Imagine you are watching a movie. Two men are in a lifeboat that has a hole in it and is slowly sinking into a school of sharks. One man is screaming, “We’re going to die!” The other is bailing water and fending off sharks with the oar. Which one are you?

Just because your business is sinking in these troubled economic waters doesn’t mean all is lost. You can rescue your company but only by taking a hard look at the financial picture and planning for the future.

Track The Numbers

One of the first steps is to get together with your accounting services and look at the company’s books. When things are going well it’s easy to run a casual eye over a report, see revenue is greater than expenses, and file it. When times are tough, you have to look at things more carefully.

Look at what you can cut and, more importantly, what you can’t. If you are running a store, you can’t give up paying rent without closing the business. By finding these kinds of expenses you get a realistic picture of how much revenue you have to make to stay afloat. If your revenue is above this number, you can survive even if you have to make some painful cuts. If it’s below, you have a problem.

Consult with accounting services more often. If you’ve been getting quarterly reports, start getting them monthly or even weekly. Things change quickly and you might not realize how bad things are until it’s too late to do anything about them.

Look At Business Indicators

The reports from your accounting services are a useful tool but too often they are showing you the past rather than the future. You don’t need to know what’s already happened. You need to know what’s coming.

Think of less concrete things you can analyze to judge how your business is doing. Are there fewer customers in your store? Has traffic at your website dropped? Are your sales reps fielding fewer calls? These can be the first signs of future revenue falls.

Explore related markets. Sometimes one market segment might be doing poorly while a similar one is doing well or even growing and this can lead to a repositioning strategy that could save your organization. A fine restaurant might see a drop in customer traffic while less expensive family establishment isn’t doing so badly. While an exclusive French bistro isn’t going to start offering hamburgers and soda pop, it might add some budget-conscious choices to its menu to maintain customer traffic.

Working closely with accounting services and paying careful attention to the business climate is more important now than ever. Anyone can run a business during a boom. It’s your performance during hard times that determines the future of your company.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on http://www.osibusinessservices.com/.

That is right folks; tax season is almost upon us. It is time to start organizing your paperwork again. How much time will you spend gathering your accounts receivables, accounts payables, receipts, mileage reports, W-2s and 1099s? And that is only the beginning. More of your time will be spent to meet with your bookkeeper, and then your accountant, each of them reminding you of what information you forgot to get to them, and each of them letting you know what they still need from you. Just how much time will you spend on a topic you really dont want to think about?

Imagine how much time you could save if you were paperless. Imagine if you could take care of everything by e-mail, without fussing with a bookkeeping program. Imagine if there was a virtual accounting office that would take the aggravation out of your bookkeeping and make preparing your tax return as easy as writing a check. What could be better than an accounting office that you never have to visit?

Better yet, how about a virtual accounting office where you access to your books anytime you want? How many times do you get a call from a customer wanting to know his balance and you have to wait to give him an answer until your bookkeeper can look that information up for you?

With a virtual accounting office your books are available to you 24/7. With a secure login you, your bookkeeper or accountant can pull up company records wherever there is Internet access. In real time, you have access to your books and are able to answer that customer’s question about his balance when he calls.

Want to know how much you have paid a vendor this year but dont want to wait to ask your bookkeeper for that report?

With a virtual accounting office you could run a report to give you that information anytime you wanted. A virtual accounting office can give you instant access to your accounting information, including your taxes, profit/loss reports, balance sheets and bank statements, all from the comfort of your own office, home, or anywhere in the world you may be.

Are you tired of printing paper checks you have to sign, stamp and then mail? Do you currently pay some bills through your online banking system, some bills with paper checks, some bills with credit cards, and some with automatic withdrawals, all the while never quite knowing your cash balance?

A virtual accounting office will save you time by locating all of your payables, all automatic withdrawals, and all deposits into one accounting system. You can pay your bills when you want, easily and directly through your online accounting program. You can also track any payment quickly and easily since you have only one place to look.

A paperless bookkeeping system though a virtual accounting office will streamline information into one accounting program. Now you will always know your available cash balance.

How much better would your business be if all your accounting needs were handled without the clutter of paper, through a Virtual Accounting Office, giving you more time to focus on your business? I would cut this sentence, repetitive. The last sentence is a strong close.

As a wise man once said, Dont sweat the small stuff. Let others do it for you. A paperless Virtual Accounting Office can do exactly that.

Debby Jones is a freelance writer who is known for writing his reviews on diverse topics & industry. In this article he proposes to take help from a virtual accounting firm to file your taxes. To hire one for your business visit MyVao.com & DawsonCPA.com

The law requires that all businesses, whatever its size must keep a record of each financial transactions done through the business. These records will be presented to the government during tax time and this determines how much tax businesses must pay and how much tax returns they will get. If you are the owner of an online business, then you should find book keeping services for your online business because this will make it a lot easier for you to run your business.

Looking for the right book keeping service can be hard. There are several companies that can offer book keeping services but you have to remember that there are only a few that can offer the service that you want. Even if you are a small online business owner, you should remember that you deserve nothing less. Having a good book keeping team, will give you a chance to bring your business to succeed. If you choose a company that doesn’t provide high quality book keeping service this can lead to losing money, even complete bankruptcy.

If you are not familiar on what you are looking for in a book keeping company, here are some of the basic things you should look for. First, the book keeper or book keeping company you will outsource the book keeping jobs should be qualified.

The online business owner will be the only one who is able to judge if the book keeping company will be capable of doing the job well. However, you need to remember that there are general qualifications that you must look for. An example is that a good company can offer you good services will not only have qualified people to do the job, but they also have people that are experienced enough to do it.

Always remember a book keeper is not required to hold a degree in accounting. He or she should have experience in this kind of job and must also understand the mechanics in the business, especially about the financial transactions.

A second would be that the book keeping company must have the right technology. It means that they should already have the program or software designed for book keeping. This will then save you a lot of time and money, also a big plus to your business as the book keeping programs were designed in giving comprehensive reports and services. More importantly, the staff in the book keeping services company is able to know how to work them.

Remember these suggestions and surely you will find the right book keeping service for your online business. With these things, you are sure that you are able to save time and money which will translate to focusing more on the business.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business topics such as call centerand call center in the philippines .

Book keeping can be a full time or part time job this can be perfect for anyone that wants to earn extra money in their homes. What is great about book keeping is you need not buy expensive equipments or even worry about the insurance for your business and planning consents. Book keeping is not really hard to do, knowing simple arithmetic then you are able to easily learn in becoming a book keeper. If you want to earn extra cash, you can do book keeping as your online business.

There are a lot of people that have no formal book keeping training or people who have no degree in accountancy who have become successful in book keeping the same with their online business. You have to consider the fact that many business owners are doing their own book keeping at home to their annual tax returns.

You must first need to know and apply the taxation rules and its other factors. Keeping that clear record of income and expenses of the business that you are book keeping for is very important. Although book keeping for others is a small online business that can earn you some cash, you have to take in consideration that you may want this to be a full time career. You have to study about book keeping first in order for you to become qualified as a book keeper.

Here are some of the things you should know about book keeping. First, remember that every type of business even if it is large or small will be required by law to keep books this is where everything financial is recorded. What this is going to mean is that all the financial transactions of the business are to be recorded. These things can be done through manual input in ledgers.

This can also be done with the help of a computer, using spreadsheets or a dedicated software just for book keeping. Most of the business owners who rely on using manual books will tend to keep receipts, invoices, utility bills and other scraps of paper that have affected their business financially is in a shoe box. During tax time, the box will be handed over to the book keeper, and should be able to transform the data from the shoe box in a more formal looking record of the financial dealings of the business.

Book keeping can be a rewarding career. You may want to do it as part time work or as a full time career, you will see that anyone can be a book keeper and even work from home as a freelancer. You can even set up a website where you can offer your book keeping services and start that online book keeping service.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business topics such as call center philippines and philippines call center .

Business owners should know that they are required to record all financial aspect of their business and this is according to the law. The books that you record it in will be for the purpose of taxes and this figure must be accurate. Considering the fact that you have an online business, there will be many things in your mind and you may often tend to forget doing the books. Neglecting on this part can incur serious penalties. If there is not enough time for your book keeping, then you can try outsourcing book keeping for your online business.

These days, many companies are outsourcing book keeping jobs which can save time and to be more efficient in managing their business. If you let other people handle your books, this will mean that you are able to concentrate more on your business. Outsourcing book keeping is very popular and can be very cheap.

You should consider outsourcing has become a trend in the business world. This is because it is cheaper to outsource than to have a full time book keeper or accountant and many businesses today have now outsourced their book keeping jobs.

The advantages of outsourcing your book keeping, it will give you more time to concentrate in running your online business and it will also save you money. Before hiring a book keeper to do this job, you must remember that you must choose the right book keeping service first.

The qualifications of a book keeping outsourcing company must first be in its staff, they should be knowledgeable in the field of book keeping, and they must be certified professional book keepers. Besides these, they also need to have experience in the field of book keeping and knowledgeable in the inner workings of businesses most especially on financial transactions in businesses.

There is no need to hold a degree in accounting to become a good book keeper. Everyone can become a book keeper the most important thing you should look in a book keeper is their experience. The portfolio of the book keeping outsource company should also be good. The more clients you see will mean that they are trusted by people. Besides, as business owner understanding the fact that people only buy the services of businesses that they can trust.

These tips will be able to help you have more time on running your business and saving a lot of money. When outsourcing book keeping for your online business, you are sure that you will have nothing to worry when tax time comes. Just remember that you have to give the book keeper you hire all of the needed information about your business and your financial records.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business topics such as call centers in the philippines and philippine call center .

Financial forecasting reminds me of the weather – you make your forecast at a moment in time based upon the information currently available. You draw a conclusion and state your financial forecast. But then, the information changes, now it’s raining, and you’re caught without your umbrella!

Financial forecasting, unlike the weather, isn’t a science but it’s not pure guess work either. It is a combination of:
- knowing your business;
- understanding your marketplace;
- setting goals; and
- using common sense.

As a business coach, I know that every small business needs to make reliable financial projections at one time or another. Forecasting is critical during the following stages of a company’s life span:
- when seeking financing
- gauging the profitability of a new product or service
- determining the impact of staff expansion or cutback
- assessing other business decisions

The many components of forecasting boil down to the following five bookkeeping business tips that for years I’ve shared with business coaching clients:

Bookkeeping Business Tip #1: Review Actual Year-To-Date Results

Start by looking at where you’ve been. If you use an accounting program like QuickBooks you can print out a Profit & Loss statement showing year-to-date results. Check the statement for all financial transactions that occurred up to the date of the report. Reconcile the report to your bank statements. (If you don’t use an accounting program or bookkeeping service, then take the difference of the total year-to-date cash receipts and total expenditures. This should equal your profit or loss.) Examine each line item to make sure that it makes sense – is your year-to-date revenue figure where you anticipated, or has it fallen short? Are expenses higher than expected?

Bookkeeping Business Tip #2: Establish Goals and Incorporate into Your Forecast

What do you wish to accomplish by year’s end? Do you want to introduce a new product or service, increase revenue on existing products or services, decrease spending, hire a new employee, outsource a bookkeeping service, or launch a marketing campaign that will position the company for the beginning of next year?

Write out your objectives and then choose three to five which are the most important to accomplish by the end of the year. Determine the needed steps to achieve the objectives. Which Profit & Loss line items will be impacted? Adjust your forecast accordingly. For example, your goal may be to increase revenue 10% by year’s end or to launch a marketing campaign now so its benefits will be felt in the first quarter of 2009.

Bookkeeping Business Tip #3: Forecast Variable Costs

Variable costs are costs that change in step with revenue change. For example, you are selling more widgets; therefore, your labor costs and materials costs will increase in relation to the revenue increase.

Using the concept that Forecast = Projections + Predictions, combined with the knowledge that variable costs change in step with revenues, forecast each month’s variable costs. Forecast each line item separately. Look for opportunities to reduce costs, and be aware of likely future influences on each cost.

Bookkeeping Business Tip #4: Forecast Fixed Expenses

Fixed costs are relatively stable costs that recur every month. Examples of fixed costs are rent, telephone and bookkeeping service fees. Forecast the month’s fixed expenses by using the same concept used to forecast variable costs (Forecast = Projections + Predictions) and the knowledge that fixed expenses tend to be relatively stable and do not change in step with revenues. Again, forecast each line item separately, looking for opportunities to reduce costs, while keeping in mind any likely future influences.

Bookkeeping Business Tip #5: Forecast Net Profit

The final step is to evaluate your forecast for net profit. Is the profit forecast is reasonable and acceptable? If not, re-evaluate each line item including revenues and make appropriate adjustments. Also, anticipate non-operating income and expense items, and include them in your forecast.

Your financial projections may not be perfect at first, but we didn’t learn to walk without falling down. As a business coach I’ve seen others get a few bumps along the way. But I guarantee that if you follow these bookkeeping business tips, set your financial projections on paper and revisit them frequently, you will achieve your goals faster.

Laurie O’Neil is the co-founder of The Bookkeeper’s Referral Network Inc., the place where business meets great bookkeepers. To get your copy of The 9 Disastrous Mistakes Most Freelance Bookkeeper’s Make in
Business (and How You Can Avoid Them!) visit http://www.bkpr-network.com

Several factors should be considered in choosing a bookkeeping system that can cater to your online business. Having a bookkeeping system can help in a number of ways like quoting off-hand your bank balance.
Also, you can make better decisions in your financial statements involving your online business.

The bookkeeping system can guide you to properly set-up the books you will need. You are able to keep track your credit card usage and outstanding debts. It can also process the refunds quickly and efficiently.
Organizing the business receipts and understanding tax time preparation and its importance. It is important that you can track products you have sold or the services that were offered in the past months.

As the owner of an online business there should be an established set of specifications before you decide on what bookkeeping system you are going to use. Based on the mentioned tasks that a bookkeeping system must possess you can narrow down your search for the best.

A bookkeeping system must have a complete online document and data management this includes bank account reconciliation, credit cards, taxes, payroll services, financial reviews and overviews. The bookkeeping system can also give you advice on generalities.

Determining the Right Bookkeeping System

1. Cost Effective. Finding the right bookkeeping system for your online business should not be expensive. Look for the best one that will not cost you a lot. If the service is not too high it does not mean it is less reliable and that the processing is compromised.

2. Supportive. A bookkeeping system must be able to give good information about your financial status. It should explain what is happening to the present financial report and give good business advice. The whole system should work with you for the success of your online business.

3. Standardized. Work with professionals that are well-trained to convey an outstanding performance in the industry. The services given must have guidelines that are well-developed because of the communication, quality and process.

4. Timely and Accurate. There should be a strictness that is going to ensure accurate and timely reporting. The software should have a certain quality that can identify bookkeeping errors. This should be updated regularly to avoid any problems.

5. Convenient and Seamless Service. Documents are arranged in which it is convenient for the business owner to drop it off in the nearest city. The documents will be indexed and ready to be used making it easier to access with a click of the button.

Getting the bookkeeping service that will suit your budget and at the same time solving your problems in taking care of the books. Having the best bookkeeping service will help you succeed in the long run.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business topics such as call center in the philippines
and call centers in the philippines.

It is possible that bookkeeping can be diligent and effective if you know how to start. Make this numbers and dates work for you. Try following these basics and you can setup an interesting bookkeeping system. You must choose an appropriate bookkeeping system. You can choose between a single-entry and double-entry.

Difference between this two is that when it comes to the single-entry bookkeeping system, this is considered as a rudimentary system that is suitable for personal financing. One very good example of this is checkbook balancing where it involves a single checking account and is being credited or debited.

For the double-entry bookkeeping this is something that is more appropriate for businesses this is because it can track two accounts at the same time. It can do efficient multi-tasking. As you sell a product, the recording of transaction as debit on inventory and then credit on the account, this will automatically be done by double-entry bookkeeping.

Business owners, especially those who own small businesses, have one thing in common they lack the time and enthusiasm to have a detailed ledger. To make life easier, get a trusted CPA or be wise and find a bookkeeping program. You would still need to ask for professional help if the business is largely dependent on precise and timely records or is operationally complicated. If you will be expecting more than a $100,000 worth of sales or an inventory that is very much considerable, you need not wait for someone to advise you to get a bookkeeping system. This is the right time.

If you are going to rely on a bookkeeping software or CPA to work this out for you, you must have every single document, receipt and data that they need to organize. See to it that all is still intact: sales receipts, purchase orders, bank statements, and so on. The lost receipts and important documents are going to leave blanks and uncertainties on the system’s part. Dedicate yourself to filing all the data needed to make the bookkeeping system possible.

Employing the assistance of your bookkeeping software is not an excuse to separate from all the important financial details of the entire business. You are professionally and legally responsible in every single activity your business has conducted.

Therefore, this is a must for you, as the owner, you must understand the bigger picture, following the business trends. This is where bookkeeping comes to the rescue. Through the software, this can give you a clearer view of the financial records you have. Because this bookkeeping software, can let the owner decide to refresh and run basic reports on a daily basis.

Bookkeeping will eventually reveal data captures such as loss and profits, overdue accounts, and the business’ monthly expenses at a glance.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business topics such as call centers in the philippines and call center philippines .

When it comes to business, outsourcing is always a tough call to be made. It is never easy to convince yourself or your partners that you are going to entrust a service provider with the internal business operations responsibilities. Especially for accounting, it involves the transfer of confidential information to a third party whom you have never met before. So before you make any decision to outsource your accounting, the following points should be taken into consideration first:

1. Conduct a background check of the company. As it is your first time entrusting confidential data to a company, it is always wise for you to do a background check first. Search for the company’s details on search engines and you should be able to get a fair idea about the background of the company. You should also try to get details of the vendor’s clients. Ask for their feedback on the service before you make the final decision.

2. Sign a contract with the vendor. The contract is the basis of any business relationship you have with another company. On the contract, it should states very clearly about the accountability of the outsource provider so as to avoid any confusion on the deliverables. The contract should also list down the tasks that the service provider will perform and these tasks should be open for revision for both the parties.

3. Request for an evaluation period. If you want to know whether you can work well with the service provider and are they going to meet your expectation, the performance of the service provider needs to be gauged during the evaluation period. The service provider should allow internal oversight by you so that all parties will know the progress of the account and ensure that the contract is being upheld.

4. Write a performance appraisal after the completion of the assignment. Once the assignment is completed, conduct a performance appraisal on whether the service provider has performed the necessary desired tasks. In the appraisal, also list down areas that you think the service provider can improve. This is to ensure that improvements can be made for future outsourcing assignments.

Outsourcing your bookkeeping to a service provider is definitely beneficial to your company. It is Time VS Money. When you outsource your accounting, you will save money on recruiting and training your staffs to do the accounting work for you. Last but not least, remember to conduct your background check of a company before making any decision.

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Click Here: www.361dc.com

Whether you are a large business or a small business there are many advantages of using Sage payroll accounting software. Not only can it help you to stay more organised but it can also help you get certain jobs done quicker and more accurately.

Many people who are in charge of doing the wages hate doing them because it can be a very time consuming task and it’s hard to find the time to do them. However, with a package such as Sage payroll accounting software, once it has been set up its quick and easy so won’t take up much of your time.

This software can also help to ensure the accuracy of the wages you are putting through. If you currently have a system where you manually have to work everything out it can be very easy to make mistakes, especially if you’re rushing. However, if you simply need to enter in the number of hours an employee has worked and the software does the rest for you, it is very unlikely that there will ever be mistakes.

Using programmes such as Sage payroll accounting software enables you to process your employees’ wages without you needing to understand the complexities of payroll legislation. It is very unlikely that many employers know much about this or understand how it works which means you could run into problems if you are doing the payroll manually. This is just one of the many reasons why so many companies are now using a computer programme that already takes this into consideration.

If employees have varying hours it can be a very long process to do the payroll system. However, programmes such as Sage payroll accounting software makes information such as this easy to input which saves so much time.

One of the main reasons why businesses have started to use accounting software is because they are able to project salary costs with Salary Review Forecast. This means that costs can be projected in order to help you stay in budget. The effect of proposed salary increases or decreases can be analysed, you can forecast for the next month, quarter or year and you can view the impact of things such as pension and National Insurance payments.

It is no surprise that so many companies have started to use Sage payroll accounting software because it doing the wages quicker, easier and much more enjoyable.

At CPiOsage payroll accounting software whether you are looking for a fully integrated ERP solution or taking your first steps into CRM, CPiO is ideally placed to guide and support you.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is an important part of any business in order to keep clients happy. It is imperative to ensure that customers are happy otherwise you will not have a business.

Customer relationship management is the strategies, processes, people and technologies that are used by companies in order to successfully attract and retain customers. If this is achieved then a company can enjoy maximum corporate growth and great success. Obviously this is what any business wants which is why it is an important aspect of day – to – day business operations.

The different types of this management can range from simple off the shelf contact management products to high – end interactive systems that combine sales, marketing and executive information systems. The type of management that a company uses is most likely to depend on the size and type of business. For example, a small business with only a few customers will only need a simple system as it’s easier to monitor customers.

However, a large company with thousands and thousands of customers is going to find it near impossible to know every single one of their customers. For this reason a more complex system will be required in order to help them achieve a satisfactory level of customer relationship management.

Customer relationship management is important because it is vital that all businesses know everything they need to know about their customers. This can range from their spending habits, the budget they have, areas of interest and what they want in the future.

The reason why this information can be so beneficial to a company is because if you know how your customers are thinking then you know how to target your products at them, for example, if 90 percent of your customers watch television between 8pm and 10pm every night then you know this is a good time to advertise you product. If you don’t know this information you could be advertising at 6pm when none of your customers will see your advertisement.

Customer relationship management also allows a company to monitor whether they are losing or gaining customers. If they are losing customers they can find out why and try to come up with ideas of getting them back and keeping their current customers loyal to them.

There are so many advantages of maintaining customer relationship management that every company should do it. It is by far the best means of ensuring that you have a happy and loyal clientele.

At CPiOcustomer relationship management whether you are looking for a fully integrated ERP solution or taking your first steps into CRM, CPiO is ideally placed to guide and support you.

Financial planning is important to any business for many different reasons. These can be in order to protect your business assets, so you can plan for retirement, to extend your investments and many other reasons as well. For these reasons many companies hire a financial planning consultant in order to help them achieve all of these things.

A financial planning consultant will help you protect and get the most out of the money that you already have. This is helpful to any business as they will be able to maximise profits and make wise business decisions.

Once your financial planning consultant knows what you business does, where it is at the moment and where you hope it will be in the future, they can help you make smart decisions regarding your money. This advice can range from how to make the most out of the money you have, investing wisely, how to protect it and how to use financial products that suit your needs.

A financial planning consultant will take into consideration the seven key building blocks needed to run a successful business and will mix and match them to suit you personally. The information from this will then be used to make a financial plan. The information on this plan should summarise your current financial position, list your goals, explain how you will reach them, show any investments, analyse any risks, state costs and reveal any money coming in from investment. Having all of this information to hand is very helpful as it can help a business to run more efficiently.

One of the many advantages of using a financial planning consultant is that you can be assured that you are getting quality advice from someone who knows what they are talking about. If you did it yourself you may be worried that you’re making mistakes or taking too long to do it. Hiring a professional means you know they know what they are doing and can help you get the most out of your money. As well as this, it also leaves you free to concentrate on other aspects of your company that you need to work on as well.

Many businesses realise that having a good financial planning consultant should be an essential member of their team. This is because they can help to coordinate all areas of their financial life and develop the bet strategies for the company.

At Wilkins Kennedyfinancial planning consultant we provide a vast range of professional advisory services to the main, owner managed businesses. These include but are not limited to audit, accountancy and taxation advice.

Tax can be a tricky and confusing subject – are you paying too much? Too little? Are you on the right tax code? These are the very reasons why so many companies hire tax consultants London. It is so much easier than trying to understand everything yourself and you can be guaranteed that the job is going to be done correctly.

Tax consultants London offer tax and financial advice to businesses regardless of whether it’s one person running it or if it’s a large multinational company. They come as a great benefit to any business because they can help to reduce your tax liability which is a massive advantage. As well as this it will undoubtedly save you a lot of stress and frustration trying to work everything out for yourself. It is also a very time consuming task so hiring tax consultants London to do it for you saves large amounts of time which leaves you free to concentrate on other aspects of the business.

The person or company that you employ will work hard to balance your books whilst reducing your tax liability at the same time. As well as this they will provide you with a financial service that will minimise your taxes and therefore maximise your profits. Initially you may think that you can’t afford tax consultants London or you just may not want to pay for one, however, when they are maximising your profits for you in time they will pay for themselves and you will probably wonder why you didn’t start using the service earlier.

One of the most important aspects of what tax consultants London do is to advise their clients on all aspects of tax. This is to give them a clear understanding of what they’re dealing with and what they have to do. Once people have become more knowledgeable about tax and how it works they find it easier to run the financial side of their business.

Files will be analysed, problems will be solved and opportunities will be pointed out. This helps to ensure that a company gets the most out of what they are doing and are more likely to make a profit. Tax consultants London can help make a business so much easier to run because people will be more clear about what they are doing. This will help to improve any company no matter what sector they are in as the owner will be more knowledgeable.

At Wilkins Kennedychartered accountants london we provide a vast range of professional advisory services to the main, owner managed businesses. These include but are not limited to audit, accountancy and taxation advice.

No matter what business you’re in, unless your customers are happy, you won’t succeed, and this is why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is so important. More important than sales, or marketing, or any other part of the company that wouldn’t survive without customers; yet customer relationship management is still low on the priority list of so many companies today.

To know how to maximise your businesses potential, you need to know what your customers are thinking. After all, if you feel that your customers are happy because profits up, it may have more to do with your recent price rise, as opposed to them actually buying any more. Additionally, if you have a change in personnel, is this going to affect a relationship with an existing customer?

This is where good management skills come in. If the result of a salesperson leaving means your company is going to lose business from a particular client, you can stay one step ahead of this by smoothing the waters with that particular client, assuring them their service won’t suffer accordingly.

Depending on the size of your company, you will obviously have different priorities and goals. A small company, for instance, may be focused on building its existing client base, whereas a larger company may have its priorities in expanding globally.

But without a strong existing and loyal customer base, these plans and ideas would simply be that – plans and ideas, difficult to implement with the current climate. However, by using customer relationship management, you can ensure that you have a strong customer base to build from. After all, the best form of advertising is still word-of-mouth; keep your customers happy, and you’ll soon see your business grow.

Since Customer Relationship Management is all about customer relationship management, the good thing is that is can be used in so many ways, and it isn’t limited to just the service side of your company. No matter what department you use Customer Relationship Management in the options are endless:

- Sales teams can see what sales opportunities weren’t closed, and determine the reason for that to improve upon the next time
- Accounting can see what accounts were closed, and use the feedback from customers to try and win them back and ensure that whatever the problem was is not repeated
- Customer services can make better use of their time by identifying why a certain problem customer is continuously having problems, and come up with a solution to that problem

At CPiOcustomer relationship management whether you are looking for a fully integrated ERP solution or taking your first steps into CRM, CPiO is ideally placed to guide and support you.

Risk management for business is a very important aspect of any company. This is because it identifies and treats any risks that an organisation may face. It develops a strategy in order to tackle potential risks and prevent any failures from happening. It is impossible to predict what can happen to a company and when which is why everyone should look into risk management for business in case something does happen.

An exposure to a risk could lead to disaster for any company which is why it’s important to assess the probability of it happening. This process uses the correct tools, methods and processes needed in order to manage risks and control them. Employees and employers can feel a lot more safe and confident knowing that these steps have been implemented because with them there is less chance of a disaster occurring.

The reason why risk management for business is so successful is because it identifies the risks before they occur. This gives companies the time and space to prepare for it and to put solutions in place if needed. If a business is aware of any risks they have then they can do things to prevent them from occurring so there is less chance of a downfall.

There are many different processes involved in risk management for business to help ensure that the job has been done correctly and accurately. Some of these steps include identifying the risks relating to the business being analysed, reviewing the probability of these risks occurring, understanding the risks and how to respond to them and implementing the tools required in order to prevent the risk from happening.

All of the steps involved in risk management for business result in improved decision making, planning and prioritising skills. As well as this it allows company owners to anticipate any problems before they happen. All of these things help to improve delivery within a businesses time frame and budget and help improve the overall running of the business.

Risk management for business is extremely important if you are venturing into a completely new market and business. This is because it is imperative to know how well or bad a market is doing before investing in it. If you open up a business in a market that is in a decline you are very unlikely to succeed.

It is no surprise that so many companies look into risk management for business. It can mean the difference between succeeding or not and also helps people feel more secure about the future.

At Wilkins Kennedychartered accountants london we provide a vast range of professional advisory services to the main, owner managed businesses. These include but are not limited to audit, accountancy and taxation advice.

The recently published Irish budget for 2009 will require a number of changes to be kept in mind by Irish payroll companies. The most relevant of these are as follows:

INCOME TAX CHANGES
Personal Tax Package
The main elements, including associated costs, of the personal tax package, which take effect from 1 January 2009, are as follows:
Changes to Income Tax
Full Year Cost
Eurom
New Standard Rate Bands from 1 January 2009:
Changes to Income Tax Full Year CostEurom
New Standard Rate Bands from 1 January 2009: Current Proposed
Single Euro35,400 Euro36,400
Married One Income Euro44,400 Euro45,400
Married Two Incomes Euro70,800 Euro72,800
*With a maximum transferability between spouses of Euro44,400 in 2008 and Euro45,400 in 2009 200
Income Levy Full Year YieldEurom
Income levy of 1% on income up to Euro100,100 (Euro1,925 per week) and of 2% on income in excess of Euro100,100 (this levy excludes social welfare payments, contributory and non-contributory pensions) 1,180
Total (yield) 980

Income Levy
Full Year Yield
Eurom
Income levy of 1% on income up to Euro100,100 (Euro1,925 per week) and of 2% on income in excess of Euro100,100 (this levy excludes social welfare payments, contributory and non-contributory pensions)
1,180
Total (yield)
980

Income Levy
A new income levy is being introduced that will apply at the rate of 1% to gross income up to Euro100,100 per annum or Euro1,925 per week. A rate of 2% will apply to income in excess of that amount.
The levy is paid on gross income, before deductions for capital allowances or contributions to pensions.
The levy does not apply to social welfare payments including contributory and non-contributory social welfare pensions.

This measure is expected to yield Euro815 million in 2009 and Euro1,180m in a full year.

OTHER INCOME TAX
Mortgage Interest Relief
The current rate of mortgage interest relief is being increased from 1 January 2009 for first-time buyers from 20% to 25% in year 1 and year 2 and to 22.5% in years 3, 4 and 5. The additional relief will be available to new first-time buyers and first-time buyers who have bought a house in the last 4 years.
The rate of mortgage interest relief for non-first-time buyers is being reduced from 20% to 15% from 1 January 2009.

It is estimated that this measure will be broadly revenue neutral.

Health Expenses Relief
Health Expenses relief will be granted at the standard rate only from 1 January 2009, with the exception of nursing home expenses which will be standard rated from 1 January 2010.

This measure is expected to yield Euro120 million in 2010 and Euro150m in a full year.
Levy on car parking facilities provided to employees by their employers.

A flat rate levy of Euro200 per annum will be charged on employees whose employer provides them with car parking facilities. The levy will be confined to employer provided car parking facilities situated in the main urban centres.

The estimated yield from this measure is Euro5 million in 2009 and Euro10 million in a full year.

Cycle to work scheme
From 1 January 2009, the provision of bicycles and associated safety equipment by employers to employees who agree to use the bicycles to cycle to work will be treated as a tax exempt benefit-in-kind. The exemption may only apply once in any five year period in respect of any employee. There will be a limit on the value of such purchases of Euro1,000 for each employee. The scheme may also be implemented via salary sacrifice arrangements, whereby an employee agrees to forego part of his/her salary to cover the costs associated with the purchase of the bicycle and associated safety equipment. Where such salary sacrifice arrangements are implemented, they must be completed over a maximum period of twelve months.

The estimated cost of this scheme is Euro0.2 million in 2009 and Euro0.4 million in a full year.

Increase in the Specified Rates for Preferential Home Loans and Other Loans
An employee in receipt of a preferential loan is charged income tax on the difference between the interest actually paid and the amount which would have been payable at the specified rates of interest for the loans. To reflect changes in interest rates, the specified rate in respect of loans (other than home loans) is being increased from 13% to 15%. These changes will take effect from 1 January 2009.
The expected yield from this measure is Euro1.5 million in 2009 and Euro2 million in a full year.
Tax relief for the donations of heritage items
The tax relief in respect of the donation of heritage items to approved State institutions is being limited to 80% of the market value of the heritage item donated.

The tax relief in respect of the donation of heritage property to the Irish Heritage Trust is being limited to 80% of the market value of the heritage property donated.

The ceiling on the aggregate value of donations qualifying for each of these schemes in any one year will remain at Euro6 million.

Change in basis of Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) charge for company cars to relate it to the cars level of CO2 emissions
The Finance Bill will contain provisions to change the basis of the BIK charge on company cars to relate it to the cars level of CO2 emissions.
It is estimated that this measure will be broadly revenue neutral.

PRSI CHANGES
Employee PRSI annual ceiling
As from 1 January 2009, the PRSI contribution ceiling will increase from Euro50,700 to Euro52,000.
VAT
Increase in standard VAT rate from 21 per cent to 21.5 per cent.
The standard rate of VAT will be increased from 21 to 21.5 per cent with effect from 1 December 2008. This increase will apply to all goods and services which are currently subject to VAT at 21 per cent.
This measure is estimated to yield Euro208 million in 2009 and Euro227 million in a full year.

EXCISES
Increase in Mineral Oil Tax on Petrol
The mineral oil tax on petrol will be increased by 8 cent per litre (including VAT) with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008.
This measure is estimated to yield Euro22 million in 2008, and Euro166 million in 2009.

Tobacco Excise
The Excise Duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes is being increased by 50 cent (including VAT) with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products, with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008.
This measure is estimated to yield Euro16 million in 2008 and Euro105 million in 2009.

Alcohol Excise
Excise Duty on a standard bottle of wine is being increased by 50 cent (including VAT) with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008. Pro-rata increases are also being applied to other wine, and certain other fermented and intermediate products.
This measure is estimated to yield Euro5 million in 2008 and Euro31 million in 2009.
A reduced rate of excise duty, at 50% of the full appropriate excise duty rate for beer and cider, will be introduced for low alcohol beer and cider (beer and cider products with an alcohol by volume content of 2.8% or less), with effect from midnight on 14 October 2008.
This measure is expected to cost the exchequer Euro2 million in 2009 and Euro3 million in a full year.
Excise Licences
A range of alcohol-related licensing fees, including off-licences, but excluding pub licences, are being increased to Euro500 in each case. These increases will apply from the appropriate annual renewal dates in 2009.
This measure is estimated to yield Euro2 million in 2009 and Euro2.2 million in a full year.

Michael Kelly is Managing Director of Irish Payroll Company Irish-Payroll.com. The company provides a range of payroll services as well as bookkeeping services. Further information http://www.irish-payroll.com .

Many years ago when I first began to operate my own small business I learned the hard way what the difference between the two methods of accounting were. And I only learned the difference when I made the decision to hire an outside bookkeeper to handle my accounting functions. In fact I learned the difference because I had been using the accrual basis method and the accountant tried to switch me over to the cash basis method. Without bothering to tell me!

You see because my business at the time involved billing customers and then waiting to be paid I had automatically adopted the accrual method. If I hadn’t then I would have had difficulty tracking my monthly sales figures and expenses. This is because when you use accrual basis accounting you bill a customer and record the transaction immediately. Whether you have been paid or not. The same goes for your own bills. When you receive the bill you record it and later when you actually pay the bill you go back to it and mark it as paid. This allows for a more even tracking of sales and expenses on a monthly basis.

The other way is called the cash basis method. Quite simply you record the transaction when you are paid for your goods or services. This method is good for a number of businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores. In fact it is fine for any small business that does not have to invoice its customers. Paying your bills works the same way as well. You record the bill when you pay it.

The two methods are actually very simple to understand but for reporting purposes to the IRS as an example they are very different. The IRS generally prefers the accrual method but you don’t have to use it. But some businesses use the cash method even though they have to wait for payments. They do this to avoid paying some taxes for the year at least temporarily because the revenue didn’t get recorded when the job was completed. It was recorded when it was paid which allowed it to be carried over into the next year. That’s one reason some businesses prefer the cash method.

So what happened with the accountant? Well I thought at the time that handing over the accounting functions to an outside bookkeeper would be a prudent move. In my case it wasn’t. I had been using the accrual method and once I had handed over my books they basically started me off from scratch using the cash basis method. The first time we sat down to go over the books I realized the problem. I had no idea how well my sales were doing because I hadn’t been paid for many of the jobs I had completed. And I didn’t know my total expenses either because the bills hadn’t been paid yet.

Of course this wasn’t going to do at all. And to top it off I hadn’t been asked which method I preferred. Once I recognized the problem I thought it could be worked out. But the person that was doing my accounting work told me she only used the cash basis method and wouldn’t make any exceptions. So in the end I fired her and spent the next couple of weeks straightening my accounting books back out. So that I could get the information I needed. So knowing the difference between cash and accrual accounting is very important.

Cash Miller is an expert in small business affairs. To receive more tips that can help your business and allow you to crush your competition you can sign up for his FREE Newsletter. Once you’ve signed up your going to receive access to 5 FREE E-Books that can help your business prosper. And as a Bonus FREE Newsletter Members can expect to receive an additional FREE E-Book each week.

With today’s technology everything is very much available with a click of your mouse. For those running an online business there is still the financial side that has to be taken care of just as in the traditional business setting. Keeping a record of the financial aspect is a must. This includes all the expenses and the income of the business.

This procedure is called book keeping. If you have no basic knowledge of book keeping then this can create problems to your business. Employing an in-house book keeper is the way most of the businesses do to be able to keep track of their finances. This can be costly and very impractical since tax sessions are not done monthly.

There are now many book keeping services offering their expertise to small businesses. Outsourcing for book keeping services is going to save you time and money. These days outsourcing has become a very helpful alternative to a lot of business.

Choose companies that will handle your books and make sure the inputs are correct and accurate. If there are mistakes that the person or company makes this will put you into a lot of trouble with the government and its tax agency. All the figures should match and if there is any negligence then there will be an investigation and even audited by the government.

Since there are a lot of things to consider in book keeping it is a lot better that a professional will handle this and that you can concentrate more on your business.

There are book keeping services that are seen online. Some would provide you outsourcing services while others can be hired as fulltime employees in making the books. The book keeping company should be reputable in being able to get the job done. The staff should be professional book keepers and they are experienced in this field.

Check if the book keeping company has a lot of clients. Having a lot of clients can mean that there are a lot of companies that have trusted their services. You can also ask other businesses what book keeping company they are using and do they recommend it.

Remembering these things when outsourcing the book keeping part of your business will help you better concentrate and to have more freedom. This will not only help in running the business but also saving you a lot of money. Following some of the suggestions you can get the right book keeper.

The author is a freelance writer and also writes about business
topics such as call center
and call center in the philippines.

The Cash Flow Statement is made up of three sections. The first section is operating activities. Operating activities include your companies profit or loss and non-cash items that affect your profit without affecting cash. Examples of these types of non-cash expenses are depreciation and bad-debt expense. Also included in this section are changes to your operating assets and liabilities. Operating assets and liabilities include accounts receivable, prepaid expenses, accounts payable and accrued liabilities. A common feature of operating assets and liabilities is these items have been reflected in the Profit & Loss Statement in a period different from the period in which they were paid.

The second section of the Cash Flow Statement is investing activities. Investing activities are items such as property and equipment or loans receivables. An interesting aspect of investing activities assets is that they, unlike operating assets, generally do not affect the companies profit. In other words, investing assets do not represent revenue or expense items.

The third and final section of the Cash Flow Statement is financing activities. Financing activities are debt and equity items. If you increase or decrease your debt, that change is included in financing activities. Equity changes such a capital contributions or shareholder distributions also are reflected under financing activities. Like investing activities assets, financing activities liabilities and equity do not represent revenue or expense items.

The sum of the three sections: Operating activities, investing activities and financing activities is your cash flow for the period being reported. A positive number indicates an increase in cash and decrease indicates a decrease in cash. Now it is time to take a closer look at the Cash Flow Statement and see why your cash flow is different from your profit.

Compare your cash flow to your profit. If your cash flow is higher than your profit, you are either liquidating assets or increasing your debt, which is negative for your business. On the other hand, it could be that you are increasing your capital, which is a positive for your business.

If your cash flow is less than your profit, you are increasing your assets, such as purchasing property and equipment for future growth or paying down your debt. These are both positives for your business. But it could mean that your money is being tied up in accounts receivable because collections have deteriorated and your business is weakening. Or it could be that you are decreasing your capital, which is a negative for your business.

Cash flow is an indicator of where you are spending your money and the future strength of your business. Small business owners generally do not realize the importance of comparing their past years Cash Flow Statements to measure their business growth. Some of them are ignorant of the basic rules that one should follow to compare their past Cash Flow Statement with the current one. So now that you are aware of these formulas take a few minutes and review your Cash Flow Statement. Compare it with last year and see how your business is progressing. You will be surprised at how much valuable information is contained in your Cash Flow Statement.

Debby Jones is a freelance writer who is known for writing his reviews & thoughts on diverse topics & industry. His current article features his tips on how you can apply various accounting formulas to your Cash Flow Statements & compare your business success of the past years. To hire your own Virtual Accounting firm Visit DawsonCPA.com

In this article, we will discuss some of the most common bookkeeping mistakes made by small business owners that you absolutely need to avoid if you want grow your business:

1. Handle all bookkeeping work by yourself. Especially for a small business, it is very common for the owner to have a self-employed mindset. The owner will try to do it all by himself because of budget constraints. Although it does not seems like there are a lot of bookkeeping to be done at the beginning, you must develop a habit to record your book frequently so as to make your job easier in the future.

2. Do not tally your book with your business bank account. It is very important to make sure that what is on the bank statement is the same as your books. As long as the numbers tallied, you can be assured that there is no bank payment or receipt that have been missed out by you.

3. Forget to update your books. Sometimes, it is very easy to forget updating your book if you buy goods or services with cash or your company credit card. This will create trouble in the future as the numbers on your book will not tally with the numbers on the bank statement.

4. Not using the right bookkeeping software. Bookkeeping software can help reduce your workload and make your recordings more accurate. You should invest on the right software for your industry and train your staff to use it.

5. Forget to backup your data. You should backup all the data in your computer in case of any emergency. It only takes you very little time so there is no excuse for you not to do it.

6. Not organizing your information properly. You need to organize your information into the right category for easy reference. This will keep your recording simple and consistent for anyone who takes over your bookkeeping work.

7. Not registering for taxable sales. If your company’s total sales reaches a certain amount (depending on your country of residence), you need to file for registration. Failure to do so may result in fines.

8. Do not have a separate business bank account. Even though you are a self-employed, it is a good practice to open a separate bank account solely for business transactions. This will make your bookkeeping job easier and makes everything much clearer.

These are 8 common bookkeeping mistakes made by many small business owners. Hope that with this article, you can avoid making the same costly mistakes.

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