r/AskAccounting

Most investors read the income statement and balance sheet, but miss critical details hidden in the 10-K about where a company actually makes its money.
This guide walks through exactly how to find and analyze geographic revenue breakdowns in SEC filings, including:
• Which sections to check
• How to interpret country and region exposure
• Why geographic concentration risk matters
• Common pitfalls to avoid
Full step-by-step breakdown here:
https://metricshour.com/blog/how-to-read-a-10-k-filing-for-geographic-revenue-data-2/
Have you ever dug into the geographic revenue notes in a 10-K? Worth the effort?

I’m trying to create some educational materials for the accounting/tax issues that come up most often for doctors in Canada, especially incorporated physicians, but also resident doctors/locums, students etc.

For accountants who work with physician clients, what are the recurring headaches, misunderstandings, or gaps you see?

I’m currently looking for a new accountant that is familiar with tax planning. Also, I lost over 100K in what I now know was a Ponzi scheme and apparently there is a way to reduce some of the taxes paid in prior years per the IRS but I would need someone experienced with this to help me. I would love a referral for someone familiar with doing this as well as some minor tax planning for a multi-business owner who is dissolving their businesses.

I frequently see people recommending that you consult your CPA for tax advice.

Not every CPA does taxes. I don't. I don't even do my own. My specialty is bookkeeping clean up, financial analysis, and streamlining processes and procedures. Sure, I have some exposure to taxes and tax strategies, but not enough to give you advice without advising you to consult your tax preparer.

Not every tax preparer/advisor is a CPA. My tax guy is an attorney.

Entering transactions in real time vs waiting for transactions to clear in QB

I need some clarification from more bookkeepers. Fairly new to QB & Accounting. I do bookkeeping for my employer.

I recently made a post in the QB help FB group due to finding a manual check in the register which then led to finding out how transactions are matched in the bank feed.

Ok, so it's best practice to enter transactions as they happen to accurately account for available cash, then they can match up once it clears. Great.

The bookkeeping training I went through I believe just taught us to wait until it clears in the feed then categorize it. I just asked that group about it and one of the main coaches from the group says she rarely has things entered manually and just waits for things to clear in the feed to categorize.

So my question is... How many of you are entering transactions as they happen instead of just waiting for it to clear?

What does that look like? Are you receiving an email with receipts every day on what was spent then you manually enter it in QB?

We use an AP software to track vendor invoices and payments but it's not synced to QB. I'm guessing these softwares integrate with QB to meet the best practice of entereing transactions as they happen? Currently we're unable to add credit cards in this software so if it was synced those would need to be entered manually I'm guessing. And I would need to enter everything manually right now anyway since it's not synced 😬 I feel like that would take so much time to enter every transaction before it clears. I also do the AP.

For anything that is being spent outside of this software would need to be entered manually?

How does process look for you all?

I'm a Chartered Accountant who's spent the past few months working almost exclusively with creator businesses (YouTubers, influencers, newsletter operators, educators, podcasters, digital product sellers, etc.).

To me, one key issue seems to be that financial information is fragmented across multiple platforms (i.e., YouTube, TikTok, Patreon, Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, affiliate networks, sponsorships, bank accounts, and other sources). Unlike regular earners who earn predictably on a monthly or biweekly basis, the unique earning patterns of creators presents a dilemma.

This is because before I could even begin to prepare accounts, advise on tax, or gain a holistic understanding of their business performance, I found that I was spending a great deal of time pulling the cross platform information together into a "one stop shop" effectively.

I'm curious whether others here have found the same thing.

If you're an accountant who works with creators (or are one), where do you spend the most time?

I'm writing a research paper and I've so far had conversations with creators, accountants, and talent managers. However, I'm much more interested in validating whether this resonates with people outside my own experience. Open to hearing all thoughts. Thanks!

This might be a dumb question, but do clients actually log into client portals without much pushback? I'm tryna figure out if I should push for them to upload on specific platforms or just ask them for the documents over the phone/email every tax season

We’re a small remote company with team members in a few different countries. Instead of setting up local entities, we went the global payroll or eor route.

It’s actually been pretty smooth so far because payroll runs fine, compliance isn’t on our plate, and hiring across borders feels way easier.

That said, I’m wondering what we’re not seeing yet like for the long term. For founders using an eor, were there any surprises like costs stacking up or legal gray areas?

Would love real world feedback.

I'm working on getting an A/P process put in place for this dental company I started working for. This is only my second job in A/P so bear with me.

Please tell me if this sounds like a good process... and answer my question on #3.

1. All term invoices go in system to track due dates and payments

2. All invoices received at $0 (paid for at time of order) - Do not need to be put in system

3. For all orders paid for at the time of order - Do I take the receipts and submit for credit card receipt tracking?

We are still putting a process in place for credit cards and tracking receipts for reconciliation. I'm open to suggestions. I don't know how it's done normally or at big corporations. My last job in A/P I was told to ignore the invoices for $0 as they were already paid, but I didn't know what their process was for credit card receipts and what they did when they paid for an order right away.

Right now for the invoices on terms I'm paying with credit card then attaching the receipt with the invoice.

I have an LLC for my Websites and I project to make at least 50k this coming year. Should I change to an S-Corp or just see how I do the first year and do it next year if I make enough?

location: california

so im 21 and i didnt go to college but i work as an accounting clerk for a construction company and have been since i was 18,
basically i do releases for our account customers and receive their checks i noticed that we have 2 customers that i know of that do things i find suspicious i dont know if its lawful for me to do these things for them but the customers doing it are “top” customers and they get leeway from the general manager and well he makes me do them
so for a release i give them releases with all the invoice totals for selected month and i noticed they sometimes pay individual invoices not the whole month balance i provided on their release for certain jobs, and on their checks stub i see the invoice number and the “job name” isnt the actual name of the job i prelimed it says yard meaning the invoices are not the homeowners allegedly its theirs and they billed the invoice under yard in their system and when they pay the whole total of the job its with their own personal check not the joint check from the customer?

so basically to my eye it looks like theyre billing their company invoices to jobs, and providing releases to the homeowners general contractors theyre working with to get more money than what they actually owe and keeping the extra????

I have a few smaller business clients with high transaction volume. When transactions come through without support, I park them in an expense clearing account and clear them out as receipts, invoices, or other support comes in.

That process works fine when the unsupported transactions are limited and the client later provides support. But I have one client where the unsupported items are mostly smaller transactions that have added up to over $300k across 1,600 transactions over 18 months. In comparison to this client’s revenue, that amount is material. At this point, the majority of those expenses are sitting in clearing because I can’t get this client to provide support.

Our terms and conditions state that the client is responsible for providing documentation like invoices, receipts, and other records. Coming from a corporate background in accounting, my position has always been that narratives can help explain or clarify a transaction, but they should not be the only support for it, especially when the unsupported activity is material in total. Understandably, some transactions may have insufficient or no support and may need to be supplemented with a narrative, but that should be few and far between.

It has also been difficult getting logins and access from this client. If we do eventually get everything we need and don’t have to disengage, there will still be a significant amount of historical cleanup required.

For those who run into this, where do you draw the line?

I’m trying to be practical, but categorizing a material amount of unsupported expenses based mostly on bank descriptions and client narratives is not appropriate support for the accounting records.

Hi I need advice. I manage a nonprofit that averages less than 300k a year, needed an accountants review, hired a CPA, they quoted me 8k for the job but of course with possibilities it could go over, we are 9 months into the job, still no review finished and the bill is at 30k+ and counting. Is this normal? I feel totally screwed and helpless. Do I have any recourse ?

Hi,

I’m starting an accounting internship and will be working on payroll. I really want to perform competently in my role, could you please provide any advice on how to build enough knowledge so I dont come across as an idiot!

(Im only starting to build accounting knowledge)

Thanks!

Has anyone encountered backdated peer review reports?

I understand that audit reports are subject to strict dating rules under AICPA standards, and audit documentation has specific completion and modification requirements after the report release date.

Peer review seems to be different. Based on my understanding, those audit-report dating rules do not apply in the same way to peer review reports. I also spoke with the AICPA hotline and came away with the understanding that backdating a peer review report may be acceptable in some circumstances.

That seems odd to me because the report date can affect how a reader understands when the review was completed, when the reviewed firm received the report, and what information existed at the time.
For anyone who has dealt with peer review reports: is this common? Do you see it as normal administrative dating, or does it raise concerns depending on the facts?

I’m a freelancer/service exporter from India filing under ITR-4 with 44ADA.

I receive client payments in USD via PayPal invoices. PayPal deducts transaction fees and currency conversion charges before transferring the money to my bank account in INR.

My confusion is:

For 44ADA gross receipts, should I report:

1. The full invoice amount paid by the client (before PayPal deductions), or
2. The net amount credited to my bank account after PayPal fees and FX charges?

I had assumed bank credit = actual income, but now I’m not sure if that’s the correct treatment under presumptive taxation.

Would appreciate guidance from CAs or freelancers handling foreign payments through paypal

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Looking to do automations for people in exchange for testimonials. Have been doing automations for a few years so am quite technical and also work at big 4 firm. drop your problems below or msg me, cheers

Every vendor quotes one blended accuracy number like it actually means something. A tool hitting 99% on a clean W-2 tells me almost nothing about how it handles a first-year client with a scanned multi state K-1 and a brokerage statement from a firm I've never dealt with. Yet that's the number plastered across every product page. What's the real split people are seeing between first-year clients where the tool has zero context and repeat returns where it actually has history to work from?