Explore Small Business Finance Topics
Discover our most popular topics for Canadian solopreneurs and small business owners. From income tax and GST/HST to QuickBooks tutorials and managing your business finances, these guides are designed to help you move from financial uncertainty to financial confidence.
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📑Canadian Income Tax

Guidance on filing and planning your Canadian taxes, from T1 and T2 returns to instalments

📊Managing Business Finances

From cash flow to pricing and metrics — learn to manage your business finances with confidence.

🏢 Canadian Business Structure

Should you incorporate? Stay informed on sole proprietorships, corporations, and registrations.

💰 GST/HST & QST

Understand how to register, file, and maximize input tax credits while avoiding common mistakes.

🧾 Guides and Tutorials

Practical accounting processes like reconciliations, journal entries, and reporting.

📝 Deductions & Expenses

Learn which expenses are CRA deductible and how to track them for maximum tax savings.

Quebec Taxes & Business

QST, Revenu Québec filings, Quebec payroll, and provincial rules every entrepreneur should know.

👤 Paying Yourself

Salary vs dividends, management fees, and how to pay yourself from your corporation or small business.

💻 QuickBooks Online & Tools

Tutorials, guides and time-saving tips for using QuickBooks Online effectively.

🏦 Money & Personal Finance

Personal finance strategies for entrepreneurs, from RRSPs to saving for taxes.

Ronika Khanna 2011-07-23 Ronika Khanna 2011-07-23

Apple Vs Google: Comparison of Quarterly Results (Infographic)

Apple and Google both had incredible quarterly results for the 3 months ended June 25th (strange quarter end date) and June 30th respectively. They beat forecasts by significant margins, continue to expand their operations and have massive amounts of cash on their balance sheets with virtually no debt. The infographic below presents some key figures of interest. It is interesting to note that while Apple is almost twice the size of Google, based on Market Capitalization, their Earnings per share is virtually the same. The majority (68%) of Apple's sales come from the iPhone and ipad , while almost all of Google's sales come from advertising. Another interesting distinction for this quarter is that while Apple spent 2% of its gross revenues on R&D, Google's investment in R&D was about 13%.

Ronika Khanna 2011-05-20 Ronika Khanna 2011-05-20

20 Interesting Financial Facts About Google

One of the best ways to analyse a set of financial statements is to look at a public company’s 10-K. The 10-k is a mandatory annual filing for all public companies’ and provides a wealth of information about the business, operational and financial information about the entity. Google’s is particularly interesting, as most of us are intimately familiar with at least some of Google’s wide array of services, yet its business model is fairly simple and accessible. The bulk of its revenues are derived from advertising and its expense comprise primarily of amounts paid to adsense members, employee salaries and stock compensation and maintenance of its data centres. Whether you are considering Google as an investment or trying to glean some insight into how one of the world’s most successful companies’ operates, a review of their 10-k is interesting (it helps if you are a finance geek) and insightful reading. Below is a review and analysis of some financial facts and figures from their 2010 10-K.

Ronika Khanna 2010-12-21 Ronika Khanna 2010-12-21

How to Update Quickbooks for the 2011 QST Rate Increase

Update: As of January 1st, 2012 the Quebec Sales Tax (QST Rate) which had gone up from 7.5% to 8.5% on January 1, 2011 will now increase to 9.5%. The effective sales tax in Quebec will go up from 13.925% to 14.975%. Since QST is calculated on the net amount + GST, the effective rate is actually 14.975% (and not 14.5%) . In other words the effective QST rate is 9.975%. The instructions below are equally applicable, except the new QST rate to enter is 9.5%.

On January 1st, 2011, Revenue Quebec will be increasing the QST rate to 8.5% (yay!), bringing the effective rate of QST to 8.925% andtotal sales taxes (GST and QST) to 13.925% (since the QST is actually charged on the net price + GST.) This will impact anyone who charges QST including small businesses and self employed individuals, and invoicing software and processes should be updated to reflect the change. Suffice it to say that there are no major changes in the application of the rates. For those of you using Quickbooks you will need to update the QST being charged on both sales and purchases.

Explore Small Business Finance Topics