(VSOT) Any Beancounters Around???

[Jim Weir]

To make a long story mercifully short, RST is looking for a person to do the
accounting function. While there are hundreds of thousands of beancounters in
the area, there are darned few that understand that all small airplanes aren't
yellow with a small bear painted on the side {;-)

We don't need a CPA necessarily, nor any investment advice. What we need to do
is to be able to send our bank statement every month along with the Quickbooks
data and at the end of the fiscal year get the tax forms (Fed and California)
filled out ready for signature. The whole thing can be done snailmail or
electronically by scanning the statement into a file.

It isn't that big of a deal, but we'd like to form a permanent relationship with
somebody that speaks airplane and that understands the manufacturing
environment. The best of all worlds would be a homebuilder; that just enhances
the odds of us finding a like kin that we can relate to.

You can email or simply post here, your choice. Looking
forward to hearing from you.


Jim


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

[Jay Honeck]

> We don't need a CPA necessarily, nor any investment advice. What we need
to do
> is to be able to send our bank statement every month along with the
Quickbooks
> data and at the end of the fiscal year get the tax forms (Fed and
California)

Jim, if you're already using Quickbooks, the ONLY thing you need an
accountant for is the year-end stuff.

Monthly taxes (all flavors) are a breeze using QB.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jim Weir]

Jay...

Both Gail and I are working 12 to 14 hour days between the design bench, the
production bench, the day to day paperwork, purchasing...

Something had to be offloaded and the easiest thing to offload was the
accounting part. No, I don't need any monthly taxes, but it would be nice to
catch any errors in procedure prior to the year end stuff.

It's just like your hotel. At SOME point you are going to be successful enough
that both of you can't do the front office stuff, the promo stuff, the supplies
ordering, making beds, fixing plumbing, painting, and all the other day in and
day out tasks without severe lack of sleep or sanity. You have to offload
SOMETHING, and it will probably be the maid service, or the plumbing, or
something that is in fairly high supply and isn't vital to your core mission of
RUNNING the hotel, not fixing dripping faucets.

Capiche?

Jim



"Jay Honeck" >
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->> We don't need a CPA necessarily, nor any investment advice. What we need
->to do
->> is to be able to send our bank statement every month along with the
->Quickbooks
->> data and at the end of the fiscal year get the tax forms (Fed and
->California)
->
->Jim, if you're already using Quickbooks, the ONLY thing you need an
->accountant for is the year-end stuff.
->
->Monthly taxes (all flavors) are a breeze using QB.



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

[TaxSrv]

Jim Weir wrote:
> To make a long story mercifully short, RST is looking for a person
> to do the accounting function....and at the end of the fiscal year
> get the tax forms (Fed and California) filled out ready for
> signature.

From a fully credentialed bean counter with a tax practice: You didn't
say whether out-of-state help is OK, but doing that for tax prep can
be a bit problematic in general even for federal. From my
understanding of Kaliforneeah and their increasingly whimsical ways of
regulating return preparers, I wouldn't do it due no experience beyond
a few nauseating CA returns and inability to spread my costs of
compliance around to other CA clients, unless you want to pay for it.

> there are darned few that understand that all small airplanes
> aren't yellow with a small bear painted on the side...somebody that
> speaks airplane and that understands the manufacturing environment.

There are some biz' requiring specialized knowledge for the
accountant, but not yours. I do work for a genuine Part 145
instrument shop, but my knowledge in related matters has been worth no
more than social chit-chat, for which you'll never know whether you're
being billed. And manufacturing is 2nd semester of Accounting 101
with later immersion in brain-frying perpetual cost and LIFO, for
Pete's sake!

Important also for small business is someone with experience in IRS
practice, because if nuthin' much has happened yet, strange gov't
behaviour is only a matter of time ("Hear me now; believe me later!").

Just a few tips to help you find the right guy or gal.

Fred F.

[TaxSrv]

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

> Jim, if you're already using Quickbooks, the ONLY thing you need an
> accountant for is the year-end stuff.

With 39 years exp in accounting/tax, and believe me or not, I've seen
nothing in QB or any such thing which can assure me the results are
accurate beyond the math. If a client has a good, basic understanding
of accounting principles and variances in tax treatment, it may be
safe to provide me with only financial statements for tax prep. This
may be your case, but it's rare in small businesses, and too often
they get just they pay for. I normally counsel at least my one-time,
thorough review of the work, with probable corrective advice to the
person doing it so future years can meet my comfort level. So much
the better if you did that already.

Fred F.

[Jay Honeck]

> It's just like your hotel. At SOME point you are going to be successful
enough
> that both of you can't do the front office stuff, the promo stuff, the
supplies
> ordering, making beds, fixing plumbing, painting, and all the other day in
and
> day out tasks without severe lack of sleep or sanity. You have to offload
> SOMETHING, and it will probably be the maid service, or the plumbing, or
> something that is in fairly high supply and isn't vital to your core
mission of
> RUNNING the hotel, not fixing dripping faucets.

Well, we've got three housekeepers, so we dumped THAT right away. :-)

And I've got a handyman who knows how to fix ANYTHING, so I guess I'm set
there, too. I can do the simple stuff, but when it comes to drywall and
plumbing, he's Da Man.

Accounting, however, is not something I want to farm out -- and Quickbooks
makes it almost easy. I want my finger on the pulse of the place every,
single day. I want to know how we're doing minute-to-minute, compared to
last month, and last year. It's the only way I can make business decisions
(I.E.: "Can we afford to re-landscape the front entrance?" Answer: "Yes")
with any sense of direction.

It's ironic, cuz my worst grade in college was "Accounting." In fact, that
one course convinced me to change my major from Business to Anything Else...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jay Honeck]

> I normally counsel at least my one-time,
> thorough review of the work, with probable corrective advice to the
> person doing it so future years can meet my comfort level. So much
> the better if you did that already.

Yeah, each year my accountant (an aviation nut, by the way) either comes out
and fixes all my previous year's screw-ups, or gives me a list of things to
change -- or both. The list grows shorter every year, but mistakes are
made.

It's always arcane, stupid stuff, like how to figure depreciation on office
equipment...nothing that can't be fixed after the fact.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jim Weir]

Sorry. The answer to your question is that out of state help is just fine with
me. I have absolutely no idea of how Californicate regulates return preparers;
I didn't even know they were regulated.

You are right; manufacturing accounting is the second semester of Accounting
101. Similarly, transistor circuit design is the second semester of Engineering
101. If that isn't your bent, more better you come to somebody like me who
speaks Hfe (and hfe as well) and Miller capacitance as a second language. It is
far better to do what you do well and let somebody else do what they do well. I
have found that to be the optimal combination for preserving income -- and
that's what I'm trying to do.

Jim




"TaxSrv" >
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:


->
->From a fully credentialed bean counter with a tax practice: You didn't
->say whether out-of-state help is OK, but doing that for tax prep can
->be a bit problematic in general even for federal. From my
->understanding of Kaliforneeah and their increasingly whimsical ways of
->regulating return preparers, I wouldn't do it due no experience beyond
->a few nauseating CA returns and inability to spread my costs of
->compliance around to other CA clients, unless you want to pay for it.
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com