Journey of a multi-millionaire 27 year old CPA who runs a 100% virtual accounting firm

From selling chocolates and candies on the streets of Accra, Ghana as a five year old to becoming an entrepreneur in the United States; the life of one of our clients, Jeff Badu, has been a success story in itself. Jeff Badu, CPA, is the owner of Badu Tax Services LLC which is a part of his multinational conglomerate Badu Enterprises LLC.

Jeff Badu is a parallel entrepreneur and a wealth multiplier. He’s a Licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from the state of Illinois whose marquee company Badu Tax Services, LLC, is a CPA firm that specializes in tax preparation, tax planning, and tax representation for individuals and businesses. Another key company is Badu Investments, LLC, which is primarily a real estate investment company that acquires residential and commercial real estate properties in areas such as the South Side of Chicago in efforts to restore traditionally underserved areas.

At 27, Jeff is a millionaire, but the situation has not been the same since the beginning. He moved to the United States when he was eight years old. Attended Uplift Community High School in Uptown and was headed down the wrong path in his teens. In the want to belong to the local community and a badly yearned camaraderie, he joined a gang. He recalls, “I had been a bad kid who surrounded myself with the wrong things, and I had almost been put in handcuffs, and I knew that had to change.”

A major turning point in his life came during a summer visit to his native Ghana in 2008, it changed everything for him. Jeff saw how people were living in Ghana, how so many were homeless, including a few of his own family members. Further, a conversation with his aunt would reset his path and he realized he just couldn’t have a life like that. From then, Jeff started going to church, and his goal became to help an infinite amount of people who have a profound desire to do better in life. Some of his friends who weren’t lucky enough to have an uncle or aunt to redirect their lives have ended up dead or in prison.

“I knew it had to start with me. I had to change my lifestyle,” Jeff jetted back to the United States re-energized and with a fresh perspective, determined to be successful. “From then, I started going to church, and my goal became to help an infinite amount of people who have a profound desire to do better in life. “I had been a bad kid who surrounded myself with the wrong things, and I had almost been put in handcuffs, and I knew that had to change,” he adds.

After severing ties with the gang, Jeff paid particular attention to his education and that reflected in the improvement of his grades. He made everyone in his community proud of his achievement when he became the first student in the history of Uplift Community High School in Uptown, to enrol into the University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaigne. Jeff started his first business plan as an 18-year-old during his freshman year at the University of Illinois, where he has bachelors and master’s degrees in accounting from the Gies College of Business. He formed a client base by volunteering to do taxes for family and friends while he went to school and built that base to 100 people by the time he was 24 years old working at PwC.

When he hit his 100th client, Jeff quit his full-time corporate job to officially start Badu Tax Services, LLC in September 2016. What sparked his interest in launching these companies is his passion for helping people minimize their tax liability and ultimately multiplying their money by investing it and building multi-generational wealth.

Jeff’s company serves 1,500 clients in all 50 states and in Canada, China, Russia, Liberia and India, and now he has 21 independent tax preparers working as contractors under his firm’s umbrella. His goal is to have 50 contractors and an office in the United Kingdom within the next 12 months. Jeff says,“I was born to be an entrepreneur and learned from my parents’ examples” he said. “It’s very hard to find a job in Ghana, and if you really want to start to make money, you have to be an entrepreneur.”

He became a millionaire in 2018, while he was just 25, and his mission in life is to have financial freedom to change lives in the philanthropic world. Apart from his profession and philanthropic passion, Jeff is fond of reading and writing poetry. His radio segments on financial topics can be heard on WGHC 98.3 FM in Chicago. He has also been conferred with Lester H. McKeever Jr. Emerging Leader in Advancing Diversity Award by Illinois CPA Society in 2018.

We feel privileged to have Jeff as our esteemed client who has achieved so much in so less time. Jeff has hired 2 full time Tax staff from Entigrity some time ago and speaks highly of them. The reason why Jeff hired Entigrity was because he found us meeting the three main criteria he had in mind to hire an offshore staff. Entigrity works exclusively with accounting firms, provided competent and good quality people who were experts in accounting and most important of all highly maintains data security. Very generously he speaks,” I was evaluating a few companies as I was doing more research and Entigrity would definitely score just about a hundred on a scale of a hundred and the next best option would probably would score only twenty.” In a recent conversation with him, he went on to say that he would want to stay associated with Entigrity for the entire existence of his firm. Here is the video with the excerpts.

Turn Data into Analytics: The Accounting Firms Perspective for Better Decision making

Everyone is discussing analytics nowadays. As we accumulate more information about our clients, we have to discover approaches to transform that info into bits of knowledge that drive more grounded basic leadership.

The discussion used to be about enormous data. That was a discourse about how to legitimately store the huge amounts of client demographics and trends assaulting the enterprise. If you haven’t figured that out yet, take a step back and do some big data research.

However, expecting you’ve made figuring out where your info is and how to get to it, you now need to recognize what to do with it. The accounting firms that influence the best utilization of their data to will win the day, while those that depend on manual procedures and Excel spreadsheets will fall behind.

Here are some tips on how accounting firms can most efficiently move from data to insight to decision.

Make the time

With so many daily tasks already making up your routine, finding time for analytics can be difficult. But the end result is worth it.

if you asked any firm owner if they’d like to make the switch, they would say ‘yes’ but they just can’t get enough extra time in their days to make it happen. To find extra time to offer a different service line, practice owners have to reduce the time spent on data and compliance, and that happens with process and technology.

Get the right software

With the amount of data accessible to today’s accounting firms, analytics can’t be done accurately without the proper software in place. Softwares like Hubdoc, Receipt Bank, and Xero are specially designed to help accounting managers find the secrets hiding within their data and transform those into circumstances their rivals may have missed.

“Using tools like Hubdoc and Receipt Bank processes can auto-post these exchanges into Xero. “Hubdoc goes one bit more distant, actually fetching your documents from banks and vendors, even posting the latter directly into Xero as well.”

If necessary, offload to a third party

Controlling and utilizing your own analytics software may be too tall an order, especially for small and mid-sized accounting firms. In this case, it makes sense to offload the work to a third party. Give them access to the data, then let them crunch the numbers and come back with analytics that will drive smarter decisions.

Some analytics partners accounting firms can work with include:

Oracle NetSuite

Workday Financial Memo

SEI Archway

Data Information investigation is an IT buzzword, not an accounting one. Be that as it may, the process is highly technical, it still applies to accounting firms. Each industry is hopping on the investigation fleeting trend, and yours should be no different– and in the event that you slack, you’ll fall behind your associates. Take the time, make the investment, and reap the benefits.

Read E-Book: 10 BEST PRACTICES OF WORKING WITH REMOTE STAFF

Cloud-based Accounting Software Backed by Cloud-Based Staffing – A Game Changer

Today, Accounting Firms have numerous tasks much more complex and interdependent than ever before. Smart accounting firms, moving with the times, have adopted several technologies such as Cloud-based Accounting Software. With the advent of always-on Internet and decent computing prowess, local software installations are now things of past. To begin with, as compared to any locally installed and deployed accounting software, any Cloud-based accounting software is much easier and secure to use and deploy.

Not just large accounting biggies but several small- to mid- sized accounting firms too have made the switch from local to cloud, given the numerous benefits and conveniences of having Cloud-based Accounting Software. Recent upgrades in computing technology makes a positive difference in the way accounting firms operate.

So by virtue of cloud technology, nowadays, working from within office premises is not a necessity or compulsion. Cloud technology offers various methods, protocols, and options for having access to all necessary to be worked upon, for example the luxury of accessing all your files and documents stored at one centralized spot. This flexibility allows anyone to work from anywhere provided they have the right device and internet connectivity. Moreover, you can even have an experienced and renowned an onshore or offshore cloud-based staffing solution provider, who undertakes and works for your accounting firm using Cloud-based accounting software for all functions and services.

Speaking about any on-shore cloud-based staffing solution providers, it is worthy to mention their availability around your local region of business operations making it more convenient to communicate and meet in person with your requirements and processes for exchanging ideas and expectations with greater clarity. They are easily reachable during your working hours, and easier to communicate with, given the familiarity of language and mannerisms. Just like your in-house employees will know and understand accounting and tax laws, financial systems, and compliances and implications much better, on-shore cloud-based staffing solution providers too all well-versed and updated with all recent changes and amendments to all legal legislatures at any given point of time.

However, with offshore cloud-based staff, you face lesser compliance hassles in terms of hiring employees, setting up business premises medicals and health benefits, etc. Furthermore, in most cases, there are more options of talented resource available at your disposal to choose from when selecting employees who will work for you, in a remote staffing firm. In fact, a majority of cases describe having candidates who are more qualified and with greater years of relevant experience relevant to accounting, taxes, and financial systems than locally available candidates. With modern tools, methods, and mediums available for bridging the communication gap using audio and video calling capabilities, monitoring and reporting daily work-performance activities is far more simpler and faster than before with offshore remote staff! Your remote staff executes daily tasks and job work with comparatively greater precision and efficiency as well as fills in time sheets in the exact same manner any local employee would!

Additionally, there are comparatively lesser costs, time spent, and hassles when having an offshore remote staff involved than recruiting a local expert for your firm. There are also lesser costs involved in training and setting up infrastructure for each locally hired employee. For the cost of hiring one personnel for your firm, you can have an almost small team working for you with a remote staffing solution provider! Having a larger team, works in your favor having much more work done for a fraction of the costs having local employees. Having saved up costs in all pre-business activities, you can redirect all resources — time, efforts, and money — to other activities like planning, marketing, forecasting, etc.! Consequently, this is what the game changer is!

Considering all the various benefits of having an on-shore or an offshore workforce at your disposal, there are numerous security concerns regarding your prestigious, confidential business data. However, with a trustworthy remote staffing solutions provider, cloud based off-shore staffing solution promises to be a significantly beneficial, safe & secure option for leveraging your business capabilities and growth options in the near future!

In fact, a majority of cases describe having candidates who are more qualified and with greater years of relevant experience relevant to accounting, taxes, and financial systems than locally available candidates. With modern tools, methods, and mediums available for bridging the communication gap using audio and video calling capabilities, monitoring and reporting daily work-performance activities is far more simpler and faster than before with offshore remote staff! Your remote staff executes daily tasks and job work with comparatively greater precision and efficiency as well as fills in time sheets in the exact same manner any local employee would!

Additionally, there are comparatively lesser costs, time spent, and hassles when having an offshore remote staff involved than recruiting a local expert for your firm. There are also lesser costs involved in training and setting up infrastructure for each locally hired employee. For the cost of hiring one personnel for your firm, you can have an almost small team working for you with a remote staffing solution provider! Having a larger team, works in your favor having much more work done for a fraction of the costs having local employees. Having saved up costs in all pre-business activities, you can redirect all resources — time, efforts, and money — to other activities like planning, marketing, forecasting, etc.! Consequently, this is what the game changer is!

Considering all the various benefits of having an on-shore or an offshore workforce at your disposal, there are numerous security concerns regarding your prestigious, confidential business data. However, with a trustworthy remote staffing solutions provider, cloud based off-shore staffing solution promises to be a significantly beneficial, safe & secure option for leveraging your business capabilities and growth options in the near future!

Read E-Book: 10 BEST PRACTICES OF WORKING WITH REMOTE STAFF

If Going Paperless is Your firm’s New Year Objective

Any technology driven organization is primarily dependent on computing devices with a host of peripherals and software options, which complement the basic functions of a business. Digital medium has reduced our dependencies on a lot of unnecessary clutter, usually seen in an organization. Right from having ‘tiny post it’ notes to small hand written memos, which were used for office communication about a decade ago, to having important documents or files now available in digital form, received in email instantly! There’s a gradual but inevitable shift to a paperless with each passing day. Increasing business firms are now going the paperless way. Environmental concerns aside, having a paperless office has its own benefits over old school methodologies. Moreover, relying on less paper means, reduced consumables expenses for your organization. Furthermore, reduced space requirements for using and storing paper documents translate into lesser floor space requirements for any firm.

The Myth

However, paperless doesn’t mean any organization ‘Will not need’ any paper-based documents or ‘can operate without’ any paper in their office premises. That’s the primary myth associated with the term — “paperless office”. Any office needs paper for daily functioning of important tasks and chores. What needs to be understood here is, no matter the nature of your organization, there are some basic functions or business processes, which cannot do without any paperwork. For example, accounting, inventory, legal, logistics, etc. All these need the very basis of paperwork because of the scope of the work they address and manage. In all these business functions, the need for proofs and records necessitates the use of paper-based documents at every step, and every day. For such purposes and functions, no business can ever avoid using any papers at all!

Physical to Digital

However, there are many other opportunities where you can cut down on or eliminate using any papers at all. For starters, once you have all paperwork signed and filed away, you can using document scanners to convert the physical paper form of all such important documents into digital copies of their original physical versions. This goes a long way, as digital copies aren’t as affected by physical environmental changes as physical versions of documents are easily affected over time. Moreover, physical suffer damage due to mishandling and incorrect storage, often due to repeated retrieval procedures. It makes more sense to have documents such as bills, receipts, contracts and business cards digitally scanned and converted into editable documents using the latest OCR technology.

Storage & Security

It makes easier to store and retrieve digital copies in a logical format much convenient whilst increasing the security of any and all such confidential documents. Furthermore, you can restrict the access to each document in that repository to select employees in your organization. Moreover, there can always be a track of when anyone accessed it. This ensures that there isn’t any unauthorized access to even a single document without permission from the management hierarchy. Furthermore, in lines with digitization of all physical documents, you can and rather should pursue requesting paperless documents such as statements, reports, etc. from financial institutions to begin with. This makes provisions beforehand without having to convert physical copies into digital ones. It serves multiple purposes such as reducing the time taken in transmission of documents, safety & security of handling and storage, and restricted access permissions for only those entitled access to such documents.

Cloud Storage

Alternatively, you can go for cloud storage solutions for document management. Although digitization has far more advantages over maintaining physical copies of your documents, it has a few concerns that need to be addressed. Since you are storing your documents on a local computer or file server, there could be hardware failure, or security lapses if the protocols weren’t set stringent enough. Moreover, it is tedious and time-consuming process to send/receive any digital documents, frequently. These are rare but not entirely avoidable issues, which can be solved with structured planning and implementation of policies.

However, to mitigate such issues, Cloud Storage technologies have evolved a lot in the past few years, becoming cost-efficient along with being conveniently accessible from anywhere, including mobile devices! It can be said that cloud technology is the future, given its increased reliability, security, accessibility, and economical costs for setting up and using it daily. There are scores of options available nowadays, free and paid with various plans suitable as per your requirements.

Taking Notes

Consecutively, cloud technologies have crossed the bridge, going beyond offering storage services. For many business firms, taking notes, memos, To-Do or Tasks lists, etc. are daily occurrences on the work floor. In order to have a paperless, these activities would also need their digital counterparts just like storage options. From having Windows built-in Notepad and Sticky Notes, to dedicated Notes-taking applications such as EverNote, Wunderlist, Google Keep, etc. are some of the few popular options leading the pack today.

End Note:

Considering the above issues and solutions, it makes more than necessary to begin digitization of physical documents, and implementing digital replacements of traditional avenues of daily business operations, which required use of paper. Furthermore, migrating to cloud technology would increase the efficiency as well as grant greater security to your digital documents from day one.

Accountant vs. Bookkeeper: What Do They Do for Your Business?

To begin, accountants and bookkeepers are involved at various phases of the financial cycle, with a bookkeeper tending to adhere to the day-to-day procedures and an accountant serving an additional different role at reporting, tax filing, and analysis. Let’s take a look at the roles of an accountant and a bookkeeper to have a clearer comprehension of what each expert can improve the situation of your business.

Functions of a Bookkeeper generally DO

Bookkeeping requires at the prior phases of the financial cycle. A bookkeeper’s job is to oversee and log the day by day financial transactions of a business, which include sales, buys, and payments, receipts. Be that as it may, a bookkeeper can also be liable for other tasks, such as completing payroll and checking accounts receivables and working with supervisors and controllers to ample monthly financial closings.

The role of a bookkeeper is frequently subject to the extent of the business and the number of transactions the business makes day-to-day. A bookkeeper’s tasks are likely to increase as a business grows and as the company’s financials get more difficult.

There are a various Enterprise-level bookkeeping software is able to generate the custom reports or complete financial documents that previously fell under the obligations of an accountant. This converging of the two professions means a business that doesn’t have confounded financials can make do with utilizing bookkeeping services most of the time and only hire an accountant when it’s time to auditing and tax preparing.

Functions of an Accountant vs. a Controller

Accounting majorly deals with interpreting the data generated by appropriate bookkeeping. The essential functions of an accountant incorporate analyzing financial statements, completing income tax returns, and helping entrepreneurs and business owners understand all the tax and budgetary controls that apply to their organization.

Controllers likewise help business owners have a superior comprehension of their business’s financial health. Controllers convert a bookkeeper’s data into different financial reports that detail the organization’s financial standing, including its benefit and income. Entrepreneurs likewise depend on their controllers for financial estimating and also planning and examination.

Which Financial Professional Is Best for Your Business?

The choice to utilize an accountant, bookkeeper or both is resolute by the size of your organization, the difficulty of your activities and financials, and the demands of your business. If you’re CPA or Accounting firm and need to hire remote working bookkeeper or accountant when it is time to file taxes or generate end-of-the-year financial reports may be all the accounting help your business needs. Companies like Entigrity can help you to find the best resource depends on your needs and save up to 75% compared to hire in-house resource.

To get more info about remote staffing for accounting and bookkeeping needs. Feel free to visit our website www.entigrity.com or email us your staffing needs on info@entigrity.com