What to know about the SVB Shutdown
Latest FDIC update: Sunday, March 12th: Depositors will have access to all their SVB stored funds starting Monday, March 13. Recent FDIC Press release: https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23017.html FDIC FAQ page:...
Important Changes to R&D Deductions (Section 174) – FAQ
R&D Expenditure Capitalization Rules (New for 2022) The TCJA amended Section 174 relating to the federal tax treatment of research or experimental expenditures paid or incurred during the taxable year. The new Section 174 rules require taxpayers to...
Research and Experimental Expenditure (Section 174) Tax Treatment Changes Startups Need to Know
As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), there was a change to Section 174 that directly impacts the R&D tax credit many startups take. Beginning after 12/31/2021, research and experimental expenditures need to be capitalized instead of expensed as previously...
What the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Means for Tech Startup Founders
Akshay Shrimanker, our Founder and CEO, recently joined Blake Oliver, David Leary, and a panel of other accounting experts (Mike Moiśe CPA, Matthew May CPA, and Reynaldo Arellano CPA) on a special episode of the Cloud Accounting Podcast. With everything that’s been in...
COGS in SaaS: Understanding Cost of Goods Sold
Unlike e-commerce businesses and manufacturers, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies usually don’t have inventory in the traditional sense. Instead, modern software is delivered to customers through the rental of servers and cloud storage services, where the...
Section 195: What Every Founder Should Know About Startup Expenses
Getting a business off the ground requires capital. As they say, you need to spend money to make money. But Section 195 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) brings some good news. Once you launch your startup, you may be able to recoup some of those costs in the form of...
Your Guide to 2022 R&D Tax Credits
As a startup founder, you’re trying to keep as much money inside your business as possible. If you’re not capitalizing on the federal research tax credit — commonly called the R&D tax credit — you could be missing out in a major way here. This credit lets you...
Tax Season 2023: Get Your Books Ready
The start of a new year always feels fresh. You’re looking ahead and probably getting excited about everything your startup will accomplish in 2023. Don’t forget to look behind you, though. Even as you vision-cast for the year ahead, you need to wrap up the year...
DELAWARE ANNUAL FILING – 2023
The Delaware Annual Filing is due on March 1st, just 3 weeks away. So make sure to be on the lookout for an email from your registered agent in Delaware. You can sometimes use their portal to file an entire annual report. You will need your file number, which you can...
Important Changes to R&D Deductions (Section 174) – FAQ
R&D Expenditure Capitalization Rules (New for 2022) The TCJA amended Section 174 relating to the federal tax treatment of research or experimental expenditures paid or incurred during the taxable year. The new Section 174 rules require taxpayers to...
Research and Experimental Expenditure (Section 174) Tax Treatment Changes Startups Need to Know
As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), there was a change to Section 174 that directly impacts the R&D tax credit many startups take. Beginning after 12/31/2021, research and experimental expenditures need to be capitalized instead of expensed as previously...
COGS in SaaS: Understanding Cost of Goods Sold
Unlike e-commerce businesses and manufacturers, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies usually don’t have inventory in the traditional sense. Instead, modern software is delivered to customers through the rental of servers and cloud storage services, where the...
Accrual-Based (GAAP) Accounting and Its importance for Tech Companies
Accounting can be more complicated than you expect. Even if you feel completely comfortable monitoring your personal finances, once you found a startup, there’s more to consider. Specifically, companies have to factor in accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable...
PEO vs. Payroll Company: What Should My Tech Company Choose?
When your startup is in its early stages, it makes sense to outsource. You might hire a fractional CFO, and you’ll likely hire an accounting firm. You may also want to explore outsourcing a lot of the key functions of a human resources (HR) department. Fortunately,...
Best Practices for Your Tech Company’s Expense Policy
When you’re an agile startup, allowing your employees to expense items and ask for reimbursement can give you a level of flexibility that you probably need. But it can also add a layer of complexity that you probably don’t need. That’s especially true if you don’t...
The Truth About Being a Tech Company Service Provider
As a CPA, I’ve been working with technology companies since 2010. It started out as something I did on the side, but it turned into a full-time business in late 2013. The tech industry is a unique animal, and I’ve learned a lot over the last decade. As I’ve been...
Tax Benefits for Founders: Qualifying Small Business Stock (QSBS)
As a founder, you’re probably going to issue yourself a significant number of shares in your company. The goal there, of course, is to make some (ideally, a large amount) of money down the road. But the amount you’ll be able to pocket hinges on how you handle your...
Startups – What’s your burn rate?
It might be time to update the old adage. Maybe it’s not cash that’s king, but cash flow. One study conducted by U.S. Bank concluded that 82% of business failures can be chalked up to bad cash management. When your startup’s in its early days, it probably isn’t...
What the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Means for Tech Startup Founders
Akshay Shrimanker, our Founder and CEO, recently joined Blake Oliver, David Leary, and a panel of other accounting experts (Mike Moiśe CPA, Matthew May CPA, and Reynaldo Arellano CPA) on a special episode of the Cloud Accounting Podcast. With everything that’s been in...
1099 + Other Year-end Reporting Tips for Your Tech Startup – 2023
Founders, for 2022, the threshold to issue a 1099-NEC remains $600 for payments made in the calendar year 2022. You must issue a 1099-NEC to the following: Services performed by someone who is not your employee (including parts/materials) – (box 1) Payments to an...
Shutting Down a Tech Company – Some Tax/Accounting Tips
The time has come. You’re at the end of the road. Whether you’re dissolving your business or handing it over to another company that’s acquired it, you might be looking forward to the day when there’s a lot less on your plate. You’re not there yet, though. Before you...
What are Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)? Organic vs. Paid
In an ideal world, your startup’s product or service would be so wow-worthy that people would be falling over themselves to buy it. And you might have some cases of that. But it’s no way to build a business. If it was, sales and marketing departments wouldn’t exist. ...
What is an 83(b) election?
As a founder, you get one of the biggest perks through equity in your company. In your early days, you probably aren’t raking in a huge salary or taking sizable owner draws. But you can still be padding your pockets through your shares in your company. While these...
Converting From an LLC to a C-corp: Tax Implications to Consider
Plenty of small businesses operate as a limited liability company (LLC) when they first set up shop. In fact, a big portion of LLCs operate as single-member companies with a sole owner. This sounds appealing in the beginning because LLCs are easy to establish, and...
What is a Cap Table? How Does It Impact My Financials?
When you first launched your startup, it was probably exclusively yours and your co-founder(s). But as you fundraise, you give up equity in exchange for the money you need. To make it easy to keep a clear eye on what’s going on with any shareholder’s equity, including...
Creating Your Financial Policies and Procedures Manual
When you think about things you need to build for your startup, it’s probably a long list. And you might be hesitant to add anything to it. But there are a couple of areas where putting in some extra work now pays off in spades down the road. A Financial Policies and...
Gusto vs. Justworks: A Closer Look
Building a business has changed — and in a way that can make your life easier. Thanks to the latest software tools, it’s getting simpler to do things that used to be a huge time suck, like filing payroll and tracking employee work hours. Before you can start wielding...
When and How to Raise a Series A
You’re past seed-stage funding, but unless your startup is particularly lucky, that doesn’t mean you’re past needing outside investing to continue your growth. Sure, some businesses can bootstrap. But if you’ve got a vision that you want to bring to life on any kind...
Protecting Your Funding: FDIC Insurance and Beyond
When you’re building your business, securing a new round of funding marks a huge milestone. But as a founder, you know what really matters is what happens next. How you handle that money shapes your business. It can literally make or break you. That means you’re...
What is a Fractional CFO?
A lot of pieces make up a successful startup: a great idea, an innovative team, willing investors — the list goes on. But at the end of the day, there’s one key component that can make or break everything else: your finances. The way your organization manages its...
The 5 Most Important Metrics for Startups to Track
Startup founders risk information overload. As you grow your team, you’ll probably get reports and updates on how various facets of your startup are faring. It’s a lot to take in. You might even reach a point where you start to miss the forest for the trees. It’s...
What is a 409A Valuation?
Once your startup goes public, any and everyone can see what you’re worth. But when you’re private, you still want to have a way to know where you’re valued. Fortunately, you don’t have to fly blindly here. You can get a 409A valuation. This valuation, which you...
Accrual-Based (GAAP) Accounting and Its importance for Tech Companies
Accounting can be more complicated than you expect. Even if you feel completely comfortable monitoring your personal finances, once you found a startup, there’s more to consider. Specifically, companies have to factor in accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable...
Congrats you raised your Series A – Make your next hire- A FULL-TIME CFO!
With a Series A fundraise we see typical raise sizes in the range of $10M+. Being a good financial steward for that amount of money as a founder is a lot of responsibility and for that reason, I would encourage any Founder at this stage to make your next C-Suite hire...
Budgeting and Forecasting Tips for Your Tech Company
Running a tech company requires you to keep a lot of plates spinning. You might not feel like you have time for financial planning and analysis (FP&A) — but you need to make time. Without proper budgeting and forecasting in place, you’re flying blind. You need a...
What do VC’s look for in early-stage founders?
By: Kacie Goff Funding-wise, things generally get easier as your business grows and gains traction. It’s getting the funding you need to finance the early stages of your company that’s the trick. And that’s precisely what prevents a lot of good ideas from becoming...
Tech Day- Founders Summit 2022
SHAY CPA P.C. sponsored TechDay HQ's 2022 Founder's Summit event in NYC. TechDay HQ's Founder's Summit is a highly focused conference designed exclusively for startup founders and their c-suite executives. The conference featured educational sessions presented by...
2022 ShayCPA Quickbooks ProAdvisor Update
When it comes to picking an accounting system for your technology company, Quickbooks is a great place to start. ShayCPA’s team is Quickbooks Online Advanced Certified. What does that mean? Advanced Certification for the Quickbooks Online System requires our team to...
The Truth About Being a Tech Company Service Provider
As a CPA, I’ve been working with technology companies since 2010. It started out as something I did on the side, but it turned into a full-time business in late 2013. The tech industry is a unique animal, and I’ve learned a lot over the last decade. As I’ve been...
Meet Our Staff: Megan Mahlstadt
In case you missed it, we’ve been using our blog page to introduce you to our ShayCPA team members. As we continue growing, it gives us an excellent opportunity to make sure you know the people who might be answering your email or phone call. Plus, it’s a chance to...
Meet Our Staff: Elias Bardis
As our ShayCPA team grows, we've had the opportunity to bring some fantastic talent onboard. Elias is no exception. We'd like to give you the chance to get to know him a little better in our latest edition of the Meet Our Staff feature. Elias joined us at the very...
Meet Our Staff: Grace Tsou
Lots of kids dread going to math class — but Grace has always been different. She’s had what she calls an “amicable relationship” with numbers since her youth. That made her a perfect fit for a career in accounting. As our longest-tenured staff accountant here at...
Meet Our Staff: Nina Lopez-Ortiz
Here at ShayCPA, we strive to deliver a personalized experience. We know that finances are a source of stress for a lot of tech startup founders, and we want to help alleviate that with our dedicated expertise and our friendly approach. With that in mind, we want to...
The ShayCPA team are Quickbooks ProAdvisor Certified
When it comes to picking an accounting system for your technology company Quickbooks is a great place to start. ShayCPA’s team is Quickbooks Online Advanced Certified. What does that mean? Advanced Certification for the Quickbooks Online System requires our team to...
Our Team is Bill.com Certified
Let SHAY CPA P.C. help your startup with its A/P and A/R process. Each of our accounting staff members is certified in using Bill.com which helps set up a process for payments. This is great for companies that need a simple process for bill-pay/receivables management,...
When and How to Raise a Series A
You’re past seed-stage funding, but unless your startup is particularly lucky, that doesn’t mean you’re past needing outside investing to continue your growth. Sure, some businesses can bootstrap. But if you’ve got a vision that you want to bring to life on any kind...
Revenue Recognition for SaaS Companies
Founders, as you embark on your journey of starting your SaaS-based business, one thing that will come up time and time again will be the concept of “revenue recognition.” That, of course, begs the question: what is revenue recognition? In short, it’s the process of...
What is Financial Due Diligence?
When you’re trying to get people excited about your idea, it’s tempting to want to gild the lily. But startup founders should never put themselves in a position where they’ve overpromised only to underdeliver. It can — and almost always will — catch up to you because...
Protecting Your Funding: FDIC Insurance and Beyond
When you’re building your business, securing a new round of funding marks a huge milestone. But as a founder, you know what really matters is what happens next. How you handle that money shapes your business. It can literally make or break you. That means you’re...
What is a 409A Valuation?
Once your startup goes public, any and everyone can see what you’re worth. But when you’re private, you still want to have a way to know where you’re valued. Fortunately, you don’t have to fly blindly here. You can get a 409A valuation. This valuation, which you...
Tax Benefits for Founders: Qualifying Small Business Stock (QSBS)
As a founder, you’re probably going to issue yourself a significant number of shares in your company. The goal there, of course, is to make some (ideally, a large amount) of money down the road. But the amount you’ll be able to pocket hinges on how you handle your...
Does Your Startup Need a Technical Founder?
When you’re building a startup, you know that the people you gather around you matter more than almost anything else. If you’re launching a tech company and you don’t have a programming background yourself, that becomes particularly important. That’s why a lot of...
How to Create an Executive Summary That Will Wow Investors
When your startup is in its seed stage, you face a catch-22. On the one hand, you need investors to power your growth. But, on the other hand, you need to grow to have something tangible to show investors why it’s worth betting on you. Fortunately, you can lean on an...
The Right Finance Stack for Seed-Stage Tech Companies
When you’re building a tech company, putting the right pieces in place early makes a huge difference. That means hiring the right team, establishing the right processes, and building the right tech stack. That last bit rings particularly true when it comes to your...
What to know about the SVB Shutdown
Latest FDIC update: Sunday, March 12th: Depositors will have access to all their SVB stored funds starting Monday, March 13. Recent FDIC Press release: https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23017.html FDIC FAQ page:...
Section 195: What Every Founder Should Know About Startup Expenses
Getting a business off the ground requires capital. As they say, you need to spend money to make money. But Section 195 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) brings some good news. Once you launch your startup, you may be able to recoup some of those costs in the form of...
Deel vs. Remote: Your Guide to International Payroll
Digitalization makes our world smaller by the day. And that means that as you’re hiring for your startup, you don’t necessarily want — or need — to limit yourself to recruiting domestically. Historically, the problem with hiring someone in another country has largely...
Founders – Get Huge Tax Breaks by acting now!
Founders - check out our tips below that can save your Startup thousands of dollars in Income Taxes, Payroll Taxes, Sales Taxes, and foreign taxes. R&D Tax Credits: Did you know that if your startup conducts R&D activities it can qualify for up to $500,000 in...
The 5 Most Important Metrics for Startups to Track
Startup founders risk information overload. As you grow your team, you’ll probably get reports and updates on how various facets of your startup are faring. It’s a lot to take in. You might even reach a point where you start to miss the forest for the trees. It’s...
What is an 83(b) election?
As a founder, you get one of the biggest perks through equity in your company. In your early days, you probably aren’t raking in a huge salary or taking sizable owner draws. But you can still be padding your pockets through your shares in your company. While these...
Converting From an LLC to a C-corp: Tax Implications to Consider
Plenty of small businesses operate as a limited liability company (LLC) when they first set up shop. In fact, a big portion of LLCs operate as single-member companies with a sole owner. This sounds appealing in the beginning because LLCs are easy to establish, and...
What is a Cap Table? How Does It Impact My Financials?
When you first launched your startup, it was probably exclusively yours and your co-founder(s). But as you fundraise, you give up equity in exchange for the money you need. To make it easy to keep a clear eye on what’s going on with any shareholder’s equity, including...
Creating Your Financial Policies and Procedures Manual
When you think about things you need to build for your startup, it’s probably a long list. And you might be hesitant to add anything to it. But there are a couple of areas where putting in some extra work now pays off in spades down the road. A Financial Policies and...
Tax Season 2023: Get Your Books Ready
The start of a new year always feels fresh. You’re looking ahead and probably getting excited about everything your startup will accomplish in 2023. Don’t forget to look behind you, though. Even as you vision-cast for the year ahead, you need to wrap up the year...
DELAWARE ANNUAL FILING – 2023
The Delaware Annual Filing is due on March 1st, just 3 weeks away. So make sure to be on the lookout for an email from your registered agent in Delaware. You can sometimes use their portal to file an entire annual report. You will need your file number, which you can...
1099 + Other Year-end Reporting Tips for Your Tech Startup – 2023
Founders, for 2022, the threshold to issue a 1099-NEC remains $600 for payments made in the calendar year 2022. You must issue a 1099-NEC to the following: Services performed by someone who is not your employee (including parts/materials) – (box 1) Payments to an...
Shutting Down a Tech Company – Some Tax/Accounting Tips
The time has come. You’re at the end of the road. Whether you’re dissolving your business or handing it over to another company that’s acquired it, you might be looking forward to the day when there’s a lot less on your plate. You’re not there yet, though. Before you...
Founders – Get Huge Tax Breaks by acting now!
Founders - check out our tips below that can save your Startup thousands of dollars in Income Taxes, Payroll Taxes, Sales Taxes, and foreign taxes. R&D Tax Credits: Did you know that if your startup conducts R&D activities it can qualify for up to $500,000 in...
What is an 83(b) election?
As a founder, you get one of the biggest perks through equity in your company. In your early days, you probably aren’t raking in a huge salary or taking sizable owner draws. But you can still be padding your pockets through your shares in your company. While these...
Converting From an LLC to a C-corp: Tax Implications to Consider
Plenty of small businesses operate as a limited liability company (LLC) when they first set up shop. In fact, a big portion of LLCs operate as single-member companies with a sole owner. This sounds appealing in the beginning because LLCs are easy to establish, and...
Startup Guide to California Franchise Tax and R&D Tax Credit
When you open a business in California, there’s one agency with which you need to get familiar pretty fast: the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). You might even want to bookmark that page. As you establish your business in the Golden State, you’re going to be...
Tax Benefits for Founders: Qualifying Small Business Stock (QSBS)
As a founder, you’re probably going to issue yourself a significant number of shares in your company. The goal there, of course, is to make some (ideally, a large amount) of money down the road. But the amount you’ll be able to pocket hinges on how you handle your...