A dedicated funeral home accountant can take the load off your team and ensure accurate and timely records. Sheryl brings over 15 years of accounting experience to Johnson Consulting Group. While earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Accounting from the University of Phoenix, she worked with certified public accountants and tax attorneys. Prior to her accounting career, Sheryl worked as an Assistant Trust Administrator in Wealth Management and Private Banking.
- Giersch Group uses QuickBooks cloud-based accounting software to simplify financial management and handle the unique bookkeeping needs of the funeral industry.
- So many of you employ accountants and bookkeepers that don’t know funeral service.
- In this article, we are going to show you the top five mistakes funeral home accountants make that adversely affect the financial results to the business owner.
- The accountant would work with the business owner to get everything set up right.
Do You Need an Accounting Firm for Your Funeral Business?
The chart is usually sorted by account number to ease the task of locating specific accounts. If one accountant dies and is replaced with another, all the same entries are coded the same way. Limited liability companies are probably the most versatile form of business available today.
Understand Your Funeral Business’s Financial Health
Our Division Managers oversee the day-to-day bookkeeping and tax planning function for their clients. Each of our members is assigned to a division to enable us to provide quality, efficient and personalized service for their funeral home. In a general partnership, both owners are equal in all regards of control. A slightly more complicated partnership is called a limited partnership. We do not see this often in small partnerships unless one partner is going to be a silent partner. In a limited partnership, there is a general partner that is actively managing the business and a limited partner who is passive in many decisions.
Tax deadlines 2023 >>
One of the disadvantages of a corporation is that the income of the business is subject to income tax and then taxed again when distributed to owners. Most accountants provide financial statements about six to nine weeks after the end of the month or quarter. Most don’t assess your position year to date, and if you are having an off year, teach you how to fix the problem. Most do the bulk of tax planning after your year-end by adjusting bad debts and depreciation.
Don’t Overuse the “Miscellaneous” Category
In fact, many successful funeral and cemetery business owners can’t realistically define the health of their business. As stated previously, we like to see the real estate owned in a separate LLC. We want to see the operating business pay rents to the real estate LLC. The rents provide a return on investment and pay any mortgage for the acquisition. This chart shows that the C corporation has a lower tax on an equal amount of revenue. However, the remaining earnings are locked inside the C corporation.
Regardless, it is still a partnership and does not have protection for personal assets from business creditors. Simon graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. After graduation, he worked at a student loan company as a staff accountant preparing financial documents. Thereafter, Simon worked at an insurance brokerage as a staff accountant preparing financial statements and reviewing an assortment of accounting procedures.
Giersch Group’s free consultation will evaluate which services best suit your business. When the time comes to sell your funeral business, having an experienced accountant on your team is crucial for preparing an accurate business valuation and getting the most from your sale. We’ve said before that your time as an owner is worth $1,000 per hour. For ownership and management to make the best decisions financially, they must have meaningful financial statements with benchmarks related to their profession.
With a clear understanding of where the profession has been, and a compelling vision of where it’s going, we help our clients reach new levels of success.
Her innovative ideas help strengthen customer relationships, improve processes, and fortify the company brand. Niccole’s dedication to Johnson Consulting Group’s core values and mission to provide the highest quality services, will ensure she is not only meeting, but exceeding, our clients’ expectations. She is committed to being a strategic business partner to the Executive team, leading process improvements, and driving strategic initiatives. Kristen has a proven track record of increasing profitability, stabilizing cash flow, identifying high-impact problems, and implementing new technologies. She has managed budgets up to $700M and has extensive experience leading multi-location dispersed, cross-functional teams.
A common mistake made by many funeral homes is over-utilizing the “miscellaneous” category. While “miscellaneous” can be a helpful utility, depending on it too much can lead to inaccurate bookkeeping and tax filing processes. Ryan joins Johnson Consulting Group with more than 10 years of accounting and customer service. When he is not working, Ryan enjoys traveling, reading, playing video games, and crossfit. An existing corporation has the option of making an S election within 60 days of the close of any fiscal year. However, C corporations looking to make the S election should discuss this with their tax adviser as there could be significant tax consequences at the time of the election.
Our accounting professionals are here to help in whatever capacity you need. We offer interim, part-time or fully outsourced bookkeeping services. The sooner you start your reporting, the sooner you can start building your backlog of financial data.
As a Johnson Consulting Group Senior Accountant, Sheryl builds and maintains strong client relationships and anticipates their needs. Sheryl is responsible for providing accounting and bookkeeping services to our Accounting client base. In Sheryl’s off hours, she enjoys the outdoors and the challenges of hiking.
Giersch Group uses QuickBooks cloud-based accounting software to simplify financial management and handle the unique bookkeeping needs of the funeral industry. QuickBooks provides real-time visibility into key metrics – revenue, cash flow, profit margins, accounts receivable, trust & preneed tracking and more. Our customized setup provides funeral directors with actionable insights to inform business decisions. This is true for any business, especially small or family-owned businesses that may not have the staffing or expertise to dedicate the proper time to bookkeeping. For businesses that are looking for an accounting partner, look no further than Johnson Consulting Group. Our accounting and financial management team can help funeral businesses of any size properly manage and understand their financial records.
