Ren Cicalese III, CPA, MST

🌟 Interested in becoming a Portfolio FD? Join VFDPro at Accountex on May 15th for a deep dive into the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed for success. Gain clarity and inspiration to excel in this transformative role. #Accountex #accountingandaccountants #accounting #bookkeeping

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At Fourlane, I enjoy helping provide powerful solutions to our clients' needs, helping them save time, alleviate stress, and grow their businesses. With QuickBooks Enterprise - and our team's knowledge and experience - we are able to do just that! This was the result of one of our recent case studies. Check it out! #Fourlane #QuickBooksEnterprise

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❓🤔 I get asked often about how we approach outsource accounting here at The Bonadio Group. We created a brief video that provides an overview of our services & the technology powered by Sage Intacct. Click the link to learn how outsourcing can eliminate turnover, create stability, streamline your financial operations, drive growth and so much more. #TheBonadioGroup #OutsourceAccounting https://lnkd.in/dyRtEdG7

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Listen up, artists! 📣 2025 is around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to brush up on all of the knowledge you’ll need to be compliant with taxes and reporting. Join TALA’s resident CPA Lisa Sretenovic for an engaging webinar. Participants will learn how to: - Categorize Tax-Deductible Business Expenses - Prepare for 1099s - Reporting the Beneficial Ownership Information with FinCEN and more! Register below!

Listen up, artists! 📣 2025 is around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to brush up on all of the knowledge you’ll need to be compliant with taxes and reporting. Join TALA’s resident CPA Lisa Sretenovic for an engaging webinar. Participants will learn how to: - Categorize Tax-Deductible Business Expenses - Prepare for 1099s - Reporting the Beneficial Ownership Information with FinCEN and more! Register below!

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Listen up, artists! 📣 2025 is around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to brush up on all of the knowledge you’ll need to be compliant with taxes and reporting. Join TALA’s resident CPA Lisa Sretenovic for an engaging webinar. Participants will learn how to: - Categorize Tax-Deductible Business Expenses - Prepare for 1099s - Reporting the Beneficial Ownership Information with FinCEN and more! Register below!

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Compliance shouldn’t be a headache! With new FinCEN CTA requirements, filing your Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) can feel overwhelming. My team at AB Fin CPA will handle it for you, so you can focus on what you do best—running your business. Let’s simplify this together! 💼✔️ 📅 Deadline: File by Jan 1, 2025 Got questions? Reach out, and we’ll take it from there! Learn more at https://bit.ly/3ZI4mBA #BusinessCompliance #FinCEN #CPA #Compliance #SmallBusiness

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Compliance shouldn’t be a headache! With new FinCEN CTA requirements, filing your Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) can feel overwhelming. My team at AB Fin CPA will handle it for you, so you can focus on what you do best—running your business. Let’s simplify this together! 💼✔️ 📅 Deadline: File by Jan 1, 2025 Got questions? Reach out, and we’ll take it from there! Learn more at https://bit.ly/3ZI4mBA #BusinessCompliance #FinCEN #CPA #Compliance #SmallBusiness

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Compliance shouldn’t be a headache! With new FinCEN CTA requirements, filing your Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) can feel overwhelming. My team at AB Fin CPA will handle it for you, so you can focus on what you do best—running your business. Let’s simplify this together! 💼✔️ 📅 Deadline: File by Jan 1, 2025 Got questions? Reach out, and we’ll take it from there! Learn more at https://bit.ly/3ZI4mBA #BusinessCompliance #FinCEN #CPA #Compliance #SmallBusiness

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Automating processes is great, but make sure to remain human. Here are some ways accounting professionals can put the human element back into their engagements: 🔹 tax pros - send a quick thank you email to 5 or 10 new clients this year. No call to action. Just an "I appreciate your trust in my services" note. 🔹🔹post something fun about yourself on LinkedIn - let your clients and prospects get to know (the real) you. 🔹🔹🔹 Be prepared to adapt quickly when inevitable kinks arise in your automated processes. Your ability to quickly say "sorry, I missed that" or "oops, software glitch" is what can set you apart. No one is perfect and, believe it or not, software isn't either. #Accounting #HumanElement #AI #TaxSeason

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What is the max number of ideal accounting clients you can handle? I think people forget that we have limited capacity when starting your own firm. ALL firm owners have told me to focus on your ideal client and find contract work for some stable income. My max number of ideal accounting clients is 100. This means I need to be selective of the clients I accept or else I need to hire someone OR fire existing clients to make room for higher quality clients. Do you all have a max number of clients you’ll accept or do you say “yes” to all potential clients?

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Never miss a beat during tax season! 😎 Laminate our essential Quick Tax Cheatsheet and keep it on you for instant access to critical tax insights. 🔥 Sneak a peek - https://lnkd.in/e26A6bDD #cpa #cheatsheet #guide #clients #taxes #info

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Check out our latest client feedback on google. #happyclients #satisfiedclients #clientfeedback

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What is your onboarding process with new clients? As a Certified Professional Bookkeeper, you need to understand how your client runs their business because everyone runs their business differently even though they might be in the same industry. For example, every bookkeeper runs their business differently. How well are you getting to know your clients? Are you building relationships with them? How comfortable are you to call them up when they have an unusual transaction? When you understand your client’s business then you are able to process the data more effectively. It all goes back to asking questions and building relationships.

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I am surprised how many accounting firm owners are operators trapped in their business 🚩🚩🚩 And it's more a mindset change to get it solved. We are in the process of getting ready to launch Top Firm. I have been speaking with lots of firm owners in the last few weeks. Firm owners turning over 1 million or more. Most of the firm owners I have spoken with are trapped working 2,200+ hours a year doing the work. The fees they bill are more than the profit their business makes. 👉 Their profit is 200-300K or less (before owner salaries). 👉 Without their fee contribution, they would have no profit, or even business.  👉 Almost 100% of them don’t have a one-year plan. They know things need to change. But it’s the mindset that’s stopping them. The pain isn’t enough to cause them to act. They know it can be better, they can build a more purposeful business, that is more profitable and enjoyable. But that would require a completely different mindset to the past. This is the part I enjoy about coaching these firm owners. Once you unlock the mindset, providing the plan, tools, frameworks and templates is the easy part. They are only 3 years away from having a business they are proud of. ✔️ One that is purposeful and fulfilling. ✔️ One that doesn’t rely on them. Choosing to change is the hard part. But once you do, the future is exciting! If this sounds like you and your looking to make this change and want help from a coach (me), send me a direct message with the words “Mindset” and we can see if I can help.

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LLC (partnership) vs. S-Corp Let's discuss. I am usually extremely hesitant to post about topics like this - they can be extremely technical - but here goes! (A word about this post: It is not a substitute for discussing your exact situation with a qualified tax professional. We will touch on some of the issues, but NOT all of them.) First, let's get something out of the way: If you open an LLC and you are the sole owner of this LLC, by default you generally will have no tax savings over someone who has a business without an LLC ("sole proprietor" Schedule C). Surprising to some, but true. So, let's dive into our comparison: 1) LLC Partnership If you have an LLC partnership (i.e. 2+ partners), the majority of the tax you will pay is at the personal level. Aside from the income tax you will need to pay on this (whatever tax bracket you are in), you will also need to pay an additional tax (called "self employment tax"), of about 15% of the company's profits - EXCEPT - if a partner(s) is deemed to be a "passive" partner. That passive partner's income will usually not be subject to self-employment tax. Yay - tax savings! But the "active" partner(s) income will still be subject to self-employment tax. 2) S-Corp If you have an S-Corp, the majority of the tax you will pay is also at the personal level. While the profits of an S-corp are subject to the regular income tax, ALL partners' income are usually NOT subject to self-employment tax - even "active" partners. At all. As in, zero! However, there is a catch. The IRS requires S-corp owners to take "reasonable compensation," meaning a reasonable salary. For those of you that are unaware, when taking a salary, the employer and employee need to pay about 15% of the gross salary to the IRS (known as Fica taxes), a similar amount to the self-employment tax. So, to sum it all up: When analyzing your decision between an LLC partnership and S-corp, you need to evaluate which will offer you more savings: The passive partner(s) not paying self-employment tax on the profits (LLC), or ALL partners not paying self-employment tax on the profits, after factoring in the payroll costs/taxes (S-corp). If it sounds complicated, it can be. There are also a number of other factors to consider. Just as an example, if you are located in NYC, S-Corps have a business tax of about 8.5% of profits, while partnerships also have a tax, albeit at a lower percentage. A complex decision for sure, so make sure you do your research and discuss this with a qualified tax professional.

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If you are having challenges getting accounting clients, one of the best pieces of advice I heard recently was from Sharran Srivatsaa, which was “Proof over Promise”. This is just my opinion, but you can work for free in order to prove what you can do. For example you can offer to do accounting/bookkeeping for a month for free and if they are impressed and want to continue your services then your price will be $XXX after the first month. For taxes you can review their previous tax return and assuming there were mistakes or missed tax saving opportunities you can point them out to demonstrate what your capabilities are. Clients want some kind of “certainty” that you are capable of doing the thing you promise you can do. What better way than to prove it to them?

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