Brokerage accounts have been the normal way of investing in this country for many years. A complicated question that I get asked often is - What is the difference between an Investment Advisor’s way of doing business and a broker’s way of doing business. There are many differences but also some similarities that make the [...]

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If a business breaks the rules of accounting and ethics, it can be liable for legal sanctions against it. It can deliberately deceive its investors and lenders with false or misleading numbers in its financial report. That’s where audits come in. Audits are one means of keeping misleading financial reporting to a minimum. CPA auditors [...]

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So what goes on the accounting and bookkeeping departments? What do these people do on a daily basis?
Well, one thing they do that’s terribly important to everyone working there is Payroll. All the salaries and taxes earned and paid by every employee every pay period have to be recorded. The payroll department has to ensure [...]

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Most people probably think of bookkeeping and accounting as the same thing, but bookkeeping is really one function of accounting, while accounting encompasses many functions involved in managing the financial affairs of a business. Accountants prepare reports based, in part, on the work of bookkeepers.
Bookkeepers perform all manner of record-keeping tasks. Some of them include [...]

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Financial managers can do certain things to increase or decrease net income that’s recorded in the year. This is called profit smoothing, income smoothing or just plain old window dressing. This isn’t the same as fraud, or cooking the books.
Most profit smoothing involves pushing some amount of revenue and/or expenses into other years than they [...]

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