Balance sheets are the unsung heroes of our industry’s accounting management tools. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re vital to your business, and learning to read them correctly will supply you with information that can keep your company out of financial trouble, as well as show you some important growth opportunities.

There’s a reason the most successful companies all practice accrued payroll in their accounting department.

While most companies are doing the best they can when it comes to matching, every owner or business leader should make a concerted effort to educate themselves on the topic and begin to implement this best practice at their business.

Labor and wages are a huge part of your expenses, and without an accurate figure, it will be difficult to truly gauge your business’s performance.

A consistent message across all industries is that each month should be closed out by the 10th of the following. It allows for a company to review the prior month’s performance and make any necessary changes in the current period.

I work with a lot of companies, and sooner or later the topic of deferring revenue always comes up. Some companies do it, some don’t. Those that do tend to be happy with the process and accuracy of their numbers, though occasionally there will be a company that will be unhappy with the added work of deferring revenue.

Depreciation is one of, if not the largest, vehicle expense for a company. So, it’s very important to record this every month. You wouldn’t go a whole year without recording your fuel expense or any other expense representing roughly 3-5 percent of your income, so why is it accepted to ignore depreciation?