Social Media for Restaurants seminar.

We are members of a professional networking group called Corporate Alliance. This gives us a lot of opportunitites tyo attend meetings, lunches and activities where we can meet other business owners, present our business services and develop relationships with local business owners. It is a great group and we would recommend it to all who are interested.

From time to time they host seminars and I received in my e-mail an announcement for a new seminar titled "Social Media for Restaurants" to be hosted Thursday July 30th put on by Fluid Studio. Here is the announcement . . . enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs… Is this type of social media really worth your organization’s valuable time?

Next Thursday, July 30th, join Fluid Studio in Salt Lake for a “Social Media for Restaurants” seminar. This workshop will not only detail certain social media tools and networks but give extensive examples and case studies of how local eating establishments around the country are using social media and driving foot traffic into their stores and restaurants. The focus of this seminar will be application-based training of social media for your restaurant and give you the tools and skill-set to begin utilizing or enhance your experience with social media.

Lunch will be provided.

What: A social media seminar for restaurants

Where: Corporate Alliance Center (7730 Union Park Ave, Midvale)

When: Thursday, July 30th 11:30am - 1pm

Why: Social media is free to use and one more way to make a connection with your customers

How: Sign up at smrestaurantsslc.eventbrite.com

Top Bookkeeping Mistakes article

We ran across an article posted on www.allbusiness.com about the "Top 10 Bookkeeping Mistakes Made by Small Businesses" and found it was very informative so we thought we would pick the Top 5 that apply to our clients and post them here. For the complete list, e-mail Russ or click HERE . . . Enjoy!

Doing it yourself. No matter how much they hate it, many small business owners insist upon handling the books themselves. Having a competent bookkeeper coming in to handle the books can be extremely beneficial in that they have the skills to do the job quickly and efficiently and will provide a second pair of eyes to find errors and make suggestions.

Not properly classifying employees. The proliferation of independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers has made it difficult to determine who is on staff and who is not. This results in misfiling when it comes to filing taxes since there are different rules and regulations for employees and non-employees.

Not reconciling the books with the bank statement each month. One of the fundamental aspects of bookkeeping is reconciling the books and bank statements every month. Nonetheless, there are businesses that do not do this and others where errors are made by not doing it properly. Again, this is a good reason for hiring an experienced bookkeeper.

No backup. The paperless office does not exist in the real world, where audits do still exist. A paper trail, documentation or verification in the form of backup documents should be available, especially if all files are on the computer system, which could be prone to technical problems.

Miscategorization or overcategorization. There are fairly standard categories for expenses. However, often expenses are entered into the wrong categories or too many categories are created. Use general bookkeeping guidelines for standard categorization and create as few new categories as possible. Try to follow generally accepted accounting practices.

Client Spotlight- Densley Auto Repair

Densley Auto Repair is one of our newest clients. I (Russ) took my car into Lamar Densley and he took great care of me. He was able to diagnose an issue I have had for awhile and helped fix me up for a great price. I would recommend his service to anybody!

Here is a message from Lamar:

"I am an ASE Master Certified Technician with more than 30 years in the automotive repair industry. I worked in a dealership, where I witnessed a great deal of frustrated customers. And one of the biggest complaints from them was bringing their cars in for a minor repair and being told you have major repairs that need done. And you end up with a very large repair bill you were not expecting! So I decided it was time to offer the customer an alternative.

So in January 2009 I along with my brother John opened Densley Auto Repair. Our mission is to offer the customer an honest estimate of repair with no hidden surprises. No work is done without the customer’s approval. And if any additional repairs are needed the customer will be notified and can then decide if they want the repair done or if they prefer to come back at another time.

We service most makes and models of vehicles. We also specialize in CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) vehicle conversions. With the rising cost of energy and environmental concerns, natural gas is a clean, safe, and affordable alternative.

We are located on the prison road about a mile from the Bluffdale Exit on I-15. Our hours of business are Monday- Friday 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Weekend and evenings by appointment."

Phone # is (801) 201-9399

Time for mid-year Tax Planning . . . .

One of the things we pride ourselves on here at Renaissance Financial Group CPAs is providing year round counsel to our clients in helping them to maximize their tax benefits throughout the year.

A stimulus bill was signed into law in February 2009, with tax changes that could affect you and your business. Even if none of the changes affects you, we are seeing many companies in a downturn. The “silver lining” of the downturn may be the possibility of you owing less tax for 2009 than in previous years. Owing less tax would mean paying less estimated taxes.

We are sending you this notice as encouragement to a do a midyear tax review of your own situation. Tax laws are frequently changing and although many may not affect you it is important to stay on top of your own situation. To make your 2009 tax cutting efforts most effective, call us and let’s get together for a midyear tax planning review.

Please call Lindy at 801-571-4011 to make an appointment. Also, if you haven’t had your 2008 personal and/or business taxes prepared the deadlines are fast approaching.

Best regards,

David J White CPA

Principal