Can You Play the Drums?

Can You Play the Drums?

by: Erin Banister

When I was a child, all I wanted from life was to be able to play every instrument under the sun. Pretty lofty goal, right? I spent a couple decades learning numerous instruments, a couple I mastered; with many of the instruments I considered myself an average player, but that was ok – at least I could do it! Years went by, I kept learning new instruments, and I was very proud of myself. One day, I decided it was time to learn the drums. I started with the snare drum, and I was fair at playing that. Next, the tri-toms, the bass drum, symbols, and so on. Being the overachiever that I am, I decided one day to get a drum set. I worked on it, day in and out, striving to make some sense out of this set of drums. I banged on them endlessly, struggling to find my beat – to make them all work together while in my hands. My father, being a kind soul, walked in on me playing my drum set and said, “You know, you look like a maniac flailing around over there.” Skip forward several years later. I still have that drum set (in my shed), and I still play it occasionally. No set of lessons, books, or study seems to teach my feet and hands to move as they should with the drums. My beats end up half-witted, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that 1) I can’t do it all myself and 2) If I need a drummer, I might as well hire a professional. The moral of my story is, I know what I can and can’t achieve. The drums are not my ‘cup of tea’, but I know of several individuals who are very good at the drums. This is true in my business as well; while I can keep my books and do my personal taxes, when I put all of the accounting/bookkeeping together, I end up flailing like a maniac once again. Many business owners seem to be under the assumption that they can do it all, that they can be the catch-all support that their business needs. In my experience, this is only not true, but can also make your business look very unprofessional. Your ability to say, “I’m not a web designer” or “I’m not an accountant” or “I don’t know my head from a hole in the ground in regards to [fill in the blank]” will set your business apart from the crowd. I can give you a great for instance: I know next to nothing about real estate. I know it has something to do with houses, mortgages, listings, and showings; but what good does that do me? However, I know a friend of mine has ample experience in real estate, and this is her niche market. Thus, every inquiry I get about real estate I send to my friend. We all forget at one time or another that we can’t do everything, and take on projects we are blatantly not qualified for. It is imperative that we not only find our niche market, but also figure out what we cannot accomplish successfully, and pass it on to someone who does. I cannot play the drums, but I am a master at the flute and trombone. I cannot do bookkeeping/accounting, but am a whiz at marketing and design. How about you? About the author: Erin Banister is the president of TrinityJacobs – Your Personal Virtual Assistant. Erin’s expertise includes marketing and desktop publishing, amongst other administrative specialties. For more information, visit http://www.TrinityJacobs.com

Business laws basics

Business laws basics

by: Mansi gupta

A professional degree in Juris Doctor relates to a higher grade of studies in law. With business houses expanding in size and the legal issues gaining higher importance for day to day working of large corporates, demand for Juris Doctor professionals has been increasing. As the business interacts more with the society and their other counterparts need to resolve legal matters emerge simultaneously. All this has given an impetus to students aiming for career in law field. But a purely law background without any corporate experience may not be well accepted by business industry. Top ranked services in companies also demand a graduate in business organization along with lawyer’s degree. As demand for combined degree in JD and business is being a preferred combination to build a rewarding career in law. Business and law schools at various places have joined hands to impart students with best career courses. At many places Law Schools providing degrees of Juris Doctor and business school providing Master in business administration present a cooperative program for the convenience of aspiring students. This opportunity to avail concurrent degrees in both fields is a stepping-stone for success of students. Students who cannot travel to different places at the same time have a best prospect of finding excellent professional training under one roof. Surviving in the law field gets tougher from the day one tries to enter the school of law. Getting admission requires fulfilling entire formalities along with earlier creditable basic high school record, clearing the admission test for the law school and even recommendations from people. The same is applicable for business studies a student is required to prove his quantitative skills and efficiency in microcomputers to get admitted. A dedicated and hard work during the courses ensures students with excellent results which in turn to provide better career opportunities. A law person has various prospects for different types of career that he would like to accept. Depending on his caliber and willingness to work hard a lawyer can decide upon practicing law in an exclusive law firm or he may choose to be an in house lawyer. An exclusive law firm requires an extensive knowledge of one particular area in law where as an in house lawyer is required to deal with entire aspects of legal issues that relate to the particular company in which he is involved. While undergoing training in one of the law schools a student would learn about different aspects of law like civil law, criminal procedures, constitutional law, contracts, property, professional responsibility, basic federal income taxation, legislative and administrative interpretation and many others. The syllabus is cautiously devised to ensure that students receive exhaustive training to deal with maximum situation in the professional front. Similarly Masters Degree in Business administration imparts education in business for global society, corporate finance, managerial accounting, information resource management, strategic management, master’s project and other similar relevant courses. Anyone pursuing both law and business studies simultaneously has an advantage of studying some courses that are counted towards both degrees and hence a considerable amount of work is reduced for these students. About the author: Mansi gupta writes about business laws Learn more at http://www.jdforbusiness.com

Bottleneck-oriented Business Management

Bottleneck-oriented Business Management

by: Stephan Szugat

Simple and effective Business Management In every enterprise there are, at every time, one or more bottlenecks, which have influence to the commercial situation. Bottleneck-oriented business management has the purpose to early track the bottlenecks and to remove them, to allow an optimum of commercial development. To know at any time, what a business lacks of and to be able to add the missing things, is today a determining competition advantage. Bottlenecks can be, e.g.: low sales proceeds high due or overdue accounts receivables low liquidity (Cash on Hand, etc.) high amount of liabilities low number of customers too many new customers too high capacity utilization defective administration or management and a lot more. These example show that bottlenecks not only concern negative circumstances, but also can apply to positive commercial development. If an enterprise takes up many new customers, this results in new orders, which lead to other circumstances, like a possible excess in capacity utilization. In case the excess of capacity utilization stays for a longer time, this may result in a lower employee motivation, because of a slump in working atmosphere within the company, which then could lead to less qualtiy of the work performed. Due to a TIMELY reporting system many companies take care of reaching the desired commercial development. However, a regular analysis of expenses or the annual reports are not enough to control a business today. In the today's dynamic markets these evaluations are too statical, too much oriented on the past commercial development, which had been achieved. Also cost accounting only shows what has happened in the past. The actual direction in which a business is running could not be seen. Imagine a business to be a car. If you sat down in a car, do you like to receive information from the instruments from the last year or month? Probably not. You would like to have actual information about fuel tank content, coolant temperature and a lot more. Bottleneck-oriented business management should exactly bring the most important and actual information about a business to you, including so-called early warning signals (Screenshot abenetis ERS-Diagram). Data oriented to the past for early-warning-systems? A working early-warning-system needs data which are not oriented to the past, like from cost accounting or year-/month-end-closeings. It needs data from so-called early indicators, which has to be gathered from different areas of an enterprise. Of course, figures from the finance and accounting department belong into an early-warning-system, but they only have a subordinated role, because they are oriented to the past. Nowadays the reporting must show the present situation of a business. In many businesses the expenditure of time for the reporting rose considerably, due to the today's flood of information. Aggravatingly added to this, is the selection of the really relevant business ratios, which allow an appropriate overview of the actual business situation. Too often reports are prepared, which are not perceived by anybody, due to the lack of necessary statements about the business development. There are already proven business-ratio-systems, that enterprises only need to take over. Get back into the car again, imagine you have only one instrument in front of you, which shows the value "35". What does this signify? It is not recognizable how many fuel exists, how the Temperature of the coolant is or how fast the car is driving, etc. At this example you could recognize the little expressiveness of only one business ratio. It shows the importance to use the right business ratios, which must have a connection to each other and which have a different temporal origin. Nevertheless, many business ratio systems are mostly based on data which originate from the past. This turns often to the problem, that immediate information are not available, to indicate the actual situation of a business. However, there is still the alternative, to reduce the period of the past. How would it be with one week instead of analysing business data every 4 weeks? This would lead to the fact that you could act a few weeks earlier, if something should run a little bit inclinedly. Only very few data are needed to receive an informative evaluation. This again is comparably with a car. If you are driving with your car, you only receive a small, well-chosen number of information and nevertheless, have an actual picture of the situation. This is also possible for businesses, as well! As a motorist we receive only one fraction of the data which is acquired by the system of the car, and just these fraction of information is enough for us to reach the desired destination. When traveling usually we are well prepared, but the principle of the preparations is often neglected in business operation. As it is with traveling, the final goal has to be clearly stated by the business management. This could be done by having planing data available. Only by target/actual comparison divergences of the commercial development will be recognized. Unfortunately, many small businesses renounce to use plan data. Besides, it is not about, to cut plan data into the smallest pieces, but only to get a rough picture, what the business is going to achieve. It is absolutely possible to run a business on the basis of the figures from the previous year, however, to use these figures, the past commercial development should be taken into consideration. So the figures from the previous year should be improved to fit with the new goals. And finished are the planning data and the basis for an operational risk management are laid. Still if it is most important to know the actual bottlenecks in business operation. Recognize problems and act! One of the most important factors in business management is the early recognition of problems and potentials. There are bottlenecks in every business, which could have serious results. Pecuniary difficulties could lead to bankruptcy for example. Therefore symptoms must be recognized early, in order to turn a possible crisis away and to secure the future of your business. Also to use available potentials, regular analyses should be done. Nowadays products and services could not be sold forever, because product cycles become shorter and shorter due to market dynamism. The recognition and development of potentials is exceptionally important, to avoid losing the already achieved basis of a business. About the author: Stephan Szugat is founder of abenetis a web-based service about Business Management Solutions focusing on the core needs of business management. This includes operational and strategic analysis especially Early-Recognition-Systems, Knowledge-Management and other Services for small and mid-sized businesses. He has approx. 15 years experience in the Finance and Accounting Area from companies of different size and from various industries. http://www.abenetis.com

Asset and liability basics

Asset and liability basics

by: Mansi gupta

Knowledge of accounts can make life much easy. If you are to invest in a new business or joining your forefather’s business, planning to take some loan, looking for job in any marketing company, desire to be the manager of a multinational company or have the onus to manage your own assets and liabilities, knowing some basics of accounts becomes mandatory. Broadly, accounting is bifurcated into two categories- Cash Bases Accounting Accrual Accounting The Cash Based accounting pertains to the management of an individual’s personal monetary transactions. In this case, he keeps a track of the money he withdrew, deposited, gave or received from someone etc. This accounting comes to life when actual cash transactions take place. The Accrual Accounting requires an accountant who notes the transactions even if no money has been actually exchanged. This method works on the principle of comparing or seeing the ratio of the expenses to expenditure. If the expenditure is more, you need to cut down your luxuries, if not then it’s always good to have some savings for future. This type of accounting tells you the amount that you owed; this might not match with the figure of your bank balance. In the language of accounting there are several key terms that one needs to be familiar with. Some of the crucial ones are discussed below- The Assets- the assets are generally those possessions of an individual that have a good market value or are quite valuable. Assets are mainly classified into three types- Current Asset- the cash is the most basic asset of any individual. The money that is being held in accounts like the checking and savings accounts is also included in the cash. Also inclusive are the marketable securities in the form of bonds, stocks, shares etc. The money lent or payments due from clients, even form a part of it. Fixed Asset- comprises of all the tangible valuable things like property, machines, equipments, land and the like that are not meant to be sold. Intangible Asset- incorporates all the untouchable things like copyrights, patents, trademarks etc. that have tremendous monetary significance. The law of opposites governs the nature; where there are assets, there will be liabilities. These are the debts that you have to pay back to your creditors. This can be done through giving cash or any other asset like jewelry, some other goods etc. Liabilities again are of two kinds- 1. The Current Liabilities- the liabilities that are to be paid back within a certain time limit and most often through your current assets. These include the accounts payable i.e. type of bill that you have to monthly, the Notes Payable-loans taken from banks meant to be repaid within 30 days and the Accrued Expenses- the compulsory expenses like taxes, wages, interests etc. where the bills are not received but the balances of each must be repaid. 2. Long Term Liabilities- those debts that can be repaid at ease for the tenure is more then a month. The Financial Capital- is the economic capital. It is any liquid medium or merchandise that stands for wealth or other styles or capital. There are four ways to manage and display the financial capital. First, this capital is needed when a contract is made with any sort of capital asset. The financial instruments work in the form of currency in case of sale, purchase or trade of goods i.e. the medium exchanges. Second, it works as a settled medium or mode like gold for the Standard of Deferred Payment. Third, The Unit of Account has a market value attached to it which in turn varies with the economy of the country. Fourth, The Source of Value is concerned with financial capital that needs to be saved and recovered. It is a collection of things like gold, real estate, collectibles etc. Petty Cash is an important factor in business. It is the smallest account within a business setting or the cash in bills and coinage required to pay little expenses. Types of Business- there are several kinds of business one should be aware of like Sole proprietorship- where a single individual who starts the business owns it too. Partnerships- the companies or businesses started by two or more persons where they conjointly own it. Corporations- involve lot many shareholders or investors who are responsible in taking decisions for the company. Limited Liability Companies- can be said to be sisters of corporations. Here the business members are not under a legal obligation to pay the debts if the business fails. Payrolls- the term payroll designates the manner in which you will be paying the employees of your company and even yourself. Many multinational companies cater to payroll service provider companies that do the work quite efficiently. These are some of the broad guidelines that will help you grasp the basics of accounting. It is essential to have some such wisdom for accounts as it is fruitful in all walks of life. About the author: Mansi gupta writes about asset and liability Learn more at http://www.assetsandliabilitiesbook.com

An introduction to point of sale software

An introduction to point of sale software

by: Jakob Jelling

Point of sale software gives business owners a convenient way of checking out customers and of recording sales. It can keep a record of the store inventory, updating it when an order is processed. It can also print out receipts, carry out credit card processing, track customers, etc. Point of sale software eases the flow at checkout terminals, while recording all the information that can help you make better business decisions. Point of sale software allows users to input via keyboard or mouse, and some even have a touch screen interface. You can install the software on your checkout register. When checking out a customer you can either input the sales item yourself or use a bar code scanner. The point of sale software will look up the item in the inventory and bring up the price. It can also calculate tax on the item and change for the customer. POS software can print out receipts and reports. Point of sale software makes your business accounting a lot easier by creating reports on inventory, sales, customers, etc. Since it is already recording each sale, it can easily tell you the sales and revenue of the day. Point of sale software can also help with credit card processing. Credit cards are the preferred method of payment. People do not want to carry around cash for all their purchases. Credit card is a convenient method of payment and if you do not have credit card processing, your business can lose some of its competitiveness. Point of sale software receives input from the POS hardware, which is the scanning station for the credit card. The software will process the credit card payment for you. It can check that the card has not expired and is valid. You will need a merchant account for the point of sale software to do its job. POS software is generally easy to install and easy to use. You will need to know how to update inventory and record a price change for an item. Point of sale software usually provides an easy to use interface to do this. It can make the job of the cashier a lot easier by automating the routine tasks of the day. There is a wide variety of point of sale software available. You can choose one that fits your budget and meets the needs of your particular business. The software will have compatibility requirements with the point of sale hardware. It will also have operating system requirements such as it might need a Windows or Linux system. Point of sale software can more than pay for itself over time by making checkout faster and doing your accounting for you. Point of sale software may be the right solution for your business and can provide you with tons of benefits. About the author: Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.cashbazar.comVisit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.

After the latest and accurate help in relation to accountancy.

After the latest and accurate help in relation to accountancy.

by: Tom

When you are looking for high-class advice concerning accountancy, it will be hard sorting out the best information from foolish accountancy proposals and guidance so it's best to know ways of moderating the information offered to you. NetSuite: Small Business Accounting NetSuite offers an integrated online accounting application with ecommerce, sales, inventory, shipping and support. Free Trial. Now we would like to offer you some advice which we advise you to use when you are searching for information about accountancy. You need to realize the guidance we put forward is only pertinent to internet based information concerning accountancy. We don't really offer any direction or assistance when you are also conducting research in books or magazines. OpenPro: Web Based Accounting Offers Web-based, open source ERP accounting system with financials, supply chain, manufacturing, CRM and ecommerce features. An interesting tip to pursue when you're presented with information and suggestions on a accountancy website would be to determine who owns the site. Doing this could reveal the owners accountancy credibility The easiest way to reveal who owns the accountancy web site is to find the sites 'about' page. Any reputable site providing information concerning accountancy, will always have contact information which will record the site owner's contact details. The details should make known some key points concerning the owner's requisite knowledge. You can then arrive at a decision about the webmaster's depth of experience, to offer guidance about accountancy. About the author: Tom Brown is the webmaster for http://www.hession-acton.info

Accounting Methods – Cash and Accrual

Accounting Methods – Cash and Accrual

by: Richard A. Chapo

When starting a business, you have to determine the method you are going to use for accounting and paying taxes. The two choices are the cash method and the accrual method. Cash Method If you are looking for simplicity, the cash method is probably your best accounting choice. Generally, income and deductions can be claimed when payment is actually received or made. This is best shown with an example. I open a small business and have to order business cards and stationary. I receive the products and pay the invoice on November 18, 2010 . Under the cash method, I can deduct the cost on my 2010 tax return. Some businesses are restricted from using the cash method. C corporations may only use the cash method if they have less than $5 million in gross revenues for a particular year. Professional Service Corporations can use the cash method without limit, while farming corporations can due so if gross revenues are less than $25 million. Tax shelters are prohibited from using the cash method. Accrual Method The Accrual Method of accounting is a bit more complex. Under this method, the focus in on the date the expense is incurred, not paid. Although this may seem a small difference, it can play havoc with your books and piece of mind. Using our previous example, assume I order business cards and stationary on the December 18, 2010 . I receive the products on December 30th, but don’t pay the invoice until January 20, 2006. When can the expense be claimed? It depends on when economic performance occurred. Generally, economic performance occurs when goods or services are provided to you. In the above example, economic performance would arguably occur when the business cards and stationary were delivered with the invoice on December 30th. Thus, I would be able to deduct the expense for the 2010 tax year. In Closing As you can see, the cash method is the easier of the two accounting methods. To determine the best method for your business, speak with a tax professional. About the author: Richard Chapo is with Business Tax Recovery - Stop overpaying small business taxes. Read more business tax articles.

Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales

Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales

by: Wesley Atkins

1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones that have the same objective. You can trade leads, share marketing info, sell package deals, etc. 2. Brand your name and business. You can easily do this by just writing articles and submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing. 3. Start an auction on your web site. The type of auction could be related to the theme of your site. You'll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders. 4. Remember to take a little time out of your day or week to brainstorm. New ideas are usually the difference between success and failure. 5. Model other successful business or people. I'm not saying out right copy them, but practice some of the same habits that have made them succeed. 6. Take risks to improve your business. Sometimes businesses don't want to advertise unless it's free, sometimes you have to spend money to get results. 7. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy, satisfaction, fun, etc. 8. Ask people online to review your web site. You can use the comments you get to improve your web site or you may turn the reviewer into a customer. 9. Out source part of your workload. You'll save on most employee costs. You could out source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc. 10. Combine a product and service together in a package deal. It could increase your sales. If you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it.

things you must do to maximize your chances of obtaining a small business loan

things you must do to maximize your chances of obtaining a small business loan

by: Neil Best

To get approval for your small business loan application, you must be able to meet the lending criteria set down. Some organisations are more risk averse than others, and will therefore have more stringent criteria. To vastly increase your chances of a successful funding application, you will need to present the following information: 1. The reason for the loan. The lender will be looking for something that fits within the normal range and expertise of your business. The amount may cover a number of items, so you will need to cover each. 2. The amount required, and the repayment term of the small business loan you want. (e.g. $10,000 term 5 years, payable quarterly). 3. Details of how you will repay the amount borrowed. For example, “From the increase in profits of reduced running costs of the Whizzbang Go4It” 4. Details of security you will be able to offer to the lender. This will act as reassurance for the lender. If you’re not prepared to put up some aspect of security, then why should they? 5. You will need to include your business plan which will serve to answer essential questions relating to management capabilities, information about the market you operate in. What kind of business you are in etc. 6. 3 Years financial statements. You will need to present quality financial information from your accounting software, preferably signed off by your accountant or tax advisor. 7. Latest Set of Management accounts. Again produced from your accounting software. 8. Accounts receivables (debtors) and payables (creditors) ageing reports. 9. Principals financial statements. – Particularly required if some form of security is necessary. If you are a new company, the emphasis is going to be on your business plan , and the security (also called collateral) you or your business can provide against the loan. You must take the time to practice presenting your case to the bank or lender to iron out any glitches. Practice on your colleagues and family (you never know, they might be so impressed, they'll invest or lend!). It may help to role play the lender and come up with as many pointy questions as possible. The more time you take the better your chances will be. (But remember, don’t fall into the analysis paralysis trap!) Good luck!

Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures

Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures

by: Chris Anderson

You have permission to publish this article free of charge, as long as the resource box is included with the article. If you do run my article, a courtesy reply to sean@bizmanualz.com would be greatly appreciated. This article is 1,067 words long including the resource box. Thanks for your interest. The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Four of Series Part One: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-05-05_inventory_procedures.html/?ART78 Part Two: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-11-05_accounts_receivable.html/?ART79 Part Three: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-18-05_Sales_Marketing.html/?ART80 Next Week: Complete Cash to Cash Cycle The white flag is just a nose away…toward the Million dollar prize in cash savings for your business… So far, in Inventory and Accounts Receivable, we've found $250,000 each in cash savings. Then we found another 250K in Sales and Marketing. And so, now, Accounts Payable is the final process within the Cash to Cash Cycle - and also the final $250,000. The cash cycle is undoubtedly the single most important process to optimize for any business – from when you spend money to when you get money. Circling the Cash to Cash Cycle So let’s tie this back to accounts payable - the event that pays for the liability incurred by purchasing, which is for inventory required by manufacturing to meet demand. Sales generate this demand that creates the accounts receivables, which is turned into cash. And now we have come full circle and completed the discussion on the cash to cash cycle. Increasing the Velocity of Accounts Payable Processes Your accounts payable is a bit different than the other processes we have examined so far. The first three processes we looked at represented processes where the focus was on reducing the size of assets (inventory or accounts receivable) or expenses (marketing) and increasing the velocity or cycle time. But in accounts payable our focus is on increasing the size of the asset, while maintaining a solid credit rating - and increasing the velocity of the process. Now let’s look at how to find $250,000 in accounts payable savings. If your organization has $500,000 in accounts payable each month, then STOP! We can find $250,000 in savings right here. Where, you ask? Increasing payables by 25% will produce $125,000 in cash plus $125,000 from automating tasks, taking more discounts, and managing the process better. Service Business Procedures Case Study An organization with $600,000 in monthly payables needed assistance. We examined their payables process to understand and quantify workflow, paper processing and credit issues. Then we designed and implemented a process to increase their use of payables and discounts, improve their payables cycle efficiency, and tie it to their purchasing and receivable cycles. We then reinvested $50,000 back into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program to automate some of the processes that weren’t automated already. The metrics we developed reduced their purchasing & payables expenses by 25% and increased their efficiency from 50% to 75% within 2 months of implementing the new procedures. With these new processes and reports, the company now tracks payables cycle efficiency and average days payables, rather than just bills paid on time or outstanding balance, as the measure of their payables effectiveness. The result: an extra $300,000 in cash plus a 50% increase in process capability (capacity). But how? Methods to Design Your News Accounts Payable and Accounting Procedures • Eliminate Paper. The single biggest cost for any purchasing and payables department is paper, including: purchase orders, purchase order follow-up, small-dollar purchases, delivery tracking & receipts, and vendor payments. Utilizing paperless invoices, Web-based supplier self-servicing, centralized vendor files, automated workflows for electronic or imaged invoices (see ERP below), and payment methods, such as business credit cards, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), can reduce paper handling costs by as much as 90%. • Integrate ERP Systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) automates the purchasing and payables functions, which allows a company to get more work done with fewer personnel. Also, electronic invoice matching applications save time in retrieving paperwork. It is estimated that an ERP system can annually save an organization $300 per million in sales. • Increase Payment Terms. Negotiate payment terms based on receipt of goods or the invoice. This can add one week or more to your terms, which can be 25% of 30 day terms. Use EFT for just-in-time payments to maximize your payables terms and minimizing the impact to your credit. • Take Payment Discounts. If you are getting 2%/10 net 30 terms, then consider taking it. This means you are offered a 2% discount if you pay within 10 days, instead of the normal 30 day terms. This translates into an 18% return on your capital, and for many organizations this is a good return on your investment. • Review Purchases. Purchasing is a continuous process that requires continuous review. Consider: transportation charges, expedited fees, odd lot penalties, new pricing, new products, consolidating vendors, new vendors or buying groups, payment terms, and more. Communicate with your suppliers to improve the process. And review and monitor everything to account for changes in your environment. • Communicate with Suppliers. Communicate with your suppliers to improve the process. Ask suppliers to submit their invoices electronically. This will save you time, resources and losses due to waste. • Eliminate Disputes. Disputes with your suppliers are typically the result of a problem with your purchasing/receiving process. When disputes occur, review your purchasing procedures to ensure that they are producing the correct metrics and that you are not forced to pay for your mistakes. • Reduce Errors. Overpayments, payments made to the wrong vendors, fake invoices, or even late payments represent a common problem for payables. Increasing your focus on error control, along with written procedures and audits, can reduce these errors considerably. • Train personnel. Provide your accounts payable staff with regular formal training. This will arm them with better knowledge of frauds, negotiating skills, and an understanding of the economics of payables – which will result in improved effectiveness. Accounting Policies and Procedures for Cash in the Bank In the past few weeks, we have showed you four parts of your financial statements that will each contribute $250,000 in cash savings. The last hurdle was Accounts Payable, and we sailed through it. And now we have crossed our final goal: $1,000,000! Time was - and is - the key. All you have to do is own it. And, remember, next week we will put together each of the four elements of the cash to cash cycle, and look at how it affects the working capital of your business. About the author: Chris Anderson is currently the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance.

Things to Consider Before Buying Small Business Accounting Software

7 Things to Consider Before Buying Small Business Accounting Software

by: William Siebler

The world of small business accounting software can be a minefield for any business owner. However choosing the right package is one of the most critical business decisions you will make. Here are the seven things you must consider before making a purchase that will help you achieve your businesses goals. 1. Scalability Businesses change over time so it's critical that the small business accounting software you choose can change too. Some things that often change are the number of products and services offered and the number of employees. When you choose your package try and imaging the business in 5 years or 10 years time and how different it will be. Use this information to guide your purchase decision. It may well be better to pay a little more now for the software knowing that it can be easily upgraded when needed with minimum disruption and cost to your business. 2. Support It is important that any software has great support for when something goes wrong (and it always does). Most major companies offer support but you also need to think about support in your local area. It's often much easier to have someone locally come in and do things you need done with your software than have someone trying to help you over the phone. Make some enquiries with other businesses about the package they use and who helps them. 3. Accountant Interface It's most unlikely you will handle every aspect of your businesses accounting. Your accountant is an important factor in making the right decision. What software are they used to working with and what do they prefer? Can you easily supply them data and reports from your package without the need for any extra work (which you'll have to pay for). Don't be afraid to ask their opinion as they live and breathe this stuff. 4. Best Value For Money Once you have selected the right package for your business you may as well get the best value. Shop around as the price can vary greatly and the product is exactly the same. Online merchants such as Amazon may offer better pricing because of the sheer volume of products they sell. However price is only one part of the equation so if their is great merchant locally with support or installation assistance this may be far more valuable. 5. Major Brands There are two major players in the small business accounting software market. They are QuickBooks and Peachtree. Microsoft is expected to enter the market soon. I recommend choosing a major brand so that you can get regular updates and you know the company will be around as long as your business needs them. 6. Ease of Use Ease of use is a personal thing but it is worth trying the software before you buy it if you can. Remember to get the person who will be the main user to test the software as well. Also consider how well the package can interact with other software you use. This is an advantage the Microsoft package may have when it's available. 7. Features Needed I touched on this earlier when talking about thinking ahead as to where you business will be in 5 or 10 years time. Most accounting software packages come in several different versions. If you don't need certain features now and can't see a need for them in the future then don't buy them. The major differences are usually - number of users allowed, inventory management capability and number of reports available. To sum up think ahead when planning your purchase of small business accounting software. You will make a much smarter business decision that will save you plenty of trouble and money in the future. About the author: Please visit us for more information and a feature by feature comparison of: Small Business Accounting Software

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small Business?

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small Business?

by: Jakki Francis

If you’re anything like me then you dislike with a vengeance doing your accounts and taxes. So how can you make this process easier, less painful and cut your accountancy fees? Well buying an accounting software package is one way. First of all you need to decide whether you are going to keep your accounting records manually, that is using pen and paper, or whether you are going to computerize the process. If you decide that computerizing the process is the way to go then you need to decide whether to buy an accounting software package, for example Sage or Quicken, or whether a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel will suit your needs better. As a general rule if you are a cash business that just needs to record income and expenditure then you are better off using a spreadsheet. So, should you choose an accounting software package? Yes if: · You have customers to whom you extend credit and you buy goods in the same way · You process in excess of 50 transactions per month · Your business is an Incorporated Company (Limited Company in the UK) and · You are computer literate or are willing to learn! Before choosing the accounting software, speak to your accountants – they will be familiar with the various accounting software packages on the market and will be able to advise you. Most accountants use software in their office to process the bookkeeping for their clients and will have a working knowledge of the accounting software package they use. It may be cheaper for you to use the same one they do, because they can advise you how to get it up and running and will be on hand to answer questions, plus at your financial year end when your accounts need preparing it will be less expensive, believe me to have a compatible program. I also recommend doing some research yourself, you may be able to obtain a demonstration disk or download of the most popular accounting software packages and this will give you an idea of how they work and if they are user-friendly. The cost may also be an issue, so you need to decide on your budget. But consider how your business is likely to expand - you may outgrow that budget accounting software quickly and end up buying the more expensive one anyway. Accounting software providers may also try and up-sell you a maintenance contract. Save your money! In my experience the established software providers will not have bugs in their systems. They will also try and upgrade you to the next version on a regular basis, but if the software is doing everything you need then there is no need to upgrade. Of course, you could also pay someone to do your accounts for you, either your accountant or a bookkeeper – the payoff being you don’t have to do it yourself and it frees you up to actually run your business! Copyright © Jakki Francis,(UK), 2010 About the author: This article is copyrighted. Please feel free to use it in it's entirety including copyright information and information about the publisher. Jakki Francis operates the website http://www.accountingsoftware-reviews.com

Essential Tools for Starting and Maintaining a Small Business

3 Essential Tools for Starting and Maintaining a Small Business

by: Ryan Hough

We believe that there are 3 factors that drive the success of small businesses. 1) Acquiring start-up capital 2) Finding customers 3) Accounting for, budgeting and controlling sales and expenses The following resources will help your small business achieve these success factors. Acquiring Start-Up Capital An adequate supply of capital is essential as many profitable businesses fail because they don’t have enough cash to pay their employees and suppliers. But what is an adequate supply of capital? The only way to tell is by doing a significant amount of research on your potential market and formally documenting this in a business plan. I’m sure you know that a business plan is a very important document that is crucial to convincing your banker to lend you money. There are two ways to obtain a business plan. 1) Do it yourself by amending a business plan template, or 2) Hire a professional to do it for you. Obviously obtain 1) will be a great deal cheaper. Our research led to a website that has over 60 high quality and free business plan templates. We also found a directory that you can use to easily find a business plan writer in your city – where ever you live in the world. Finding Customers Finding customers is a difficult and expensive task for service business owners such as accountants, lawyers and plumbers. We believe that a cost effective marketing strategy for service business owners is to simply give all their personal contacts a few business cards. Our research led to a few websites that have pre-designed business card templates. We felt that the diversity and quality of these designs was outstanding. In addition, we found that you can obtain a significant saving by finding a printing service on the Internet. We found that you could get 2,000 full color business cards for as little as US $150. Accounting For, Budgeting and Controlling Revenue and Expenses Accurate accounting is very important for small business owners. It’s essential that you have timely access to information that could make or break your business. If stocks are running low – you need to know about it. If a large proportion of your debtors haven’t paid – you need to know about it. If you do not react to these situations quickly you may have a situation where you don’t have enough money to pay your employees – or worse still someone is stealing cash out the till. Our research led to a website that compares and reviews top accounting software for small businesses. The cheapest software cost US $89.99 and the most expensive software cost US $1,499. It was interesting to note that the top 3 ranked websites were not the most expensive and cost between US $250 - US $300.