1. Do I need an accountant?

If you are able to do your bookkeeping and file your tax returns yourself, then you probably do not need an accountant. Once your business becomes more complicated or more time-consuming, then it is probably advisable to hire an accountant and a bookkeeper. It is also advisable to hire a qualified professional such as an accountant or an attorney during the initial setup of your organization. Both professionals will be able to clarify questions and help with the choice of the most appropriate business entity.
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You’re an artist, so you don’t have to worry about some of the constraints that come with running a business. Or do you? Unfortunately, concentrating solely on the process of creating your art is not always possible.
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In this column, NYFA Program Officer Edith Meeks interviews performing artists about issues relating to their working careers. Here, she speaks with David Sharp about artists and finance.

Edith Meeks: You’ve made a pretty unusual career combination of dancing and corporate financial consulting. Do you make any connection between the two?
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A budget is simply a plan for how you earn, spend, save and invest your money. Creating your budget is one of the first things you should do as you begin to organize your personal finances.

Why? Because having a budget is the key to making your money work for you. Until you actually calculate how much money you earn after taxes - and until you figure out how much money you spend every month - it's impossible to establish a savings or investment plan that will work.
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In Money Basics, we asked you to figure out a very basic math question. Namely, how much do you spend?

Now, in Spending Basics, you'll get to analyze some of your spending routines. Specifically, you'll be looking at the basics of buying a home, purchasing a car, and the way you use a piece of plastic called a credit card to buy nearly everything else.
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In order to succeed in your career some financial investment is usually necessary, and the career of the fine artist is no exception: art supplies are expensive, art schools can be astronomical, and finished works may have to be framed, crated, shipped, and insured. There are outlays for postcards, postage, portfolios, brochures, slides, and even perhaps a website. And then there's the question of vanity galleries.
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Keeping records is vital to a successful business.  I have included a list of items that you should keep track of in the taxes section.


Things to consider regarding keeping records: more...

Since artists are always being asked to donate something, here is a brief list of things you need to know about donations.
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Script for "Marketplace" commentary

National Public Radio
13 August 2003

Poetry Magazine, the long-struggling publication, received a 100 million dollar bequest recently from pharmaceutical fortune heir Ruth Lilly. It’s stirred up a hornets nest in circles that frown on mixing art and money. But commentator and arts critic Ann Daly says it’s about time. more...