Accounting & Business - The Complete FREE Guide '07

How To Write A Quick & Easy Business Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:17:00 +0000

How To Write A Quick & Relatively Painless
Business Plan ...

by: E.SAUNDERS

If you've never written a business plan before, the idea alone can be
overwhelming.

It doesn't have to be the nightmare of your imagination.

Traditionally, a business plan is used to secure funding from a lender or a
potential investment partner. It serves as something akin to your business's
resume, outlining the purpose and scope of your business, identifying the goals,
marketing and management, and establishing a basic balance sheet.

Now, even if you aren't going to seek additional funding, even if you're going
to grow your business by yourself from your office at home, you'd be wise to put
together a business plan. Simply going through the process has value. It'll help
you develop a clearly defined vision of what you intend to do with your business
and how you intend to do it.

These are some of the questions you should already have asked and answered
before you sit down to write your business plan:

What "want" does your business fill, and what service or product will you be
providing to fill that want?

Who will be your potential customer (this should be an established, niche market
with die-hard buyers).

Why will people purchase from you as opposed to the business down the street (in
other words ... what's your Unique Selling Position)?

How do you intend to reach your customers? A storefront? An ad in the phone
book? Direct mail? An Internet campaign? Selling door-to-door? A combination of
these?

Will you need additional funding and if so, how much will you need and how do
you intend to secure it?

Okay, so let's take a look at what you'll want to include in your business plan.

Most business plans are structured to examine four primary areas:

1. Executive Summary - a decription of the business

2. How you intend to market the business

3. How the busines finances will be arranged and
handled
4. How the busines will be managed

Let's take a further look at these.

Executive Summary: what the business will do, its Unique Selling Position, the
business goals, its ownership and legal structure, your skills and knowledge and
how they will benefit the business.

Marketing The Business: describe your product or service, identify your market
niche, how big it is, and how you plan to reach it. Define your customer,
identify your competition, detail your pricing plan, outline how you intend to
attract and convert customers.

Financing The Business: estimate your start-up costs, project your monthly
operating budget for the first year, outline your ROI (return on investment) and
cash flow for the first year, project your income and expense balance sheet for
the first two years, explain how you're going to compensate yourself, establish
who will maintain the accounting records and how they'll be maintained, and if
you're in need of funding, explain how much you need and how it'll be used by
the business.

Managing The Business: how will the business be managed day-to-day, what the
hiring and personnel procedures will be, how the products or services will be
developed and how they'll get into the hands of your customers. You'll also need
to account for equipment the business will need, and how insurance, rental
agreements, etc. will be handled.

That's it. In a nutshell!

How to Stop Waste, Fraud & Abuse

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:17:00 +0000

How to Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse

by: E.SAUNDERS

Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste, fraud and
abuse. But why would managers throw all that hard-earned money away when there
is a reliable way to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse using accounting policies
& procedures to create internal controls. Internal controls eliminate
uncollectible receivables; prevent theft or embezzlement; optimize inventory;
and stop waste, fraud, and abuse. Utilizing just a single control will add real
money to your bottom line each month.

Look for Easily Customizable MS-WORD files to Save Time

You can quickly and easily develop customized procedures and internal controls
for your organization, no matter what size it is. WORD templates reduce the
stress of writing clear internal controls, policies or procedures; of staying
late at the office to research “best practices” or of worrying over what format
to use.

Use Prewritten Text by Industry Experts

It's much easier to edit prewritten controls than to develop them from scratch.
Let experienced CPAs, auditors, and business process experts think through the
steps for each procedure or form. Then, save even more time by using the
resulting content that technical writers have edited in MS-WORD instead of
re-entering the text.

Vital Procedures Resource used by Thousands

Accounting Policies and Procedures is one such vital resource used by thousands
of executives and managers to strengthen their financial operations. Such a
manual contains an introduction to accounting, an explanation of how to create
your own controllers manual, an example of a complete prewritten manual, ample
policies, procedures and forms for the most common processes (revenue, cash,
assets, purchasing and administration), a detailed index to every keyword,
phrase and regulation used, plus a Guide to Embezzlement Prevention.

Examples for Every Owner or Executive

Every month executives share their stories about satisfying their auditors with
new controls, of increased earnings found in their business and how much time
was saved. So, if you want to increase the profits of your business then
consider an Accounting Policies & Procedures manual.

Help Your Business Grow Now

Can you afford to let a single precious hour pass without finding out what
Policies and Procedures can do for your business??

How To Write A Quick & Easy Business Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:13:00 +0000

How To Write A Quick & Relatively Painless
Business Plan

by: E.SAUNDERS

If you've never written a business plan before, the idea alone can be
overwhelming.

It doesn't have to be the nightmare of your imagination.

Traditionally, a business plan is used to secure funding from a lender or a
potential investment partner. It serves as something akin to your business's
resume, outlining the purpose and scope of your business, identifying the goals,
marketing and management, and establishing a basic balance sheet.

Now, even if you aren't going to seek additional funding, even if you're going
to grow your business by yourself from your office at home, you'd be wise to put
together a business plan. Simply going through the process has value. It'll help
you develop a clearly defined vision of what you intend to do with your business
and how you intend to do it.

These are some of the questions you should already have asked and answered
before you sit down to write your business plan:

What "want" does your business fill, and what service or product will you be
providing to fill that want?

Who will be your potential customer (this should be an established, niche market
with die-hard buyers).

Why will people purchase from you as opposed to the business down the street (in
other words ... what's your Unique Selling Position)?

How do you intend to reach your customers? A storefront? An ad in the phone
book? Direct mail? An Internet campaign? Selling door-to-door? A combination of
these?

Will you need additional funding and if so, how much will you need and how do
you intend to secure it?

Okay, so let's take a look at what you'll want to include in your business plan.

Most business plans are structured to examine four primary areas:

1. Executive Summary - a decription of the business

2. How you intend to market the business

3. How the busines finances will be arranged and
handled
4. How the busines will be managed

Let's take a further look at these.

Executive Summary: what the business will do, its Unique Selling Position, the
business goals, its ownership and legal structure, your skills and knowledge and
how they will benefit the business.

Marketing The Business: describe your product or service, identify your market
niche, how big it is, and how you plan to reach it. Define your customer,
identify your competition, detail your pricing plan, outline how you intend to
attract and convert customers.

Financing The Business: estimate your start-up costs, project your monthly
operating budget for the first year, outline your ROI (return on investment) and
cash flow for the first year, project your income and expense balance sheet for
the first two years, explain how you're going to compensate yourself, establish
who will maintain the accounting records and how they'll be maintained, and if
you're in need of funding, explain how much you need and how it'll be used by
the business.

Managing The Business: how will the business be managed day-to-day, what the
hiring and personnel procedures will be, how the products or services will be
developed and how they'll get into the hands of your customers. You'll also need
to account for equipment the business will need, and how insurance, rental
agreements, etc. will be handled.

That's it. In a nutshell!

How to Stay Focused & Build Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:07:00 +0000

HOW TO STAY FOCUSED AND BUILD YOUR BUSINESS

by: E.SAUNDERS

You have a detailed business plan, which showed the overall intent of your
company. You presented the business plan to your bank before start-up and they
submitted funding in the amount that you both deemed acceptable. The original
business plan contained the basis of the procedures that will help you stay
focussed while the company grows. Let's examine some of these processes that you
will use to give your business the focus it needs to grow and succeed.

1. A marketing plan.

If sales are a part of your
operation (and it seems that some form of selling is always a big part of every
company), then, you will need to have your sales group focussed on a marketing
plan. Short term and longer-term analysis should be a part of this planning and
will likely contain an analysis of your competition, market potential and sales
projections. Be careful not to fall into the trap of letting “the business take
care of itself”, stay focussed at all times and be sure your managers are tuned
into this market monitoring regularly, nothing is more defeating to the general
manager/owner than to be told by a sales manager…I didn't see that coming!
YIKES!

2. Accounting procedures.

If sales are important,
then the need to stay focussed on receiving the proceeds from sales is equally
important. Accounts payable, expenses and accounts receivable need to have fixed
procedures in place to allow money to flow freely through the company coffers.
Focussing on these procedures at regular weekly and monthly meetings will put
the accounting and marketing groups on the same path. A rift between marketing
and accounting is a common bureaucratic occurrence; so don't be surprised if one
point you hear from someone from sales state, “We make the money here, how come
I have to live by their rules?” Getting these two operations to stay focussed on
a bottom line results oriented approach is a regular part of an owner's job
description.

3. Human resources.

If you have ever worked for a
manager, who considered his employees as expenses rather than assets, then you
will be familiar with the need for managers to stay focussed on human resources
within the company. A manager who is fixated on staff reduction regardless of
their accomplishments will create an atmosphere of fear. Certainly, no one wants
to be grossly over-staffed, but a good owner/manager will focus on keeping
adequate employee base numbers, and ensure continuing training, safety programs
and top of the line employee benefits. It's your campground, why not have “happy
campers?”

4. Selling your business.

This does not mean
selling in the true literal sense. It means focusing on being sure your company
image is one that is the envy of your competitors and is known in the business
world as a first class operation. You can do this by having key managers
attending industry conferences. Be clear and tell them that their focus at these
seminars is to network, thoroughly gathering as much new information that they
can. They should also 'sell' other attendees on the importance and efficiency of
their company in the industry. Upon their return, have follow-up meetings with
these managers where they will report in detail on what they have learned.
Managers attending conventions and seminars should take opportunities to enjoy
themselves, nevertheless, they will be the “face” of your company, it's wise be
sure that they focus on making them business meetings, and not all “playtime.”

If planning, organizing, staffing, direction and control are five major
factors in managing a company, staying focussed throughout the process, is
paramount

How to Quit Your Job

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:46:00 +0000

How to Quit Your Job

by: E.SAUNDERS

Do you to know without ending up on the street? In a nutshell, you need to avoid
the self-employment trap, think like a business, and create multiple passive
revenue streams.

Avoid the Self-Employment Trap

If you quit your job and hang up your own shingle, you might work harder for
less money. You may enjoy working from home or choosing your own clients, but
you might end up living from client to client without building any real wealth.
Many self-employed people I know suffer from feast or famine. They spend lots of
time and money marketing their services and get lots of clients. They get really
busy doing the work and stop marketing and then their prospective client pool
dries up.

If you set up your business so that you do everything - marketing, sales,
bookkeeping, operations, and fulfillment, then you are limiting your success
potential from day one. You will spend lots of time on non-income generating
activities and may get frustrated and burned-out in a short time.

The real key to successfully creating wealth outside of a job is to avoid the
mistake of trading one boss for another boss. You need to stop trading your time
for dollars. Stop thinking like a wage slave. Look beyond earned income.

Think Like a Business

There are many problems with earned income. The biggest one is that you are
trading your time for money. If you stop trading your time, the dollars stop
coming. This is a huge problem if you decide to have a baby, get sick, want to
take an extended vacation, or are ready to retire.

The IRS penalizes self-employed people who operate as a sole proprietorship with
a hefty self-employment tax. How can you avoid this? Well, I am not an
accountant or CPA, so I am not giving legal or accounting advice, but I have
learned to think like a business. Before you quit your job, interview local tax
advisors to educate yourself on different business entities and tax strategies.
Start thinking big.

Build a Company with Multiple Passive Income Streams

You need to build a company that works for you. My best advice on how to quit
your job is to build a business that offers multiple streams of passive income
in addition to your earned income. There are so many exciting ways to design
your income portfolio. It requires imagination, courage and planning.

Structure your business so that your daily activities are fun and challenging.
Identify the things that you don’t enjoy or are not good at and find other
people to do these activities – outside partners, independent contractors, or
employees.

How to Quit Your Job

My advice for how to quit your job is to avoid thinking that you have to do
everything yourself to make your new enterprise run. Think big! Set up systems
and structures that work for you so you don’t have to work so hard. Incorporate
and make the tax system work for you. Design your work around multiple passive
income streams to support your active work. And finally, have fun!

Fours Simple Steps To Improve Your Resume

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:36:00 +0000

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS TO BETTER RESULTS WITH YOUR
RESUME

by: E.SAUNDERS

Is every job description you read the same? No.

Is every job you submit your resume to the same? Of course they aren’t.

If all these job descriptions are different, why do you submit the same resume?

Every day, people send the same generic resume out as though each position was
identical and each employer was attempting to hire identical skills and
attributes. Too often, the results they receive are like the broken watch that
is right twice a day—hit or miss success.

They list their name, address, phone numbers and email address, list an
objective, education, and chronology of experience with dates of employment. The
resume includes some successes or accomplishments. This is their resume.
In the days prior to computers when changing a resume required you to re-type
different versions, this made sense. Today, when computers allow you to
customize, spell and grammar check documents so easily, you are missing out on
opportunities and costing yourself money by being lazy and not tailoring your
resume for each opportunity you are interested in.

Here are several steps that you can do to improve your resume and get better
results.

1. Each employer will be interested in different
attributes of your experience. They often indicate it by the items they describe
in their job ad. Emphasize the experiences that you have that relate to the
skills being sought and the functions you will perform in the job they will ask
you to perform. If you are applying for a staff position, emphasize your staff
experience and minimize your management experience. If you are being hired to be
a leader, write about your recent leadership.

2. Employers are more interested in recent work,
rather than work you did many years ago. Use more space in your resume to
highlight recent experience, rather than things you did before George W. Bush
became President.

3. Like setting a goal where you make them
specific, measurable, achievable within a specific period of time, describe your
successes or achievements concretely. Reducing costs is a nice start but it is
more powerful to describe something as reducing operational costs globally by
2%. Increased departmental sales by 27% resulting in . . . You get the idea. Use
action verbs wherever possible.

4. Ask someone you trust to critique what you’ve
written. Too often, people believe that they can do everything by themselves
without asking for help. Ask a friend in your industry to critique what you’ve
written to insure you’re on target and aren’t missing the mark.

When you go to a restaurant and order a meal, you have the expectation that
it will be prepared in a way that will please you and be presented on the plate
beautifully. Writing a great resume requires that you be the chef and prepare a
meal that is both visually appealing and tastes great too!

Five Reasons to Incorporate a Company Offshore Account

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:27:00 +0000

Five Reasons to Incorporate a Company Offshore
Account

by: ED SAUNDERS

When it comes to the term ‘offshore’ used in conjunction with company
incorporation, the term ‘offshore’ generally refers to any jurisdiction other
than one in which the company incorporated will conduct the majority of its
activities.

Usually such a jurisdiction has some degree of taxation or reporting benefit
attached that makes it attractive to the company owner, and the concept of
incorporating a company offshore will bring at least one of the following five
benefits to a business owner: -

1) Ease of Operations – depending on the
jurisdiction and the type of business activity to be conducted under the company
name to be incorporated, the operating restrictions, auditing and accounting
requirements and standards to which the business and its employees and directors
must adhere are often far less restrictive offshore than onshore.

Exceptions to this rule are financial services based companies in many
jurisdictions for example, who have to comply with extra regulatory legislation
for the protection of the company’s clientele.

The advantage of easing operations particularly for a small or start up company
is a reduction in operating costs and in the amount of time a company’s
directors have to dedicate to form filling and report filing.

2) Reporting Simplification – this ties in with the
first benefit; in the majority of offshore jurisdictions favoured for company
incorporation the company activity reporting requirements are often far fewer
and simpler as the business activities entered into by the company are conducted
outside of the jurisdiction in which it is incorporated.

Furthermore personal information relating to the company’s directors and
shareholders need not be declared in all cases or the extent to which personal
information is required is far less intrusive.

3) Taxation Reduction/Negation – the reduction in
taxation liability is one of the main benefits associated with investing
offshore, opening an offshore bank account or incorporating a company offshore.

If you set up your company in a low or no tax jurisdiction you could potentially
save yourself substantial amounts of money legally. Often the rules are that if
the company incorporated in a particular jurisdiction never derives an income
from the local economy it can operate tax free.

It’s therefore possible to use an offshore company in an overall international
business structure and ensure profits are posted in the offshore jurisdiction
and so no tax is liable! Many international corporations operate in this way and
actually negate their tax liability fully.

4) Asset Protection – by operating a company
offshore, i.e., outside the jurisdiction in which the company operates, it is
sometimes possible to position assets away from the reach of any potential
litigious action and also to shield business transactions from the eyes’ of the
competition.

5) Personal Privacy Protection – the level to which
a director or shareholder’s personal information is required, held, visible or
investigated offshore is likely to be far less invasive and intrusive than
onshore. It is also possible to appoint nominee directors and secretaries for
offshore companies in many jurisdictions thus keeping the true company owner’s
identity shielded.

The information contained in this article cannot constitute advice. Each
individual’s circumstances are unique and whether or not offshore company
incorporation is something that could benefit your business can only be
determined with personal advice.

Five Leadership Secrets For Challenging Times

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:14:00 +0000

Five Leadership Secrets for Challenging Times

by: ED SAUNDERS

We consistently face new and ever growing challenges in the workplace such as
reorganizing, downsizing, and “left out sizing.” We are faced with the question,
“How do we lead in this storm of change?” It may seem difficult at times and the
decisions we make define our short-term and long-term outcomes. I will share
with you five leadership techniques guaranteed to keep you on track during these
difficult times.

1 Integrity.

I put this first because the lack of integrity will make or break you as a
professional, as a leader, as a person in the long run. The lack of this will
turn yesterday’s heroes in today’s villains. For example, “MCI was the apple of
the business community’s eye. High revenues, high profits, and high growth; MCI
was beating the competition hands down.

Then it was discovered that there were gross accounting irregularities that
accounted for the astounding profits. You see, management made a decision, “Do I
continue to sustain good growth and be able to look at myself in the mirror or
do I cook the accounting books and spend the rest of my time covering up this
integrity deficiency? The real shame of the MCI situation was that AT&T, Sprint,
and others in the industry had to cut costs and lay off thousands of employees
to compete with MCI’s false numbers. The lack of integrity at MCI not only
affected the company but also the livelihood of thousands and the industry as a
whole.

I was recently speaking with a recently retired City Council member who is well
respected in the community. I asked her what the secret was to her success while
on the council? She mentioned that one of her political adversaries said to her,
“While you were on the council, I didn’t like the way you voted, but I respected
the way you voted because you were consistent with your votes and had the city’s
best interest in mind.”

Ask yourself what decisions that you make are right for the long term? Be
consistent in your actions, whether it is with management, your team, or your
family.

2. Knowledge.

With change happening faster and faster every moment, it is extremely important
that you gain the knowledge to master these changes. You owe it not only to
yourself, but to your team and management. As I always say, “It’s not having the
right answer, it’s that you have the right answer faster than before.” Many
times during my teambuilding programs a student will say, “I didn’t know where
to find the answer.” Then I will say, “That is an unacceptable answer.” Because
part of being a leader is acquiring the skills to find the right answers. With
the Internet, classroom and online training, mentors, etc., the knowledge is at
your fingertips.

Challenge your team members to use the same resources to acquire the knowledge
to master their challenges. By acquiring this knowledge, you will be able to
navigate your team through the ocean of change and achieve your goals.

3. Decisiveness.

You have seen them. They wait for information, then more information before
making a decision. Then they need more information to support the information
they already have.Then they need a committee to analyze the information. Then
they wait for the perfect time to make the decision.

Well, you know what I mean. Anyone you know? Make the decision! Good things
happen when you take action; you grow, you adapt, and your team grows. There is
no perfect time to make a decision. Leaders make decisions based on past
experience, putting into action the decision, and staying and adapting the
decision if needed. But make the decision. The worst quality you can show your
team is indecision. What do you think your team sees when you can’t make a
decision? Make the decision and go for it.

4. Vision.

This is the ability not only to see what is the present - anyone can do that -
it’s the ability to see the future. Outstanding leaders can not only see their
team for what they can do now, but what they can become, and paint the picture
for them. These leaders are consistently communicating and coaching their team
members to that vision. One of the best ways, and least used methods, to convey
your vision is the team meeting.

Every meeting should start out with the team vision, mission, and goals; and the
rest of the meeting should tie into the vision. For example, the motivation
portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, the information portion of
the meeting should tie into the vision, the training portion of the meeting
should tie into the vision, etc. Also, invest time to develop your team members’
personal visions and show them how they can accomplish their personal goals by
tying into the overall vision. By consistently communicating the vision, your
team will move with purpose, feel they are personally making a difference, and
achieve their goals sooner.

5. Unselfishness

Stephen Covey, in his successful book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
wrote that a true leader must be a servant to the ones he or she leads. The
leader must be able to “give of oneself for the good of the team.” In other
words, be unselfish in words and action. Be unselfish in praise of others, in
public, especially in front of management.

Be unselfish in the ability to take time to listen, really listen to your team’s
concerns. A recent management survey said that the average time management
invests doing “pure listening” to employees during the year is a mere two hours-
just two hours! What was meant by “pure listening” time was listening with eye
contact, acknowledgement, and not answering the phone while listening, not
speaking with another person while listening, etc. Be unselfish in the ability
to help your team. Whether it’s the ability to readily assist with a difficult
telephone call, jump in and remove road blocks for team members, or “be there”
for a team member during challenging moments. Believe me, your team will
remember those moments and excel for you.

Now I challenge you to put into action just one of the leadership techniques
I mentioned above to achieve your vision, your mission, and your goals in the
future.

Explode Your Consulting Income

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:53:00 +0000

Explode Your Consulting Income

by: E.SAUNDERS

Here are just a few ways to increase and diversify your

income from your consulting business.

1. Sell More Services to Your Existing Clients

Instead of spending all that time and money trying to get

new business, why not try to sell more services to your

existing client base?

If you are an accounting and tax consulting firm, for

example, you likely have clients who need some assistance

in their record keeping and documentation. In addition to

your year-end tax services, could you provide monthly

bookkeeping and financial statements, accounting system

setups, training in accounting software, or other services

to assist your client?

Monthly services, in addition to annually billed fees, will

help you smooth out your cashflow and minimize the seasonal

nature of your business.

2. Mass Market Your Advice by Productizing Your
Services

Could you produce a folio, special report, newsletter,

e-book, book, audio cassette, video, or course? If so, you

could enjoy making money even when you're not billing for

your time. While asleep or on vacation, the sale of your

information products could be generating additional income

for you.

Sell such products through direct mail, mail order,

exporting, and Internet marketing (your own website,

your own affiliate programs, eBay auctions, and so on).

As well as the passive, residual income that information

products can produce for you, they also help establish your

credentials as an expert. This, in turn, produces more

consulting opportunities for you.

3. Perform Group Consulting

Seminars, workshops, and teleclasses enable you to help

many participants in a cost-effective manner. In addition

to paying for admission, your attendees may also purchase

some of your information products or even become your

regular consulting clients.

4. Consider Additional Markets

Could you sell your consulting services to federal, state,

provincial, or municipal governments? Could you be an

expert trial witness?

If you consult with local clients, could you extend your

reach nationally or internationally by using the telephone

and Internet?

These few ideas are a starting point for you to brainstorm

all the possibilities for exploding your consulting income.

Do You Think That Your Workoad Is Hampering Your Killer Marketing Activities?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:36:00 +0000

Do you think that your workload is hampering
your killer marketing activities?

by: E.SAUNDERS

You need an extra effort not the extra workload. Today when competition is high
and consumers have many options to choose, an extra effort towards improvement
of your product, managing your customers and taking care of other aspects of
your business will give you advantage over your competition. You need to
multiply your time may be you can keep your margin low, but will give you more
volume and increase in your turnover.

Most SME’s start well during there initial stage of launching the business but
looses its consistency do to pool of workloads on its day today life. It is
often seen that hiring more employees gives extra load on limited earning
resources resulting less revenue than expected. You need to put more efforts on
Marketing and concentrate on your other activities so that you can do business
with an ease. Outsourcing is one of the solutions for small and medium business
entities too, that give them more opportunity to utilize there valuable time on
marketing and other efforts. (Provided they get an honest an able outsourcing
partner.)

Outsourcing is hiring a third party service provider to participate as a team
member in your organization and share your workload. You may need to outsource
your projects to save your time and get an expert professional to do the job for
you. It is helpful to you in terms of, managing and multiplying your time so
that you can focus on other important activities of your business needs. This is
another effective tool to stay ahead with your competitions. By sharing your
workload you get enough time to manage your business and think of its better
promotions. You can outsource many things mainly your daily business activities
i.e. accounting, document processing, Web site maintenance, Secretarial work, or
other works need manual operations as well as marketing services. Below are some
reasons to give an idea about benefits of outsourcing.

1.You save time in finding, interviewing and
selecting the new employees by hiring an agency or search for your own.

2.You save time on providing them proper training
as well as they need to adjust with your work culture too.

3.You can save your time, which you need to do all
time-consuming paperwork requires hiring a permanent employee to your
organization.

4.You do not need to buy extra equipments for your
existing setup.

5.You save cost in your daily office expenses as
well as recurring employee charges i.e. Taxes, Insurance, Medical, leave and
many more.

6.You can utilize your time in better way and can
deliver better output for your business.

7.If you are a contractor, you can hire a
subcontractor and focus on more orders.

8.If you are marketing professional you can double
your marketing efforts and can have a wider reach.

9.You will be giving the extra efforts, which all
are needed in present competition, to develop your business and getting more
volume of works.

10.You will be getting a professional who has
expertise in his own field and can deliver you better output.

There are many more reasons why you need to outsource your projects. Today time
management is an important aspect of your business. There are many instance of
SME’s growing to a large business houses simply multiplying there existing time.

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small Business?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:21:00 +0000

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small
Business?

by: E.SAUNDERS

If you’re anything like me then you dislike with a vengeance doing your accounts
and taxes.

So how can you make this process easier, less painful and cut your accountancy
fees?

Well buying an accounting software package is one way.

First of all you need to decide whether you are going to keep your accounting
records manually, that is using pen and paper, or whether you are going to
computerize the process.

If you decide that computerizing the process is the way to go then you need to
decide whether to buy an accounting software package, for example Sage or
Quicken, or whether a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel will suit your needs
better.

As a general rule if you are a cash business that just
needs to record income and expenditure then you are better off using a
spreadsheet.

So, should you choose an accounting software package? Yes if:

· You have customers to whom you extend credit and you buy goods in the same way

· You process in excess of 50 transactions per month

· Your business is an Incorporated Company (Limited Company in the UK)

and

· You are computer literate or are willing to learn!

Before choosing the accounting software, speak to your accountants – they will
be familiar with the various accounting software packages on the market and will
be able to advise you. Most accountants use software in their office to process
the bookkeeping for their clients and will have a working knowledge of the
accounting software package they use. It may be cheaper for you to use the same
one they do, because they can advise you how to get it up and running and will
be on hand to answer questions, plus at your financial year end when your
accounts need preparing it will be less expensive, believe me to have a
compatible program.

I also recommend doing some research yourself, you may be
able to obtain a demonstration disk or download of the most popular accounting
software packages and this will give you an idea of how they work and if they
are user-friendly.

The cost may also be an issue, so you need to decide on your budget. But
consider how your business is likely to expand - you may outgrow that budget
accounting software quickly and end up buying the more expensive one anyway.

Accounting software providers may also try and up-sell you a maintenance
contract. Save your money! In my experience the established software providers
will not have bugs in their systems. They will also try and upgrade you to the
next version on a regular basis, but if the software is doing everything you
need then there is no need to upgrade.

Of course, you could also pay someone to do your accounts for you, either your
accountant or a bookkeeper – the payoff being you don’t have to do it yourself
and it frees you up to actually run your business!

Company/Employee Handbook As Organisational Improvement Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:08:00 +0000

Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational
Improvement Tool

by: E.SAUNDERS

A business is only able to grow as fast as the internal organisation is able to
process higher volumes of sales. But how to get an optimal internal
organisation? Well, you will need to adapt your internal organisation over and
over again. It’s a never ending story. However, a Company/Employee Handbook
could assist you to achieve the best internal business organisation.

This brings up the question, What has to be included in a Company/Employee
Handbook? Everything what has influence to your business operation. First of
all, it has to be outlined which areas the Company/Employee Handbook will cover.
As it has to do with internal operation, here is a list of items you should
include:

- Company Background Information (Name-Development, Foundation date and place,
History-Milestones, Vision)

- Owner and/or Manager Bios/Profiles

- Listing of Officers and Board of Directors

- Employment Roles (Job Roles, Job Descriptions)

- Description of the main products and services (just use your marketing
material)

- FAQ (about internal subjects only)

- Company timeline (What, when, where)

- Office procedures (Workflow-Information, Working Procedures)

- List of persons to know (Bank Contact, Tax Advisor, Laywer, Main Suppliers,
etc.)

- Overview of agreements (Rental, Leasing, etc.)

- Internal Policies (Dress code, Phone usage and answering, Voice Mail
Procedure, Parking,

Business Cards, Drug Policy, etc.).

The above list shows which information should be included.

The following list
shows which departments should be included:

- Distribution

- Inventory/Warehouse

- Marketing (How Follow-up’s are handled, Lead-Generation, etc.)

- Customer Support

- Research and Development

- Accounting

- Human Resources

- Purchase/Procurement.

The above two lists just show, how complex it could be to setup a
Company/Employee Handbook. But it don’t have to be complex, just start partial.
Only include the information which are already available and use the help of
your employees. The benefits of having a Company Handbook are numerous, your
employees will save time, it will be easier to improve procedures, because the
procedures will be broken down into small sections of the whole precodures.
Everything is clearly described, so nobody needs to ask over and over again. In
case of holiday or illness of an employee, others could jump into the job,
because they could be trained faster.

As employer, you could hire employees with lower education. And your employees
will love it, because they know where to look, when they have questions and they
could improve their working environment as well. But the most advantage for the
owner is, that the organisation will be able to work properly, when the business
grows and when the owner might sell the business one day, it might get sold
easier, because of the proper organisation.

When installing a Company Handbook, you will find procedures you could automate.
Automating the operation as much as possible will also be a big benefit, because
employees and employer are able to focus their workforce on more important
topics, such as improving the sales volume. Furthermore automatization will
reduce to cost of operation as well.

A Company/Employee Handbook is a bit like a Business Plan, but far more
detailed, because it will contain information on every internal procedure. Only
the financial part of the business plan will not be included, but if you like
you might include some financial information you like to share with your
employees. As you describe your procedures just do it as a numeration or
listing. The description don’t have to be very well formed, it’s just important
that everyone who will read it, is able to understand what has to be done.

Remember, a Company Handbook is a living system, if you and your employees are
not updating it regularly, it will be death one day, because it will only
contain old stuff. So keep all people within your business engaged in improving
the Company Handbook, because it will improve your business internal
organisation as well. While starting to write the content of your Company
Handbook, concentrate on job roles at first, afterwards write down job
descriptions, in case a job role has been given to employees twice (Accounting
Staff, etc.). Job Roles need to include the duties and the responsebilities of
the described job.

Job Roles, Job Descriptions and Workflow-Descriptions of special procedures
don’t have to be the same, but take care that the information is consistent,
that means that it is written in a stream. This way the entire Company Handbook
will be of benefit for everyone. When rereading something on your Company
Handbook and you still have questions, than the entry is not finished.

Last but not least, your Company/Employee Handbook should be available everytime.
To do this, think about an Internet or Intranet Solution, depending on the size
of your business. Keep it simple and slim, and you will have many benefits from
it. Good Luck.

Choosing A Business Tax Service

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:49:00 +0000

Choosing A Business Tax Service

by: E.SAUNDERS

There are a number of ways that you can find tax services companies. The yellow
pages is a good place to start for companies in your area but, depending on
where you live, the list of names may be extremely long. It is a good idea to
ask your friends, colleagues and business partners to recommend the tax services
that they have found helpful and efficient in the past. Then you can call the
tax services professionals that you have on your list and discuss your
requirements.

The first step in finding the best tax services for your needs is deciding what
level of help you require. Perhaps you simply need someone who can file a simple
tax return but has to wade through your slightly disorganised accounting
documents, or maybe you have a number of employees and need

assistance sorting out their tax withholdings or you may even want all of these
tax services, and more. The size of the tax services company may also be an
issue. You may want one person to be able to perform all of your tax work,
especially if you are only a small business owner or you may want a team of tax
professionals and you want to find tax services that have a number of
specialists available. Once you have identified the type of tax services then
you can begin your search more easily. Your available tax services budget is
obviously going to be an issue but you should try to allocate as much money as
possible to ensure that you can afford the best possible tax services. Remember
that you can incur heavy fines if you have incorrectly filed your tax return or
are late paying any type of tax that your business is liable for.

Apart from professional qualifications and references one of the most important
points to consider when assessing which of the tax services companies you want
to use is whether you feel comfortable with the person you are dealing with. At
the end of the day you are going to trust them with your financial records and
it is essential that you feel that you can depend upon the person.

Every business, at some time, needs the help of some type of tax services at
some stage. Large organisations usually have their own tax services department
with accountants and tax lawyers but small companies often have to hire tax
services on a regular basis to help keep their tax returns and other issues in
order. It is important to know how to find the best tax services, no matter what
type of business you are involved with.

Business Laws - The Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:40:00 +0000

Business Laws - The Basics

by: E.SAUNDERS

A professional degree in Juris Doctor relates to a higher grade of studies in
law. With business houses expanding in size and the legal issues gaining higher
importance for day to day working of large corporates, demand for Juris Doctor
professionals has been increasing. As the business interacts more with the
society and their other counterparts need to resolve legal matters emerge
simultaneously. All this has given an impetus to students aiming for career in accounting.
law field. But a purely law background without any corporate experience may not
be well accepted by business industry. Top ranked services in companies also
demand a graduate in business organization along with lawyer’s degree.

As demand for combined degree in JD and business is being a preferred
combination to build a rewarding career in law. Business and law schools at
various places have joined hands to impart students with best career courses. At
many places Law Schools providing degrees of Juris Doctor and business school
providing Master in business administration present a cooperative program for
the convenience of aspiring students. This opportunity to avail concurrent
degrees in both fields is a stepping-stone for success of students. Students who
cannot travel to different places at the same time have a best prospect of
finding excellent professional training under one roof.

Surviving in the law field gets tougher from the day one tries to enter the
school of law. Getting admission requires fulfilling entire formalities along
with earlier creditable basic high school record, clearing the admission test
for the law school and even recommendations from people. The same is applicable
for business studies a student is required to prove his quantitative skills and
efficiency in microcomputers to get admitted. A dedicated and hard work during
the courses ensures students with excellent results which in turn to provide
better career opportunities.

A law person has various prospects for different types of career that he would
like to accept. Depending on his caliber and willingness to work hard a lawyer
can decide upon practicing law in an exclusive law firm or he may choose to be
an in house lawyer. An exclusive law firm requires an extensive knowledge of one
particular area in law where as an in house lawyer is required to deal with
entire aspects of legal issues that relate to the particular company in which he
is involved.

While undergoing training in one of the law schools a student would learn about
different aspects of law like civil law, criminal procedures, constitutional
law, contracts, property, professional responsibility, basic federal income
taxation, legislative and administrative interpretation and many others. The
syllabus is cautiously devised to ensure that students receive exhaustive
training to deal with maximum situation in the professional front. Similarly
Masters Degree in Business administration imparts education in business for
global society, corporate finance, managerial accounting, information resource
management, strategic management, master’s project and other similar relevant
courses. Anyone pursuing both law and business studies simultaneously has an
advantage of studying some courses that are counted towards both degrees and
hence a considerable amount of work is reduced for these students.

Bottle-Neck Orientated Business Mangement

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:25:00 +0000

Bottleneck-Oriented Business Management

by: E.SAUNDERS

Simple and effective Business Management

In every enterprise there are, at every time, one or more bottlenecks, which
have influence to the commercial situation. Bottleneck-oriented business
management has the purpose to early track the bottlenecks and to remove them, to
allow an optimum of commercial development. To know at any time, what a business
lacks of and to be able to add the missing things, is today a determining
competition advantage. Bottlenecks can be, e.g.:

Low sales proceeds

High due or overdue accounts receivables

Low liquidity (Cash on Hand, etc.)

High amount of liabilities

Low number of customers

Too many new customers

Too high capacity utilization

Defective administration or management

And a lot more...

These example show that bottlenecks not only concern negative circumstances, but
also can apply to positive commercial development. If an enterprise takes up
many new customers, this results in new orders, which lead to other
circumstances, like a possible excess in capacity utilization. In case the
excess of capacity utilization stays for a longer time, this may result in a
lower employee motivation, because of a slump in working atmosphere within the
company, which then could lead to less qualtiy of the work performed.

Due to a TIMELY reporting system many companies take care of reaching the
desired commercial development. However, a regular analysis of expenses or the
annual reports are not enough to control a business today. In the today's
dynamic markets these evaluations are too statical, too much oriented on the
past commercial development, which had been achieved. Also cost accounting only
shows what has happened in the past. The actual direction in which a business is
running could not be seen.

Imagine a business to be a car. If you sat down in a car, do you like to receive
information from the instruments from the last year or month? Probably not. You
would like to have actual information about fuel tank content, coolant
temperature and a lot more. Bottleneck-oriented business management should
exactly bring the most important and actual information about a business to you,
including so-called early warning signals..
Data oriented to the past for early-warning-systems?

A working early-warning-system needs data which are not oriented to the past,
like from cost accounting or year-/month-end-closeings. It needs data from
so-called early indicators, which has to be gathered from different areas of an
enterprise. Of course, figures from the finance and accounting department belong
into an early-warning-system, but they only have a subordinated role, because
they are oriented to the past.

Nowadays the reporting must show the present situation of a business. In many
businesses the expenditure of time for the reporting rose considerably, due to
the today's flood of information. Aggravatingly added to this, is the selection
of the really relevant business ratios, which allow an appropriate overview of
the actual business situation. Too often reports are prepared, which are not
perceived by anybody, due to the lack of necessary statements about the business
development.

There are already proven business-ratio-systems, that enterprises only need to
take over. Get back into the car again, imagine you have only one instrument in
front of you, which shows the value "35". What does this signify? It is not
recognizable how many fuel exists, how the Temperature of the coolant is or how
fast the car is driving, etc.

At this example you could recognize the little expressiveness of only one
business ratio. It shows the importance to use the right business ratios, which
must have a connection to each other and which have a different temporal origin.
Nevertheless, many business ratio systems are mostly based on data which
originate from the past.

This turns often to the problem, that immediate information are not available,
to indicate the actual situation of a business. However, there is still the
alternative, to reduce the period of the past. How would it be with one week
instead of analysing business data every 4 weeks? This would lead to the fact
that you could act a few weeks earlier, if something should run a little bit
inclinedly.

Only very few data are needed to receive an informative evaluation. This again
is comparably with a car. If you are driving with your car, you only receive a
small, well-chosen number of information and nevertheless, have an actual
picture of the situation. This is also possible for businesses, as well!

As a motorist we receive only one fraction of the data which is acquired by the
system of the car, and just these fraction of information is enough for us to
reach the desired destination. When traveling usually we are well prepared, but
the principle of the preparations is often neglected in business operation. As
it is with traveling, the final goal has to be clearly stated by the business
management. This could be done by having planing data available. Only by
target/actual comparison divergences of the commercial development will be
recognized.

Unfortunately, many small businesses renounce to use plan data. Besides, it is
not about, to cut plan data into the smallest pieces, but only to get a rough
picture, what the business is going to achieve. It is absolutely possible to run
a business on the basis of the figures from the previous year, however, to use
these figures, the past commercial development should be taken into
consideration. So the figures from the previous year should be improved to fit
with the new goals. And finished are the planning data and the basis for an
operational risk management are laid. Still if it is most important to know the
actual bottlenecks in business operation.

Recognize problems and act!

One of the most important factors in business management is the early
recognition of problems and potentials. There are bottlenecks in every business,
which could have serious results. Pecuniary difficulties could lead to
bankruptcy for example. Therefore symptoms must be recognized early, in order to
turn a possible crisis away and to secure the future of your business. Also to
use available potentials, regular analyses should be done. Nowadays products and
services could not be sold forever, because product cycles become shorter and
shorter due to market dynamism. The recognition and development of potentials is
exceptionally important, to avoid losing the already achieved basis of a
business.

Asset And Liability Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:24:00 +0000

Asset And Liability Basics

by: E.SAUNDERS

Knowledge of accounts can make life much easy. If you are to invest in a new
business or joining your forefather’s business, planning to take some loan,
looking for job in any marketing company, desire to be the manager of a
multinational company or have the onus to manage your own assets and
liabilities, knowing some basics of accounts becomes mandatory.

Broadly, accounting is bifurcated into two categories-

Cash Based Accounting

Accrual Accounting

The Cash Based accounting pertains to the management of an individual’s personal
monetary transactions. In this case, he keeps a track of the money he withdrew,
deposited, gave or received from someone etc. This accounting comes to life when
actual cash transactions take place.

The Accrual Accounting requires an accountant who notes the transactions even if
no money has been actually exchanged. This method works on the principle of
comparing or seeing the ratio of the expenses to expenditure. If the expenditure
is more, you need to cut down your luxuries, if not then it’s always good to
have some savings for future. This type of accounting tells you the amount that
you owed; this might not match with the figure of your bank balance.

In the language of accounting there are several key terms that one needs to be
familiar with. Some of the crucial ones are discussed below-

The Assets-

The assets are generally those possessions of an individual that
have a good market value or are quite valuable. Assets are mainly classified
into three types-

Current Asset-

The cash is the most basic asset of any individual. The money
that is being held in accounts like the checking and savings accounts is also
included in the cash. Also inclusive are the marketable securities in the form
of bonds, stocks, shares etc. The money lent or payments due from clients, even
form a part of it.

Fixed Asset-

Comprises of all the tangible valuable things like property,
machines, equipments, land and the like that are not meant to be sold.

Intangible Asset-

Incorporates all the untouchable things like copyrights,
patents, trademarks etc. that have tremendous monetary significance.

The law of opposites governs the nature; where there are assets, there will be
liabilities. These are the debts that you have to pay back to your creditors.
This can be done through giving cash or any other asset like jewelry, some other
goods etc. Liabilities again are of two kinds-

1. The Current Liabilities- the liabilities that are to be paid back within a
certain time limit and most often through your current assets. These include the
accounts payable i.e. type of bill that you have to monthly, the Notes
Payable-loans taken from banks meant to be repaid within 30 days and the Accrued
Expenses- the compulsory expenses like taxes, wages, interests etc. where the
bills are not received but the balances of each must be repaid.

2. Long Term Liabilities- those debts that can be repaid at ease for the tenure
is more then a month.

The Financial Capital- is the economic capital. It is any liquid medium or
merchandise that stands for wealth or other styles or capital. There are four
ways to manage and display the financial capital. First, this capital is needed
when a contract is made with any sort of capital asset. The financial
instruments work in the form of currency in case of sale, purchase or trade of
goods i.e. the medium exchanges. Second, it works as a settled medium or mode
like gold for the

Standard of Deferred Payment. Third, The Unit of Account has a market value
attached to it which in turn varies with the economy of the country. Fourth, The
Source of Value is concerned with financial capital that needs to be saved and
recovered. It is a collection of things like gold, real estate, collectibles
etc.

Petty Cash is an important factor in business. It is the smallest account within
a business setting or the cash in bills and coinage required to pay little
expenses.

Types of Business- there are several kinds of business one should be aware of
like

Sole proprietorship- where a single individual who starts the business owns it
too.

Partnerships- the companies or businesses started by two or more persons where
they conjointly own it.

Corporations- involve lot many shareholders or investors who are responsible in
taking decisions for the company.

Limited Liability Companies- can be said to be sisters of corporations. Here the
business members are not under a legal obligation to pay the debts if the
business fails.

Payrolls- the term payroll designates the manner in which you will be paying the
employees of your company and even yourself. Many multinational companies cater
to payroll service provider companies that do the work quite efficiently.

These are some of the broad guidelines that will help you grasp the basics of
accounting. It is essential to have some such wisdom for accounts as it is
fruitful in all walks of life

An Introduction To Point Of Sale Software

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 10:48:00 +0000

An introduction to point of sale software

by: E.SAUNDERS

Point of sale software gives business owners a
convenient way of checking out customers and of recording sales. It can keep a
record of the store inventory, updating it when an order is processed. It can
also print out receipts, carry out credit card processing, track customers, etc.
Point of sale software eases the flow at checkout terminals, while recording all
the information that can help you make better business decisions.

Point of sale software allows users to input via keyboard or mouse, and some
even have a touch screen interface. You can install the software on your
checkout register.

When checking out a customer you can either input the sales item yourself or use
a bar code scanner. The point of sale software will look up the item in the
inventory and bring up the price. It can also calculate tax on the item and
change for the customer.

POS software can print out receipts and reports. Point of sale software makes
your business accounting a lot easier by creating reports on inventory, sales,
customers, etc. Since it is already recording each sale, it can easily tell you
the sales and revenue of the day.

Point of sale software can also help with credit card processing. Credit cards
are the preferred method of payment. People do not want to carry around cash for
all their purchases. Credit card is a convenient method of payment and if you do
not have credit card processing, your business can lose some of its
competitiveness.

Point of sale software receives input from the POS hardware, which is the
scanning station for the credit card. The software will process the credit card
payment for you. It can check that the card has not expired and is valid. You
will need a merchant account for the point of sale software to do its job.

POS software is generally easy to install and easy to use. You will need to know
how to update inventory and record a price change for an item. Point of sale
software usually provides an easy to use interface to do this. It can make the
job of the cashier a lot easier by automating the routine tasks of the day.

There is a wide variety of point of sale software available. You can choose one
that fits your budget and meets the needs of your particular business. The
software will have compatibility requirements with the point of sale hardware.
It will also have operating system requirements such as it might need a Windows
or Linux system.

Point of sale software can more than pay for itself over time by making checkout
faster and doing your accounting for you. Point of sale software may be the
right solution for your business and can provide you with tons of benefits.

Please visit one or more of our sponsors regarding "POS Software"

After The Latest And Accurate Help In Relation To Accountancy?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:01:00 +0000

After The Latest And Most Accurate Help In Relation
To Accountancy.?

by: E.SAUNDERS

When you are looking for high-class advice concerning accountancy, it will be
hard sorting out the best information from foolish accountancy proposals and
guidance so it's best to know ways of moderating the information offered to you.

NetSuite: Small Business Accounting

NetSuite offers an integrated online accounting application with ecommerce,
sales, inventory, shipping and support. Free Trial.

Now we would like to offer you some advice which we advise you to use when you
are searching for information about accountancy. You need to realize the
guidance we put forward is only pertinent to internet based information
concerning accountancy. We don't really offer any direction or assistance when
you are also conducting research in books or magazines.

OpenPro: Web Based Accounting

Offers Web-based, open source ERP accounting system with financials, supply
chain, manufacturing, CRM and ecommerce features.

An interesting tip to pursue when you're presented with information and
suggestions on a accountancy website would be to determine who owns the site.
Doing this could reveal the owners accountancy credibility The easiest way to
reveal who owns the accountancy web site is to find the sites 'about' page.

Any reputable site providing information concerning accountancy, will always
have contact information which will record the site owner's contact details. The
details should make known some key points concerning the owner's requisite
knowledge. You can then arrive at a decision about the webmaster's depth of
experience, to offer guidance about accountancy.

Account Methods - Cash & Accrual

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:49:00 +0000

Accounting Methods - Cash & Accural

When starting a business, you have to determine the method you are going to use
for accounting and paying taxes. The two choices are the cash method and the
accrual method.

Cash Method

If you are looking for simplicity, the cash method is probably your best
accounting choice. Generally, income and deductions can be claimed when payment
is actually received or made. This is best shown with an example.

I open a small business and have to order business cards and stationary. I
receive the products and pay the invoice on November 18, 2005. Under the cash
method, I can deduct the cost on my 2005 tax return.

Some businesses are restricted from using the cash method. C corporations may
only use the cash method if they have less than $5 million in gross revenues for
a particular year. Professional Service Corporations can use the cash method
without limit, while farming corporations can due so if gross revenues are less
than $25 million. Tax shelters are prohibited from using the cash method.

Accrual Method

The Accrual Method of accounting is a bit more complex. Under this method, the
focus in on the date the expense is incurred, not paid. Although this may seem a
small difference, it can play havoc with your books and piece of mind.

Using our previous example, assume I order business cards and stationary on the
December 18, 2005. I receive the products on December 30th, but don’t pay the
invoice until January 20, 2006. When can the expense be claimed? It depends on
when economic performance occurred.

Generally, economic performance occurs when goods or services are provided to
you. In the above example, economic performance would arguably occur when the
business cards and stationary were delivered with the invoice on December 30th.
Thus, I would be able to deduct the expense for the 2005 tax year.

In Closing

As you can see, the cash method is the easier of the two accounting methods. To
determine the best method for your business, speak with a tax professional.

10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:30:00 +0000

10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your
Sales

by: E.SAUNDERS

1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones that have the same
objective. You can trade leads, share marketing info, sell package deals, etc.

2. Brand your name and business. You can easily do this by just writing articles
and submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing.

3. Start an auction on your web site. The type of auction could be related to
the theme of your site. You'll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders.

4. Remember to take a little time out of your day or week to brainstorm. New
ideas are usually the difference between success and failure.

5. Model other successful business or people. I'm not saying out right copy
them, but practice some of the same habits that have made them succeed.

6. Take risks to improve your business. Sometimes businesses don't want to
advertise unless it's free, sometimes you have to spend money to get results.

7. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security,
relief, freedom, happy,

satisfaction, fun, etc.

8. Ask people online to review your web site. You can use the comments you get
to improve your web site or you may turn the reviewer into a customer.

9. Out source part of your workload. You'll save on most employee costs. You
could out source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc.

10. Combine a product and service together in a package deal. It could increase
your sales. If you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it.

Good Luck!

9 Things You Must Do To Maximise The Chances Of Obtaining A Small Business Loan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:14:00 +0000

9 Things You Must Do To Maximize Your Chances Of
Obtaining A Small Business Loan...

by: E.SAUNDERS

To get approval for your small business loan application, you must be able to
meet the lending criteria set down. Some organisations are more risk averse than
others, and will therefore have more stringent criteria.

To vastly increase your chances of a successful funding application, you will
need to present the following information:

1. The reason for the loan. The lender will be looking for
something that fits within the normal range and expertise of your business. The
amount may cover a number of items, so you will need to cover each.

2. The amount required, and the repayment term of the small business loan you
want. (e.g. £10,000 term 5 years, payable quarterly).

3. Details of how you will repay the amount borrowed. For example, “From the
increase in profits of reduced running costs of the Whizzbang Go4It”

4. Details of security you will be able to offer to the lender. This will act as
reassurance for the lender. If you’re not prepared to put up some aspect of
security, then why should they?

5. You will need to include your business plan which will serve to answer
essential questions relating to management capabilities, information about the
market you operate in. What kind of business you are in etc.

6. 3 Years financial statements. You will need to present quality financial
information from your accounting software, preferably signed off by your
accountant or tax advisor.

7. Latest Set of Management accounts. Again produced from your accounting
software.

8. Accounts receivables (debtors) and payables (creditors) ageing reports.

9. Principals financial statements. – Particularly required if some form of
security is necessary.

If you are a new company, the emphasis is going to be on your business plan ,
and the security (also called collateral) you or your business can provide
against the loan.

You must take the time to practice presenting your case to the bank or lender to
iron out any glitches. Practice on your colleagues and family (you never know,
they might be so impressed, they'll invest or lend!). It may help to role play
the lender and come up with as many pointy questions as possible. The more time
you take the better your chances will be. (But remember, don’t fall into the
analysis paralysis trap!)

Good luck!