The aim of holding an account with such a firm is so as to be able to invest in the stock market or to be able to buy and sell bonds, mutual funds, options, futures, commodities or in other types of investments.

Brokerage Account Basics

The investor must deposit some money with the brokerage firm in order to open the brokerage account.

The minimum deposit will vary from brokerage firm to brokerage firm, while some firms may not have a minimum requirement.

The firm will charge a commission fee that may either be a percentage of the amount deposited or be a flat fee.

Types of Brokerage Accounts

There are 3 types of brokerage accounts namely a cash management brokerage account, a margin brokerage account and a discretionary brokerage account.

A cash management account is very popular with first time investors. For this type of account, the investor will deposit cash with the brokerage firm and then make trades.

The investor can only trade amounts which are equal to the amount he has deposited with the broker.

A margin account is similar to the cash management account with one major difference.

An investor is allowed to borrow from the broker up to a maximum of 50% of the cash he has deposited with the broker in order to make trades.

Interest of money borrowed will be charged. The margin account has some drawbacks however.

For instance, should the value of your investment drastically fall, the brokerage firm has the right to sell your investment to recover their money.

The third type of brokerage account allows the broker to make trades with the investors account without consulting the investor first.

The broker has the discretion to decide on the type of investment, the price, the amount, when to purchase and sell. You should weigh the pros and cons of giving your broker this authority carefully.

How To Open a Brokerage Account

You can open your brokerage account with either a traditional broker or with a discount broker. A traditional broker, also known as a full service broker will provide a range of services that a discount broker will not.

For this reason, a traditional broker will cost more than a discount broker.

Services a traditional broker will provide include offering investment advice, financial planning advice, banking and lending.

A discount broker will not offer any investment advice and will leave all the investment decisions to you.

These include financial accounting, management accounting, cost accounting, tax accounting forensic accounting, internal auditing and government accounting.

Due to the many different careers, there are a great deal of accounting jobs.

Common Accounting Jobs

1. Bookkeeper –

This is an entry level job that does not necessarily require a person to possess an accounting degree or qualification.

In some cases, a company will provide on the job training for a bookkeeper.

The main task for a bookkeeper is to keep record of routine transactions such as sales, purchases, expenses and payroll

2. Accounting clerk –

This is also an entry level accounting job but with upward mobility prospects.

An accounting clerk will assist an accountant in carry out some of the more mundane accounting tasks such as maintaining ledgers.

A clerk is not expected to have a degree but some accounting qualification will be good.

3. Accountant –

He will work for a company that is large and complex enough to warrant the services of an in house accountant.

He is responsible for the preparation of financial reports and analysis of financial statements.

An accountant will be required to have an accounting degree and another accounting qualification such as a CPA.

4. Comptroller –

This is an accountant at top level management. He is responsible for the entire accounting department in the organization.

He is also charged with developing and implementing policies that make the company more efficient and profitable.

5. Accounting Director –

In a large accounting department, the accounting director will work under the comptroller and will be responsible for specific functions such as cost accounting.

6. Management accountant –

A top level accountant responsible for aiding management make decisions regarding the company’s strategic direction.

7. Tax accountant –

He is responsible for preparation and filing of income tax returns. He will also act as advisor to the company on all matters tax such as ways of avoiding tax liability.

8. Chief financial officer –

This is the most senior accountant in an organization.

The CFO will use his extensive knowledge and experience to analyze information from the finance and accounting departments in order to determine the level of risk the company is exposed to.

He will be responsible for formulating ways to mitigate the risks to the company. He is responsible for all the financial decisions the company makes.

The CFO will report directly to the chief executive officer (CFO) and is usually a member of the company’s board of directors.

Use this list of common accounting jobs to pinpoint the specific area of accounting you may want to pursue!

These principles are part of the rules which form what are referred to as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

GAAP also comprises of, besides the basic accounting principles and guidelines, generally accepted industry practices and detailed standards and rules.

The standards and rules are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

GAAP accounting is used for ensuring that there is some level of consistency in the preparation of financial accounting statements.

The consistency in the preparation ensures that statements from different companies or even different countries can be compared and understood.

There are a number of basic financial accounting principles that are followed in the preparation of financial statements.

Basic Financial Accounting Principles

1. Economic entity assumption –

This can be taken to be the first accounting principle. It holds that the business is a distinct body separate from its owners and should be treated as such for accounting purposes.

2. Going concern principle –

This is the assumption that the financial entity will continue its operations in the foreseeable future.

3. Cost principle –

Goods or services should be recorded in the books of accounting at their actual purchase price. Assets should also be recorded at their historical cost and not at their current market value.

4. Full disclosure principle –

This holds that all material information about the company should be disclosed in the financial statements.

5. Materiality –

This principle allows for omission of certain information or transactions if the magnitude of the omission is not significant.

This is a threshold principle and an item is deemed to be immaterial if its omission does not alter the judgment of the reader of the financial statements.

6. Revenue recognition principle –

This is the principle that holds that revenue should be recognized as soon as it is earned, irrespective of when cash is received.

7. Matching principle –

This is related to the revenue recognition principle. These two principles are the basis for accrual accounting.

The matching principle, like the revenue recognition principle determines when revenues and expenses are recognized.

It holds that revenues should be matched with the expenses that were incurred to generate them.

8. Prudence principle –

This principle requires that financial statements show the most conservative position of the company. However, assets should not be overstated or liabilities understated.

Other financial accounting principles include objectivity principle, monetary unit assumption and the time period assumption.

These accounting services will be required by different firms depending on their sizes and industries.

For instance, large multinational firms will consume more services than small or medium sized firms.

It is important to note that not all accountancy firms will provide all the accounting services.

Some firms will specialize in certain areas such as taxation or forensic accountants.

Firms that provide a wide range of services are referred to as full service accounting firms.

Examples of firms with full accounting services are the Big 4 (Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouse, KPMG and Deloitte).

Typical Accounting Services

1. Bookkeeping services –

This is the most basic of the accounting services. Most accounting firms will offer bookkeeping services to their clients.

The services offered include the maintenance of accounting books and tax reporting. Most small firms will hire an accounting firm to carry out their bookkeeping instead of having an in-house accounting department.

2. Auditing services –

Publicly traded companies are required by law to have their financial statements audited by a certified public accountant.

Auditing of the books is for purposes of ensuring that the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with financial accounting principles.

The auditors are then required to give their opinion on the financial health of the company. The audit process is meant to protect investors and prospective investors.

3. Tax services –

This is also a very common accounting service sought by businesses. It entails the preparation of tax returns.

The tax accountant providing tax services will also ensure that financial statements are prepared in such a way as to comply with the state’s tax requirements.

The tax services offered by the accountancy firm may stretch to include representing clients during an IRS audit.

4. Risk Management services –

These services are offered to ensure that a company has good internal controls in their accounting function. An internal audit may be carried out to determine this.

Risk management services will also be offered on a consultancy basis.

5. Payroll services –

These services are mostly provided by full service accounting firms. However, there are some firms that will specialize in offering these services.

The services offered will include maintaining of employee salary information, printing pay slips and mailing them and the preparation of quarterly and annual payroll tax returns.

6. Business development services –

The accountancy firm will help their client identify new markets or clients, identify gaps in their business, training and mentoring.

This is simply a short list of the most common accounting services, there are many other services available.

He is responsible for the calculation of tax liability and the preparation of tax returns.

He may also file tax returns on behalf of his clients.

Even though a tax accountant will spend a significant amount of time preparing tax returns, this is not the only thing he does.

A tax accountant will also play an advisory role. He may be engaged to advise clients on legal methods of reducing their tax liability.

These methods may include advising clients to make donation to registered charities or on ways to receive income so as to pay lower tax.

What Is a Tax Accountant – Typical Responsibilities

Clients will also hire a tax accountant to represent them should they come under the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The accountant will act on his client’s behalf and deal with the IRS agents during an audit, or will fight off any claims against the client made by the IRS.

He will also represent the client in tax disputes and will make tax refund claims, if any, for his client.

The tax accountant will need to be very well versed in financial accounting principles, tax legislation and the legal and tax implications of his client’s business and transactions.

He should keep abreast with any new tax developments that will affect his clients’ business as he will be required to keep his clients informed on how the developments will affect them.

What Is a Tax Accountant – Job Specifics

The job of a tax accountant may be a tad bit complex and require extensive accounting knowledge. For this reason, tax accountants must have significant work experience in accounting.

They will usually hold a degree in accounting and more often than not be certified public accountants (CPAs).

Tax accounting is a specialty in accounting so you will find that many tax accountants were previously public accountants who decided to specialize in taxation.

What Do Firms Look For?

Some firms will prefer to hire a tax accountant who has an additional qualification in tax law.

Other firms may prefer to hire an individual with an advanced degree such as master’s in taxation.

The ideal candidate for a position in tax accounting should possess a number of attributes.

The person should be detail oriented, have excellent oral and written communication skills, excellent research skills, technical expertise, have the ability to priorities between many competing tasks.

A tax accountant will work in a number of different settings.

Some will work for full service accounting firms, some will work for individual companies, or for the government or some will freelance.

Have your bills been piling up or have you been wondering how it would feel to be work on your tan on a warm beach in Florida?

Either way, you would need an income tax calculator.

Whether you would use your income tax refund to pay for important bills or to go on that much-deserved vacation, you now have the power to know how much money you will get soon.

You can estimate your taxes, project the amount, and then be able to calculate your refund during tax time.

Tax Estimation – An Essential Part of Assessing Income Tax and Refund

When you do tax estimating, you can assess your income up to the current date, project the income that you are supposed to get before tax time and then provide a reasonable estimate of your tax debt or a possible refund.

The Reality with Taxes -Why you Should Use An Income Tax Calculator

Have you been worried that you’ve been lending the government your money which you could actually collect interest on?

If you get a huge refund every year, then you are, in essence, extending the government a zero-interest loan. Your money is being used most of the year and then they repay you with zero-interest!

An income tax calculator can help you in deciding how much you can invest on interest earning savings every week and still be able to meet your tax obligation when tax time comes.

Tax estimating can also help you better predict the amount that you need to contribute to your tax obligation per paycheck. Maybe you’re already paying too much and you haven’t even noticed!

Your Income Tax Calculator – A Reliable Right Hand Man

Estimating your taxes can assist you in making fiscally sound decisions with regard to money.

You will finally be in control when it comes to making decisions about how and when the government will get its money. In short, you will always be in the driver’s seat!

Though this isn’t considered as a substitution for the IRS Form W4, your income tax calculator is quite useful in terms of convenience in doing tax computations.

If you compare this tool to all the other worksheets that come with your W-4, you would know that it’s much better to use the calculator.

The program is a great way of facilitating faster computations and following IRS imposed instructions.

It pays to keep a record of your tax receipts when you use the calculator. Also, you will need to fill out some pertinent information on the calculator’s fields so make sure that you have all the needed data before you begin.

Using this tool will give you the assurance that you’re filing the right amount of taxes that are withheld from your paychecks.

Prior to visiting any online tax calculator, you may want to collect all your check stubs and also your latest tax return so that you have all the needed data for calculation.

Apart from tax calculators, training and education will make your job of filing tax returns a lot easier and much more accurate.

A calculator is supposed to perform the most complex calculations for every line of the tax form.

You can use these tax calculators to get the right result for your credits, deductions and taxes due. Just make sure that you utilize an IRS-approved calculator.

Here are a few tips in educating yourself with regard to tax calculators –

• Educate yourself on the functions of a business tax calculator.
• Learn what tax calculators actually compute and how you can go about in acquiring the needed information.
• Choose calculators and tax tools that also teach you on how to invest wisely.
• Utilize business tax calculators or a quarterly tax calculator for business tax computations.

Utilize Small Business Tax Calculators

A lot of tools exist to be used by small business owners so that they can make the most out of their business.

While there isn’t any formal schooling with regard to tax calculators, you can learn about the ones that are available on many websites.

Always check with the IRS, local taxing authority or the State Taxing authority if you have any question with any of the online calculators that you encounter.

Find Out the Different Kinds of Tax Calculators

Your income tax isn’t the only thing that a tax calculator can compute. There are those that can be utilized for the computation of mortgage taxes, investment tax burden, sales tax, and many other kinds of taxes.

Use each calculator to find out how much tax you need to pay and how you can reduce tax liabilities.

Use Free Tax Calculators for Your Income Tax Computation

You may want to use free online calculators to compute income taxes. Different areas of the Form 1040 require computations that pertain to that section and these free online calculators can make your task a lot easier.

Choose the best tax calculator that you can find online and you should be fine!

Taxes are the government’s source of revenue which they can also use for the benefit of the people.

There are many kinds of tax systems that are prevalent such as proportional, regressive and progressive.

As a taxpayer, you need to calculate the amount of tax that you need to pay so that you will remain in the government’s good books.

Calculating Income Tax On Salary:

Calculating your income tax can be a difficult task. This is especially true if you’re not a major of accounting or any math course.

However, if you are familiar with the tax slabs that are currently prevalent, then there is nothing to be worried about.

Tax deduction rates in the U.S. vary with every individual’s income. One other criterion in deciding the tax deductible for an individual is your marital status.

There are many ways to file your income tax and this is through:

• Married individual filing jointly
• Single
• Head of the household
• Married person filing separately

Sample rates for married couple (filing jointly) and qualified widow:

• Ten-percent if the annual income is no more than $16,700.
• If the income lies anywhere between $16,701 to $67,900 where the tax rate is at 15%.
• Incomes in between $67,901 to $137,050 have a tax rate of 25%.
• If the yearly income is somewhere between the amounts of $137,051 to $208,850 where the rate is 28%.
• If the total yearly income goes beyond $208,851 but is lower than $372,950, the tax rate is at 33%.
• If you earn more than $372,950 annually, then you will need to pay 35% of your yearly income.

Compare these rates to the tax rates that are given to single individuals –

Sample rates for single people:

• Ten-percent if the yearly income is no more than $8,350.
• If the income is anywhere from $8,351 to $33,950, then the tax rate is 15-percent.
• For incomes that range from $33,951 to $82,250, the tax rate is 25%.
• For incomes that range from $82,251 to $171,550, the tax rate is 28%.
• If the individual’s total annual income goes beyond $171,551 but is below $372,950, the tax rate is at 33%.
• If you are a single person earning more than $372,950 then you will need to pay 35% of your annual income.

These should give you an idea how income taxes are computed according to a person’s income bracket. Know where you belong and get to compute your income tax without difficulty.

But did you know that you can find most of these online?

So it’s time to stop wasting time trying to search for the right forms for tax return.

Filling out tax forms isn’t an enjoyable task and so finding the right one to file would substantially cut the time that you spend on this chore.

Here’s a list of the most common IRS forms that you need to get acquainted with –

The Federal Tax Forms – What Are They?

A federal tax form is a term that’s widely used yet not a lot of people are familiar with it with regard to specification.

Federal tax form literally means IRS tax forms that are utilized by taxpayers and tax-exempt organizations. These are forms that are used to report financial data to the IRS or Internal Revenue Service of the U.S.

IRS Document 990

This comes with the title Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax which is a form used by nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.

This furnishes the public with financial data pertaining particular organizations. Such information can be used by the government to hamper the abuse of these organizations that are tax-exempt.

Document 1040

This is provided with the title U.S. Individual Income Tax Return and is used for filing individual or personal income tax return. this was used in the tax years 1913 through 1915. In the year 1916, this form was altered to an annual form.

The variants are –

• Form 1040A (short form)
• Form 1040EZ (easy form)

Documents 1040NR and 1040NR-EZ

These are used by non-resident aliens when they file for income tax returns.

Form 1040X

This is used to make corrections on the following forms –

• 1040
• 1040A
• 1040EZ

Form 1065

This is the form that’s filed for partnership tax returns.

Form 1041

Used for filing estate and trust tax returns.

Form 1098

This is the form that is used in reporting different types of income apart from wages.

Other Tax Forms

• Form 1099-DIV
• 1099-INT
• 1099-MISC
• 1099-MSA
• 1099-R
• Form 2441
• Form 5695
• Form 6251
• Form 8396
• Form 8829
• Form 8586
• Form 8863
• Form 8880
• Form 8885
• Schedule 1-1040A
• Schedule 2-1040A

These tax forms can be used for different types of exemptions or declarations of gains (losses). Know which tax forms you should fill out online or if you choose to do it the traditional way.

While it is true that a big part of accounting services is number crunching, there is more to it than that.

This is because people think that the only career in accounting is that of a financial accountant.

While financial accountants do make up the largest percentage of accounting careers, there are several other accounting jobs available.

Here is a list of some of the accounting careers:

1. Financial accountant –

Majority of practicing accountants will start off as financial accountants.

The duties will vary from firm to firm but a financial accountant will typically be responsible for preparing financial statements such as the balance sheet and income statement.

A financial accountant may work as an internal auditor, as part of the accounting team in a company or as a public accountant. As a public accountant, he will need to become a CPA (Certified Public Accountant).

2. Management accountant –

This is a corporate accountant as he works within an organization. His main role is to provide information to the management of the organization.

This information is the basis on which the top management makes strategic decisions.

3. Tax accountant –

This is another one of the important accounting careers. A tax accountant is responsible for the preparation of tax statements.

He is also required to come up with legal strategies to reduce a company’s tax liabilities. His work will usually start after the financial accountant has prepared his financial statements.

4. Forensic accountant –

This is possible one of the faster growing accounting jobs due to the changes in legislation.

Forensic accountants are investigators charged with the responsibility of going through financial statements to dig out possible white collar crime such as insurance fraud and financial crimes.

They are usually brought for the purposes of legal action and are many times called to testify in court.

5. Fraud investigator –

This career is closely linked to forensic accounting. This is because fraud investigators are also engaged to investigate financial crimes such as embezzlement and fraud.

For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will hire fraud investigators.

6. Budget analyst –

This is another growing accounting career. A budget analyst will work in different settings and his job will entail analyzing past trends in order to make projections for the future.

The aim of making these projections is so as to enable the company to become more efficient and therefore be more profitable.

These are simply a few of the many possible accounting careers, find one that fits your style and go for it!