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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
How Gen-Z Is Changing the Startup Culture
As a CPA firm, we get a unique look into a lot of businesses. We get to see behind the curtain and analyze the inner workings. As we offer accounting services to a wide variety of startups, we start to see trends and commonalities emerge. That’s been especially...
Convertible Notes vs SAFE’s – Accounting/Tax Considerations
Disclaimer: The terms below are discussed in the context of financing that occurs in the United States for Early-Stage Technology companies. We would strongly advise anyone to seek out a professional to help with their individual company circumstances. Earlier this...
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.’ What is revenue recognition you may ask? Revenue recognition is the process of recognizing...
Chart of Accounts for Tech Founders
Early-Stage technology startups have nuances compared to more traditional small businesses that they need to consider when putting together their financial statements and chart of accounts. Often I find that entrepreneurs have used a financial model to assist them in...
Artificial Intelligence & Accounting
On November 14, Akshay Shrimanker of Shay CPA P.C. participated in a panel discussion about accounting and artificial intelligence hosted by Michael Guthammar inside the offices of 24SevenOffice. The panel also included 24SevenOffice CEO Stian Rustad and Westmusa Inc....
Accounting/Financials + Tax 101 for Early Stage Startups
On Wednesday, October 23rd, Akshay Shrimanker of Shay CPA P.C. conducted an accounting, finance, and tax workshop for early-stage startups inside New Lab -- a coworking space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which is home to over 130 startups and considered an oasis for...
Tax & Accounting 101 Workshop for Budding Entrepreneurs
Akshay Shrimanker, President of Shay CPA P.C., gave an accounting and tax workshop to small startups inside the Zahn Innovation Center at City College this past Thursday. The attendees to the workshop include Fitko, STEM Hive, Luxz, and Flora Mind -- who were all...
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...
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...
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 Normalization of Remote Work Will Change How Companies Allocate Their Resources and Funding
By Kaci Goff By late 2020, experts had already started speculating about what the pandemic would do to the workplace. As a result, many workplaces moved to a “virtual first” mentality, and Zoom became a verb in a whole new way. That was especially true in the tech...
4 Tips to Help Tech Companies Handle Headhunting
In an ideal world, the team you build at your tech startup should be lean and mean. Finding top talent means you get people on staff who can accomplish more with less guidance in less time. And that enables you to outdo your competition and grow faster. At the end of...
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...
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Meet Our Team
In my three years of experience at Shay CPA, I’ve worked with many different tech companies and founders, from newly formed start-up companies to large publicly traded corporations. Working with these different companies allowed me to observe and learn about the tech...
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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...
Founders – Bookkeeping vs. Accounting: What’s the Difference?
When it comes to differentiating bookkeepers from accountants, a lot of startup founders primarily focus on when to hire them. For example, you might hire a bookkeeper on an ongoing basis, but only work with an accountant during tax filing season. The trick, though,...
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 Normalization of Remote Work Will Change How Companies Allocate Their Resources and Funding
By Kaci Goff By late 2020, experts had already started speculating about what the pandemic would do to the workplace. As a result, many workplaces moved to a “virtual first” mentality, and Zoom became a verb in a whole new way. That was especially true in the tech...
C Corps vs. S Corps
When you’re getting a tech company off the ground, you’re faced with a lot of big decisions. From identifying the right funding sources to building your company’s branding, you’re making choices that will affect you from here on out. That’s particularly true when it...
Do You Need Bookkeeping as a Pre-Revenue Startup Company?
If your startup is in its early stages, your plate probably feels overly full. With so much to do to get your idea off the ground, fund your growth, and scale your operations, it’s easy to push things that can wait to the back burner. The thing is: bookkeeping isn’t...
The Best Banking Partners for Your Tech Company
The partnerships your startup makes early on can make or break you. That includes financial partners beyond investors. When you choose a bank, you lock yourself into a specific set of options: the specific services and products that each bank provides. Yes, you can...
Meals and Entertainment Deduction
By: Kacie Goff When you’re launching a startup, the tax-deductibility of certain meals and entertainment can be particularly exciting. You need to eat, after all, so it seems like a pretty sweet deal that you might reap some tax benefits there. The trick, though, is...
Your Guide to R&D Tax Credits
By: Kacie Goff Research and development (R&D) can help boost not just an individual business’s profitability, but also the economy around them. Dedicated R&D presents the opportunity to fine-tune innovations, allowing companies to forge new ground — and do so...
Remote Workers — and the Tax Implications
By: Kacie Goff In early 2020, remote work was trending upward, but it wasn’t looking to be the status quo anytime soon. Then, everything changed. Now, experts predict that by 2025, an estimated 70% of employees will work remotely at least a handful of days a month. ...
Convertible Notes vs SAFE’s – Accounting/Tax Considerations
Disclaimer: The terms below are discussed in the context of financing that occurs in the United States for Early-Stage Technology companies. We would strongly advise anyone to seek out a professional to help with their individual company circumstances. Earlier this...
Clarification on IRS updated Tax Deadline
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS had delayed the yearly April 15th tax deadline to May 17th. This delayed deadline does not affect Corporate tax filings. Below we've collected answers to common questions about the new deadline. Who does the delay apply...
Federal R&D Tax Credit for Tech Founders
https://youtu.be/HiaOI5U-Kwo Founders, there is a powerful tax credit that can help put cash back into your startup, offsetting up to $250,000 of Payroll taxes per year for qualified small businesses. For businesses that don’t meet the qualified small business...
2021 DELAWARE ANNUAL FILING
The Delaware Annual Filing is due on March 1st, which is just a month from now. 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,...
Akshay’s tips for getting your Tech Company’s books ready for Tax-time
Use an Accounting System: QuickBooks Online, Xero, among other tools are great systems to keep your tech companies’ finances organized and in one place. We love using QuickBooks because bank and credit card transitions directly sync daily. Care must be taken to...
1099 Tips for your Tech Startup – 2021
https://youtu.be/pKmnbEYv_zk Founders, for 2021, there is a new tax form to report payments to contractors - 1099-NEC. This form is different from the 1099-MISC form, previously used to report payments to contractors. The threshold is still $600, and the...