Bookkeeping and Accounting Advice Blog London Ontario

“Can I write off that golf game?” “I want to take a client out for drinks after work – is that against the rules?” “I’m buying staff pizza today, can I write that off?” “My wife and I run the family business and discuss it often on date night. Is that a business expense?” Meals and Entertainment expenses is an area that many small business owners have questions about. Here is some information that should help clear things up. The... View Article

Bill 148 has made some sweeping changes to labour legislation in Ontario.  Here is a brief synopsis of the areas that all our small business clients need to be aware of.  Minimum Wage (Effective January 1, 2018) General:   $14.00 per hourLiquor Servers:    $12.20 per hour Students (Under 18)   $13.15 per hourHomeworkers: $15.40 per hour  Equal Pay for Employees (Effective April 1, 2018)Casual, part-time, temporary and seasonal employees must be paid the same as full-time, and/or permanent employees, so long... View Article

Are you looking for a job? Here are some hints that might help you out:  a) Proof Read your Resume. I’ve filed at least 20 in the garbage can this week because they can’t format a resume or spell correctly. This is very important in an office job! b) Follow up. It doesn’t hurt to message the Facebook page of the business you are applying to, or to phone and make sure your resume was received and express your interest in... View Article

On October 1st, the general minimum wage in Ontario increased from $11.40 per hour to $11.60 per hour. Student minimum wage increased from $10.70 per hour to $10.90 per hour. Liquor server wages increased from $9.90 per hour to $10.10 per hour. This new rate takes effect on October 1st, which means that employees get paid the old rate on hours worked up to September 30th and the new rate on hours from October 1st onward, regardless of the day... View Article

ONTARIO MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE On October 1st, 2016, the Ontario minimum wage is increasing as per the following graphic. General minimum wage will be increasing by 15 cents. Minimum wage is the lowest wage that an employer can pay an employee. Ontario announces wage increases every April, and these increases are implemented in October. General Minimum Wage applies to most employees. Student Minimum Wage applies to students UNDER THE AGE OF 18 who work 28 hours a week or less... View Article

QUICKBOOKS 2016 PASSWORD FEATURE As a Quickbooks ProAdvisor, I feel I need to let all my clients know about a big change in the latest release.  Once you install the newest update (Release R7P) you will be prompted to add a complex password.  This password is mandatory and needs to be changed every 90 days.The rationale behind this is that our QuickBooks files contain sensitive data such as SIN numbers, Credit Card numbers, etc.  Unfortunately, QuickBooks has no solution for clients... View Article

Do you claim AUTOMOBILE EXPENSES? Make sure you are tracking your mileage. Make note of the your odometer reading at the beginning of the year, then track all your business mileage throughout through the year. Keep a log in your car and record in it every time you get into the car. For the more tech savvy, there are apps for your smart phone that will use the GPS to record this for you. When tax time comes, you will... View Article

Just a quick note to let you know that Quickbooks is NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTING its product on Windows 10.  This means that if you upgrade your operating system and your Quickbooks stops working, you are going to be out of luck until Intuit finishes their testing and irons out the glitches.  I am speaking from experience, as I have spent numerous hours on tech support today with no resolution in sight. I strongly encourage you to WAIT.  Don’t upgrade until... View Article

My Outlook 365 has been acting up, refusing to start up without a reboot.  Some internet research lead me to the solution:  My outlook.pst file was corrupted and needed to be repaired. If you have this problem, I’ll let you know what fixed it for me: Go to the “Program files” folder on your computer and search for “scanpst.exe” Open scanpst.exe it and locate your outlook folder.  It is probably hidden, so you will need to “Show hidden files and... View Article

Question:   When trying to update Quickbooks, I get an error message that says Error 15271 – a file cannot be validated. This is an error that has plagued many of my clients. The answer on the Quickbooks site is to reset the updates and, failing that, to reinstall the program. This takes a lot of time, and I have found a simpler solution for this and other QuickBooks update issues.   Follow these steps to resolve most Quickbooks update issues:... View Article