down a client to pay an invoice or simply writing the whole thing off. Making the choice to write off receivables can be tricky. Not only can you not predict the future behavior of your client, you also must be aware of accounting methods, best practices and reasons for writing off receivables.  

When it comes to deciding to write off B2B receivables, here are some things to consider.

Agency life is never boring. Built on the back of creativity, digital marketers and advertising gurus spend hours pouring over strategies, pitches, and messaging for clients. When a campaign takes off and clients see return on their investment, everybody celebrates the win. Creative agencies still require someone to operate the back office, maybe not-so-fun, part of the business. 

Here are B2B accounting tips for Digital Marketing and Ad Agencies to stay successful beyond campaign wins.

Statistics show that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to keep one. Growing businesses, however, typically devote more time, money and effort to customer acquisition than retention. Even with cost of marketing, digital and traditional, and sales, new clients are still not buying as quickly or as easily as current clients. 

With that in mind, let's discover some tips for keeping current clients happy and loyal.

Unless your business is accounting, letting the pros handle what they're good at means you can focus on growing your company. Sharing your business information with an accountant can be a challenge, especially if your accounting software requires exporting or downloading large files. QuickBooks has recently rolled out a new set of features that allows for easier access and communication with an accountant. 

Here's how the My Accountant feature works in QuickBooks Online.