Published Articles

Automating Accounting Process

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:32:00 +0000

With increasing need to expedite the delivery of the financial package to upper management accounting managers are becoming increasingly challenged. Delivering accurate accruals in a timely manner can be very challenging. From rebates and commissions to employee benefits and inter-company consolidations automation is the best alternative rather than manpower.

To automate a process look at the rules involved in determining the calculation. Then look at the sources of the data. The number of systems used to provide information. Then look at extracting the information into one data source. I still find that Excel is an excellent way to automate tasks. Too often managers look to have an expensive third party to provide information related to automating a process. Ask yourself what steps they might use to make a calculation. For instance populating daily foreign exchange rates into your system. Doesn't yahoo.com offer this information for free. Isn't using your IT department to setup a quick import from this data source an excellent solution. It's free and shouldn't take internal staff more than two hours.

Something I have automated and incorporated into close are commissions. The accounting department needed the commission calculation for the commission accrual and the sales managers needed the information to pay third party sales agents. In our company the commission calculation is a part of the accounting departments responsibilities (I know you probably thinking the sales department should have this responsibility I'll answer controls). Unfortunately our ERP system in not able to support our commissions process due to a complex system of rules. I incorporated a data download and a pivot table to feed the information automatically into a worksheet containing the rules. Sometimes from multiple pivot tables. The way this is done is buy using "getpivottable" formulas with "if(iserror" functions. The "if(ieserror" is important because if a company or product class did not receive sales then an error is returned by the formula, and I would prefer a zero. (Contact me for an example.) Well it is important to test the automation and adapt it in case information being imported is changed. To do this compare the totals provided by the pivot table and incorporate the report into the task which might be a conglomeration of used and unused information. I setup my cack report to provide a balanced number. Doing this will make it easy to pin point out of place, missing and conflicting information. Finally, I track information using a running table and another pivot table providing month over month and year over year information. This is useful when manaagers are reviewing the information and is really an added bonus. I do this by copying the formulas renaming a month range then copying and pasting the previous month information as values. This used to be a two to three day process and it took four days to automate. Now the download takes 1 minute, refreshing the pivot tables takes 30 seconds, reviewing the check sheets and PivotTables takes 2 minutes and ironing out the rare error takes 3 minutes. The commission process once took from 16 - 24 hours and was highly susceptible to errors and quarterly exceptions added more time every three months and took the manpower of three people. Now the quarterly exceptions are incorporated into the monthly reports, there are far less errors and the whole thing takes less than five minutes.

Another extremely cumbersome task was the inter-company eliminations. I developed a process that only excludes the inter-company profit elimination on inventory. Our company had multiple level of eliminations. The process to eliminate all accounts took three people three days to complete and incorporating new accounts and companies often took months to complete. The eliminations were not accurate and were the most time consuming part of close. Due to restrictions with the ERP sysetm and the fact we had eight reporting levels I looked to define accounts with tags and account numbers that could be picked up using internal reports that eventually automated entries. This project almost got me fired but I completed it just before a hard cut throat deadline. Once, the process was completed it took the inter-company profit from 144 man hours to five minutes. It literally takes ten minutes to complete and thirty minutes to check. The point is that I looked to the systems internal reports and methods by which I could distinguish the accounts from each other to define the accounts and direct the reports to the appropriate selections at the appropriate levels. All together the automation took me approximately 200 hours to complete plus 100 hours of overtime I didn't get compensated for but helped me keep my job.

Starting P90X Exercise Regiment Review

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:13:00 +0000

I have been following the Fit for Life diet plan, and it seems that my weight loss has stalled. I am really disappointed but I am going to implement an exercise program called P90X to get my body where I want it to be. I am thinking about posting a Day 1 picture and updating it every thrity days. I am thinking that posting pictures on the web may be a bit to embarassing for me.

I am really excited. Some equipment is required and I didn't get the chin-up, pull-up and sit-up bar that is absolutely necessary. I have ordered it and will be waiting for it to show up in the mail. The anticipation is killing me. The bad news is that the program requests the user to follow a diet program, but I am still going to stick with Fit for Life.

The protein thing is going to be hard but since I am a vegeterian I am hoping that eating quinoa will work. Well I hope to keep you updated on how P90X is working out for me. I have two relative that use it and they swear by the program. One has only 9% body fat. I don't want to get that trim but that is still impressive.

Well I guess it should explaing the priciple behind P90X. For those of you who are familiar with muscle confusion read no further. Basically, the idea is to keep varying your exercises in a way that doesn't allow you to adapt to an exerise regiment. Where muscles do things in the most efficient manner possible, which minimizes the effectiveness of one's workout.

I have included a few links if you are interested in the program.

Made in the USA: Translation Insurance Policy

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Today companies are shipping whole manufacturing operations off to foreign countries. It does matter where really as long as they find the lowest cost center available. Then you have to ask yourself is this really in their best interest? The truth is that it is a good idea but that is not the whole truth.

There are a plethora of reasons to keep some manufacturing at home. I identify this concept as "Manufacturer's Insurance", and keep in mind that this insurance doesn't apply to the United States alone. This applies to corporations in countries such as France, Germany and Japan.

When businesses outsource complete product lines and sometimes their complete manufacturing facilities they lose several things. The two that matter most our control and knowledge.

The political process of other countries is often unpredictable. You never know what they will do and how that will affect business. The host country advantage is that at least your government should have the businesses benefits in mind. Currently, China is rapidly becoming a manufacturing giant. I would argue that with the capitalist drive of their economy and the communist control of their government si bound to clash. It is inevitable and guess who has the guns. Who is to say that companies shouldn't get while the getting is good though.

Every manufacturer knows that production can be haulted for many reasons even at home. The advantage is that when these occur at home upper level management can immediately implement solutions. When they occur overseas it could be months before upper level management can address the problem. The home turf advantage is pivatal to some extent in every business.

The other issue is that knowledge is lost and this is why I maintain that the most complicated processes should be kept at home. This way your company has people that understand the most integral lines, and can train backwards to get up to speed if manufacturing is lost in other countries.

The idea behind my thoughts is that keeping some manufacturing at home allows companies to quickly fall back and bring home lines. There are also the patriotic reasons. It has been proven that our job market and economy can adapt to blows time an time again. The home economy does however purchase many of the products that have been outsourced and this is not a perpetual blow the economy can take at some point it will break.

It has also been shown that when America's economy suffers so does the world economy. America and Europe aer the pins between failing globally and succeeding globally. For this reason it is important that the host economies be evaluated before shipping jobs off. I guarantee that a company can produce a million parts for one-tenth the price and still lose money if no one at home can buy the good.

Self Dependent Problem Solving

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:44:00 +0000

Every once in awhile I am faced with a complex problem that seem to overwhelming to address or the solution seems to be out of reach. Many times I find that I am able to find the solution by employing a few strategies each stemming from the other. The first strategy involves breaking the problem down into smaller more manageable hurdles. A good way to do this is to ask simple questions related to the problem. This puts the problems parts in their simpler form and allows one to move up through the more complex components. It is important to remember that time is a component of complexity. Especially if you are trying to meet a deadline.

During this part of the process it is almost inevitable that you will find a point where you become stuck. When I get to this point I simply do an Uber-Breakdown of the issue I am trying to tackle. I look at the basics of my knowledge and answer the most basic of question I can come up with. Often this not only jogs my mind but it brings to light some of the more complex issues that I have not developed in relation to solving my problem. This has even lead me directly to the solution. Even if your problem is writer's block this exercise will get your mind rolling enough to get you out of the snow.

Once, I have addressed and solved all of the different components I sometimes find myself in what can be a very discouraging point. No solution. From my experience this is a result of one of two situations. Like always I will address the lesser of the two evils first. Basically, you have a bunch a small components that you are pretty certain play into the solution but it is proving difficult to put them together in order to achieve your desired solution. Basically, you are sitting in front of a jigsaw puzzle. It is best to approach this by putting the pieces that most naturally fit together first. In an actual puzzle these pieces would be the edges. Then you simply build toward the middle. During this process I often find that I was having problems because a few pieces of the puzzle had fall to the floor and I simply needed to pick them up to put my solution together. By placing the component together without fully addressing the solution you will allow yourself the ability to find the issues that were in the problem but that you had simply forgotten to address, overlooked or simply did not realize were a part of the problem. Once, this process is started it what be long until you have arrived at a problem solve unless you have the second scenario.

On to the second and potentially more frustrating but also more rewarding stumbling block of the problem solving process. Finding that you have only developed paths that are helping you address the topics contained in you daunting problem who's solution stands in the distance unscathed by your knowledge. This is like being able to see your destination across a canyon and not quite having enough material to build the bridge to get to where you are going.

However, you are in a unique position because you have pre-assembled several of the pieces to build the bridge. Now simply assemble the pieces in a similar fashion to how you would have built the puzzle. Eventually, you will find yourself at the edge of the bridge without any more material to approach the gap before you and your solution. The dilemma her is most likely that you may have to discover new materials that will allow you to extend your bridge. Here you do have to determine whether someone else has helped provide a solution or if you simply can learn more to get you to where you are going.

If you find that no one can help or your simply stubborn and want to forge forward this next strategy is for you. You now stand at the edge of not a bridge but of discovery. It is important to understand that to extend the bridge towards your goal you must discover new knowledge that you have not been taught. You have to think creatively to come up the theories that are the new material that will build your bridge. At first make sure you use solid concepts and do not venture to far from your knowledge base. It can be discourage to find that you have done a lot of work only to build a tangent that leads no where and collapses. As you get closer and closer to reaching your goal explore more and more radical concepts that will allow you to achieve your desired solution.

The basic principle of each strategy is to start simple stupid and then move to complex.

Flat Earth Veggie Crisps Review

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:35:00 +0000

I noticed they were using Google to advertise on one of my favorite sites, this one, and decided to give it a little review since I have eaten them. As a matter of fact, I have a bag in my kitchen right now. Flat Earth Veggie Crisps are pretty good and they are definitely healthier than potato chips, but still watch out they are not a totally healthy alternative. Just eat a serving of these chips a day. You will be much better off.

Now, Frito-Lays are really the producer of this brand. This could have both a negative and positive impact on letting people make healthy choices. It is well known that many companies use deceptive practices to lure people into buying their product buy appearing to be a healthy choice. How many fat people do you know that eat mainly fat free products and in addition don't appear to eat all that much. There are plenty of heavy set women at my work that only eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch.

The point is that Frito Lay can either take this brand and build on making it healthier or use it to decieve more people. I think that we will see Frito target healthier alternatives. They have found that this has been profitable. They have released many baked chip products and Pepsi has also strengthened their hold in healthy drink options as soda dwindles as the drink of choice for most consumers.

In any event Flat Earth Veggie Crisps are still a better alternative than potato chips and thy have a unique flavor. I personally do not eat them, because they violate the food combining principles. Try to make small steps towards better health by switching to products like these, while you do the research to inform yourself on the changes that you truly need to make. The answer you'll find is to have a diet that consists of primarily whole foods. You can still have snacks like Veggie Crisps just don't depend on them to help you have good health. If you want get a free bag from Flat Earth.

Chart of Accounts an Organization Structure

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:39:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

The chart of accounts should have a simple and logical organizational structure. More so than that last sentence. I personally prefer to use five digit numbers for primary accounts and 3 digit numbers for sub accounts.

There are many concerns to address when coming up with a chart of accounts. Short and long terms considerations have to be taken into perspective. Many accountants would disagree with me whole-heartedly but this is the one time in accounting that you should avoid being conservative. I like to create a chart of accounts that can weather the storm of business to come. Dream about where you want your business to be, take into scope international possibilities and make your accounting structure flexible so you can quickly adapt to business events.

When developing a chart of accounts consider the business type, industry, business function, standard industry practices, the needs of managers, the possibility of inter-company transactions and the flexibility of your structure.

The number structure should look something like the following
00000 - Short-term assets
10000 - Long-term assets/Intangible Assets
19000 - Depreciation and Amortization
20000 - Current Liabilities
30000 - Liabilities
(I like to have short-term notes and long terms notes correspond to a similar the digit extension 25860 - Short Term Note Payable 35860 - Long Term Note Payable and even the A/R and A/P are on different sides of the accounting equation I line them up as well. It is a part of a better logical structure and assist in memorization of accounts).
40000 - Equity
50000 - Income
60000 - Operating Expenses
70000 - Administrative Expenses
80000 - Taxes/Interest/Extroadinary Income(Expense)

If you really want to spend time developing a chart of accounts you can try to best align closely related income and expenses. Keeping in mind that if payroll expense for plant workers is 60100 that 70100 should be salary expense for sales and administrative employees.

Now to specifically address some of the considerations above. Will start with business type. This is important for obvious reasons. Business revolving around service are obviously going to differ from those revolving around products and retail. For example a manufacturing has to keep track of inventory traveling from cost center as it develops from raw materials and purchased parts to WIP (works in process) to a Finished Good. While a retailer may only need to keep track of inventory and a service potentially may not even need an inventory account.

The industry from within a company operates is also important to consider. This is predominantly due to GAAP you want to be sure to setup a chart of account that will allow the business to remain conducive to the industries standard accounting practices.

Other concerns include the needs of managers. For instance managers typically like a smooth trend of expenses. I personally, don't think this is highly important but you may have the need to setup up several accruals that operate from a budgeted number or you may want to setup a permanent accrual to eliminate the need to perform that operation monthly. It is really only necessary to true this account up at the end of the year if payment amounts are based on an estimate.

Inter-company transactions are also highly important especially when dealing with foreign businesses. The foreign factor involves minimizing tax liabilities while still managing cash. After all you don't want to get all your cash tied up in one country. This is all done through transfer pricing, which I am not yet qualified to address.

Finally, leave yourself some breathing room. Make sure you are always able to add necessary accounts in a logical manner. Business evolves you chart of accounts should evolve with the business. Well this should help with the development of your chart of accounts.

Check out the Discover card for personal and business use.

The Myth of Human Resources

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:09:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

I went to business school and became an account. Many of my friends wanted to go into human resources. They took a bunch of hippy idealistic business classics and some where along the line we've lost touch. The myth really started before college though. Even back then I would hear people say I want to go into human resources I want to help people.

Well that is not the goal of this department. While they do order themselves a lot of food, and take part in a lot of perques that nobody else in the company receives. That does not qualify as helping others, as a matter of fact that may even be reverse. At my company human resources gets upset if we walk through their department or use their copier. It has a big sign on it that says for HR only. They don't however have any problem drinking the coffee my department makes. I've seen this at several companies.

The reason that the human resource department acts like a bunch of whiney brats is that they had some false premise about their jobs. They then use that as excuse to do what they want and everyone else hates them.

Human resources is a tough job. The decisions made by this department heavily influence peoples lively hoods. What insurance they receive, whether or not they keep their jobs and what programs might need to be cut to reduce costs. The job of the Human Resource department has little to do with planning the company picnic.

It also, has to deal with helping people when they don't want the help. Half the safety policy are really good but people always find a reason that they hinder their job and shouldn't be followed. Really it doesn't make sense, but if your in Human Resources your still going to be hated. Why do people resist changes that make them safer.

Even the job of a recruiter stinks. You have so many people seeking the same job and often time you'll hear situations that will make you want to hire someone unqualified for a job. So, you just avoid those peoples' phone calls or tell them no. The other part of the time managers are raining down on you because you can't even find qualified employees.

Next time you think about seeking a job in HR thinking about the need to decide whether or not the companies survival is more important than the jobs of 500 employees and their families. If your lucky the solution will be cutting out their health insurance. Don't fall for the HR myth decide to get educated in a field where you'll make more money. Once you make your money help people all you want.

Tax Professionals vs Tax Software

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:09:00 +0000

Well this isn't a major dilemma. Why would you choose to use a tax professional over tax software. Honestly, I can't see a reason that you should. You may even want to just do your taxes yourself. The directions are relatively straightforward, that is if you have the attention span to stick with them.

I personally do not do my own taxes and I am an account. I take my taxes to my aunt who uses TurboTax, and she does them for me. I pay her $30 bucks and I am on my way. I just hate doing taxes. I took two tax classes in college in they were the two most painfully excruciating classes I had to endure. As an accountant I have been ruined when it comes to those classes. It is like being asked to pet the dog who just bit me. Really, the only time you should consider a tax professional is if you earn quite a bit of money, and you have quite a few perks that come with your job. Yes those can be taxable.

For instance, if you are on the Runzheimer plan at your company. Typically, you would be a sales guy. Then if you don't drive a certain amount of miles per year you may have to claim a portion of the cost as taxable income. If you drive over a certain amount of miles namely 30,000 you have a tax asset had the end of the year. In laymen terms you get a deduction.

If you are like most people, and have basic circumstances stay at home purchase the software and just answer the basic questions you are asked. Make sure to answer them honestly, don't think of ways to answer questions that are advantageous. Tax software is also being created to handle more and more complex problems. It is amazing that they are still able to achieve the better results than many of the tax preparers out there. Remember many of the people at H&R Block are making $7.00 an hour. They are just running numbers through a program.

At the end of the day tax software is being used either way. You can run it for your business or do your individual return. Again, unless you have a complicated corporate structure or partnership you don't need a professional. If you are filing a personal return you should be good, possibly even if you are on the Runzheimer. I've never had to deal with this type of situation. Hopefully, throughout my career I can stay away from taxes as much as possible.

These are two tax software options I recommend:

Hit up each site review the features and figure out which software you prefer. Both software really lay out the information in a user friendly way. Besides you do you taxes in your underwear and don't take the shit from some hourly so called tax professional. If you don't need a CPA you can take care of your taxes using these options. In college I used TurboTax to file a return for a corporation including AMT and for a two different types of partnerships. I got an 80% on the partnership returns and a 97% on the corporate return. I kind of did the return for the partnership the day I had class. Fortunately, it was a night class.

Diet Without the Cost

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:42:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

I have lost thirty-five pounds in a little over a month. It wasn't easy, but I changed my eating habits. I am a young male who at a recent health screening was told that I was abnormally unhealthy for my age. I was 6'3" and weighed 245 lbs. I didn't think that was that bad, I wanted to lose some weight but most friends told me I shouldn't worry. Then came the dread day of the health screening. I was told I had really high cholesterol, and I was prompted to change my lifestyle.

I began by reading Harvey Diamond's book Fit For Life (new it cost less than $10), which I got from some of my super fit friends. Well I also decided, after some research on the Internet, that cholesterol comes from animals and decided I wouldn't eat them anymore. I basically, became a vegetarian with the exception of fish. I have already successfully lowered my cholesterol and I am 20 pounds away from achieving my goal of 185 pounds. Well I have been successful, so you should ask yourself, "Well what did he do?"

I am going to answer that for free. I basically, followed the Fit for Life principles. The way in which eat foods is very important. Foods should be eaten raw as often as possible and they should be combined with other non-conflicting foods.

The idea behind eating food raw is that any man induced change is considered processing. This alters they make up of food, and it becomes less usable to the body. The body in turn spends time coping with things that shouldn't be in you and begins to store fat to handle the extra work load. For instance, once vegetables are cooked above 120 degrees enzymes become misshapen and the body can no longer combine with them. Enzymes are like puzzle pieces so if they are not the right fit they can't be used. This doesn't mean don't eat bread and other foods you might enjoy like bread.

Another, little tidbit related to eating raw can come through reasoning. The world is over 70% water, your body is made up of over 70% water so wouldn't it go to reason that your meals should consist of high water content foods like fruits and vegetables. For instance, if you decide to eat a 6 ounce steak wouldn't it be wise to eat that with a large salad.

The next major principle is food combining. This principle is a result of they way your body digests food, the amount of time it takes to digest food, and the natural daily cycle of the body.

The digestion of food is important because this gives us a guide of what foods don't belong in the stomach at the same time. This one is really easy don't mix starches (aka carbohydrates) with proteins. Simply, because starches need alkaline in order for digestion and proteins are digested when the stomach emits acid. If the two are mixed they neutralize each other and it delays the digestion process. Basically, causing the body to be inefficient and inefficiency results in fat storage. Plant products become starches when they are cooked. So, don't eat a hamburger patty in the same sitting as a hamburger bun.

Things get a little bit more complicated here. I will start with the time breakdown of all meals. Fruit is in the stomach thirty minutes, vegetables an hour, starches three hours, proteins four hours and improperly combined meals are in your stomach eight hours. The problem is that when certain foods are in your stomach too long they spoil and create a toxic environment for your body, which results in fat.

To keep this simple don't eat fruit within the time frame that foods are still in your stomach. Fruit is the most likely to spoil and create problems. So don't eat fruit for an hour after vegetables or eight hours if you've combined a meal improperly. Eat fruit by itself. Vegetables and neutral foods that are naturally starches and proteins (examples are beans and soy) can be eaten with either are starch or protein meal.

This principle is not entirely set in stone tomatoes and avocados are two fruits that can be eaten with starches and vegetables. Bananas should be eaten separately from all other fruits, but failure to do so isn't that damaging. It is one of the key principles.

Now we turn to the natural cycle of the body. The body rotates three digestion functions that adjust to your sleeping habits. They are digestion, absorption and expulsion. For a normal person digestion begins at about noon, then absorption after eight at night and expulsion after you wake up to noon. If your not awake during the expulsion process have fun cleaning your sheets. This means in the morning you should only eat fruit, and at night you should end up eating your heavy meals containing starch or protein. For lunch have a salad.

You'll notice that you'll be hungry if you eat according to this pattern. Simply, keep fruit and vegetables around and do a lot of snacking.

In addition, to these principles I avoid high fructose corn syrup, mono sodium glutamate and vinegar (Fit For Life idea) at all costs. I also, drink as much water as possible. I probably, average close to 100 ounces of water a day. Harvey Diamond suggests distilled water, but I am personally not incredibly picky.

I suggest buying the book, using will power and adopting a mentor. At the time I watched Ultimate Fighter and chose Mac Danzig a Vegan as inspiration. He ended up beating a cattle or dairy farmer to take first place in the show. I might be a Vegan one day, I have serious concern for what would happen to animals without an economic use. If you can't succeed doing this give up and be happy with who you are. I do guarantee the result and increase in energy will make you a happier person, but don't let a weight problem make you depressed. Always focus on happiness.

Do a search for Fit For Life to buy the book now.

Finding Success in Business

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:32:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

A lot of people give advice about how to run a successful business. I tend to think of business from an accounting perspective. You need to have controls and know something about the financial picture of the company. Then again, there are a lot of morons out there that just seem to be lucky. They don't have any controls in place and(or) know anything about accounting.

A lot of people say that if you love what you are doing you will be a successful business owner. This is where we start to get on track a little. If you explore this further you'll find that there are a lot of people who are successful business owner that absolutely hate what they are doing.

The key is balanced obsession. Sometimes people aren't even obsessed about the business they are running. We've all heard of the crazy CEO who likes to base jump among other things. In the end of the day they run a successful business because that is what supports their obsession.

Obsession can bring out many traits key to business. For instance, organization. Organization is the foundation of some accounting and legal firms. Businesses seek out these entities due to their ability to keep track of every detail. At the same time that is their business. If manufacturing companies were to do this inefficiency occurs, and the business would eventually succumb to costs.

This is why balance becomes important. Balance is created by the management of obsession. Obsessing about lowering costs or anything else for that matter becomes a problem when it interferes with other parts of the business. Having balanced obsession is essential. You yourself should be obsessing about the essential elements to the business as they become relevant. If you lack the skills or drive needed assign someone else to the problem.

For instance, the morons I spoke of earlier typically have a well equipped accountants. They are obsessive about their clients and accounting. As long as you, an employee or an agency is obsessing about issues vital to your business you will be successful 50% of the time. Hey, if I could give some advice that ensured success I would be charging for this information.

Getting to the Interview

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:22:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

I am an accountant. What can we gather from this statement. Well I am not uniquely creative, expressive or artistic. Simply, from my writing style you can tell that I am bland. My job is literally to put numbers on a page to convey a meaning. I don't spend time formatting reports beyond standards set forth by accounting. The first step to getting an interview is your resume.

My logic is pretty simple analyze yourself. You know if you are able to write a good resume. Now, analyze the people reviewing your resume. They are the HR department who I loathe. Their just a pack of freaking hippies. In many companies the resume hits their desk first and then they relay it to the accounting managers if they believe it has potential. They naturally don't analyze the resume the same way my pals in accounting would.

I figured this out, and had friends from school help me with my resume out of college. Later in job searches are turned to professionals. I've done this because my sole goal is to minimize the remaining amount of time at my current job. I have had jobs were I have just wanted out, and if find yourself without a job you really need to target the best opportunities.

There are some people who have skills to write great resumes, others don't have those skills. When getting an interview focus on your strengths and outsource you weaknesses. This is the best way to maximize your potential. You are your own business and you are the goods you are selling.

My personal strength is managing where I've applied and contacting companies. I put excel spreadsheets together that tell me where I've applied and when I should follow up. Even if I have sent a thank you letter if I did manage to plant a successful resume.

Everything works together when searching for a job but the core of your job search is your resume. If writing and designing a resume isn't your strength outsource the process. There are plenty of places, and it is inexpensive in relation to the amount of time spent sending out resumes without receiving responses.

Subprime Lending Placing the Blame

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:09:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

A lot of CEO's, CFO's and whole companies have been blamed for being a part of the sub prime lending problem. People have had their homes foreclosed upon by banks and the market has suffered as whole. The real culprit of the sub prime problem has skated by un-blamed and has not suffered any consequences. Who should be sharing in the suffering? Well it should be the two bond rating companies Moody and Fitch. They pass judgement on the quality of bonds and they gave the bundled sub prime mortgages a much higher rating than they deserved.

This in turn caused pressure to be placed on investing groups to seek the higher returns being offered by bonds that were perceived to have a lower level of risk due to Moody's and Fitch. The criteria for making decisions was flawed and so became the market. Mortgage lenders kept writing sub prime loans, because they were seen as good investments by funds and financial investors like CitiGroup.

The good ratings given by Moody's and Fitch sent a signal to sub prime lenders that the fraudulent activity of writing and packaging mortgages to undeserving lenders was acceptable. Moody's and Fitch provided the environment to make this possible. This does not mean that banks did not consciously ignore sound lending practices in making decisions. It does not take a lot of skill to see whether someone will be able to barely make the mortgage payment. If they are working overtime and decide to stop it is easy to tell they won't be able to make they payment. It is easy to tell that given the conditions of the loan are based as an ARM when the interest goes up and the payment becomes three-hundred or more per month that the borrower is not going to be able to make the payment.

At the end of the day everyone could have used better judgement. Moody and Fitch put into place ratings that disguised this practice. They covered up the problem and the ratings caused investor to gravitate toward a problem. They set the trap and now we're caught.

Debits Credits and The Accouting Equation

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:01:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

Why is accounting so powerful? It is because it is all based off of one simple accounting equation:

Assets-Liabilities-Stockholder's Equity = 0

Assets = Liabilities + Stockholder's Equity

Stockholder's Equity = Assets - Liabilities

Liabilities = Asset - Stockholder's Equity

Yes, all of these are one simple equation. Just a bunch of different variations, to say the same thing. Always in balance, always able to provide information. The accounting equation is able to provide tons of information. By breaking this equation out furhter accountants, financial analysts and banks come up with more complex ways to evaluate a company. For instance assets can be broken into current assets and long term assets. By doing this the greater the ability to to evaluate key financial measure like liquidity. Liquidity ratios answer a simple question, "Does X Company have enough money to pay the bills?" A simple and vital question to answer.

Now that you understand the power of the equation let's discuss debits and credits. To understand debits and credits focus on the equation when it is stated:

Assets - Liabilities - Stockholder's Equity = 0

Debit and credits ensure that the equation is always in balance. Most people think of a debit and credit as a positive or a negative a left or right. Before you know it your lefts and rights are all mixed up and you find yourself in a tangled mess. They are just two opposites that offset each other when on the same side of the equation. Debit and credit most always equal each other. This creates a balance of the equation. They allow the parts of the equation to change but the reult to be the same, zero.

Zero serves the function of a check figure. A credit always offset a debit creating no net affect. That is it. The numbers change but the balance remains. This dicatomy is how we keep track of the changes occuring in our busness's financial picture. This whole process is referred to as dual entry accounting.

People generally get confused over a little accounting trick. Basically, it is how we develop an income statement. All accounting information is used to effect the balance sheet. The income statement is created by seperating a portion of the entries into an income and expense accounts. Since, the offsettig side to these accounts ussually have an effect on an asset or liability. The culmination of these income sources and expenses are collected in retained earning at the end of the accounting period. The whole time being offset by assets and liabilities. The net effect of all the entries made to expense and income accounts relates to the amount put into retained earnings, which is in balance with assets and liablities.

This allows for balance and difference to co-exist. Obviously, you want to be able to tell what you've earned so take expenses from income and that positive number (hopefully) leftover is your profit. The difference. In the end of the day the credit to income eventaully turns into a credit to retained earnings increasing what the owner's portion of the balance sheet.

Bring accounting down to the level of simple concepts. Accounting is the documentation of a transaction that is it, don't overcomplicate the process.

Accounting as Simple as it Gets

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:00:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

Many people look at accounting and say, "Accounting doesn't make a lot of sense." Well I hate to be bold but there is no better way to say, "Hey I'm a moron, I shouldn't be running a business." Accounting is the story of your business and you should know not only how to read that story but how to tell the story. There are a lot of complex accounting issues, they can be a nightmare. The chances are that you will never deal with them. Don't worry about the complex stuff, focus on the larger axpec of accounting. You should be able to understand ninety-nine percent of all accounting issues with just a basic understanding of the principles and constraints.

Accounting is an ongoing story, the financial statements are a snapshot in time of the continuous action taking place. To understand and develop this story you only need a basic understanding of the fundamental and constraints of accounting. The fundamentals of accounting are based on Relevancy, Reliability, Comparability, and Consistency. To test the relevancy principle just make sure that the information can be used by outside users to analyze your business. Reliable information is unbiased and not a crock of b.s. you cooked up. This can be done by getting a third party account who is unbiased to you business to actually make or confirm entries to the accounting system. If you report in a comparable manner you report in a way that is typical of other businesses in your industry. This is to ensure nobody is comparing your apple company to someone elses orange company. I always get confused when I compare apples to oranges. Consistency involves simply staying in line with the current accounting practices. You can't just simply switch accounting methods mid-stream (without fixing historical information) to make numbers look better. Your accounting should follow the same logic/method over time.

When developing accounting information there are two important constraints to keep in mind conservatism and materiality. Conservatism is simply saying hey I can represent a loss here buy reporting this way or a gain if I report another way; I am gong to choose to take a loss. This can change with tax reporting. There conservatism is reporting the gain. The government likes that money and they don't get to tax you on losses. That is what AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) is all about.

By now you may be asking yourself what this accrual garbage is about. Well if you just bought inventory, prepaid rent or you owe your employees a bonus at the end of the year how do you want to represent that. You want a way of keeping track of your inventory, how long you have the rights to a building and what those cost over time, or you should want to know why you are going to owe your employees so you can anticipate what you'll need to pay. Well this is where accruals come in handy.

With cash accounting you would have expenses upon purchase of goods. With accrual accounting you say I've got a benefit/asset here I want to represent this benefit to outside users. You do this by reporting it as an asset and expense the cost of inventory when the product is sold (Cost of Goods Sold). This helps you tell the story of a business by telling all the parts not just bits and pieces at a time when cash transactions are made. The same thing goes on with prepaid rent. When the account reaches zero and you have nothing to expense and you know you better pay that rent next month.

Now, for accruing liabilities. Well you tell your employees that you are going to pay them a bonus based on performance at the end of the year. Hopefully, you plan on paying this bonus, because you don't want to face the dreaded everybody quits on you at once type of turnover. STRIKE!!!! Well if you are keeping track of your companies performance you can keep track of what you owe them each month and record the liability and expense.

Basically, you promised employees 1% of net income at the end of the year. Simply, multiply 1% times your profit(loss) and make the appropriate entry. Tie your expense and liability to the month in which the profit was realized. Doing this will give you a better idea of the cash outlay you'll need to make at the end of year. Accounting is full of good ideas and methods to keep track of what is occurring in your business.

At the end of the day tell a full story of what is going on in your company, through accrual accounting. Don't embellish the story, keep a conservative outlook. Don't change your logic without letting everybody know through restatement of prior year financials. Put out information that doesn't waste the time of internal or external users. Last but not least don't be an accounting moron by excepting that you just don't understand.

If you want a chance to put some of your new found genius to work go to Nascent Commerce and start a business today. If your real read my article about Nascent Commerce at Published Articles.

Can Oranges Get You Play

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:14:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

I lead a vegetarian lifestyle with the exception of the holidays. Just so nobody can call me a liar I do have fish twice a week, I need to get that cholesterol somehow my HDL was/is below 40, and that is not good. Other, than that I stick to salad, fruit, soy and what not. I a going to use these facts to qualify myself as an expert orange consumer, I eat them all the time. I eat oranges like the world eats rice, it's crazy. I find that eating this way provides a very clean body. It is a bit disgusting but when I fart there is no need to roll down the windows. Unless, you mind a citrus odor.

I eat fruit every morning for breakfast, which is about four or five snacks before lunch. I'll typically start with melon and about forty minutes later I move on to other fruits. Since, I typically focus on one fruit at a time I have noticed a strange phenomenon when I bring out the oranges. Woman literally flock by my corner office and I usually get comments on how good they smell.

Don't try to take too much from this article, I only have a hypothesis related to oranges and sexual attraction, "When a man eats oranges women want to get randy with the orange eating stud." From my experience women tend to gravitate toward me when I am in the act of eating oranges the most. Even when I have not eaten an orange women are still drawn to me and sometimes even mention the smelling citrus.

It is not the ingestion of oranges that give this appeal necessarily. I really think that it is the act of pealing an orange that causes the attraction to occur. When pealing an orange you get the scent on your fingers and then a mist comes up from the peal. Once you are covered by the mist it stays with you, kind of like nature's little bottle of perfume. Orange peels are actually used to make many perfumes and even house held cleaners due to their pleasant smell. Orange peals are also used to absorb odor and at the same time the citrus odor permeates the area. At the end of the day why can't oranges be used as a sort of aphrodisiaque.

Here is a great place to go if you aim is to be healthy.

Business the Communication Breakdown

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:33:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

My girlfriend's work recently hosted a Christmas party. During the festivities everyone was asked to stand up and introduce themselves and explain what they do for the company. It turned out that most people could not adequately describe what they do or even give a job title. I was struck by the fact that the only people who had a clear idea of what to do everyday were the warehouse men.

The only other two people that could give an adequate description were the accounts payable and accounts receivable clerks and even they said, " I take care of Accounts Payable and some other stuff." I was amazed, then I realized that the same type of communication breakdown occurred at my job only within each department. Communication can be a considerable problem in any company despite the size.

There are tons of tools to address communication barriers. You can implement instant messaging, e-mail and voice note systems, holding daily weekly & monthly meetings, develop a mail room, and so on. The key question is how do you know which tool best suits a communication problem? To answer this managers first need to recognize the communication problem, and then address the issues the problem is causing.

The recognition of a communication problem isn't rocket science. Typically, almost every employee knows about the communication problem. The difficulty is admitting that a problem exists and then taking committed action to get the problem fixed. The best way to discover a problem is to simply discuss job functions. Then put a questionnaire together with question like, is this person overstretched, are managers effectively communicating tasks to subordinates, do employees have a defined purpose and goal when they come to work. Review the questionnaires and have a meeting to discuss the results and possible solutions. Then make a commitment to corrective actions, and implement the solutions immediately. Managers must then follow up on the changes and take ownership to open constructive lines of communication.

Address the issue that communication gaps are causing. I will cover four major inefficiencies caused by communication breakdowns. They are gaps between responsibilities, redundancy of tasks, loss of information and infighting.

Gaps between responsibilities often originate from turnover. Unfortunately, turnover results for more responsibilities for current workers, which can in turn result in more turnover. This can become a vicious cycle. If turnover is resulting rapidly take steps to reward employees and more importantly assure them of their importance. Do not lose sight of your team and fail to communicate with them. To eliminate the problem of communication gaps cross train employees. That way at least one other employee knows the job of another, and the value of information they can receive from their peers. Also, implement a training trainer system. Where an employee becomes trained and then trains another employee even if it is a supervisor. This solidifies job duties and creates awareness across positions.

Another problem created by poor communication is redundancy of tasks. This is basically when two employees are creating the same output but are often distributing it to different parties. The suggestions for closing gaps apply here as well, but a better control is to sustain an information flow chart. Then analyze the flowchart using bins to see where information is flowing, where it is going, and classify information based on use using specific criteria. The main idea is to keep everything organized. This is kind of similar to a computer defragmenting the hard drive. Condensing a moving information flow in a way that best optimizes the system.

Loss of information is another problem. This is through loose controls and the solution amounts almost solely to organization. This simply amounts to a lecture about being organized, so we can move on. The other reason is turnover, which we have already discussed.

I saved the humor for last. For some reason people really grow attached to their information. Today the inf oration people create is their job. They have often developed the process and method for communicating the information, and they don't want anybody to drop their data I mean baby. I often see trainers over emphasize a process in order to ensure this integrity. This often bogs down the information and delays the communication process. The best way to handle this is to develop checkpoints to verify communication is accurate and expedient. Focus should be placed on verifying checkpoints, and that way unnecessary precautions will be avoided. It will also keep everybody on good terms. No arguments will be created by the transfer of communication.

Well communication is a vital part of every company. Monitoring it can result in lower costs, better cooperation and greater efficiency. Communication is the information flow that is the life-line of business.

An E-Commerce Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:18:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

Very seldom do you find great opportunities to make money on the web. Someone is always asking for your credit card number at a minimum. At the Nascent Commerce Website you can find this opporunity. No credit card required, just a simple e-mail and you have immediate access to your on-line store.

The great thing about Nascent Commerce is that you have access to more than just an online shopping cart. This is a full on-line store. You have the ability to provide your merchant account infromation, you'll have features that easily support dropshippers, and the ability to make changes to your store look immediately. You put in a product refresh you page and bam your done. The product as well as any other change you've made to improve your store are there without any interference to current shoppers. You can follow this path to see the complete list of Nascent Commerce features.

I have taken advantage of the Nascent Commerce's free one month trial offer. It took me about that time to get my store to where I wanted it to be and by using the features offered by Nascent Commerce in conjunction with I managed to make a few sales. I would be lying if I said I didn't work diligently for a month, but then again I am somewhat of a perfectionist. If you would like take a look at my PoochLove to view my store supported by Nascent Commerce. I am looking currently building a second store to support some drop shipping products, my suppliers for PoochLove are proving to be unreliable.

There are several strategies to employ when buidling your store to take full advantage of the one month trial offer. First find decide on a business formation. I setup a C corporation, but you may have different ideas for you future. Next find a merchant account provider and then sign up for a drop shipper. A lot of dropshippers offer free trials as well. Make the most out of this by setting up and cancelling your first account before recurring charges begin. Scower the site for products and a niche you would like to promote, and then setup a new account shortly after you have started your store with Nascent Commerce. Then simply work quickly. You should also have your AdWords campaign ready to implement in conjunction with the full launch of your store.

I have been able to make the most out of this great opporunity. Send me an e-mail at sean@trulyfreeebooks.com and sign up for my newletter at my Truly Free E-Books site. I had to get some plugs in somehow I am not a member of any affiliate program Nascent Commerce has in place. It is just a great product that has really helped me. There really isn't anyway to realize it's power until you are fully involved. When your one month trial offer ends be sure to mention this article when you subscribe.

Protect Your Income From Globalization

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:48:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

Economic globalization is occurring rapidly. Countries in Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa are undergoing rapid economic development. Growth in these geographic regions is expected. Why wouldn't companies seek out the lowest cost centers? Low cost centers exist just hours away from countries like Germany in places like The Czech Republic and Estonia. Why pay ten Euros and hour in Germany when you can pay two right down the road? These companies are even growing with the charitable help of the "West". If you want you can get online and make an interest free loan to somebody who will be replacing your job in the next five years.

Globalization can be seen everywhere. Even in traditionally well protected service sector jobs like IT and Accounting. I would maintain the IT jobs have already slipped into the clutches of India and the Philippines.

What does this mean?

The service sector jobs are going to become increasingly less skilled, and the skilled service sector jobs will become outsourced. College diploma's will start looking bleaker all the time. Hanging on the wall they will only represent a Note Payable from student loans, not the promise of a prosperous job. The reason is that technology and globalization are breaking down educational, cultural, social, political and economic barriers that have stood for years. The problem is not that the barriers are being torn down, this was inevitable. The problem is the rate with which it is happening. The people of already prosperous countries will not have time to make the adjustment.

Fifteen years ago people didn't have Indian IT personnel, fresh coffee beans from South America, and handcrafted masks from Africa. Now people even have entire rooms dedicated to an Asian or European theme. It is great to have this type of diversity in the home, but this diversity has saturated our culture in a short fifteen years. Imagine the effect when this shift of goods becomes a shift of wealth. The top tier in the world will suddenly be asked to live a more conservative lifestyle. The result will be instability in economic markets, and shifts of power.

In a rapidly evolving and globalizing world it is important for nations to have a population that is rapidly adapting. The super power nation of today will fall by the wayside if their people cannot adapt to these changes. It sounds dramatic, but it is not naive to expect nations in similar standing as the United States to see an overthrow of government. Failure and prosperity are both on the horizon for every country despite it's current economic standing.

Currently the U.S. stands to lose the most. This can be seen in the weakening dollar (Canada's dollar is now more valuable than the U.S. dollar), the export of white collar jobs, the growth of low paying service sector jobs and in many other aspects of American life.

The future survivors will have either moved to other countries to exploit the difference in the standard of living and maintain a job or will use the internet to protect themselves from the sliding prosperity currently held. The internet is the one median than transcends borders and culture seamlessly. Prosperity here can be achieved everywhere. Those who master the internet master the global economy and won't have to worry about relocating from country to country. They will use a global tool not a global location to determine success. Keep the enemy close and embrace technology. Embrace the Internet.

Click on the following link for for more information about globalization and to avoid missing out on the dwindling opportunity to make the most out of a globalizing world.

Business to Business - Acquisitions the Four Deadly Traps

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:34:00 +0000

By Sean Anderson

Acquisitions are meant to bring out the strengths of companies in similar fields or to build value in the supply chain. Why do they so often fail to achieve this goal? Often time these failures occur due to business culture, overly conflicting attitudes, solution management and failure to take advantage of core competencies. All of these are intertwined in some way or another but they are the principle failures and death traps for companies that have acquired their competitor, supplier or distributor.

The core attitude of almost every acquiring company is "We have been doing specific tasks or following specific business strategies forever we acquired your company and you are going to have to make the changes we want". The logic here doesn't show that these are the changes most beneficial to both companies. What occurs here is that the acquiring company's business culture overpowers the acquired company's culture and key resources are lost. The attitudes that lead to cooperation are not being developed.

Business evolves especially when an acquisition has been made. The appropriate adaptations must be made by both companies in order for the new relationship to work. Often times employees hear speeches about these very topics but no one takes ownership of making sure the proper adaptations are made. Have the CEO make the speech and immediately follow the speech with ten noticeable changes. Software systems are a great place to start, they probably needed updating anyway. Then managers need to drive the transformation to the team. By constantly encouraging new ideas and cooperation. This brings out the best in both companies. Especially, considering that a lot of employees are worried about their job security and often rightfully so. This successfully prevents the bully effect and takes peoples mind of the uncertainty of the new environment.

The next demotivator once an acquisition has occurred is conflicting attitudes. This is most noticeable when one company acquires a former competitor. For some reason people try to secure antiquated modes of performing their job and resist change with every fiber in their body. Again, for job security. For instance, one company was still stuffing payroll and A/P checks by hand into envelops. The other automated the process with a machine that printed out laser checks and stuffed it directly into an envelop. The hand stuffing took a day and a half. The automated process took about thirty minutes. Depending on the employees level of skill decide whether or not the position can be eliminated. In the case of the checks it is obvious the attitude can be eliminated by terminating the obstinate employee.

Then what if the problem is with the reporting package. The people putting this together all have high level skill sets. The problem often exists with the reporting package. For instance, an acquisition company had a reporting package that clearly could not handle the intercompany consolidations but still forced the use of the package because that was the standard package being used for smaller businesses. The manual processes of the reporting package were unmanageable and this caused high turnover. The sad part is that tthe reporting package could have been significantly automated with a new system. But now due to the turnover processes have been lost and fires began sprouting up everywhere. The reason being that the upper-management of the acquistion company tried to force a solution simply so they could veiw the exact same reporting package from every company. They took the attitude that their needs were more important than addressing the stress of their reporting companies that wer being caused by their requests. Note that this also caused accounting systems to fail and for the reported information to be less and less reliable. Address conflict carefully by eliminating the appropriate source.

The key to recognizing areas where conflict is not necessary is to simply step back and ask are both sides presenting a view that makes sense. Too often, do managers get caught up with resolving employees worries that the don't pay attention to the substance behind the conflict between the dueling parties or goals.

The third problem is solution management. Prioritizing problems is a must. Sometimes quick solutions must be implemented, but this tactic should be the exception not the rule. If companies don't address the core problems first the problem arises again and again. Problems should be addressed from the source. All to often some one notics a mistake correcs the mistake and moves on without questioning what caused the mistake. Focus on fixing the front end and then smoothing out the errors at the backend. Far too often newly merged companies create a muddled mess by addressing the error and not the problem. A cycle of repetitions is created when the error is solved with only a patch. Even if something has to fall by the wayside address the problem from the source to the result. To put it simply don't sweep the floor before you've cleaned the counter.

Finally, analyze the core competencies of each business and take a look at how the core competencies of one business can be integrated with the other. If acquisitions are viewed a problem by either company the weaknesses will be shared and vice versa if the acquisition is seen as a solution. If the core competencies of each company are succesfully integrated a strong unified front appears in the market. If in-fighting occurs the weakness will spread like a virus and a cure will be hard sought.

For acquisitions to be successful implement an attitude receptive of change, resolve counterproductive conflict, address problems from the core and take full advantage of core competencies. Avoid the four death traps that doom acquistions and the business relationship will thrive.

Please, follow the provided link to see how you can protectthe digital assets you company needs to survive

Refinancing Through Foreclosure

noreply@blogger.com (George Burke) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:19:00 +0000

By Sean C Anderson

Times have been tough. A lot of people are losing their homes to foreclosure. You can be eaten by the wolves or join the pack. Creative people often find opportunity in despair. Right now you probably have a job, decent credit score, and some equity built up in your home. My suggestion would be to sell your home and take a loss if necessary and to turn that loss into a gain by buying a foreclosed home.

Anyone can see that they can take a 20% hit if they can buy a home of similar value at 50% of market value. It takes a lot of research but if your home is foreclosed on you'll find yourself in the same bind with less room to maneuver. Besides with planning you don't have to take a loss. This all depends upon the immediacy with

Eliminate some of the risk by doing research. Often you can find foreclosed homes on the internet. If you have a couple weeks vacation spend it house hunting, and following up on leads. You can often find a house in the area you live that will still afford you the same standard of living and allow your children to go to the same schools. Get an idea of the places you can go to find foreclosed homes and familiarize yourself with the process of purchasing these homes. While your doing this put your house up on the market and set a high price. Right now you don't have to be in a hurry to sell and you can ask for a better price. If someone buys your house and you can earn some money great. Take the family to your parents for a little bit, find a short-term apartment or stay in a hotel if needed. It shouldn't take you long to find a new house if you have been aggresively seeking deal, as a matter of fact you should try to have a few home targeted for purchase.

If you have familiarized yourself with foreclosure properties you should be able to find a home fast. More often than not you will be able to find a better deal, have lower mortgage payments and increase your equity in the new property all by simply staying ahead of the game. Be careful though, remember it is always possible to lose money. Get the home inspected, follow through with escrow and get insurance. There is nothing worse than losing money through repairs, a faulty title or causes you could have taken precautions against.

Even if you are not a real estate investor you should be able to devote the time to better secure your families future and your financial standing. Inaction leaves you in a risky situation, taking action allows you to control the risk. By dedicating yourself to the process of change, becoming educated and taking action you can build wealth even in desperate times. Always buy foreclosed the best refinancing is a great home purchase.

Find foreclosures by following the provided link Refinancing Foreclosure