Using Accounting Software To Make Your Business More Profitable

Using Accounting Software To Make Your Business More Profitable
Producing financial accounts may well be an administrative
headache for a small business and many self employed
businesses put off this essential business and reduce it to
an annual event. There are major benefits that small
business can derive from operating the financial system as
an important part of the business management.

Big business invests millions in sophisticated accounting
software and financial control systems because financial
management is seen as a key to financial success. Many
small business organisations ignores these benefits relying
instead on personal knowledge and in some cases not even
that.

Why would a large business that is focused entirely on the
bottom line and growing that bottom line invest in
bookkeepers, accounts clerks, accountants, credit
controllers, cost controllers, financial directors and
accounting software? The answer is simple. Detailed strong
disciplined financial control is essential to protecting
the financial health of the business and providing the
financial framework to produce higher profit growth year
after year.

All business functions are important for business success.
Sales and marketing provide the growth opportunities and
production and operating activities produce the goods to
supply that demand but the finance function delivers the
framework and analysis to grow the bottom line.

Regardless of whether a small business maintains a manual
system of bookkeeping to record financial transactions or
uses an accounting software package it is important that
regular monthly accounts are prepared. And having prepared
a set of financial accounts those accounting statements
should be reviewed to grow the business.

By producing monthly accounts that show the sales turnover
preferably analysed by product type or source of sales the
effectiveness of the sales campaign is measured in real
money. Such financial information is required to determine
where future sales and marketing efforts are required to
improve or discontinue a failing program or capitalise on a
successful program. Without measuring and analysing sales
performance management action becomes a guess game based
upon intuition rather than hard financial facts.

Accounting software produces a gross profit margin the
business is earning on its products. A small business when
presented with the profit percentages can make decisions to
increase sales prices where possible to increase the profit
or reduce cost of sales as appropriate. The gross profit
margin is vital to the business finances and analysing the
margin to identify areas where it can be increased can
significantly improve profit performance.

A monthly profit and loss account would show the level of
expenditure in running the business. Reviewing the monthly
trends produced by the accounting software will often show
some categories of expenses going up and some going down.
Critical review of costs can maintain financial control and
improve the financial performance.

A critical financial feature of business is the level of
gross profit margin in both percentage terms and volume
compared with the level of fixed expenses. By using
accounting software to produce a monthly profit and loss
account the business management can immediately see and
understand if that gross profit is sufficient. Action
should follow.

That is the benefit of accounting software, the production
of actual financial figures that indicate where and how
much action needs to be taken to improve the net profit
earned. That action may indicate a need to improve sales
volume, increase the gross margin through higher sales
prices or lower direct costs or a reduction in overhead and
business running costs.

Financial questions can be asked based upon the historical
evidence of the financial figures produced in earlier
months compared with the current position. Such questions
may identify sales opportunities that are not being fully
exploited, areas where gross profit margins can be improved
and cost control over excess expenditure. With the
financial control and analysis that accounting software can
provide a business financial performance can be improved
and the bottom line increased.

----------------------------------------------------
Terry Cartwright, accountant and CEO at DIY Accounting,
designs Accounting Software at
http://www.diyaccounting.co.uk/ providing accounting
solutions for small to medium sized business in the UK with
payroll software at
http://www.diyaccounting.co.uk/payroll.htm for up to 20
employees

Avoiding Online Employment Scams

Avoiding Online Employment Scams
Online employment through the Internet holds a lot of
promise in providing the means for a person to generate
income from their homes or anywhere in the world. But like
any good thing, there are those who have polluted the
Internet with their scams to promise you great earnings
online while at the same time stealing money from you. The
online employment scammer is faceless but very dangerous in
that he or she can hide behind the cloak of being not only
secretive but remote and out of reach. Here are some things
to be aware of before you venture into the world of online
employment.

First of all, online employment is not going to make you
rich overnight. In fact, it may not make you rich at all.
Most who work online have either the same standard of
living or lower than what they had before if working on a
freelance basis. If you are working for a company who is
paying you a regular salary then this is not so much of an
issue. What we are referring to is the self-employed person
working through online employment or freelancing
opportunities. This person has to constantly be seeking new
work in order to thrive as the work will not knock at the
door on its own. That means that at times, when the work
gets hard to come by, the online worker can become
desperate and susceptible to scams that promise big money
quickly and for a minimum of work. If you remember
anything, remember that if an online employment opportunity
is too good to be true then it is probably 99% not true.

So the desperate person working online will typically take
any job that comes along, work for any price, and offer
services for free because the thought of not having work is
too scary. While it is understandable that an online
freelancer might have to lower prices in order to get work,
there is a point where it becomes ridiculous. Just remember
that while it seems there are many who pay low, it is not a
good idea for you to work for too low because it presents
your work as "cheap" and of low-quality. Hold your ground
and don't lower your prices below a level you want. A
scammer trying to get your services for next to nothing
will detect your willingness to roll over and will continue
to try to get more and more out of you—never
intending to pay more.

The other thing a desperate person seeking online
employment does is work without any guarantees of payment.
This why it is good to go through online job sites like
Elance. com and Script lance. com (and there are others)
where the payment for the job can be set aside in escrow.
You can see that the person buying your services is serious
and has the money to pay for them. You can maybe relax this
as you continue to work for the person and know his or her
payment habits but initially, you need to protect your work
investment.

And never pay too much to find work. Some of these job
sites charge membership fees which is probably okay as long
as the amount they charge is minimal. For example, don't
pay an annual membership fee to a job site that is $125.00
only to realize at the end of the year you never got any
jobs or any payments from jobs on the site. If you are
going to pay membership fees, start very small and make
sure your prices are such that you can recover those costs.

----------------------------------------------------
My name is Tom Husnik. I live in Minnesota. my web site is:
http://www.mybestfixitbiz.com

How To Succeed In A Home Business Even If You Have Kids

How To Succeed In A Home Business Even If You Have Kids
You've got to love all the pretty ads you see online and in
home-business magazines. Usually the picture shows a
beautiful lady with perfect makeup sitting at her computer
in a massive home office with her two-year-old playing
happily on the floor.

Or perhaps it's a picture of a man who's lounged by the
pool laughing and talking on his cordless phone while his
children are floating around in the pool.

Please pause for a reality check.

As I type this, I'm holding an 18-month old who has barged
into my office and demanded his favorite past-time: to sit
on my lap while listening to iTunes. (Currently, we're
listening to The Eagles' "How Long" while he's trying
desperately to climb onto the desk to get my iPhone.)

In fact, less than an hour ago, I had a phone call from a
potential business partner who had to hold for a moment as
I made sure that my oldest son had his phone charged and
knew to be careful crossing the street to go to his
friend's house.

Of course, I could close the door. I could ask my wife to
watch him for a bit while I take care of some business.

And sometimes I do that. But, more often than not, I'm
taking calls and doing business throughout my day while I'm
enjoying my family.

Welcome to the Home Office of the 21st Century Family:
Where family is the top priority and we don't feel the need
to pretend that our home office is a picture from a
magazine.

It wasn't always this way, though. I remember not too long
ago, if the phone rang, I was shrieking at everyone to be
quiet because I was "working". Or I spent huge swaths of
time with the door to my office closed because I was
"working".

What a drag. What's the point in working at home if you
have to pretend you're in a corporate environment? Or
where everyone around you is stressed out because they feel
like they're walking on eggshells.

I suspect that most home-business entrepreneurs are living
the same way and doing it for the same reason: fear.

They're afraid that if someone hears a child in the
background, it means they're not "professional". But the
truth is that most of the people you talk to would love to
be able to work from home and be with their loved ones
every day. And this is especially true if you're in a
business where showing people how to get out of the
corporate environment is what you do.

The truth is that working at home and being connected with
your family is cool today. Today's best "power lunch" is
when you're making money while slicing a peanut-butter and
jelly sandwich for your kids. And the best suits to wear
when doing business is a swimsuit.

Just this week, I was on the phone with a potential
business partner and my son, Pate, came in to get a hug and
a kiss before going to bed. I asked my prospect to hang
on, laid the phone on the desk and spent the next 45
seconds tickling my son, telling him how much I love him
and that I'd see him in the morning.

When I picked up the phone, I said, "There was a time I
would have apologized for that but that's actually the
whole reason why I do what I do."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone
and my prospect said, "That's the kind of life I want. How
do I get started?"

And of course, when the situation requires, you can always
close your door. There's nothing wrong with that, either.
It's all about choice.

So, the message is simple: don't be too quick to assume
that working at home requires you to be "slick" or
"professional".

I earn a great income from home and have created a great
lifestyle by simply doing business while I enjoy my family.
If you call my office, don't expect that I'll always
answer the phone.

And if I do, you might just hear the sounds of The Eagles
or a Nintendo Wii in the background.

----------------------------------------------------
This article was written on a Saturday morning in the
presence of two children and a dachshund named Bentley who
doesn't know he's a dog. For more information on Tony
Rush, visit him online at http://www.tonyrush.com

The Many uses of Heavy Duty White Tarps

The Many uses of Heavy Duty White Tarps
In the building and construction business, it is all-too
important to have quality equipment and materials. Having
things that rip and tear and just won't hold up to the
elements will never do; having quality materials can be the
difference between a successful project and serious
problems.

Tarps are an integral supply for the building and
construction businesses. They are used for a variety of
things, including supporting heavy loads moved along the
ground, shielding areas and materials from the rain, to
cover unfinished roofs and protect tools and equipment from
being destroyed by the elements. You should be able to find
a variety of tarps that will serve these purposes at the
most basic level, but if you need something heavy duty and
long-lasting, heavy duty white tarps are the only way to go.

If you have ever put in some shopping time for heavy duty
tarps before, you are probably already well aware of the
fact that they are produced in silver and white colors.
Heavy duty white tarps are the best of the best, and for
good reason. Rather than having the spaced out grommets
that tend to rip and cannot support nearly as much weight
or force as your project may call for. The grommets on
heavy duty white tarps are spaced about eighteen inches
apart, making for twice as many grommets as the traditional
tarps whose grommets are spaced thirty six inches apart, or
more on cheaper styles. Supporting or transporting bricks,
lumber, or cement requires the use of heavy duty materials
like the stronger white tarps and so it is extremely
important to make sure that the right materials are in
order.

Traditional Blue Tarps vs. Heavy Duty White Tarps

If you have not yet had the opportunity to invest in the
heavy duty white tarps, chances are that the only tarps you
have yet had the chance to come into contact with are the
traditional blue tarps. Most people have come into contact
with these traditional blue tarps at least one point in
their life, whether it was from camping or cleaning the
yard or covering the car from the elements.

Blue tarps are the tarps that most people come into contact
with the most, and they are excellent for common use
because they are so very inexpensive. Blue tarps cost just
a mere fraction of the price that the heavy duty white
tarps may cost, but that is because they are not meant to
last a long period of time. In most cases, blue tarps are
used just a few times and are easily replaced with just a
few dollars. The downside to having traditional blue tarps
rather than heavy duty white tarps is that they absorb
sunlight and weaken; they easily tear and are not good for
transporting or covering and pulling extremely heavy,
pointy, or otherwise difficult objects.

Why Invest in Heavy Duty White Tarps?

If you have ever even considered purchasing heavy duty
white tarps over the other types of tarps out there to
choose from, you probably already saw that they are well
priced. In no way are heavy duty white tarps cheap, at
least as far as the price of a 'regular' blue tarp is
concerned.

Consider the fact that your business is your investment,
and sometimes a good investment takes an additional
investment. One of the most attractive things about these
heavy duty white tarps is that they have an ultraviolet
light (UV ray) inhibitor that prevents UV light from
seeping into the fabric of the tarp. This is something that
regular tarps, especially traditional blue tarps, are going
to lack.

The sun can do some serious damage to just about
everything, from your skin to the fabric makeup of tarps.
If you are worried about the sun damaging your tarp or your
materials as it tends to, you should consider making use of
and investing in a few heavy duty white tarps. They are
like sun block for your materials, keeping the most harmful
rays of sunlight away from the materials that you have
invested so much capital in.

Traditional tarps are about 6 mils thick; these are the
traditional blue ones that people more often run into; on
the other hand, there are heavy duty white tarps that can
get much thicker and therefore work as a cover for cars and
lumber much more effectively. These heavy duty tarps can be
as much as 23 mil thick! Most heavy duty white tarps are
about 12 mil thick, though; that is twice the thickness of
the traditional blue tarps.

Common Uses of Heavy Duty White Tarps

Outside of commercial uses, heavy duty white tarps can be
used for a variety of things. They are great for covering
and protecting unfinished or leaky rooftops, covering boats
and cars, and even for use as canopies to shield the sun
and UV light. They are made of polyethylene tarp material
and are made for toughness; they have a reinforced plastic
corner making it extra strong, something that most people
do not even consider.

If you need a strong, heavy duty tarp that can hold up to
everything that you and your occupation or lifestyle has to
dish out, consider using heavy duty white tarps for your
own purposes. They are made to last in the sun, the snow,
the rain and they can be used for just about anything that
you may need them for. Don't skimp on the tarps and cheat
yourself in the end; make a real investment in heavy duty
white tarps today!

----------------------------------------------------
Tarpaulin expert Robert Page CEO of Tarpaflex US LLC has
worked in the tarps industry for over 25 years for further
details see the web site at http://www.tarpaflex.com
tel;239 643 0877