Explore Small Business Finance Topics
Discover our most popular topics for Canadian solopreneurs and small business owners. From income tax and GST/HST to QuickBooks tutorials and managing your business finances, these guides are designed to help you move from financial uncertainty to financial confidence.
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📑Canadian Income Tax
Guidance on filing and planning your Canadian taxes, from T1 and T2 returns to instalments
📊Managing Business Finances
From cash flow to pricing and metrics — learn to manage your business finances with confidence.
🏢 Canadian Business Structure
Should you incorporate? Stay informed on sole proprietorships, corporations, and registrations.
💰 GST/HST & QST
Understand how to register, file, and maximize input tax credits while avoiding common mistakes.
🧾 Guides and Tutorials
Practical accounting processes like reconciliations, journal entries, and reporting.
📝 Deductions & Expenses
Learn which expenses are deductible and how to track them for maximum tax savings.
Quebec Taxes & Business
QST, Revenu Québec filings, Quebec payroll, and provincial rules every entrepreneur should know.
👤 Paying Yourself
Salary vs dividends, management fees, and how to pay yourself from your corporation or small business.
💻 QuickBooks Online & Tools
Tutorials, guides and time-saving tips for using QuickBooks Online effectively.
🏦 Money & Personal Finance
Personal finance strategies for entrepreneurs, from RRSPs to saving for taxes.
9 Tips For Managing Your Customer Receivables
Any sales that occur within a business where payment is not made up front (eg. retail) or in advance of the sale (eg. down payment for a car), is reflected as an “Accounts Receivable”, which is accounting terminology for amounts owing by customers to a business. It is good to have accounts receivable, as this means you are generating sales. The downside, however, of having accounts receivable is that it represents cash that you don't have now, and along with that comes the possibility that your customers won’t pay you. Luckily a good system to manage your accounts receivable will help to reduce the number of non paying customers thereby avoiding bad debts. Below are some steps to help manage and collect on your accounts receivable:
Should New Business Owners Register for GST/HST?
The Goods and Services Tax or GST is a consumption tax that is charged on most goods and services sold within Canada, regardless of where your business is located. Subject to certain exceptions, all businesses are required to charge GST , currently at 5%, plus applicable provincial sales taxes. A business effectively acts as an agent for Revenue Canada by collecting the taxes and remitting them on a periodic basis. Businesses are also permitted to claim the taxes paid on expenses incurred that relate to their business activities. These are referred to as Input Tax Credits.
Excel for Small Business Owners
As a confirmed excel nerd, there is something about large amounts of data that I am inextricably drawn towards . I suppose it has something to do with an affinity for organization combined with a love of numbers and the innate desire to solve problems. As an accountant and financial consultant , I am often presented with the task of organizing and analysing data into a format that allows for greater insight into my clients businesses . And although good accounting software is important for most small business owners, especially once they reach a certain size, a great deal of analysis and reporting is done most effectively in excel.
4 Metrics to Help Improve Your Small Business Cash Flow
n a recent study by TD Bank Financial Group it was determined that one of the primary challenges facing small business was cash flow (The other two were managing clients and government red tape). This probably comes as no surprise to most small business owners, especially in the early stages. The simple answer to this problem would be a limitless source of cash. Since this is usually not possible, we need to do the next best thing: analyze our cash flow requirements and find the most cost effective and easily available solution for any shortfalls. Even the most successful business can find itself shutting its doors if it is not able to manage it's cash flow needs.
Below are 4 financial metrics, which if understood and monitored regularly, can actually help improve your business' cash flow: