Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Monthly accounting services provide substantially more value than only an annual service. If an accountant only sees your numbers once a year, it is too late to offer advice that would have helped to make that year more profitable. And definitely too late to lower your tax liability for a year that is already over with. 

Transitions are tricky, but preparing your business to switch to an outsourced accountant doesn’t have to be hard. Make sure your new financial partner is a good fit, plan ahead and be sure to budget enough time, set goals, and be mindful of potential obstacles.

It’s the law. The government requires you to maintain a separate set of books for your business and you are not allowed to intermingle business and personal funds. In a nutshell, the government doesn’t want you to use your business as a personal piggy bank. 

If you’re reading this, obviously you have some doubts, do they respond to you when you need them to? or are you constantly chasing them for answers to your questions? Do they come to you with new ideas to not only help you with your taxes but also help you help and grow your business? Are they actively involved in helping you set retirement goals, so you can walk away from your business? Have they helped you put together an exit strategy so you can eventually leave your business? Do they review your personal needs, like life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, wills and estate planning? Do they ask you about your family and how that can affect you in the future, for example, elderly parents and how to deal with their future health issues and future estate issues? Do you have a need for a trust to protect your assets, and perhaps a child with physical and developmental issues that you’re concerned about their future?

Obviously if we do our job right that puts more money in your pocket. 

Talk to us and see how we can help you. 

Working with a professional accounting service offers you security and peace of mind. It’s a smart business choice for your company, but you need to decide which accountant or accounting firm is right for you.

1. Do they have experience with businesses like yours.
2. How much experience do they have with businesses?
3. Do they provide financial planning assistance?
4. How big is the firm? Is it a one person, or is there a staff?
5. Is their fee structure fixed, or do they charge every time you pick up the phone to call?
6. If I need to get a loan, does the firm have relationships with banks?
7. What kind of support do they offer if you get audited?
8. Are they just end-of-year tax preparers, or do they offer proactive tax planning?
9. Will they reconcile your accounts every month? Do they provide a solid audit trail?
10. Do they also do payroll?
11. Will they prepare a financial statement for you every month — and help you analyze and understand it?

There is an old saying that you get what you pay for, if you go bargain shopping then stop here as we are not a $.99 cent store. We are a mid-sized accounting firm with more resources than a one man outfit or small accounting firm. We can do everything a large accounting firm does without charging their type of fees. We will do as much or as little as you want us to do. We charge a fair price for our services. 

Our customer service sets our firm apart. We make it our priority to reach out to clients on a consistent basis because we care about the success of your business. Our experienced team of accountants also provide proactive business advice and tax planning, allowing you to maximize your profits.

To efficiently help you with your business goals, we require access to your source documents — either in electronic or hard copy form. Common documents include, but are not limited to, bank statements, credit card statements, sales systems (POS), software (i.e. Quickbooks), inventory, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. Depending on your level of expertise, we will train clients on how to prepare these documents. What we require from you will be customized to your unique business.

Our monthly accounting process starts with receiving your source documents. Our staff compiles the information and reports back to you with a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and general ledger. These monthly financial reports are presented in digital or hard copy form and become the foundation for our monthly conversations.

Truthfully, not all business owners see the need, but our clients sure do! We provide consulting and business advice throughout the year. Our proactive approach allows you to see trends earlier, and spot any issues before they become larger problems. Monthly financial statements are a tool to stay on top of your business, which allows you to focus on growing your profits.

If your business is too small to hire an in-house accountant or you simply don’t have the desire to do it yourself, you should consider outsourcing the task. While QuickBooks is used by many small-business owners, the software can be more complicated than first realized. By outsourcing your accounting, you free yourself to focus on other aspects of your business.

We primarily use three systems: Drake Software, Canopy and Quickbooks. That being said, we will work with other systems depending on your preferences and needs.

We recommend handling the day-to-day bookkeeping aspects of your business that need immediate attention. These reports will become the basis for the source documents we will ask of you.

Transitions are tricky, but preparing your business to switch to an outsourced accountant doesn’t have to be hard. Make your new financial partner is a good fit, plan ahead and be sure to budget enough time, set goals, and be mindful of potential obstacles.

Transitions are tricky, but preparing your business to switch to an outsourced accountant doesn’t have to be hard. Make your new financial partner is a good fit, plan ahead and be sure to budget enough time, set goals, and be mindful of potential obstacles.

If you’re deciding whether or not to switch payroll providers, consider this checklist for evaluating payroll services.

• Do they send you information that is hard to read or understand?

• Do they do a poor job communicating with you?

• Do you feel you aren’t getting enough advice on your payroll?

• Have you ever encountered a penalty for payroll tax violations?

• Are you never sure what your payroll provider is billing you for?

• Do you feel you’ve outgrown your payroll provider’s abilities?

• Do you get custom reports to help reduce your time spent on payroll?

Not satisfied with your answers to one or more of these questions? If so, your payroll service isn’t cutting it. You could be getting much better service and better value by switching to a different provider. Your payroll provider should offer you not only 100% accuracy but also excellent customer service.

Pricing for our payroll services includes a base fee which is based on the frequency of your payroll, a fee for each employee, and the number of W-2s that need to be filed. Other contributing factors include garnishments, new hires, and if you’re doing business in other states.

We’ll need the information found on each employees’ W-4. Also, information about how you pay each employee (i.e. hourly, salary, commission), and if you provide bonuses. Lastly, we would need to know about any recurring voluntary or involuntary deductions from employees’ checks and in some cases, whether they are qualified pre-tax deductions or not.

After you provide us with the basic information, we do the rest. Everything is scheduled electronically for direct deposit accounts or we provide you with checks. We automatically calculate and schedule payroll taxes electronically from your business account. We will also submit your quarterly tax reports and annual returns including the W-2s.

Outsourcing payroll saves time and money. It is actually less expensive to have an outside service process your payroll when you factor in all the variables. You also get the peace of mind of having a payroll professional making sure that you are in compliance.

With Manning Accounting Services, you work with a specific processor who is assigned to your account. Your dedicated processor will become familiar with your account and it will be like working with your own employee. You will get customer service that only comes from working with a small business, like yours.

Manning Accounting Services payroll clients need only to send taxing authority correspondence to their dedicated processor. We handle it from there. Once we have looked into the matter, we will notify you as to why it was sent and what action, if any, is needed.

Manning Accounting Services payroll clients need only to send garnishment orders to their dedicated processor. We handle it from there. The order will be followed as required by the law.

Let us know what your policy period start and end date is and we can produce customized reports for that time period. We can also conduct the audit at our office. Just let your auditor know that you want the audit to be done at our office and they will contact us to schedule a time.

If you’re deciding whether or not to switch payroll providers, consider this checklist for evaluating payroll services.

• Do they send you information that is hard to read or understand?

• Do they do a poor job communicating with you?

• Do you feel you aren’t getting enough advice on your payroll?

• Have you ever encountered a penalty for payroll tax violations?

• Are you never sure what your payroll provider is billing you for?

• Do you feel you’ve outgrown your payroll provider’s abilities?

• Do you get custom reports to help reduce your time spent on payroll?

Not satisfied with your answers to one or more of these questions? If so, your payroll service isn’t cutting it. You could be getting much better service and better value by switching to a different provider. Your payroll provider should offer you not only 100% accuracy but also excellent customer service.

If you’re deciding whether or not to switch payroll providers, consider this checklist for evaluating payroll services.

• Do they send you information that is hard to read or understand?

• Do they do a poor job communicating with you?

• Do you feel you aren’t getting enough advice on your payroll?

• Have you ever encountered a penalty for payroll tax violations?

• Are you never sure what your payroll provider is billing you for?

• Do you feel you’ve outgrown your payroll provider’s abilities?

• Do you get custom reports to help reduce your time spent on payroll?

Not satisfied with your answers to one or more of these questions? If so, your payroll service isn’t cutting it. You could be getting much better service and better value by switching to a different provider. Your payroll provider should offer you not only 100% accuracy but also excellent customer service.

We schedule our clients’ state and federal FICA/withholding tax payments on the IRS’s semi-weekly deposit schedule. This means that if your payday falls on a Wed, Thu, or Fri, the deposits will be on the following Wednesday. If your payday falls on a Sat, Sun, Mon, or Tue, the deposits will be on the following Friday. Some exceptions may apply.

We schedule the state and federal unemployment tax payments on the last business day of the month following the quarter. Generally, these dates are Jan 31, Apr 30, Jul 31, and Oct 31. Some exceptions may apply.

Federal law requires overtime pay of at least 1.5x regular rate for any hours worked over 40 in your regular workweek. There are exceptions for small employers that don’t engage in interstate commerce.

If you’re not sure, the best thing to do is treat them as an employee. There is a Form SS-8 that can be submitted to the IRS and they will determine the classification of the worker for you. The factors involved are in three basic categories, which are behavior control, financial control, and relationship of the parties.

There is a number of instances that could trigger an audit concerning misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor. They include but are not limited to the following: a worker reports the employer to a taxing authority, the worker gets hurt on the job and wants the company’s workers compensation to handle the claim, or the worker files for unemployment and lists the employer as a previous place of employment.

If an employer is found to have misclassified an employee as an independent contractor, they will be required to pay income tax withholding at 1.5% of the wages paid and 20% of the wages that would have been subject to social security. If the employer also didn’t file a 1099 for that worker, the percentages double.