Sayre Advisory and Consulting Services

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All of these High-Yield Saving Accounts have been insured by the FDIC.

Work, intelligently.

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I am simply expressing an extremely sincere Thank You to each client who utilizes Sayre Advisory and Consulting Services. You are all appreciated and valued. Tony Garcia, you epitomize excellence in leadership.

I also remain committed on resuming licensed practice as a CPA, again, soon. Please understand this will occur during February, 2026, at the latest.

Thank you kindly, Lumen Homes, regarding relying upon me as your accountant, outsourced bookkeeper, and tax return preparer. I highly recommend them.

Located in Denver, Colorado, they focus on industry thoughtful design and exceptional services.

Here is more information about them:

https://www.lhdenver.com/

They know this niche quite well.

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Thank you for the clients who rely upon me to do their Income Tax Return Filings each year. I enjoy this additional complex, detailed, numbers-minded, and supplemental work.

I very much value each professional relationship. I also appreciate customer referrals.

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Thank you kindly, OSO Trucking, regarding relying upon me as your independent contractor, outsourced bookkeeper, and annual tax return preparer. I highly recommend them.

Luis knows what he does in commerce and the transportation of goods quite well.

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Thank you kindly, Mark's Auto Sales and MVMT Motorwerks, regarding relying upon me as your independent contractor, outsourced bookkeeper, and annual tax return preparer. I highly recommend them.

Located in Denver, Colorado, the Used Car Dealership also handles Automobile Repairs.

Here is more information about their services:

https://marksautosales.com/

They know these several niches quite well.

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Thank you kindly, Reed Audio Video, regarding relying upon me as your independent contractor, outsourced bookkeeper and tax return preparer. I highly recommend them.

Located in Denver, Colorado, they focus on industry commercial and residential turn-key solutions design and installation.

Here is more information about their services:

https://www.reedaudiovideo.com/

They know this niche quite well.

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Thank you kindly, Colorado-based RP Financial Services, regarding also relying upon me as one of your independent contractor, part-time busy season tax preparers to collaboratively handle clients' compliance return needs.

Stick with the work you know well. Enjoy what you do in life, too.

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Thank you kindly, Ensign Shaffer, regarding relying upon me as your Tax Preparer to handle all compliance return needs.

I highly recommend them. Located in Denver, Colorado, they are a women-led Design + Build firm focusing on a collaborative and transparent approach to customer-centered home construction.

https://ensignshaffer.com/

They know their niche industry quite well.

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I cannot be happier in work I handle leading Ross4Marketing as their dedicated Financial Controller. I have chosen immense complexities involved with numbers ever since I had that chance.

I sincerely thank all my kind tax clients who rely upon me, also.

I genuinely appreciate everyone's patience, too.

People are by far the best part of what I do.

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I sincerely thank Luis Francisco Rivera Calderon and Jacqueline Guada Villan Ortiz for also utilizing my professional accounting and financial services during 2022. I appreciate you relying upon me to handle last year's Individual Income taxes.

Enjoy the work that you do. Remain ambitious.

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I sincerely thank OSO Trucking for also utilizing my professional accounting and financial services during 2022. I appreciate you relying upon me to handle last year's Company taxes, Luis.

Enjoy the work that you do. Remain ambitious.

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Here are three available Income Tax planning tips for 2022 at this juncture. There will assuredly be more during the Calendar Year:

(1) Child Tax Credit

The child tax credit was expanded and modified for 2021 so that many clients have been receiving monthly advance payments of their 2021 credit. Unless the law is changed, all clients have now received their final monthly advance child tax credit payment.

Clients should take the time now to examine their 2021 tax picture and determine whether they received excess advance child tax credit payments.

Typically, clients would wait until they file their income tax returns in April 2022 to claim the credit based on 2021 information. For 2021, the IRS used the taxpayer’s 2020 information (or, if not available, 2019 information) to determine whether the client qualified to receive advance payments. Clients could update this information for changes via the child tax credit portal.

For 2021, taxpayers with qualifying children were eligible to receive a child tax credit equal to (1) $3,600 for children aged five and under and (2) $3,000 for children between ages five and 17 (as of year-end). For 2022, the child tax credit returns to a $2,000 lump sum payment claimed on the client’s tax return in April 2023.

Taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income under $75,000 (single filers), $112,500 (heads of household) or $150,000 (joint filers) are eligible for the entire credit in 2021. For taxpayers with income that exceeds this level, but is less than $200,000 (single) or $400,000 (joint returns), the credit phased out by $50 for each $1,000 above the initial threshold (but not below $2,000 per child).

Taxpayers with MAGI that exceeds $200,000 (single) or $400,000 (joint returns) are subject to a second phaseout that could reduce the tax credit to $0.

Many clients have received advance payments that exceeded the amounts that they were entitled to receive. All clients will be required to reconcile their advance payments on their 2021 income tax return.

Most clients who received excess payments will be required to repay those amounts in April. Clients who received the tax credit in 2021 should look for Letter 6419 from the IRS in January 2022. That letter will provide information about the amounts the taxpayer received in 2021.

Clients who received more than they’re entitled to receive shouldn’t panic. Lower income clients may qualify for full or partial repayment protection if their income falls below $120,000 (joint returns) or $80,000 (single returns).

(2) Expiring Charitable Contributions Benefit

Clients have only a few days left to take advantage of the expanded federal income tax deduction for charitable gifts in 2021. Clients who are looking for ways to reduce their 2021 tax liability should be advised that 2021 is a prime year to make charitable donations.

Congress lifted the typically applicable 60% AGI limit for cash donations to charity in 2021, so that clients can deduct cash donations up to 100% of their adjusted gross income for 2021 only. Unless the law is changed by year-end, the 60%-of-AGI limit will be reinstated beginning January 1, 2022.

Another pandemic-related provision allowed clients to take a $300 ($600 for married couples) deduction for charitable donations even if the client takes the standard deduction. This above-the-line deduction is set to expire at the end of 2021.

(3) Transfer Tax Modifications

Most of the estate tax changes that were proposed earlier in the year have now been stripped from the most recent version of the Build Back Better Act. However, that doesn’t mean clients should breathe easy and assume that no estate tax changes are coming in 2022.

For many high-net-worth clients, it can be smart to take advantage of the current high exemption amounts—which, even without Congressional action, could simply be allowed to expire after 2025.

The IRS has already released inflation-adjusted changes to the gift tax exclusion so that clients will be able to give $16,000 to a donee tax-free in 2022 without becoming subject to the gift tax ($32,000 per married couple who agrees to split gifts). Further, the lifetime transfer tax exemption amount will increase from $11.7 million per person in 2021 to $12,060,000 in 2022.

Clients should remember that they can make large gifts now, taking advantage of the expanded exemption amounts, without worrying about a future IRS clawback. In other words, clients who make large gifts today won’t have to worry about estate taxes if they die when the exemption amount is much lower.

I sincerely thank Integrity Dispatch and Rocky's Transport for utilizing my professional accounting and financial services during 2022. I appreciate ya'll relying upon me to handle last year's Company taxes.

Enjoy what you do. Remain ambitious.

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I sincerely thank M4 Roofing and Gutters for retaining my professional accounting and financial services during 2022. I appreciate ya'll relying upon me to handle last year's Company taxes.

I am happy working with Kevin Trizna, CEO, and Veronica Erwood, Office Manager, again.

I highly recommend what they take care of if you need home repairs in this specialized niche.

Here is more information about them:

https://m4roofing.com/

Enjoy what you do.

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The accounting department is the most vital part of every business. Without following reliable accounting best practices, a business can and will crumble. Frankly, our economy couldn’t survive without accountants. The US Department of Labor has projected that there will be 1.5 million accounting jobs in the US by 2026, which is an increase of about 10% per decade.

For all of its importance, the accounting department, including Accounts Payable and Accounts Receiving, is also one of the most singularly complex branches of any business. Rife with complicated and interdependent processes, as well as various stages of involvement and approval from other departments and managers, it's easy to see how accounting can become bogged down.

When accounting processes aren’t running as smoothly as they could be, the issue should ALWAYS be addressed – after all, your financial department is what helps you get the money your business deserves for the hard work and quality service or product provided!

The most cohesive and effective accounting departments follow a set of best practices – standards that help them to make the most of the team that they have. Skill sets are utilized, grunt work is minimized, and work is done the smart way. All of this means higher job satisfaction and higher productivity.

Here are four accounting tips that are proven to make your accounting department more effective:

Always Process in Batches

For better time management, process checks in batches. Rather than processing every check request or Accounting Batch Processing.jpeginvoice or reimbursement request as it comes in, decide on a certain time of the month that you’ll process these. Depending on the needs of your business and the quantity of requests, you might decide on two or three dates throughout the month.

Once you decide, make sure you give these date to anyone who might request a check from you. Making this schedule available to the rest of the company will help prevent excessive “emergency” check runs and reimbursements, which can take up a lot of your team’s time.

Make Rigid Deadlines

Most accounting teams have strict guidelines in place for the rest of the company to follow regarding submitting invoices and adjustments. It’s a good idea to have rules, but that doesn’t mean that they will be followed.

Accounting Deadlines

When others don’t turn in their invoices and requests on time, it’s much more difficult, if not impossible, for the accounting team to meet their own deadlines. This can result in upper management coming down on the accounting department, even though it’s not really their fault that processes are being held up.

What’s the solution? Start by taking a look at your current deadlines, if you already have them in place. (If not, it’s time to set some up.) Determine if they’re working for you or not, and how they could work better. Once you’ve decided the best schedule for your organization, make sure everyone knows what the policy is. Make frequent announcements as deadlines approach, giving all departments the opportunity to submit their documentation. If the problem persists, go to executive management to make them aware of the issue and who the repeat offenders are, so they can intervene.

Use the Software You Have

Chances are, your organization has some sort of electronic bookkeeping program in place. Maybe it’s not the latest, greatest software that can do everything for you, but chances are, it could be saving you time and money.

Accounting Software

No matter how strong it is, resist the urge to crunch numbers outside of the software. It’s there for a reason, and doing the work manually defeats the purpose. If you’re unsure of how to get the system to do what you need it to do, look into getting a trainer who can teach you how to make it work.

Even better, if you can find documentation on what the software is supposed to do, you’ll be able to assess its performance. If it’s not meeting your needs as promised when it was purchased, contact your representative to figure out how to make that the case. After all, if your organization is paying for it, you might as well be using it.

Review Your Processes

No matter how good your process was when it was initially set up, it must be re-examined from time to time. A process review should take place on two fronts. First, the accounting department should internally assess if processes are still ideal for how the accounting department wants to be operating and interacting with others within the organization.

Accounting Process

Second, consider how your process is working from the perspective of other departments. Ask other departments to tell you honestly if they feel that some steps are a waste of their time, or if they have ideas for how their pieces of the accounting process could be improved upon. Remember, they have a different perspective and could have valuable insight to offer.

Review your process at least once a year to assess whether or not it’s still effective. An annual process review can provide insight into the weak points of your business or department, especially if you invite a process expert or consultant to participate who can view things objectively.

The days when the chief financial officer was
primarily responsible for internal controls and
compliance are long gone. While financial
discipline remains critical, today’s CFOs have far
more responsibility than their predecessors did,
playing key roles in developing strategy, fostering
innovation, and driving growth.

As their role expands, CFOs face challenges their
predecessors never encountered: labor shortages,
social and environmental concerns, ransomware
attacks, increased regulation and global
competition to name a few. Coping with these
challenges requires knowledge and skills earlier
CFOs were once able to outsource to peers.
CFOs are also more visible, both internally and
externally, than they were in the past. The green
visor and insular persona of the bean counter
stereotype doesn’t apply today — if it ever did.

To be effective, CFOs must also be both personable
and analytical. They need to be excellent
communicators who exude credibility and are
confident discussing any aspect of the business,
not just the financials.

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These are good things to be aware of when filing your Income Tax Returns during 2021. Get in touch if you need them done. And, I will prepare them.

Expanded child tax credit

The American Rescue Plan boosted the child tax credit to $3,000 for families with kids 17 and under for 2021, with an extra $600 for children under age 6.

While millions of Americans have received advanced credits, filers who earned more than expected may need to pay some of it back, experts say.

To qualify for the full credit, single filers need a modified adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 and married couples filing together must earn under $150,000.

Charitable deductions

Taxpayers eyeing a year-end charitable donation may take advantage of a special write-off for cash gifts in 2021, even if they don't itemize deductions on their federal tax return.

For 2021, single filers may claim a tax break for cash donations up to $300 and married couples may get up to $600, according to the IRS, an extended coronavirus relief measure from 2020.

Thank you, Tony Garcia Installations (TGI) Home Improvements, regarding relying upon me as a part-time CFO to handle your accounting, bookkeeping, financial reporting, reconciliations, and taxes.

I highly recommend them for flooring needs. This quality Company services both commercial and residential properties.

They know their industry well.

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These are imperative fundamentals to understand in professional accounting and finance work.

10 GAAP Principles

- Principle of Regularity: GAAP-compliant accountants strictly adhere to established rules and regulations.

- Principle of Consistency: Consistent standards are applied throughout the financial reporting process.

- Principle of Sincerity: GAAP-compliant accountants are committed to accuracy and impartiality.

- Principle of Permanence of Methods: Consistent procedures are used in the preparation of all financial reports.

- Principle of Non-Compensation: All aspects of an organization’s performance, whether positive or negative, are fully reported with no prospect of debt compensation.

- Principle of Prudence: Speculation does not influence the reporting of financial data.

- Principle of Continuity: Asset valuations assume the organization’s operations will continue.

- Principle of Periodicity: Reporting of revenues is divided by standard accounting periods, such as fiscal quarters or fiscal years.

- Principle of Materiality: Financial reports fully disclose the organization’s monetary situation.

- Principle of Utmost Good Faith: All involved parties are assumed to be acting honestly.

Best Practices (Standardization)

Standardization is achieved by setting generally accepted guidelines with regard to how a product or service is created or supported, as well as to how a business is operated or how certain required processes are governed. The goal of standardization is to enforce a level of consistency or uniformity to certain practices or operations within the selected environment.

An example of standardization would be the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to which all companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges must adhere. GAAP is a standardized set of guidelines created by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to ensure that all financial statements undergo the same processes so that the disclosed information is relevant, reliable, comparable, and consistent.

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This is very relevant fourth quarter, 2021 information for all small businesses. A release below from the Journal of Accountancy provides more clear Employer guidance.

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2021/dec/early-sunset-employee-retention-credit-penalty-relief.html

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I am going to be handling repeat Denver Metro Area client tax returns again during the upcoming busy season. I stay competitive on pricing and always file ahead of deadlines. Thus, let me know if you need this work done.

I provide a free estimate. I then furnish an industry-standard Engagement Letter. And, subsequently follow-up.

Thank you. I appreciate referrals, too.

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This was compiled and written by me regarding more best practice techniques.

Forecasting is a common statistical task, where it helps to inform decisions about the scheduling of personnel, production, transportation, and also provides a comprehensive guide to important long-range strategic planning. Its primary objective is to best minimize estimates, and is a separate topic from goals and planning. They are entirely different concepts.

Forecasting

Predicting the future most accurately, given all of the information available, including historical data and knowledge of any future events that might impact the projections.

Goals

What you would like to have happen. Goals should be linked to forecasts and plans, but this does not always occur. Too often, goals are set without any plan for how to achieve them, and no forecasts for whether they are realistic.

Planning

A response to forecasts and goals. Planning involves determining the appropriate actions that are required to make your forecasts match your goals. Forecasting should be an integral part of the decision-making activities of management, as it can play an important role in many areas. Modern organizations require intricate, thorough short-term, medium-term, and long-range forecasts.

Three Forecast Types:

Short-term

Necessary for the scheduling of personnel, production, and transportation. As part of the scheduling process, forecasts of demand are often also required.

Medium-term

Utilized to determine future resource requirements, in order to purchase raw materials, hire personnel, or buy machinery and equipment.

Long-range

This notion is also known as Strategic Planning. Such decisions must take detailed account and inventory of capital, environmental factors, infrastructure, internal resources, and market opportunities. An organization needs an approach that incorporates scenario analysis considerations to establish what is best to validly predict any uncertain events. Such forecasting systems require the development of expertise in successfully anticipating problems, applying a range of methods, selecting appropriate formulas, and evaluating and refining procedures. It is also important to have strong organizational support for the use of formal techniques to fully develop and use them successfully.

Here are four basic, fundamental recommendations that are proven to make your accounting department more effective:

(1) Always Process in Batches

For better time management, process checks in batches. Rather than processing every check request or Accounting Batch Processing. Depending on the needs of your business and the quantity of requests, you might decide on two or three dates throughout the month.

(2) Make Consistent, Reasonable Deadlines

Most accounting teams have quality-minded guidelines in place for the rest of the company to follow regarding submitting invoices, sales orders, etc.

(3) Use the Software You Have

Chances are, your organization has some sort of electronic bookkeeping program in place. Maybe it’s not the latest, greatest software that can do everything for you, but chances are, it could be keeping you efficient.

No matter how strong it is, resist the urge to crunch numbers outside of the software. It is there for a reason, and doing the work manually defeats the purpose. If you’re unsure of how to get the system to do what you need it to do, look into getting a trainer who can teach you how to make it work.

(4) Review Your Processes

No matter how good your process was when it was initially set up, it must be re-examined from time to time. A process review should take place on two fronts. First, the accounting department should internally assess if processes are still ideal for how the accounting department wants to be operating and interacting with others within the organization.

Review your process at least once a year to assess whether or not it’s still effective. An annual process review can provide insight into the weak points of your business or department, especially if you invite a process expert or consultant to participate who can view things objectively.

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There are so many important aspects of accounting and best practices. This is one that I emphasize for people who do not understand professional finance fields.

"Set a routine of closing your books and stick to it"

Practice closing your books at the end of each month. This would allow you to see how your business performed over a given period. This would also enable you to plan ahead, change or adjust your existing plans, and make sound business decisions.

I found this information from the PCAOB's Auditing Standard No. 15 to be very clear and useful:

Financial Statement Assertions

11. In representing that the financial statements are presented fairly in conformity with the applicable financial reporting framework, management implicitly or explicitly makes assertions regarding the recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of the various elements of financial statements and related disclosures. Those assertions can be classified into the following categories:

Existence or occurrence – Assets or liabilities of the company exist at a given date, and recorded transactions have occurred during a given period.

Completeness – All transactions and accounts that should be presented in the financial statements are so included.

Valuation or allocation – Asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense components have been included in the financial statements at appropriate amounts.

Rights and obligations – The company holds or controls rights to the assets, and liabilities are obligations of the company at a given date.

Presentation and disclosure – The components of the financial statements are properly classified, described, and disclosed.