The word “subsidiary” gets tossed about a lot in the world of business. But what does it really mean? A subsidiary is a company owned or controlled by another business entity (known as a parent company, holding company, or umbrella company). A parent company might own all of a subsidiary or achieve control by having a majority ownership stake (i.e., over 50%). Because the parent company has a controlling interest, it has a say over its subsidiary company’s governance. For example, the parent company will elect the subsidiary’s board of directors. Although a parent company may influence its su ..read more

Many business owners operate multiple businesses and there’s a good reason for that. Once you have one business and business structure in place, it’s much easier to get a new business off the ground than if you had to start from scratch each time. At some point in your entrepreneurial life, you may come upon an idea or opportunity too good to pass up. But you have no intention to stop operating your current business. So, the question becomes how should you structure the new business. Should it be a part of the original business, a DBA (Doing Business As), or a completely separate business wit ..read more

Success means different things to different people. Regardless of how you define it, success depends on your goals and what you want from your business in the months and years ahead. Often, entrepreneurs think of their business goals as achieving specific metrics or dollar amounts. Paying attention to numbers is important, but I believe there’s much more to consider when pondering what success looks like and how to achieve it. As a serial entrepreneur, I can attest to this: your business affects virtually every aspect of your personal life. From your health and interpersonal relationships to y ..read more

When growing your Limited Liability Company (LLC), you may come to the point where you want to add a partner (or partners) to help you scale your business. Whether you’re looking for an injection of capital, some with specialized knowledge or skills, or want to reward loyal employees, adding new LLC partners is fairly simple as long as you follow the rules required by your state and as stated in your LLC operating agreement. LLC owners are called members, so when you’re adding new partners, you’re actually adding new members to your company. How you add partners depends on the kind of LLC you ..read more

Does your accounting business need a blog? The answer is yes! Website content like service pages and blog posts help your business rise in the search engine rankings and this means more people will find your website and inquiry about your service offering. So, if your business website doesn’t have a blog, it’s time to create one. If you already have a blog, are you keeping it current? When potential clients see a website with an outdated blog, it immediately gives them cause for concern. But, you may be thinking, you’re so busy running your accounting business, you don’t have the time to cre ..read more

How many of your bookkeeping clients are business owners outsourcing their accounting tasks to you? If you’re lucky, probably quite a few, since small and large businesses alike have plenty of complicated financial needs. Smart business owners know that outsourcing tasks not in their wheelhouse are a great way to free up valuable time that can be better used to grow their businesses. Just as with your clients, wearing all the hats in your bookkeeping business is not the best use of your skills. When does hiring an expert help make more sense for your needs and your bottom line? Here are seven ..read more

Quite often, my team at CorpNet fields a lot of calls and emails from business owners that want to make changes to their companies via business filings specifically wanting to file for a statutory conversion. Some changes are rather simple and straightforward, while others are more significant and substantial. Two of the more involved type of changes some clients request are statutory conversion and business domestication. And sometimes, people confuse the two. So, I thought it would be helpful to share some general information about what they are and how they’re different. Realize that both ..read more

Whether your accounting business is just starting out, or whether you’re a seasoned veteran, marketing your business is a must. It’s crucial in good economic times and in bad. In fact, during an economic downturn, choosing the right CPA marketing channels for your business matters more than ever. Smart marketing can give you the edge you need to succeed—if you know where to spend your time and money! Listed below are five CPA marketing channels sure to help grow your accounting business. 1. Direct Mail Along with huge accounting staff, huge accounting firms have huge budgets. How can you comp ..read more

Searching for the first clients for your startup accounting business might seem like finding a needle in a haystack (or, for you Harry Potter fans, like finding a Horcrux in the Room of Requirement). In reality, however, it can actually be pretty simple, thanks to powerful apps and social media marketing. Or, you might have better luck finding your first ten accounting clients the old-fashioned way, via face-to-face interaction. Better still, why not combine both types of marketing to find those first customers? If you’re looking to start or grow your accounting firm in 2023, I’d like to shar ..read more

With more than 849 million users, LinkedIn is a powerhouse of social media. While it doesn’t command the 2.9 billion users of Facebook, it is the top location for connecting at a business-to-business level. The social network has established a solid niche for itself by focusing on workforce needs such as finding new business, searching for jobs, and building professional relationships. Plus, if you know the secrets to using it successfully, LinkedIn could be a major revenue generator for your accounting business. Here are seven tips for getting started with optimizing LinkedIn for accountants ..read more