Steps to Prepare for Year End Accounting

Author: Michelle Jones
It is important to prepare for year end accounting in advance, because you will have a whole year of business to compress into financial reports that must be accurate because they may be subject to audit. Most businesses have a number of different taxes to consider: corporate tax, sales tax, payroll taxes . . .
Your year end reports are the most important reports of the entire year, and will not only be the basis of your tax returns, but also of your future financial and strategic planning. Here are the steps you should take when preparing for your year end accounting.

1.  Prepare Ahead of Time
A well run business should be confident that its reports are accurate, but there are steps you can take in advance of compiling them both to ensure accuracy and to make the whole process easier. The first thing you should do is to prepare a checklist to make sure you miss nothing - nobody is perfect, and checklists help you to cover every eventuality and aspect of your business. Some of the items below can be included in your checklist.

2.  Write Off Your Bad Debts
Bad debts or accounts receivables that are now worthless can be written off to clean up your financial report. You cannot just write of the debt for reporting purposes, but must balance expenditure with income in a way that conforms to GAAP. 
You should therefore make an adjustment by estimating the total amount of bad debt owed and set up an allowance for bad debt for that sum, then debit the bad debt from accounts receivable and credit it to the allowance.

3.  Defer Your Business Income
If you can defer income to the first month of the new financial year, then you can reduce your tax liability. A lot depends on the legal structure of your business, but every cent you defer to the next year will be one cent less you will be taxed on this year - but make sure your cash flow can tolerate it. Also, make any charitable donations now, since these can then be claimed in this year's tax report.

4.  Check Your Inventory
Write down any inventory that is overvalued, and also order any supplies or equipment currently required or that may be required early next year. Again, that reduces your tax liability, but you should avoid overstocking because that ties up cash. There is a balance that you can tilt your way. 

5.  Check Your Statements and Accounts
Review all your financial statements to make sure they are error-free and accurate. Check all your vendor statements, and make sure that you have receipts or bills for every item. Humans can make mistakes, even with computer inputs. For example:

a)  Make sure your general ledger bank balance matches your actual bank statement.
b)  Check the recorded fixed assets against the actual view-able assets: are they all still owned by your company and has the depreciation been properly calculated and reported.
c)  Have all prepaid items such as insurances and service contracts been correctly apportioned.
d)  Has everything been recorded correctly:  payroll tax liabilities, payables and deductibles?
e)  Have all debts been included, and are all debts recorded extant or have any been paid off or transferred to the bad debt allowance?
f)  Are all recorded accounts payable or receivable correct or have any been paid by the debtor or by you?

You can likely think of more, but these are simple checks essential when you prepare for year end accounting.  While some can be checked regularly throughout the year, others can be carried out just prior to the report being compiled. If you are hiring an accountant to prepare your reports then it is even more important that all this information is correct or you could face additional costly services other than just preparation of your tax returns.
These are just some steps to prepare for year end accounting that can help you to make this process as painless as possible, but if you find yourself running out of time you can always file for an extension.

Benefits of a Bookkeeper
By using a bookkeeper you can save time and money by outsourcing your financial analysis, day to day bookkeeping, paying and recording invoices and bills and generally ensuring that, come the year end, your accounts and reports are all in good order.
It is very important to any business to have clearly understood up-to-date records that measure its performance and financial health. You would surely find it very useful to know how your business is performing on a regular basis and to understand where it is succeeding, and which aspects of the business may be under-performing.

A good bookkeeping service will enable you to identify areas for improvement, to avoid tax penalties and to ensure that you are confident for your books to be audited at any time of the year. All the above steps to prepare for year end accounting can be taken out of your hands by using a professional bookkeeping service that does it all for you.

More tips on how to prepare for year end accounting and other financial topics can be found on B&M Financial Management Services, LLC http://www.bmfms.com where you will find also more information on how to run a business effectively and profitably.

About the Author
Michelle Jones is a financial expert with extensive skills and experience assisting client meet their business financial goals.  B & M Financial Management Services  offers an array of financial and accounting services help small business owners, entrepreneurs and managers achieve their goal toward success.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/accounting-articles/steps-to-prepare-for-year-end-accounting-5555806.html

NAME YOUR OWN PRICE

When was the last time you walked in to a company looking to purchase something and were told to just go ahead and name your own price?  Those 'deals' are typically reserved for those "For Sale" items you see on Craigslist such as a truck or musical instrument where you are invited to 'or best offer'.

Here at Office Remote Control we are taking a huge step of faith and now through December 31, 2012, we are offering most of our services to you "OBO". That's right - make us an offer.  YOU tell US how much you want to pay.  (professional insults will be ignored).

Have a one-time or occasional task that needs to get done?  Don't really have the man-hours to assign it to someone without having a human relations crisis on your hands?  Give the task to your Virtual Assistant and NAME YOUR OWN PRICE!

You know that one thing you've been meaning to get accomplished on a regular basis and haven't gotten around to it?  Yeah - that one.  You know, the spreadsheet and then that report thing.  You're over-worked, under-staffed, and just plain tired of all you have to do!  Give the task to your Virtual Assistant and NAME YOUR OWN PRICE!

You've been inconsistent with your monthly newsletters - in fact - you're lucky if they actually get done every month.  Give the task to your Virtual Assistant and NAME YOUR OWN PRICE!

Check out our website and then let us know what you need done.  Share your wish list with us - your dreams - your hopes - the things you want to get done...and see how your Virtual Assistant can make it come to fruition!

Credit Restoration – A Game Changer

Credit Restoration - A Game Changer

Submitted By Renee Backus, Credit Specialist

http://www.gocreditmatters.com/

Credit Restoration is perhaps the single most powerful method of increasing a person’s credit score.  Achieving the highest score possible can drastically affect the house we live in, the car we drive, and the cost of interest and insurance rates we pay.   Credit scores are critical to our quality of life… and for many, credit restoration is the key to obtaining the highest score possible.

What is Credit Restoration?  Simply put, it is the removal of derogatory information from your credit report.  Your credit score is a calculation of the data in your credit report, including positive things such as payments made on time, as well as derogatory items such as late payments, collections, judgments, tax liens, etc.   Obviously, the more positive information and less derogatory information – the higher your credit score. 

Most people don’t realize that information stays in their credit report for 7 years or longer, even if the item is paid.  So by removing some of the derogatory information from your credit report now, instead of waiting 7 years, credit restoration can dramatically increase your credit score now. 

How does it Work?  Studies have shown that nearly 30% of all credit reports contain serious errors resulting in the denial of credit.  Because of this, the Fair Credit Reporting Act includes provisions that allow consumers to dispute information in their credit reports with the credit reporting agencies (CRA's).  Upon receiving a dispute, the CRA's have 30 days to verify the information reported by the original creditor.  If the information is deemed inaccurate or unverified, then it must be deleted entirely from the credit report.  As derogatory items are deleted from the credit report, credit scores increase.

In addition to disputes made with CRA's, other dispute strategies can be used directly with creditors using the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Billing Act.  Using dispute strategies to challenge information in our credit reports often can result in half or more of the derogatory items being deleted from a credit report.  This can make a profound difference on the credit score, often increasing it by 100+ points!

Renee’ Backus is the co-owner of Credit Matters, Inc., a registered Credit Service Organization with the State of Wisconsin. Since 2003 Credit Matters has assisted over 3000 consumers and small business owners with credit restoration and consultation services.  For assistance with your credit management or score improvement needs, call me at: 866-895-4490.

New Possibilities for Call Center Business

Educational Institutions. New Possibilities for Call Center Business

Author: Megan

Today, more and more corporations are investing in call centers. Large and small businesses are willing to employ teams of professional workers to handle all questions and problems of their customers. In order to start a successful call center business, it is desirable to study a number of advantages provided by college and university students.

Certainly, call center location near universities and colleges can become a determinant factor for the call center business, as students are an intelligent and educated but rather low-cost labor source. Even though it is unlikely that these students will become permanent employees, they are usually willing to take part-time jobs to earn extra money; therefore, they are always ready to take odd and night shifts. 
Many community colleges all over the country have created certification programs for skills that make an integral part of the work at any call center. Year after year, vocational education is gaining popularity among modern school leavers; it is another chance for call centers to build a strong team of qualified transient workers.

Before rating the area of interest, one has to study the location and infrastructure of educational centers. Some important questions should be answered, like whether the community is ready to support it, or whether local educational centers offer programs that prepare people for high technology jobs, and provide students with possibilities to develop high tech and communication skills. These issues will determine success of the call center in the very near future. It is also crucial to know whether graduates prefer to stay or leave the community. Another important issue, one has to study whether there is any other industry that dominates in this community, because it can become the competitor in attracting low-cost labor source. If one study the economical and social situation of the community in details, it will be much easier to work out an effective and successful business-plan for any call center project.
Every corporation should weigh all the pros and cons before deciding whether to use students' labor or not. Many students can become a low-cost labor source for any business. Their academic credentials are often rather high. However, one should realize that students are usually only transient workers; therefore, they put their job on the second or even third place. Classes, grades, and extra curricular activities are much more important to them than any part-time job.

Many companies prefer not to employ students; however, they underestimate the potential of this low-cost labor source. Educational institutions are interested in preparing qualified employees; therefore, they are even ready to change their curriculum in order to meet the expectations and requirements of the businesses, which include call centers, as well.



About the Author
The call center cloud solutions offered by Syteg is used by many businesses across the world. Many mid-sized companies are fans of mid-sized business call center solution because they care about brand image.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/educational-institutions-new-possibilities-for-call-center-business-6212149.html

Advantages of Business Networking

Author: Tref Griffiths

Business networking is more than just a tactic that some people use to draw in more clientele. For most small business owners, proper networking skills are necessary for their continued existence and success.

Networking takes many forms. Whether a business owner is cold-calling clients on the phone, or meeting other business owners in the area for breakfast or lunch, the networking never stops. Networking leads to referral business, and referral business leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Many business owners choose to become part of organizations such as their local Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is an excellent way for business owners to participate in business advocacy and lobbying efforts, and provides a way for business owners to band together for their own protection. Chambers of Commerce around the world hold both formal meetings and informal "meet-and-greets" during which business owners can discuss the current business climate in their given area, and formulate ways to overcome obstacles such as local governmental regulations and workforce problems.

Regardless of the type of networking activities that a business owner conducts, they are still responsible for presenting themselves in a way that is both professional and forceful. Without a forceful but polite demeanor, business owners may fall prey to the most difficult of obstacles, word of mouth and the rumor mill. If a business owner doesn't conduct themselves with the utmost dignity, they may be labeled as unstable, and other business owners may elect to exclude them from future meetings and planning sessions. This leads to a rapid breakdown in communication, and a corresponding drop in sales.

A business owner that is well-versed in networking skills can be nearly assured a profitable business climate and a steady stream of both new customers and repeat business. While new customers are essential to grow any business, repeat customers are equally important, as they keep the business going even during lean economic times.

Networking skills tend to be a mixture of both learned behavior and natural charisma. A business owner that can harness both aspects of the networking trade can maintain an intricate web of contacts and vendors. With that network in place, new business can always be found and the business owner can always ensure that they are being presented with the best options available to guarantee the success of their endeavours.


About the Author
Tref Griffiths is the CEO of www.Networkology.com

Not Another Article on Time Management!!!!

Time Management Myth - Secret Method to Accomplishing More in Less Time - Double Your Results Today

Author: Showayne

Time management is often spoken of as being something important and I understand why they say this. I happen to have a bit different perspective on all this. Most people wait to do things and last minute stuff doesn't always turn out so good. So the better way to be more efficient with my time and more productive is to be goal oriented intertwined with timing.

I get down and dirty for a long period of time, a good block of time is dedicated to one thing and then I take a break for as long as I feel good and ready to go again. This burst of laser focus on one specific task for a good chunk of time far out ways doing it in little spurts whenever there's free time, here and there... Here's why.

Let me first say that the most successful work from home people I personally know work this same principle and this confirms for me that anyone who tries this way will see greater results from their projects.

How this works is let's say you have 30 pages on your website that need 10 backlinks to each page weekly. That means I would have to be setting up 300 backlinks weekly for all my pages. I would break this down into a few chunks of work to do daily.

So it would look like 50 backlinks daily spread across all my post. By the end of the week it would be a total of over 350 weekly, so this now becomes a breeze to accomplish and each day I will not feel good until my task is complete.

Another example is if you want to create 300 articles to paste on your blog monthly, how would that change your business? It will drive traffic to your site and give it a nice boost, so how to go about accomplishing this?

I would look at the amount I wanted monthly and divide it by 30 so I know what I need to do daily to reach this goal. So each day I would need to write 10 articles and by the time the month ends I would have 300 ready to be posted wherever I chose!

This is how the successful people I know organize their work and it may help you as well. Once you get into the habit of organizing things in this way of burst of massive work done in blocks of time, you won't be able to help but see great results from your efforts.

If you hang on long enough and make up your mind that this will work for you then eventually everything will start falling into place, so persevere!

People are most often hesitant to work with a Virtual Assistant.  Many times you will never meet them face-to-face except for Skype or other video calling.  Although the benefits often out-weight the downfalls, it takes a certain amount of research to determine if this is the appropriate avenue for a company. 

We not only offer services but we also work closely with potential clients to walk them through the decision-making process.  We never push, we never ‘hard sell’.  We take as much time as the client needs to make an educated, informed decision.

We are pleased to share with you that everyone who has taken the leap of faith and contracted either a service or a one-time task with us – wants more.  The satisfaction rate is very high and our clients are typically in it for the long haul.

We are so confident that we are going to give you two email addresses to contact to get a first-hand recommendation of our services.  The first is an Itinerant Pastor in Mississippi.  She is the founder of Emmanuel Connections, a non-profit, religious organization.  She is Pastor Vicki Gladding and can be reached at vgladding.gmail.com

The second is the CEO of Team Gerlach, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin area realtor who specializes in helping people to realize their dream of home ownership through rent to own or lease purchase options.   He is Dave Gerlach and can be reached at daveg@milwaukeeleasetoownhomes.com

We encourage you to contact them and ask them the tough questions like, how quick is our job turn-around time, how confident are they that their information is secure, and do they find our rates to be reasonable.  Ask them how they feel about the fact that we utilize contracts and not simple word-of-mouth to secure work. 

There is a HUGE difference between ORCVirtual and, well, virtually any other company.  We have a team approach.  When you contract us you are securing the services of many people who have the experience and expertise you require.  You will always have the same virtual assistant but you know that when your VA has questions or issues, they simply call on other team members to help and you still pay for just your one virtual assistant.

Be careful when hiring a Virtual Assistant by the hour.  It is important for both parties to know how quickly you need the work done and how long it may take – but when you start to pay your VA by the hour – you have just entered the employee-zone.  The IRS has a very clear line of demarcation between an employee and an independent contractor.  You will never get a quote from us outlining an hourly rate.  We will figure out a pricing structure to meet your needs and bill whatever you need straight out as an invoice that does not include any hourly rate. 

Next time we’ll outline what exactly the IRS is looking for in determining if you have a virtual assistant as an independent contractor, or an employee.

Dream It and Do It With a Virtual Assistant!

What have we learned from Mark Zuckerburg that we can actually use in our small business?  The first lesson is one we can learn from most fast-rising, hard-working, millionaires and billionaires:  stick to your dream, stick to your convictions and don’t stop until you achieve it.

Steve Jobs left a strong and notorious legacy.  When developing the iPhone IV, he was never satisfied with the color of white.  He wanted a white phone and would not let his developers settle for anything but the white that Steve Jobs had in his head.  In fact, the iPhone IV could have been launched earlier had Mr Jobs given in to the other white palettes.  But he refused to because he stuck to his guns and convictions.  What he got was a white phone that hit the market like a speeding bullet and that did exactly what he wanted done.

One of the bottom lines is that neither of these two men settled for less and they were always striving for something greater.

That’s one of the goals we have in mind when working with our clients.  We want them to strive to better, to offer a better service to their clients, and to push out a better product.  We partner with companies and individuals who want to offer and be something better than they are today.  They aren’t going to settle in to where they are today – comfortable and cozy – because that just means we’re not looking at our competition and when they overtake our share of the marketplace, we never saw it coming and it is too late.

If you aren’t willing to go one more mile and to become just a little better today than you were tomorrow – why are you in business in the first place?  Why did you enter this race if complacency is your comfort?  I bet if you ask every racecar driver who has ever been in a race, why they race, they will tell you it is to win.  Sure, the race is fun; but winning is the goal.  To do a little better than you did the last time is their focus.  That’s why we keep statistics and watch our website visitor counts.  That’s why we do research to find out what the other guy is doing so we can do it better. 

Take a hard look at Virtual Assistance – we CAN make you better.  Together we can help you improve those statistics and make your competitors sweat just a little more than they did yesterday.  Together we can help you achieve your wildest dreams for you and your business. 

Top Five Service Areas

As January comes to a close we take a look forward, not backward.  We looked backward all of December and in to January and looking backward is good to do but not a good place to linger.

At ORCVirtual we have decided to stream-line our business focus.  We began by offering over 250 products and services, utilizing a large team of independent contractors to meet the needs of our clients.  We have made the decision to focus on five primary areas of virtual assistance.

REAL ESTATE ASSISTANCE

Our clients in real estate and property investment know the amazing benefits of having a virtual assistant.  We work behind the scenes, in our own office, using our own equipment, to make them look even better than they already do.  We work hard to drive customers to their websites and phone.  We strategize with our clients to create the best possible plan.  Whether it is posting of ads on various websites, editing print materials, taking and cleaning up property photos, data entry, customer/client database creation and maintenance, or performing short sale document preparation:  we are proud to be the quiet force behind the powerful realtors and investors.

CLERGY AND PASTORAL SUPPORT

Our team has countless years of experience in working with local churches, non-profit organizations, and itinerant pastors and clergy.  We have three ordained pastors on our staff who have heard the call to assist and support fellow clergy and pastors.  Our services for clergy are as vast and different as the many walks of life from which they come.  They include administrative assistance, writing, editing, proofreading, blog ghost writing, social network maintenance, web site maintenance, travel arrangements, e-news, e-letters, e-campaigns, budgets and accounting and so much more.  We even have a composer on our team and someone with over 20 years of creative worship planning.  When are blessed to be able to answer the prayers of our brothers and sisters in pastoral ministry.

GRAPHIC ARTS AND DESIGN

Our graphic artists are some of the best in the country.  Our graphics director has worked on projects for such companies as Associated Bank, Harley Davidson, Aurora HealthCare and the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts as well as countless small businesses and individuals.  His talents range from website clean-up, to logos and branding, signage and photo manipulation/restoration.  Our clients appreciate our attention to detail and the fact that everything must get the approval of our graphics director before the final product goes to the client. 

LIFE DESIGN

We are pleased to partner with LifeDesignsByEnrique. Enrique is a multi-gifted individual and everything he does can be placed under the umbrella of ‘life design’. Whether it’s redecorating with your current furniture and art to a complete remodel of your home, he can do it.  Weddings, receptions, business parties and gatherings and other functions are one of his specialties.  Have a home you want to remodel but the price tag is really high?  Work with Enrique to have the best possible remodel at a price you simply won’t believe.  LifeDesign – because you live it – let Enrique help you design it.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE

Under this category our work can include the following:

Research	Editing	Proofreading
Writing	Ghost Writing	Blog Updating
Social Media Maintenance	Data Entry	Database
Typing	Dictation	And Much More

If you would hire an administrative assistant to perform what is needed, you will benefit greatly from considering a virtual administrative assistant.

Our company is still committed to excellent – committed to exceeding your expectations – and every other bumper sticker that the other guys are using to brand themselves. We are simply the best one-stop-shop for your administrative needs. 

Thanks for visiting our blog.  And thanks for putting your confidence in Office Remote Control.

Time To Re-Energize

The month is just about half over and its not too late to jump on board with our incredible Name-Your-Own-Price fiesta!  That’s right – name your own price on most of our services (within professional reason).  You’ll be surprised what types of offers we’ve been accepting.  Why are we doing this? Is this an act of desperation?  Are things that bad?  On the contrary, things are running so well we wanted to give you this unique opportunity to try us out. See if we’re worth the hype. 

From clergy and pastoral support, to non-profit administration, to real estate and graphic arts and design; we are still your one stop shop.

Now that you are almost done with year-end details it’s time to consider something very important to the health of your business:  your health.  Burnout of small business owners happens every day.  With fewer dollars to spend on staff, many owners find themselves doing everything.  Some people can handle it while others can tend to burn out.

Three simple techniques to help avoid burnout.

1)      Take a break.  That’s right.  Step away for a moment. Breath – maybe get away for the entire weekend.  The business will be there when you get back but now your battery is re-charged.

2)      Read a great book.  Motivational books can be found on all the shelves through-out the bookstore. Choosing one is mind-boggling.  But if you remember that these books are there to motivate you, to teach you, and to share with you the success stories of a small group of people; it’s easier to pick one.  Just reach out and grab one.  You don’t have to take the entire thing as gospel and you don’t even have to read the entire thing – just grab it, shut out the noise, and be inspired.

3)      Imagine success.  Sounds a little crazy but if Walt Disney couldn’t imagine success where would that little mouse and his trillions of dollars be today?  Disney himself said, “If you can dream it, you can do it”. So dream it – imagine what it feels like to succeed. Imagine what it feels like to be full of exciting, creative energy at work.  Imagine it – be it – become it.

Avoiding burn-out means taking time to re-charge your battery. Maybe all you need to do is step away from one project for a while and doing something mundane like data entry for a day.  Anything to refocus your brain and recharge that battery. 

A business woman whom I admire greatly has a sign in her working area.  It's pretty simple.  A circle with these words in the middle:  Bang Head Here.  Before you get to the point of actually doing it, step away and refocus.  Gather your super-powers together, plug in to the justice league computer and hit reboot.  Whatever it takes - dont' give up the dream because you forgot to avoid burnout.