Are you at the Complexity Barrier?

Are you at the Complexity Barrier?

Lately have you experienced any of the following? I complain about how hard I work for so little money. My spouse is mad at me because I am never around for soccer games, dance recitals, fill in the blank family events. I wax nostalgically for the good old days when...
Who Needs a Bookkeeper and a CFO?

Who Needs a Bookkeeper and a CFO?

If you’re like most small business owners, you’re so busy running your company that the lines between bookkeeper and chief financial officer get blurred. A lot of times that’s because you or one of your people are responsible for both roles. Business leaders often ask...
How You Can Change “The Worst Part of Owning a Small Business”

How You Can Change “The Worst Part of Owning a Small Business”

I recognize our company is an outlier. Everyone here loves the busyness of January: closing out our clients’ year-end books and getting things ready for tax preparation. (To be clear, we don’t prepare taxes: our CPA friends do. We tidy up the books and make the final...
Are You Afraid to Change CPAs?

Are You Afraid to Change CPAs?

Most small and mid-sized business owners rarely change accountants—even when they should. There was the owner who was completely surprised to learn he owed $42,000 more in taxes than he expected. Another who received a nasty compliance letter out of the blue. And one...
Outsourcing: When to Use an Outside Resource for an Inside Job

Outsourcing: When to Use an Outside Resource for an Inside Job

When people ask what NPS does, I say, “We’re the guys in accounting. All those activities that end in the phrase ‘walk it over to the number crunchers’—that’s us.” We’re an outsourced Accounting Department, from bookkeeper to controller to CFO. Outsourcing is a...
Do You Have Your Company’s “Number”?

Do You Have Your Company’s “Number”?

Every business has a number. Now I’m the numbers guy, so of course I’d say something like that. I’ve even written before about key performance indicators (KPIs) and how crucial they are to managing any business. I’ve discussed the ways in which numbers help our...