Business Prepaid Card Blog

PEX Card Launches New Video

2012-03-26T05:56:00.000-04:00

Today we launched a new video demonstrating the power of the PEX Card service. This new video is less about demonstrating the how-to of functional use and spends more time discussing the benefits of the service.

We hope you see as much value in it that we do and if there is any feedback you'd like to provide, we welcome it.

To view or share the video or view on YouTube, use this link: http://youtu.be/2nIirGC3js8

Thanks!

Better Business Travel Accounting

2011-05-20T16:11:00.000-04:00

When employees travel frequently for business, it is vital to have an accounting process for travel expenses in place. How long after the trip will expense reports be due and how will they be filed? What information will be required and what are acceptable ranges for travel expenses? This will let employees know what is expected and keep the business running smoothly.

In addition, travel is often one of the largest categories of business expense and, unfortunately, can be a target for fraud. Even minor travel expense fraud can add up over time. By having a process in place, you will not only be able to quickly manage expense reports, but set up a system for locating and looking into red flags that may point to fraud.

For more information about what kinds of red flags to look for and the most frequent fraud schemes, this article on fraud examination has a great overview.

Best Practices for Your Construction Business Budget

2011-04-06T13:15:00.000-04:00

When tax time comes around again, do you have a good handle on what that income number should be? If you are like many people in the construction industry, you may be taken by surprise by that number, often because it’s lower than you expected, especially when you take all the business expenses into account. In order to have a better idea of how your business is doing, the answer may be paying closer attention to your budget.

You are detail-oriented about your construction projects and you may need to be just as focused on your finances. What has your money intake historically been and what are the market factors that can help you estimate future income? Is your income steady or do you have particularly busy times of year? Then, take a close look at your expenditures. Start with the ones that are fixed at the same amount each month. After that, look at all the costs that vary month to month and use past bills to get an average. Include expenses that will help your business grow, like advertising, as well as upkeep costs, like fixing broken equipment or buying new. Put this all in a spreadsheet and, most importantly, go back monthly or quarterly to compare actual numbers against your budget, adjusting your budgeted numbers as needed.

Once you are using a detailed budget, you can assess your business and make informed decisions moving forward. For instance, you may realize that to cover costs and still bring in the net amount you’d like, you need to raise your rates. Or, you can find places where costs can be trimmed so that you can build an emergency fund for unplanned business expenses. However you use the information, having an accurate budget in place will help you manage your construction business.

Should You Offer Financing?

2011-04-01T07:06:00.001-04:00

For cash flow reasons, a small business usually wants to take advantage of financing options for large purchases, but would like every bill from customers to be paid in full and on time. However, sometimes it can make sense to offer financing to customers who may not have the cash to pay all upfront, but can pay little by little. This can be a great way to increase your customer base and customer loyalty. Here are some things to consider when debating offering financing:

Agencies are available to help you and make it easy to offer financing. However, consider carefully as these services may be costly and can delay when funds paid by customers make it into your hands.

You may be able to work with a bank to offer financing. You may want to look for a local bank since large chains can be less willing to work with small businesses.

It can be a great way to grow your customer base, but once you advertise that financing is available, it might be difficult to go back to not offering a financing option in the future.

Offering financing can involve taking on more work and risk, as well as change your cash flow a bit. However, if this is something that will help your services or products be more attractive in the market place and enable customers to buy from you, this could be just what your business needs to grow more quickly. Whether or not you should offer financing will depend on your small business, your industry, and your customers.

Beware of Higher Fees at the ATM

2011-03-29T07:24:00.001-04:00

Using the ATM is a common way for small businesses to get cash for employees who may need to make purchases. However, this may soon get more expensive. As of last year, banks can’t make as much money on overdraft charges and are looking to make up this shortfall elsewhere. Chase is leading the way with a new $5 charge to non-customers using Chase ATMs. Event TD Bank will now charge non-customers $2 per transaction, whereas in the past it has been free. PNC used to refund fees incurred when customers used ATMs at other banks and recently announced this will no longer be the case. If you have a branch of your bank conveniently around the corner, this might not have that big of an impact, but these per-transaction fees can add up quickly if you're ever in a situation where the ATM you’re using doesn’t belong to your bank. For this reason, employees traveling might be better off with a prepaid card instead of an ATM card that could rack up higher fees.

Save Money on Business Travel

2011-03-25T07:11:00.001-04:00

Many businesses try to cut back on the amount of business travel in order to save money, but there is some travel that is necessarily. When employees must travel, having policies and procedures in place can help keep travel costs down and let employees know what is expected. In particular, there are some easy steps to take that can help keep hotel costs low:

Choose hotels with free Internet – There are some hotels that charge a high daily rate for Internet access, while others include it in the price of the room. This should be a consideration since not all work can get done on the small screen of a smart phone.

Stay outside a city and use public transportation – It can definitely be cheaper to stay outside of a city, but that cost might not be worth it if traffic makes it difficult to get to a meeting or event on time, especially for an employee that might not know the area well. Hotels near public transportation can bring hotel costs down without sacrificing mobility.

Create a database of low cost hotels in frequented locations – Once you have found the inexpensive hotels with the features you need in areas employees travel to frequently, keep this information handy. It can be helpful to refer to this database when searching for low rates on online travel sites, so you know which options are worth booking.

Financing Disaster Relief to Support Workers on the Ground

2011-03-22T14:13:00.000-04:00

The nature of disaster relief means that volunteers and workers need to be able to respond with speed and flexibility to changing conditions in order to best help victims. People coming to help respond to a disaster need to be able to quickly buy airline tickets and book hotel rooms. And once there, the people on the ground will need to purchase food and supplies when banks might not be back up and running, making payment for these purchases a logistical challenge.

One way for relief organizations to quickly get these funds out to the teams is to use a prepaid debit card program like PEX Card. Money can be put on the cards in real time, anywhere in the world, getting purchasing power into the hands that need it. In addition, volunteers can be given new cards quickly and they can be deactivated when no longer needed.

Having a prepaid card system in place before heading into a disaster zone can be vital to hit the ground running. Prepaid cards are also very useful during post-disaster reconstruction efforts. This will be important, for instance, in earthquake and tsunami struck Japan for years to come, as the country recovers and rebuilds.

Deducting Entertainment Expenses

2011-03-17T07:45:00.000-04:00

We recently brought you information about tax deductions, but one place where deductions can be especially challenging is with entertainment expenses. Sometimes only half of an expense can be deducted and sometimes none. Sometimes a meal can only be deducted if work is discussed while sometimes a meal can be deducted even if business never comes up. If your business has entertainment expenses, these are rules that you should be aware of so that you collect the right information throughout the year and claim it correctly when filing taxes. This recent article from The Washington Post can help you keep it straight.

When in doubt, it is always a good idea to consult with an accountant. Then, take what you’ve learned into account when entertaining clients or customers in the next fiscal year. Good luck with your taxes!

Managing Nonprofit Expenses

2011-03-15T06:36:00.002-04:00

Whether you are a church, a charity, or another type of nonprofit, you need to manage your expenses. In addition, you are often under the scrutiny of those giving you funding, making the goal of keeping costs low even more vital.

Harness Volunteer Power: One of the largest expenses an organization has is staff. Whenever possible, consider reaching out for volunteers instead of full time employees. Perhaps a webmaster is willing to donate time to work on your website or maybe an accountant is willing to help with your finances. You don’t know if you don’t ask, so get the word out and create a team of volunteers.

Collect Multiple Forms of Donation: Another way to cut expenses is to accept donations other than cash. Again, you never know what may be available unless you ask. Perhaps someone has extra furniture to donate that would be perfect for your rec room or an older car that is still in good condition for getting to fund raising events.

Periodically Focus on Trimming the Budget: While your inclination might be to focus all your energy on growing membership, donations, or other funding sources, don’t neglect the budget. Go back to your budget throughout the year and compare it the actual dollars spent. Is your phone bill higher than expected? Maybe you could consider a VoIP service instead, so you have a flat monthly rate. Are you paying a lot in credit card fees? Perhaps it would make sense to work to pay off the debt and then move to a prepaid debit card instead to avoid racking up interest.

For more tips and information about managing nonprofit expenses, consider following the Not-For-Profit Accounting Blog.

Tax Deduction Ideas for Small Business Owners

2011-03-11T07:48:00.008-05:00

We published a post last week with some general tax tips - one of them being, "know your deductions." We thought we would dive into some tax deduction ideas in a bit more detail this week. Some of this may help you with your 2010 taxes and some ideas may be helpful for planning ahead for 2011 taxes.

For small business owners, tax time can be especially tricky. You probably have income that came from many different sources and have multiple business deductions, making the process a bit more complicated than it is the average tax payer. It is imperative to have an understanding of tax code and deductions, even if you have your taxes done by an accountant, because you need to be planning ahead and keeping relevant information throughout the year.

One of the largest deductions available to small business owners who work out of their home is the home office itself. People used to think that taking a home office deduction raises an audit flag, but that isn’t necessarily the case. If you have an area of your house that you use exclusively for work, go ahead and claim it. Just remember to keep things like utility bills so that you can calculate how much to deduct.

Other deductions that can help you out include transportation and meals. If business is discussed at a meal or if purchasing a meal out was necessary due to overnight business travel then it is usually deductible. It can be helpful to write on the receipt why it was business-related so you don't forget when tax time rolls around. For transportation, this deduction will involve either how much you paid for gas for business purposes during the year or how many miles were driven for business needs.

Also, remember that if you have any certifications or licenses you or members of your team need for the job, that expense is also deductible. Of course, equipment and supplies needed for business can also be deducted. Just be sure to have a receipt on file for any expense over $75 and keep those receipts for seven years.

When in doubt, using a professional tax preparer can be a good investment to make sure everything is reported correctly and you won't have a problem if you're ever audited. They also often find additional deductions that you may have missed.

Assess Your Business' Financial Health

2011-03-08T06:59:00.002-05:00

If you are trying to stay healthy, you can do a lot by eating well and getting exercise, but in order to prevent potential problems it is always a good idea to consult a doctor for a periodic check-up. Likewise, your business can stay healthy financially by maintaining a good cash flow and using best business practices. Financial problems can be averted by assessing your business’ financial health on a periodic basis.

Here are some suggestions:

Regularly monitor your market share as well as your competitors' to see if you're well positioned for growth and to determine whether you are gaining or loosing ground. In order to calculate this, you'll divide your sales by the total sales in your industry in the relevant market. Your sales volume is of course easy to locate, but total industry sales might take a bit more research. If you are a local company, you're probably looking at just the industry sales in your area, so consider asking your local chamber of commerce. If you are competing on a broader regional or national basis, industry level data may be available through trade associations or publications.

Look closely at your products and services as well as the evolving needs of your customers to ensure that you are targeting the right audience with something they will buy. To whom are you trying to sell? What are their characteristics and needs today? Are these individuals actually making the purchases or are others doing so on their behalf? Ask valued customers and decision makers in your target demographic for feedback on new and existing products/services to get a feel of what might be a successful addition to your offering and what you should discontinue.

Evaluate your expenses. Is the price of supplies trending higher? Would it make sense to consider a less expensive location? See where you might be able to cut down on your costs without a major impact on the business. Also stay on top of your competitors' prices. If you can't bring costs down, you may have room to set prices a bit higher.

By taking some time to step back and look at the overall state of your business, you can make sure it is continually moving in the right direction, and if it isn’t, you can course correct.

Small Business Tax Tips

2011-03-04T06:57:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Your end-of-year financial information should be compiled and soon the deadline to file taxes will be here. Are you ready? If not, here are some tips to help you navigate this year's tax season:

Get Help – Taxes are getting more and more complicated every year. Even if you are able to navigate the tax laws to file yourself, it may be worth hiring a professional. With personal and business taxes to file, it's easy to miss deductions that could save you a lot. And if you are audited, your accountant can help.

Use Losses – If your company is like many others, 2010 was a better year than 2009 but still not back to business as usual. However, there is a silver lining. Posting a loss can save you tax money today and you may be able to carry some of it forward to shield next year's income.

Know Your Deductions – If you don't know what to look for, a lot of deductions can be easy to miss. Some, like the home office deduction, are well known. But others, like the new ability for the self-employed to deduct health insurance premiums when calculating self-employment tax is new for 2010 and it could be money lost if you aren't aware of it.

Managing a Contracting or Other Skilled Trade Business

2011-03-01T06:49:00.000-05:00

One of the best ways to ensure the health of a skilled trade business is to have an effective marketing strategy. Starting at the most basic level, step back and ask yourself how you are getting the word out about your business to potential customers? Here are some things you can do:

Create a Business Card – You never know when you’ll meet someone who can help you. Carry them with you everywhere and give them out to existing customers and prospects.

Ask Customers to Spread the Word – Many people are willing to tell friends about you or post online. Make sure your customers know your website address and your phone and email.

Get on Google – Submit your company name to the Google local search so people can find you.

Offer Sales or Coupons – This can be great for finding new customers, who hopefully keep coming back. Offer incentives to your existing customers to refer other people they know.

Invest in Advertising – For a local company, direct mail or local newspaper ads can put your name in front of the right audience.

What Efficient Non-Profits Know

2011-02-24T07:35:00.001-05:00

For many non-profits, it is important to keep costs down in order to keep the most money possible going to your cause. This could make the difference between donors giving money to your organization or not.

One way to make your non-profit continue to run efficiently is to invest some time towards program evaluation reports. This process can not only help inform donors, but also help you keep track of what projects are most effective and how well your current work supports the organization's mission statement. It doesn't have to be a very in-depth report, as long as it gives you a good idea of the value your organization brings to the table and you can see, on an ongoing basis, where your time and dollars are best spent.

Reducing Fuel Consumption as Gas Prices Rise

2011-02-22T06:28:00.000-05:00

The price of gas at the pump has been steadily going back up. This can increase the cost of business considerably, and the options are often to absorb the cost or pass it on to customers and clients. When the price of fuel increases, the ability to consume fuel more efficiently becomes even more important to the bottom line. Little changes like keeping tires properly inflated, avoiding idling, and avoiding quick acceleration and braking can all add up to money saved. It may be worth having a seminar to remind your drivers of best gas-conserving practices.

Cutting Out Business Fees and Costs

2011-02-18T08:31:00.001-05:00

When looking into ways to cut costs, it is important to take a look plan ahead. All the little fees associated with working with vendors can become a noticeable and often unplanned addition to your budget. Here are some places where some planning now can save you money down the road:

Bundle Your Telecom

If you have a traditional land line for your office, you're probably paying too much. Fees for long distance calls and additional fees for features like voicemail can quickly add up. Consider bundling a VoIP phone option with your Internet service to save money and you'll only have to pay one bill instead of two, so you'll save some time, too.

Talk to a Lawyer

In this case, it may cost you some fees today but can save you a lot in the long run. By doing some basic things now, like registering your trademark, and setting up the proper company structure (e.g., LLC, Corporation, etc), fewer issues will come up later on and you can avoid the need for higher legal fees and potentially save on other costs such as taxes.

Avoid Credit Card Debt

A high credit card balance can cost you a lot. Interest adds up quickly, and it doesn't have to if you plan ahead. Consider getting a business loan so that you have money before you need it. And instead of a credit card, a prepaid card can keep your business running smoothly without racking up debt.

To Hire or Not to Hire

2011-02-15T08:27:00.000-05:00

The decision to hire a new employee can be a difficult one, especially in a slowly recovering economy. When business picks up and you're too busy to get it all done, more people to get the job done can be extremely helpful. But how do you know business will stay busy enough to justify hiring help? And hiring a new employee is a long term decision that has tax and insurance implications. So how do you determine when to hire?

First, consider the nature of your business and the trend of your work flow. Are you seasonally busy or do you have a sustained increase? If you are very busy now but might not be in a few months, a temp may make more sense. Also, consider that initially hiring an employee will add to your workload due to the time needed for advertising, interviewing, hiring, and bringing the new employee up to speed. Another consideration is the cost. Do you have money in reserve to pay for a new salary and benefits for the upcoming year? If you have sustained growth and some money free for hiring, it may be time to add to your ranks.

Once you have made the decision to hire someone new, it is vital to plan out the process before you start. Have questions ready that you want to ask and carefully consider the salary range you're willing to pay - and stick to it. Consider how a candidate will fit in with your team. Remember to check references thoroughly. Hiring the wrong person, even if they are an at will employee, can be a frustrating situation that can be costly in terms of your time and financial resources.

Cutting Reimbursement Costs in Property Management

2011-02-11T06:27:00.000-05:00

Property management often involves reacting to events as they occur and fixing things as needed. In addition to regular cleaning and maintenance, there are unexpected costs for repairs. This creates a need to handle the costs of purchasing supplies and paying contractors for both recurring and one-time expenses.

Currently, your business may be reimbursing employees for these expenses, but it can be unrealistic to expect a building/property manager to front costs that may be quite high if the unexpected happens. Or you may be giving employees cash advances which means they may have to stop by the office to get cash directly, and then remember to collect every receipt. It also costs time and money for claims to be filed, checks to be cut, and cash advances or reimbursements to be made. You can cut out these costs by having a simple way to plan and allocate for expenses upfront.

A prepaid debit card can be a helpful solution because money can be added for expected and unexpected costs as they come up. There will no longer be a need for handing out cash or providing reimbursement , saving your business money and helping it to run more efficiently.

Top Free Online Business Tools

2011-02-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

The first quarter of the year can be a great time to assess your business needs for the rest of the fiscal year. It may be time to upgrade your existing software or look into what new software is available to make your business more efficient. Unfortunately, licensing software can be expensive, especially if it needs to go on more than one computer. The good news is that there are many companies out there offering great alternatives to pricey software that won’t cost you a penny and work extremely well.

Open Office – If the price for Microsoft Office is too steep for your budget, help has arrived. Open Office is easy to download, costs nothing, and is compatible with many document, spreadsheet, and presentation programs, including Office products.

Google Analytics – This is in many ways better than its costly competitors. For insight into how your website is performing, Google Analytics is a must. It just takes a small javascript code placed somewhere on your site so that it lives on every page.

Yammer – If you want to share updates and information between employees, Yammer is a safe and free place to do this. Once an account is set up, everyone with the same email address ending can write messages on the site and read what others from the company have to say.

These aren’t the only free business tools available online. Others are available for scheduling calendars, creating invoices, storing files, and setting up e commerce solutions. For more information, check out this great article from Mashable on more of the best free tools you can use to help run your business.

Engaging Staff in Trimming Costs

2011-02-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

You may be pouring over reports looking for the best places to cut costs, while your best resources are right outside your office door. If money is tight, it’s reasonable to assume that your employees realize this too and feel anxious without feeling like they can do anything about it.

One way to keep employees informed and engaged, while getting great cost cutting ideas, is to brainstorm with them about how to trim costs. They may see places where you’re overpaying that you’ve missed or know about a free program online that can do as good a job as software you’re considering purchasing. And by involving them in the process of cutting back the budget, you also make your employees more aware of financial limitations, and they can help you by making budget-conscious decisions in their day-to-day work.

U.S. Government Doing Its Part to Help Small Businesses

2011-02-02T11:48:00.001-05:00

The U.S. government is making a concerted effort to assist small businesses across the country by providing them with online tools to help run their business. This push to online acknowledges the fact that people are using and influenced by the World Wide Web and social media more and more. With small businesses looking to get advice and gain an edge by any means necessary, the Internet serves as a simple and effective outlet to receive and learn information. Five of the most useful Web services deployed by the U.S. government can be found here.

These services range from the Small Business Association Web site and its “SBA Direct” interface, which will help small business owners find answers to the questions they have about specific aspects of their business, to a Web site dedicated solely to helping small business owners figure out what health care plan is right for themselves and their employees.

5 Ways to Improve Cash Flow

2011-01-27T11:15:00.002-05:00

With jobless rates in the US slowly coming down, it looks like the economy may be slowly improving. Soon, businesses might again be in the position to look forward to future growth. If the credit market remains tight, one way to free up the funds necessary for growth is to optimize cash flow. By delaying payments out as much as is prudent and finding additional ways to bring in payments, you can end up with more accessible money available. Here are some ways to improve cash flow:

Segment Cash Flow Sources - Looking at cash flow as a whole can be daunting and unproductive, so you may want to look at different types of expenses separately to better determine where the problems may occur.

Bill Promptly - The sooner that invoice is sent the sooner it will enter the client’s accounts payable process.

Offer Incentive for On-Time or Early Payment - Offering small discounts for always paying promptly can be worth the effort, especially since it is in your interest to retain reliable customers.

Encourage Partial Payments - If cash flow is a problem, it may be possible to set up more frequent but smaller payments instead of one lump sum at the end of the month. This may be something worth looking into for both making and collecting payments.

Make Payments the Last Day Before a Late Fee - If you have the money available to pay a bill on time, it usually makes little sense to pay the late fee if you can help it. If possible, set up the process so bills are paid as late as possible without incurring a fee in order to maximize the cash your business has available at any one time.

Small Business Owners Going Mobile

2011-01-25T07:27:00.000-05:00

More and more, small business owners are doing whatever it takes to get ahead. That includes conducting business out of the office and on their smart phones.

According to this survey, 33 percent of small business owners said they use smart phones “very often” while 41 percent say the use them “somewhat.” Most use the device in an effort to get their companies more business, while others use them merely as a resource to conduct day-to-day tasks. Only a minute margin, 3 percent, of owners said they don’t use smart phones at all.

Clearly, this shows that small businesses and their owners are adapting to the economy and find that using smart phone devices increases productivity and profitability. Additionally, they are showing their smarts by recognizing that consumers are becoming increasingly more influenced by mobile intelligence. This type of adaptation is the reason why so many small businesses thrive.

Small business innovation creates urgency among business owners to choose what tools to incorporate into their practices. What technology will take you to the next level? Decisions, decisions.

Small Business Owners Decide About Health Care Insurance

2011-01-21T07:39:00.000-05:00

There is an ongoing debate for small business owners about whether or not they should provide health insurance for their employees. This article explores some of the options and decisions that owners face.

Those that decide to provide health care coverage sometimes have to deal with very high premiums. Given these economic times, those costs are often times too much handle. The alternative that some choose is to not provide the insurance, which puts employees in a difficult spot. In order to keep coverage for employees, many owners are asking that they contribute more from their paychecks.

Albeit a minor solution, small business owners should be tapping into resources and tools available to them to cut back costs by any means possible. This might allow for an extra cushion to be able to provide health insurance. As a small step, we would suggest exploring alternative spending options to help save money and handle day-to-day money transactions more efficiently.

End of Year Audit

2011-01-18T09:11:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for your business’ 2010 financial audit? The end of year audit can be a bit stressful, but the better shape your accounts are in, the easier and quicker the process will be. Here are some helpful articles that spell out what information you need and what you can do in the short term to prepare.

Preparing for the Audit

Be Prepared

How to Prepare a Financial Audit Report