Article of Blogs: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Business Innovation eBook, Resource Kit and Definitive Guide

Innovation eBook used by 650+ innovative companies worldwide - eBook Best Seller (deployed at Nokia, EDS, Pepsi, HP, J&J, LG, many more...)

Innovation eBook and Definitive Guide is a 212-page collection of over 55 best practices, case studies, and insights on the current state of Innovation in Business at Top Innovators including Apple, Google, Netflix, 3M, Proctor and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Toyota, GE, BMW, Deloitte, Frito Lay, IBM, Nike, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, Dell, Tata, Intel and more. With pertinent articles from this award-winning Creativity And Innovation Driving Business Blog, this Faculty eBook provides real-world examples on how the Top Innovators innovate and grow their business successfully time and again, especially during economic cycles. Creativity And Innovation in Business is a definitive guide and resource that will help you unblock creativity, uncover and create game-changing innovations, and make exponential business growth a reality.

"I teach Applied Creativity and Innovation for a College near Toronto, Canada. I gave my business students an assignment to work with one of the top 10 innovative companies and to research/report on what makes them innovative, type of innovative challenges, benefits, etc. Your report from the eBook and definitive guide was the primary document that they used for their work." - Business School Professor

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"1) Innovation and growth is not (just) a fuzzy process of screwing around vigorously (SAV) but can be a systematic process,

2) Innovation and growth is not (just) something that happens in a department like R & D or product development,

3) Innovation and growth is not just about products or solutions - it is about creating a transformational change in the way people live, work and play." - Chapter 26, Erich Joachimsthaler, author of "Hidden in Plain Sight"

Who should buy?

The Innovation eBook and Definitive Guide has been downloaded and used by over 1,000 professionals, faculty and innovators at educational institutions and businesses all around the world including EDS, Ericsson, Center for Sales Strategy, IdeaChampions, Acara Global, Byrne Dairy, Cleveland Clinic, Magpie, DOJ/FBI, HP, Hewlett Packard, Intervista Institute, Fryett Consulting Group, Satellite Shelters, ProductVentures, Speakeasy - a Best Buy company, Jarden Consumer Solutions, Hallmark, Infinium, DeakinPrime - Deakin University, Lucas-TVS, McCann Worldgroup, S.P.Jain Center of Management, Suffolk University, RiCoMan, AmpControl, Craig Rispin, Momentive, Champion Laboratories, University of Phoenix, University of Washington, SFR - Neufbox, Attwood as Edison, Academy of Sport, Ideogenesis, Principled Innovation, Meridian Partners, Ananzi, Tangibility, Syngenta Global, Speedy, The Business Lab, Deloitte, Lane Management, University of California at Irvine, Wharton Business School, Babson University, Larsen & Toubro, Nokia, Credera, Pfizer, Bilkent University, Indian Institute of Science, Bacardi, Chick-fil-A, LG Electronics, Pepsi, SAP and many more.

If you are a marketing executive, information executive, IT executive, product manager, marketer, product marketer, sales operations manager, sales director, sales consultant, business consultant, product designer, brand manager, marketing manager, VP of products, VP of marketing, VP of technology, research & development director, product director, product marketing manager, marketing consultant, brand consultant, innovation consultant, chief innovation officer, engineer, engineering student, business school student, business school professor, technology student, technology consultant, design engineer, consultant, trainer, professor or management consultant - this book and definitive guide is for you! If you are one of the key executives of the company or the CEO, buy this guide for your company!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - The Top 50 Innovative Companies In The World
Chapter 2 - The Innovation Index - Top 20 Innovators
Chapter 3 - Measuring Business Innovation Success - Key Benchmarks
Chapter 4 - Failures And Stumbles Driving Innovation - Five Takeaways
Chapter 5 - Blocking Creativity And Innovation - Nine Processes
Chapter 6 - Six Ways To Find Innovation - "See with new eyes"
Chapter 7 - Five Principles For Successful Business Innovation
Chapter 8 - Is Innovation Cyclical? - Four Common Blunders
Chapter 9 - Can Leadership Create Innovation? - Ten Leadership Ideas
Chapter 10 - Top Ten Creative Leadership Traits - Be The Leader and Innovator
Chapter 11 - Creating Team Innovation - Seven Characteristics
Chapter 12 - Creating Team Innovation - Effective Teams Examples
Chapter 13 - Creating Team Innovation - Ten Principles To Unleash Innovation
Chapter 14 - The Future Of Management, Creativity And Innovation - Upend Business Models
Chapter 15 - How Much Creativity Is Enough?
Chapter 16 - Co-Creation Driving Innovation At Top Innovators
Chapter 17 - Marketing Innovation Creating Market Leadership
Chapter 18 - Consumer Innovation Best Practices - Six Steps To Lead Innovation
Chapter 19 - The Innovation Gap - Disruptive Innovation versus Sustaining Innovation
Chapter 20 - Are Children More Creative Than Adults?
Chapter 21 - Questions Lead To Creativity, Answers Lead To Innovation
Chapter 22 - Expanding Your Business Innovation Capacity
Chapter 23 - Innovation Insights And Wisdom From Greatest Innovators
Chapter 24 - Turn Complaints Into Solutions, Innovations And Success
Chapter 25 - Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die
Chapter 26 - Ten Answers For Driving Innovation And Growth At World Class Innovators
Chapter 27 - Strategic Innovation At Deloitte - The "Apple" Of Services Innovation
Chapter 28 - Toyota's Innovation Factory
Chapter 29 - Ipod - Apple's Best Innovation
Chapter 30 - Apple Iphone Rising - Top Ten Innovations
Chapter 31 - Google Versus Yahoo - A Tale Of Two Cities
Chapter 32 - Youtube - $1.65 Billion Innovation And Counting
Chapter 33 - Blockbuster Versus Netflix - Winner Takes All?
Chapter 34 - GE And P&G - Innovations Driving Growth & Six Growth Principles
Chapter 35 - Can Dell Turnaround Dell? Seven Thoughts For Turnaround
Chapter 36 - Innovations Brewing At Starbucks ? Five Takeaways
Chapter 37 - Southwest Airlines Flying High With Ten Innovations
Chapter 38 - Innovations At Microsoft - Four Business Pillars
Chapter 39 - Direct Marketing And Direct Mail Innovation At USPS
Chapter 40 - Disruptor Zune Versus Innovator Ipod
Chapter 41 - 100% Electric Ultra Fast Innovation - Tesla
Chapter 42 - Nike Versus Adidas - The Innovation Game Is On
Chapter 43 - People Innovation - We Think Culture Of Innovation
Chapter 44 - Intel - Exponential Innovations
Chapter 45 - Five Innovations In Software Industry - Intuit Case Study
Chapter 46 - Google Versus Microsoft - The Enterprise Battle Heats Up!
Chapter 47 - Launch Of Tata Nano - A Watershed Moment in Indian Autos
Chapter 48 - How Can GM Turnaround The Business? Is Innovation The Answer
Chapter 49 - Doubleclick A Smart Buy For Google
Chapter 50 - Microsoft Walk-Off Home Run With Aquantive
Chapter 51 - IBM's $5 Billion Cognos Acquisition
Chapter 52 - Top Acquisitions By The Top Innovators
Chapter 53 - Will Yahoo merge with Microsoft?
Chapter 54 - Innovation And Stock Performance Correlation
Chapter 55 - The Innovation Index Annual Report
Chapter 56 - $1 Billion Or The Future

Eight new chapters added, including a detailed report on "Measuring Business Innovation Success"

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Innovation eBook details invaluable tools to unlock:
Creativity -> Ideas -> Innovations -> Success -> Profits

The Innovation Bootcamp On Demand Resource Kit Tools:

The entire Innovation Bootcamp is available On-Demand now for your business to unleash the creativity and innovation within your own environment! You can selectively leverage the key concepts of the Innovation Bootcamp at your own pace, at your office or at your home, and share them with your team. The Innovation Bootcamp On-Demand Resource Kit includes:

The complete Innovation Bootcamp presentation and handouts containing over 400 presentation slides to spark new ideas, channel team creativity and create innovation factory.
100+ pertinent strategies and tools, hands-on techniques and uncommon insights to unleash creativity and innovation at your business

The Innovation Bootcamp Resource Kit consists presentation slides of Six Engaging Online Workshop Sessions:

1. Benchmarking and Leading with Innovation
The Business Case for Innovation
2. Unblocking Creativity and Innovation
The Essential Processes and Skills
3. Unleashing Team Innovation
Great Teams Deliver Great Innovations
4. and 5. Business Innovation Case Studies
Learn how Top Innovators Lead with Innovation (Google, Netflix, Apple, Toyota, Southwest, more)
6. Building an Innovation Factory
Create a sustainable, scalable Business Innovation Model
"The Innovation Bootcamp provided an excellent orientation on the topic of innovation and I learned several new techniques for generating and successfully implementing new ideas. Plentiful real world case studies was another aspect I liked about the program. I highly recommend it." - IT Manager, Top 5 IT Services Business

There's more:

Special Offer: Buy eBook today and get the WOW Product Guide - Creating Amazing Products for your customers Now! absolutely FREE

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About the Author

Sanjay Dalal is an innovator and entrepreneur with over fifteen years of leadership experience in Silicon Valley and High Tech companies. Dalal authored and launched the Innovation Faculty eBook and Definitive Guide on Creativity and Innovation in business in 2008, used by over 650 leading organizations and professionals all over the world including HP, Hallmark, Cleveland Clinic, Pepsi, EDS, J&J, TATA and major universities. Dalal published over 200 articles in the last two years on the real-time state of innovation in business at this blog on Creativity and Innovation Driving Business, and introduced the Innovation Index in December 2006 that correlates business, innovation and stock performance. Dalal launched Apple's Innovation Strategy eBook in February, 2010. Dalal was the president and managing director of the innovative investment company, Innovation Index Group, that systematically invested into the Top 20 Innovators of the Innovation Index. Dalal filed joint U.S. Patent on "Hands-On Labs" for delivering live, hands-on training over Web Meetings by simulating a training lab environment. Dalal has launched innovative products such as WebEx Training Center and WebEx Sales Center to market, and grown product line revenue to tens of million dollars in annual revenue. Dalal holds executive certification on Leading Management Teams from Cornell University, and is an engineering scholar graduate in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Dalal attended Arizona State University for graduate education in Computer Science. Dalal secured the first position in the 50th William Lowell Putnam Math Competition. Dalal volunteered as a basketball coach on three separate occassions for Fremont NJB, Irvine NJB, and Rancho Middle School 7th graders, as an art master for 2nd graders, and as the secretary of the School Site Council. Dalal was a member of the Technology Advisory Committee for the Fremont School District containing over 40,000 students, an appointed position by the Board of Education. Dalal was a Web 2.0 adviser for Cal State Fullerton, Extended Education and a lecturer on "Making the business case for Web 2.0". Dalal, an appointed member of the Dean's Leadership Circle of The Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, serves as a guest lecturer at the University of California, Irvine for the Strategic Innovation class. Dalal is an active Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Newport-Irvine.

Innovation eBook is brought to you by Creativity And Innovation Driving Business based in Irvine, CA.

Phone/Fax: 1-949-288-6880
Address: 111 Academy Way, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92617

Selected references:
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

Vending Machine Business Pros and Cons

Whether it is a mall, office premises or train stations, vending machines have become ubiquitous. It has become an integral part of the modern-day life. Vending machine business is one of the fastest growing business today. This business offers extra income with low initial investment and is a 100% cash-only business. If you are thinking of starting a vending machine business, all you need is a vending machine, along with the different vending machine products like soft drinks, toys, gum ball, etc. But like all good things, there are pros and cons to this business also. Let's have a look at the vending machine business pros and cons.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vending Machine Business

Owning your business is the best reward you can give yourself, but it is wise to investigate the vending machine business pros and cons, before starting the business. You may also want to know about how to start a vending machines business.

Vending Machine Business Pros: The vending machine business is a great way to earn profit within a few months of starting the business, and if owned solely by you, you can also enjoy the full share of the vending machine business profits. The vending machine business pros are:

1. Be your own boss: With vending machine business, you can be your own boss. It is you who will determine the vending machine business plan, and decide which vending machine to buy, among the different available vending machines like soft drink dispenser, toy dispenser, gum ball dispenser, etc.

2. Low initial investment: The investment in vending machine business is small unless you are going in for bigger vending machines.

3. Less time and efforts: Buying the right vending machine and setting it at the correct location does not take much of your time or efforts, especially if you have connections with local businesses and stores.

Put optimization ideas to the test—run AdWords Campaign Experiments in your Opportunities tab

Many of you have used the Opportunities tab to find keyword, bid, and budget ideas for your account. With each optimization idea, we provide estimates for how these ideas may affect your impressions, clicks, and cost. Now you can test these optimization ideas on your own campaigns when you run experiments in the Opportunities tab.

This new feature uses AdWords Campaign Experiments to run experiments on the keyword and bid ideas in your Opportunities tab. Experiments run on 50% of your AdWords traffic for thirty days, during which time you’ll have the chance to compare your original campaign setup with your test setup. You can decide at any time whether you want to apply your experiment settings to 100% of your traffic. If you take no action after thirty days, your experimental changes will be applied to your campaign automatically.

The ability to run experiments in the Opportunities tab has already launched in some English-language accounts and will be available to all English-language accounts over the next few days.

Start an experiment in just a few clicks:

Select keyword or bid ideas you want to test.
Select the checkbox for "Evaluate this idea for up to 30 days."
Click "Apply now."

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Keyword experiment setup in the Opportunities tab

Monitor your experiment performance:

When your experiment is running, you’ll be able to monitor your experiment performance from the Ideas page of the Opportunities tab.

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Monitoring experiment performance in the Opportunities tab

You’ll also be able to view performance statistics for individual keywords and bids on the Keywords tab when you segment by "Experiment."

For those of you who have wanted to try ACE but didn’t know what to test, this should help get you started. This is also a great feature for those of you who want to see a positive performance improvement before making changes to all of your traffic.

No matter how your new keywords and bids perform relative to your original setup, you’ll leave your experiment with more knowledge than you had previously, which means every experiment is a good experiment.

Posted by Lisa Shieh, Inside AdWords crew

Ecommerce Solution Promotions Using Free Photo Stock

When a person is getting ready to promote their new or existing ecommerce business, there are a lot of aspects of the website that have to be kept in mind. Certainly a person will want to have a shopping cart as a means to collect orders, in order to get them ready for payments and processing of the purchase. In addition to this, some people might want to use photos next to their shopping cart software descriptions.
While many people have heard of websites that offer free stock photos, a person might wonder if these types of sites are okay, and if it is legal for them to use free stock photos with their shopping cart software. Here are some things to keep in mind when using free stock photos for one's website.
1. If a person is using free stock photos for their website, they need to keep in mind that if they are using the website for commercial purposes, they need to download photos that explicitly allow the photo to be used for commercial use. This is because there are some free stock photos that are only for one's personal use. This means that if a person uses the photo on their blog, and the blog is for personal use, or for hobbies, then the photos are free to use. However, since an ecommerce business or seller (i.e. individual) is using their websites to make a profit, this is termed as being for commercial use.
2. If a person decides to use these, then they will have to use the photo as is. They are regulations that stipulate that a person can't create derivative works. Derivative works as it relates to photos, means that a person can't take a free photo, and then add images or graphics to it to make it a new photo. If the new work has details of the original work on it, then it is deemed as a derivative work. This is against regulations.
3. The best thing that people can do if they decide to take a photo from a free photo stock website, is to read the contract. Many photos that are available for use on a commercial website stipulate that if a person makes over a certain amount of money per month, they will actually have to buy the photo. The amount of money that can be made varies, and a person needs to do the research to make sure that they aren't going over the amount per month, in order to make sure that they're not breaking any regulations.

Is SaleHoo A Misleading Wholesale Drop Shipper Resource Website?

To answer that accusation directly, no, SaleHoo is not a misleading wholesale drop shipper resource Website.
Having your own business can be very easy these days. You just need to have a computer, an Internet connection, and time and off you go to Success Highway. One of the most sought after types is online drop shipping business. And upon saying drop-shipping business, most online traders might immediately mention SaleHoo. But what exactly is SaleHoo?
It is no secret that a victorious online entrepreneur needs both a trustworthy and dependable supplier and drop-shipper to provide the goods he needs for his e-store. But this is not as simple as it sounds. Not every establishment you encounter can deliver consistently in this kind of industry. The only real solution is signing up with SaleHoo to provide for your merchandising needs. There are additional benefits to this aside from the ones mentioned above.
People in involved in online trading know that partnering with a wholesale supplier, not only provides you the goods but also offers steep discounts on bulk orders accompanied with free shipping. This should save you considerable overhead capital on your investment and ensures that you profit in no time at all. SaleHoo also holds the largest directory for suppliers of a multitude of various types of merchandise with the best deals. If and when there is concern for deals being outrageously too good to be true, don't be alarmed, this is how they profit too and everyone involved in the transaction wins. To appease your doubt, SaleHoo actually does a thorough background check on every single unit included in their listing so you can be assured that any transaction made is secure. Signing up for SaleHoo definitely has it perks.
SaleHoo drop shipping directory includes various legitimate manufacturers, suppliers, and ordinary buyers like you. People trust them because of their strict standards for accepting members. Illegitimate and unreliable partners - be it buyers or sellers - are always the top concern of the e-commerce community. But in their wholesale drop shopping list, you can find the most credible and reliable traders online. Because of their reputation in providing good partners for business, you won't have to be afraid of scams and fraud. You can easily spot bogus suppliers since all companies enlisted in their wholesale directory are being monitored and reviewed constantly. And aside from credibility, they also welcome novices to the drop shipping world by providing instructive contents to guide them in their journeys. And forums are also available for their members. Here, all beginner and expert traders can post queries and talk about different topics. They even have a live chat service for those who need assistance. Their wholesale product lines are varied and are great in number so members can have the best out of whichever market their drop shipping businesses are.
But before you can enjoy the benefits mentioned above, you need to be a member. Since the company serves as a link between online buyers and sellers, they want to ensure protection for all their associates. Anyone who is planning to start a home business online is welcome. If you are a wholesaler offering good quality products or a retailer who can promote wholesale goods effectively online, have a good drop shipping experience with SaleHoo. Reliable resources are always necessary before you can taste the first drop of success.

My Ecommerce Business: How Do I Get Started?

For many of us looking to set up an online shop, 'ecommerce' is where it all begins. When you see this word in articles and reports - it simply refers to the buying and selling of goods over the internet. The popularity of online shopping is reaching new heights and you need to be sure that your ecommerce business can keep up. Are you making a solid monthly income? Does your online shop get the time and effort it requires to be a successful ecommerce project?
If the answer to any of these question is no, you should probably start by asking yourself what you can do to change things. A major factor is setting up your online business on a reliable ecommerce software platform. Such 'off-the-shelf' solutions are (generally) contract free and reputable companies allow you to try before you buy. If it doesn't work out for you, what have you lost?
Thereafter, you shouldn't be paying more than £20 a month for a fully hosted and fully functioning online shop. Compare this to the ongoing expense of running a specialist, bespoke ecommerce website. New upgrades, maintenance charges... the list can go on. Using a fully-hosted ecommerce provider means that your online shop sits on a server, and all the technical matter is taken care of. Understandably, all the argot and price estimations can be overwhelming - if you aren't using an ecommerce software provider to start your business.
The statistics for those owners of ecommerce websites paying over the odds is surprising. Almost 90% of online shops have taken the bespoke route in the past where 'off-the-shelf' ecommerce software would have more than sufficed. Granted, once you're familiar with your online store you may choose to enhance the shop front design for aesthetic appeal. That is not to say you can't visually enhance your ecommerce website by getting to grips with the control panel on the back end.
It all depends what you want from your online shop. No two people are the same, and naturally, different choices will result in different ecommerce projects. It's important that you do your research into costs before embarking upon an online business, especially where hidden or additional charges are concerned. For example, a list of payment gateways is part of the ecommerce software package - not something that should incur a hefty fee each time you add a service provider. On an ecommerce platform the various payment gateways are already preconfigured and can be accessed from your account.
It's a mantra that echoes all around us - less is more. Don't be duped into thinking that investing copious amounts of money will bring you a better service. Additional design requirements are optional and many online shop owners do just fine with their chosen ecommerce software system. If you find yourself out of pocket after the simplest of tweaks - phone number changes, adding new products etc it's time to look elsewhere.

Our Gone Google Story: Boise State University saves on IT costs and invests in academics

Editor’s Note: Recently we announced the winners of our global Gone Google ad contest. Today’s featured winner is Brian Bolt, Lead Systems Engineer at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.

Boise State University first looked at moving to Google Apps for Education in 2007. At the time, we were in the process of upgrading our email for employees and students from a system that had been in place since 1996. We realized that by choosing Google Apps for Education, Boise State could provide much more than a new email platform: an entire set of integrated, cutting edge communication and collaboration tools. And the huge cost savings would allow us to redirect scarce budget dollars and personnel away from email maintenance towards new technology initiatives that support our school.

We were proud to be the largest deployment of Google Apps for Education to students, faculty and staff when we moved to the cloud. Almost 20,000 student accounts and 3,000 faculty and staff accounts were migrated. Since then we’ve seen tremendous benefits. Every year, we save $147,000 in IT costs alone. This savings has allowed us to redeploy one and a half full-time employees to important technology projects that are core to our university. Our students and faculty alike have embraced Google Apps for Education. They are excited to use Docs and Google's other communication tools to easily share, research, and collaborate.

Boise State sees Google Apps as a great tool to help us in our commitment to academic excellence, public engagement, vibrant culture and exceptional research.

To lean more about Boise State's experience using Google Apps and the Apps Marketplace, join us for a webinar on April 7th at 11am PST

Posted by Brian Bolt, Lead Systems Engineer, Boise State University

How Online Stores Have Adapted to the Way People Search

Buying a gift for a friend can be troublesome at the best of times. Even a good friend can surprise you with their hobbies, likes or tastes in music and so whenever it comes to choosing a present for a special occasion many of us spend hours walking around the shops in our local mega-mall strolling around aimlessly. Sometimes we'll pick something up because on the face of it it looks like a fantastic gift, unusual or quirky. Then we realise it's just naff and probably a little bit tatty.
What we sometimes consider to be 'retro' can, on reflection just be old. Although we may feel we're appealing to a person's inner child we may actually be buying them some cheap re-produced imported knock-off. Then we're just going to feel very bad indeed.
Then we make the cardinal sin. The easy get-out. We get dazzled by "purchasing paralysis" and fall back on that trusty parachute for everyone stuck for an idea - the gift certificate. But then we've got other things to consider such as "how much?", "where from?" and "what for?"
If we buy a book certificate, are we telling them they should read more? Is buying certificates for clothing an indication that we feel they don't dress right?
Well luckily there are ways these days to satisfy the needs of even the most fussy of people and that's through a vast network of websites which have the sole intention of helping you make a decision. You see, the Internet is vast and it has a lot of information swimming around from people of all walks of life and all ages and they all leave a footprint.
People buy things and Google knows what they are buying due to its vast database of searches which builds every day. It tells you how things are trending and what's popular right at this very moment. Given this information there are loads of sites that are now springing up to help the hapless gift buyer make a choice that will be loved by the recipient.
To find such sites you again head off to Google and try a few searches. For example, as a man looking to buy a gift for the woman in my life I might search for "gifts for her" in the hope that someone else has been doing the same thing and has come up with some ideas. It would appear that this is a good move as the niche nature of the web together with the way Google works means that the number of searches made for this particular combination of words together with people noticing this and creating sites to feed that need is increasing.
And this is the same whatever you're looking for these days, search is evolving to the point where people aren't just looking for products or services, they're actually searching for solutions to problems and actually typing those problems into Google.
Google is becoming the best place to find answers to questions as well as finding the cheapest place to buy a book and as it learns from the way we all use it, this can only get better for the consumer and the site owner looking to fill that hole

Have You Altered Your Ecommerce Techniques?

Besides the changing fashion and make-up trends, it is also the ecommerce industry that has witnessed a big revolution in the year 2011. According to the recently generated reports, it is evidently clear that more consumers are becoming accustomed to shopping from while enjoying the comforts of their home. A high level of confidence customers have build in online transactions is growing at an increasingly fast pace. With websites paying more focus on absolute protection of customer details or any personal information has generated a sense of security among them. They have began to rely more on the ecommerce service providers, whether making purchases or availing services of a service provider.
With Internet being an effective online marketing platform, many businesses have chosen to promote their services over the web. But apart from the newly opened ecommerce store, pre-existing ecommerce must cope with the altering trends to remain competitive. Below mentioned are some of the ecommerce tips that must be replaced with the existing ones to bring more business and boost sales in 2011:
1. Incorporating Best SEO modules: Almost all the websites available on the Internet are search engine optimized. And even you have been using it to generate maximum outbound links by the means of quality content. But have you ever thought that like many other trends, your SEO strategies needs to be refined to produce out-of-the-blue results and outpace your business dark horses? Well, you need to. Till now it was more information that drove your visitors; but with 2011, you must alter content by making it more succinct, informative and original like always. Look back at the previous years and try to analyze what you haven't done till now and try to bring the same into your SEO Strategies.
2. Social Media: It is the marketing of business through social media that will create much expected furor in 2011. For those who haven't yet started with social media optimization, its the right time to pull the socks up. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others are a great platform to promote business and more than needed exposure. Through these social channels, you can conveniently make people know about your respective services and products. Besides this, you can leverage these sites by posting videos that allows you to publicize your brand using YouTube and others.
3. Analyses through Analytics: Analyzing your key areas and things that needs improvisation is another good marketing strategy. Most of the website owners make use of Google Analytics to track their business growth. In addition to this, it also allows you to recognize which keywords are rated high whereas which ones need to be promoted effectively over the web.
Therefore, it is imperative to move with the flow and incorporate the changes as the time demands. For great results, you must try to evolve something new that your competitors might not have thought of. Your exclusivity will certainly give you a competitive edge and bring you more opportunities of business growth.

business infomation

Today, an adjustment in inventory flows immediately to the income statement and balance sheet. The owner, bookkeeper, inventory clerk, banker, and everyone else involved see the effect instantly. In order to avoid dealing with an angry business owner, the inventory stays wrong until year end. And then the manure hits the rotating blades of the ventilation enhancement device. Boy does it hit the fan! Meanwhile, salespeople have been selling inventory that didn't exist or not selling inventory that does exist. Purchasing hasn't been ordering because there was product in the computer inventory, even if it wasn't on the shelf.
If you're a client with an inventory and you're reading these words, you're shaking your head right now. You're thinking, "He's talking about me. He's talking to me." I am, not individually, but as a group. Every client I've ever seen with inventory has issues of accuracy.
Effective businesses know how not accurate their inventory is. They know specifically, statistically, not in general. They can tell you what the critical inventory items are and how long it's been since they have been counted. And they can tell you when the last inventory adjustment was done, and how much it affected the income statement. More importantly, they can tell you how much reliance they can place on the inventory quantities and why.
I use inventory as an example of information that is inaccurate in the last newsletter, it is not the only information in computer systems that is inaccurate. The concept applies to all the data in a computer system. It has to be accurate, or you must know how inaccurate it is. It's true of sales data, marketing data, accounts receivable, accounts payable, financial statements, and other computer-produced reports. If they aren't accurate, the computer system is giving you less than it could.
So how do you correct the problem? The solution lies in process and procedure. First, you need to verify that given the correct information, the computer system produces the right answer. Once you've verified that, focus on getting the right information into the computer. To accomplish that, you need to look at the business processes and procedures you are using.
How does inventory come out of the computer? What increases inventory quantities? How is an invoice generated? How is a credit generated? These are the types of questions you must ask and answer to get the data accurate. Accountants, logistical consultants, marketing consultants, and sales consultants can be helpful in this process in addition to computer consultants. The key is to design processes that put accurate data into the computer with the result that accurate data comes out of the computer.
How big a priority should this be? It is a NOW priority. Everything else you and your business can do with a computer system in the coming years depends on the accuracy of the base data. Without it, you're dead in the water. As the procrastination prophylactic says: "Do it now!" Or as that shoe company suggests, "Just do it!"

Business With Computer Inaccuracy

Why is Bookkeeping Valuable To Your Firm

You don't have to be an accountant or business major to open up a business. It is this fact that allows a bookkeeping firm to be a valuable asset to your success.
1) Bookkeeping firm will perform day-to-day, month to month, and year-end accounting entries for your company. If you don't know how to do these tasks you will be costing your company more money by entering wrong information and taxes.
2) Bookkeeping firm highly knowledgeable about accounting and tax policies that you are not. You have to allow them to perform these tasks for you.
3) Bookkeeping firms can use their knowledge and expertise to save you money. The amount the bookkeeping firm invoices you will be more than how much they save you. In the end, the service will pay for itself!
Conclusion

You need to let experts perform that tasks that they are experts in. Allow bookkeeping firms to do what they are best in and allow yourself to focus only on your business!

Kill Your Business With Computer Inaccurac

Fifteen years ago, many small businesses weren't computerized at all. They worked from manual systems. Pen, accounting paper, pencils, erasers, and calculator were all they needed to grind out books.
If the owner of the company needed to know what accounts receivable were, the bookkeeper dutifully dragged the unpaid invoices bin out from under the desk, found the calculator under a pile of papers, and added the invoices one by one to come up with a total. It could take over an hour to get a good total.
If the same owner wanted an aged accounts receivable listing, the process took a nastier turn. After the bookkeeper pleaded, begged, and sulked about having to do it, it was done manually. Each invoice painstakingly aged onto an accounting spreadsheet. The whole process took hours, even days. That's why most businesses didn't do it often. They just watched for customers that had invoices that never got paid.
Inventory was even more complex. It was a card system. Each time inventory was received, the receipt was written down, along with the cost. It was easy to see what the total quantity of an item was, assuming that the inventory clerk had extended the totals, but getting a picture of the total value of inventory took days. An accountant manually priced each item, extended the price, and made a worksheet.
Sound like the dark ages? It was. Most businesses today, even small ones, can print a costed inventory listing or an aged customer receivables listing at the touch of a button. The manual number crunching is gone.
All of the manual number crunching went away in the stage of computer development I called DP thinking in a previous article. Problem is, now that we have all that information, it's not accurate. Let's take inventory as an example.
Inventory listings are terrible. You call a business to order a product and the salesperson says, "The computer says we have nine, let me go check on the shelf." There could be twenty, twelve, or two of the product actually in the back room.
Businesses that have this situation are STUCK! They can't move forward with using the computer because the information they have is junk! They don't trust the computer system, and the computer system doesn't produce the data they need. If the computer did produce data, executives wouldn't trust it, because the backroom shelves disagree with the computer so often that they don't have any reason to trust it.
This isn't a new problem, but most business executives think it is. Perpetual records (the cards fifteen years ago, or the computer today) have often--very, very often, it turns out--not agreed with one another. When the manual card system got off, the inventory clerk marked through the number and wrote the new number. Since the inventory cards weren't connected to the financial statement, the owner never saw the adjustment.

Importance and Significance of Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is highly valuable service for your Business
Do You Have a Small Business?
Are you an entrepreneur that has recently taken your drive and ambitions to the next level?
Have you recently started your small business?
It can be overwhelming at times when you have just started a new business. 90% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years since their inception.
This is caused by the following reasons:
1) Lack of planning: A poorly planned and executed plan will result in the business failing
2) Lack of research: You are providing a product or service for which there is no need in the market.
3) Risk and stress: You did not realize the risk you and stress you are taken on when you started your business
4) Economy: Your company isn't able to survive the turbulent economic times. You have an opportunity to not only sustain your business during the first 5 years which are very important but also establish your business for the long-term.
A bookkeeping firm can provide you the valuable service that will help you bridge the path between success and failure.
Bookkeeping
You need to develop a close relationship with an accounting providing firm. When you have established an excellent relationship with the firm you will have countless benefits such as:
1) The firm will develop a comprehensive business plan for your firm as it explores the next step of starting a business.
2) The company will help develop timely financial statements for your company. These statements will allow you to understand the financial position of your company at any time.
3) The company will give you professional advice on key business decisions that will be critical to the success of your enterprise.
4) The bookkeeping firm will file your personal and corporate taxes as well. This will become your one-stop shop for your financial matters. Keeping your finance organized in one location will help your company save costs and become efficient.

Business Debt - How to Ensure Debts Are Settled

When you're running a business, it's vital to do everything that you can to ensure that your customers pay their bills promptly. If you need to take legal action to recover debts, you can use a firm of solicitors providing a debt recovery service. Here are some other tips to help you to ensure that your customers settle their debts on time.
Make sure that your customers know when they must pay their bills.
When you first start to do business with your customers, make sure that they are aware of their responsibilities. The most important way in which to do this is to provide them with a clear set of terms and conditions. These terms and conditions should include details of the length of time within which your customers must pay their bills and the payment methods that they can use. It's a good idea to involve a solicitor specialising in business law and debt recovery when drawing up these terms and conditions, as ensuring that they are clear and accurate can save you time and expense if you have to use a debt recovery service in the future.
Make sure that you send invoices to your customers promptly and that these invoices are accurate. You should also include details of the date by which payment should be made and the payment methods that can be accepted on your invoices.
Set up a credit control system.
Set up a credit control system, so that you can keep track of the payments which you have received and so that you know which customers have overdue amounts on their accounts. Make sure that you act promptly if customers fail to meet their payment deadlines. In the first instance, you should contact them to inform them that their payment has not been received. This may simply have been an oversight, or they may have a genuine reason why they have been unable to pay on time. In cases such as this, it may be worth allowing them some extra time in which to pay, as this will build your relationship with them. However, whenever you have contact with your customers, make sure that you keep a record of this, in case it needs to be referred to at a later date.
Take action when you don't get paid.
If you are struggling to get payment from a customer, it's important to take prompt action and keep following it up. You may want to involve a debt recovery solicitor at this stage. Choose a firm of solicitors that specialises in business law and offers a debt recovery service. Your solicitor will be able to help you to compose correspondence which will make it clear to your customer that legal action will be taken if payment is not received, advise you as to whether you should demand compensation and/or interest in addition to the amount that your customer owes you, and explain how to start court proceedings if you are unable to obtain payment from your customer.

How Your Business Can Benefit From Accounting Services

There are many things that should be taken into consideration when running a business. Aside from marketing, sales, and production, there are still more that you should also give attention to keep your business alive. One thing that should not be ignored in any business, whether it is just a starting company or already established, is accounting. This is because accounting gives you clear figures about the financial status of your company and gives you a clear picture of the future of your company. The good news is that today, there are a lot of firms offering accounting services and whom you can delegate these important matters to.
Most especially if you are not an experienced accountant or you do not know much about this matter, seeking help from an accounting firm will definitely benefit your business. Accounting services give you an idea about your company's financial status, as well as help you enhance your business potential. This is why many businesses, small or large, opt to hire an accountant to do accurate accounting for them.
One of the reasons why hiring a professional is beneficial is that it lets you save time. An accounting firm can help you do pivotal tasks which if you do yourself would eat up a huge chunk of your time. One of the most important accounting services that you or your business can benefit from is tax preparation. Although you can do this yourself, it is still best to hire an expert in this matter to avoid mistakes that may lead to legal consequences. In addition to accuracy of work, accountants can also advice you on how you can enjoy maximum tax benefits. They not only file tax for you but also help you record your accounts payable and receivable, loan details as well as invoices so you know each of your company's financial transaction.
Hiring accounting professionals also assures you that the financial aspect of your business is taken care of. And because they are expert in this matter, they also protect you from mistakes. Most accounting services providers today use accuracy tools, like software, so as to avoid manual errors.

The Best Personal Finance Software Available

I have recently been introduced to a brand new software application that helps you to take control of your personal finances. Simply setting up a budget to compare income and expenses can be the first step on a journey that will result in building data you can use to manage the key financial decisions in your life. It's ease of use and product support make it the best personal finance software you can buy.
The different stages of family life tend to lead to changes that will have a big impact on household expenditure, like having a baby, getting married, changing schools, or children leaving school to go off to university.
Household income can change dramatically too. During the recession many adults in the UK have been made redundant, or have had to reduce hours and accept pay freezes to stay in a job. Of course Income can also increase through windfalls, promotion, and changing jobs, etc., all opening up new opportunities!
The ideal accounting software should be simple to use, but also a very powerful tool to look at the year ahead. You should be able to create and save as many budgets as you like to look at all of the possibilities, and even to consider 'what if' scenarios. The budgeting tool is intuitive and powerful in home accounting software.
Inserting an annual total for an account which will be evenly distributed throughout the twelve months of the year or you setting up a distribution for each account using a slider, or input the figures manually if you prefer. You should be able to have as many accounts as you like and you can have accounts within groups and sub groups according to the structure that reflects your needs. As you populate an account you should see the group within which the account resides changing to reflect the sum of all of the parts. You can then look at your budget at a simple macro level or expand the chart of accounts to show all of the parent and child relationships within the Groups at the micro level! Remember the devil is in the detail!
Once you have built a budget to mirror your chart of accounts you can then track actual income and expenses against it. If you have forgotten to budget for certain income or expenses it is very easy to edit your budget or you can refine the budget when you come to create it for the next 12 months. If you are happy with your budget and don't want to make any changes then you can lock it. At the end of year you can archive it which means that you can still access it to review your financial history.
If you find your planned expenditure exceeds your income having all of your expenses presented in one view allows you to plan a course of action that can lead to positive change. It has long been said that 'what gets measured gets done'. By looking at the budget you can rank the essential from non essential expense categories and make some decisions to change the status quo before your finances become unmanageable. You can also target certain areas for cost reduction. There are so many price comparison websites that allow you to check out the best deals around. Don't forget that if you budget to reduce energy costs based on a pitch from an energy provider, with a good home accounting package, you will be tracking actual expenditure against your budget and can check to make sure that the deal really was as good as it was made out to be. If not you'll be ready to check the market again!
If your income is increasing then a budget allows you to plan for extra treats and luxuries and/or forecast how much surplus income you will have at the end of each month/year, after all of your financial commitments have been taken into account. Perhaps this is money that you want to pay into a tax free or long term savings account or use to pay off your mortgage?
Setting a budget puts you in control of your finances leaving you to enjoy the important events in your life.
Such a software is Home Accountz - a multi platform personal accounting software package that will run on PC, Mac or Linux, can be installed on up to two computers and I think, the best personal finance software for the money.

A recap of new Google Docs functionality for your business

As we near the end of the March, we want to highlight some of the many recent updates made to Google Docs. You’ve already heard about Discussions in Google Docs, which introduced a better way to provide document feedback. Here are some of the other features that have been released in Google Docs over the past couple months:

Filter your data in spreadsheets: We made it easier to analyze and view your data with the addition of filtering in Google spreadsheets. Applying a filter to a set of data can help you quickly narrow down the data set to find the data you need. By selecting a data set, you can filter and sort amongst many rows at once.

12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer: The Google Docs Viewer is used by millions of people every day to quickly view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online. Not only is viewing files in your browser far more secure than downloading and opening them locally, but it also saves time and doesn’t clutter up your hard-drive with unwanted files. We recently added support for:
- Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
- Apple Pages (.PAGES)
- Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
- Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
- Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
- Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
- PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
- TrueType (.TTF)
- XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Mobile editing in 45 languages: Last year, we launched mobile editing in English in Google documents. You can now edit your documents on the go in 45 languages on Android with Froyo (version 2.2) and on iOS devices (version 3.0+) including the iPad.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in 34 languages: Last June, we introduced the ability to upload documents into Google Docs using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). We’ve now added support for 29 additional character sets, including those used in most European languages, Russian, Chinese Simplified and some other Asian languages. See the upload page for the full list.

Multiple chart ranges and hidden sheets in Spreadsheets: We added the ability to chart multiple ranges and hide sheets in Google spreadsheets. In charts, you can now add extra ranges by clicking on “Select ranges...” and “add another range.” You can also manually add new ranges separated by commas. In addition, we introduced the ability to hide your sheets. You can now click on a sheet tab and select “hide sheet” to remove a sheet from view.

Revisions, presence, and format painter in Drawings: We’re making it easier to work together in drawings. First, we’ve added presence highlights around shapes so you can keep track of which object each person is editing. Second, we added revision history which lets you see who made which change as well as go back to previous versions. Third, the new format painter lets you choose a source shape, press the format painter icon to copy its formatting, and then click on another shape to apply that formatting to the destination shape.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office: Google Cloud Connect is now available in 39 languages. We’ve also added the ability to hide the toolbar.

Hidden gridlines in Google spreadsheets: Under the View menu, you can Hide gridlines for each sheet, leaving only the borders that have been put there.

Quick starring and improved sharing invitations: Now you can star documents while editing them. Once a doc is starred, you’ll be able to find the doc by clicking on the starred link in your document list. We’ve also updated document sharing so that when you share a doc with others, all new collaborators are now included on the email.

Cloud printing on the go: now you can print from your smartphone with Google Cloud Print for mobile documents and Gmail for mobile. Just open a document in Google Docs or an email in Gmail in your mobile browser and choose “Print” from the dropdown menu in the top right corner. To get started, you’ll need to connect your printer to Google Cloud Print.

As with all updates in Google Docs, users get access to new features each time they open their browsers, and improvements roll out to customers with no need for administrators to manage patches or install software. Stay tuned for more updates to Google Docs.

Posted by Jeff Harris, Product Manager, Google Docs

Georgia Department of Corrections Improves Case Management with Google Maps

Editor’s Note: Providing a safe and secure environment for the citizens is the mission of U.S. law enforcement agencies. Today we invited Jeff Smith, Enterprise Systems Manager from the Georgia Department of Corrections, to share how it improved offender management by using Google Maps.

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) is the largest law enforcement agency in the state. Our team of over 13,000 Corrections professionals strives everyday to manage the offenders effectively while helping to provide a safe and secure environment for the citizens. With a growing number of probationers to supervise - now more than 150,000 - this challenge was becoming increasingly more difficult and we needed modern technology to help us.
With the massive number of probationers in the GDC system, it’s fundamental that we have accurate mapping tools in order for probation officers to manage their caseloads appropriately. Believe it or not, for decades we had been plotting the probationers on paper maps and manually drawing the routes we took to supervise them. More recently, our officers turned to publicly available mapping tools to make their job easier on their own. In spite of that, accuracy was still a problem, and we came to realize the urgent need to equip our officers with accurate, interactive maps.

We implemented a solution that integrates large amounts of offender management data that we collected into Google Maps API Premier in October 2010. Google Maps gives us the flexibility to send large amounts of data to draw a single map and customize the data icons. We can easily map the address of each offender and color-code it based on the offender’s supervision level. Probation officers are now able to access customized Google Maps both from their desk computers and on their netbooks when they are on the road. An officer can quickly see on a map all the offenders he supervises, their addresses, identification information, supervision levels, and the probation office supervising the offenders’ cases. Officers can optimize caseloads based on real geographic boundaries so each of them can focus just on a sector of the city and reduce the amount of time spent navigating through Atlanta. We can also run a search by officer, office, or by radius to identify the cases. If an offender reports a home address change, we can tell if he or she moves out of the region and needs to be reassigned to another officer or office. We no longer have to rely on the offenders’ self-reported data for the city or county their residence is in. Google Maps has helped advance our case management and collaboration significantly.

With the capability to visualize where the offenders live, Executive Management also realized Google Maps would be a valuable tool in deciding where to establish new offices. These new ways to look at managing offenders and officer caseloads were hard to imagine with our previous systems.

Google Maps has helped us improve collaboration and optimize resource allocation intelligently. We can now focus more on our core agenda, which is to protect our citizens and provide effective opportunities for offenders to achieve positive change.

Posted by Jeff Smith, Systems Manager, Georgia Department of Corrections, Office of Information Technology

Making the Tax Rules Work for You: Understanding the Tax Rules.

Understanding the rules is key to making the tax rules work for you. I can't emphasize this enough.
Understanding the rules doesn't mean you have to be an expert on the tax rules. Your tax advisor should be the expert.
Understanding the rules simply means you know what to look for so you can identify potential opportunities and discuss them with your tax advisor.
You are the one who is best able to identify potential opportunities because you are the one who is in the day-to-day activity of your business or investing and that is where the opportunities are.
While your tax preparer can identify some opportunities after-the-fact, the results are much better and faster if you are able to identify them as they occur. And faster results most likely mean you can start reducing your taxes faster.
This is why understanding the rules is so important!
Think about playing a game While taxes are certainly not a game, the benefits of understanding the tax rules are similar to the benefits of understanding the rules of a game.
Players can typically be grouped into 4 levels based on their understanding of the rules.
Level 1 Player: Doesn't understand the rules Result: Struggles with the game
Level 2 Player: Understands the rules, but doesn't follow them Result: Punished - they are not invited back to play or the other players watch them very closely and don't let them get away with anything
Level 3 Player: Understands the rules and follows them Result: Fairs well in the game.
Level 4 Player: REALLY understands the rules and APPLIES them Result: Able to change their strategy as the game plays out which usually results in them winning the game.
The same applies to understanding the tax rules.
Level 1 Taxpayer: Doesn't understand the tax rules Result: Struggles with their taxes - they pay too much tax or too little tax and are unaware of it either way.
Level 2 Taxpayer: Understands the tax rules, but doesn't follow them Result: Punished with an audit, penalties, interest, additional tax and / or scrutiny of all their tax filings
Level 3 Taxpayer: Understands the tax rules and follows them Result: Calculates their taxes correctly - which may not necessarily mean they are paying the least amount of tax legally
Level 4 Taxpayer: REALLY understands the tax rules and APPLIES them Result: Able to adjust their tax strategy timely enabling them to take advantage of tax benefits and pay the least amount of tax (legally)!
How to Get Started with Understanding the Tax Rules The best place to start is with your tax advisor.
Ask your tax advisor what rules you need to understand to be able to identify potential tax saving opportunities in your business or investing operations.

Zero Based Budgeting for Small Business

I have been asked this question numerous times by small business owners "How do I make my business more profitable?" The question became even more relevant in the last couple years when economic downturn and amnesic growth reduced gross income while inflation is quickly increasing cost of goods and expenses associated with business operations.
Lets look at the Real Estate agent (my client) whose business turned sour at the end of 2008, the time of major stock market crash, who discovered himself in the position when his expenses suddenly could not be covered by the income generated from business. Just cutting expenses was not an option, because in his case most of the expenses were geared towards marketing activities and were supposed to generate new business. Wait it out could have been another solution but forecasting the length of the downturn always proves forecaster wrong.
This agent has approached me for the tax planning services just before the year end, and I offer him to review not only his financials but also his operating activity to help him with his budget. My goal was to capitalize on the small business flexibility, which usually is absent in the large corporation due to complicated command structures and poor communications. Flexibility in small business means an ability to make quick decisions and rapidly implement them. The timing of this decisions is crucial because slight delays may cause sever financial damage. We have reviewed agent's expenses and analysed them. For budgeting we took an approach which is called zero based budgeting
A method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified for each new period. Zero-based budgeting starts from a "zero base" approach and every function within an organization is analyzed for its needs and costs. Budgets are then built around what is needed for the upcoming period, regardless of whether the budget is higher or lower than the previous one.
The process allowed us to cut unnecessary expenses which became custom of habit such because they were implemented so long ago. We also did not budget for items which would be excessive in the recession. However we have decided to redeploy freed up funds into new technologies which would allow the agent to reduce some expenses but at the same time increase marketing exposure to new areas.
This approach allowed the agent to position himself in the safe heaven during early 2009. The market has made 180 degree turn in 2010, and the agent was ready for it and he made necessary adjustments based on 2008 experience and took full advantage of it. 2010 ended up being a record year for this agent

Turn Your Trading Losses Into Gains

It may sound counter-intuitive, but a trading loss actually offers certain opportunities. You can offset it against Corporation Tax in the past, present or future. On the other hand you may want to consider re-setting your financial year, or even creating a loss through pension contributions.
An actual trading loss is far from perfect, but in the current climate especially, it's becoming more common for businesses to experience erratic levels of profitability. Handled correctly, you can turn the loss into a tax saving - now or in the future.
The trading loss can be offset against the current year, carried back one year to the previous accounting year (and offset against tax due for that year), or carried forward for an indefinite period.
It's also possible to alter the parameters of your financial year to evade a boom and bust scenario where you're greatly taxed for the successful period and then suffer a weaker period without any compensation.
Pension relief
Pension contributions are usually allowable deductions for corporation tax purposes and because the deductions form part of the company's expenses, any trading loss can get relief under the trading loss rules for a company.
It's possible to create or increase a trading loss by making an employer pension contribution.
Understandably, you may think that making a pension contribution during a trading period when profits are low (or a loss is made) is a futile exercise. However trading losses may be offset against the proceeding year or carried forward to set against future profits, so the net result could be a tax saving.
As long as your company either paid Corporation Tax in the previous period, or will be paying it in subsequent periods, tax relief will be given for pension contributions providing they are exclusively for the purposes of the trade.
It's also worth noting that pension contributions need to be paid before the end of the accounting period.
Example
· ABC Ltd anticipates profits in the trading year ending 31 December 2010 of £10,000.
· They had a £400,000 profit in the accounting period ending on 31 December 2009.
· Annual pension contributions for the directors and other employees are £100,000
Should the payment be made now or delayed?
Possible solution
If the payment is made in the accounting period up to 31 December 2010, the company will have a trading loss of £90,000.
This loss can be set back against the previous year's profits, gaining a Corporation Tax repayment (or saving, if the tax hasn't been paid over to HMRC yet) of £26,775 (29.75% of £90,000), with no tax due for the year ending 31 December 2010.
The total tax saving is £28,875. This means tax will be saved at an overall effective rate of 28.87%.
In this example the pension contribution does not need to be delayed, even though the consequence of the contribution being made is that the company has no profit in the period. To delay the payment until the next accounting period would mean a delay for any Corporation Tax relief for the payment, potentially until 1 October 2012.

Short Sale/Foreclosure Tax Info By a CPA (Accountant)

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence through 2012. This includes debt reduced through mortgage restructuring and foreclosure, but only applies to debt used to buy, build or substantially improve your principal residence. Refinanced debt is only forgiven up to the amount that would have qualified before refinancing and the loss sustained on the short sale or foreclosure of your principal residence is not deductible.
Discharge of debt on rental property is not excluded from income. If a financial entity cancels or forgives debt of $600 or more, you will receive a Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt. Unless you meet one of the exceptions, this canceled debt is ordinary income and must be reported on your tax return. Exceptions include bankruptcy or insolvency. Insolvency occurs when the total of all your liabilities is more than the fair market value of all of your assets immediately before the cancellation of debt. If the cancellation of debt exceeds the amount by which you were insolvent, the difference must be reported as income.
If discharge of debt is excluded under the bankruptcy or insolvency exceptions, you must reduce your basis in the rental property by the amount of excluded cancellation of debt income. The lender's foreclosure or repossession of the rental property is treated as a sale or disposition and may result in realization of a gain or loss for income tax purposes. The gain or loss on the disposition of the property is measured by the difference between the fair market value of the property at the time of the disposition and your adjusted basis in the property. Your adjusted basis in the property is your cost plus improvements, less depreciation and less the amount of excluded cancellation of debt income.
Real estate and taxes go hand and hand. If your personal real estate is in a foreclosure please consult an accountant or tax professional. Taking a short sale offer on an investment property could have substantial tax consequences. Many clients are choosing to walk away from the property vs accept the short sale for tax reasons. Your home is another issue and the two should not be treated the same. Accounting rules are moving more in the direction of helping homeowners get out of this financial crisis by giving tax leeway to homeowners in poor financial conditions.

Accounting Firm: Top Ways That an Accountant Can Help You

If you are not sure whether an accounting firm could help your financial situation, you should find out what the typical company offers. Many people find that they need help from someone who is good with numbers and knowledgeable about finances, which does not describe the average person. Thus, you should learn a few of the services that are most commonly appreciated by most individuals.
Of course, tax time is the busiest season for the usual accounting firm, as many people do not know where to begin when doing their taxes. This is especially true if you have various deductions, or complicated situations, such as status as an independent contractor. Even if the situation seems simple, and you do not have many deductions, you may still benefit from a professional looking at your taxes since they may find some deductions that apply to you. Whether you are unsure about where to start, or just want someone to check your work, you should hire a company to check out your taxes.
If you do not have a retirement fund set up through work, as many people do, you should start checking out your options. An accounting firm can help you explore the choices that would work for your situation. Even if you decide not to set up a fund just yet, it is good to know your options. This will result in you having some money put away when you stop working. Thus, meeting with a company, even just to start preliminary planning, can allow you to have peace of mind about your retirement.
Most small businesses need the help of an accounting firm, as well. Even if you do not have employees, you may want help with the financial details, especially when it comes to tax time. Getting tips on saving money during the first few years of business is particularly helpful, as most new companies fail during this time. Clearly, meeting with an accountant may just be the difference between succeeding and failing at your business, as so much depends on having stable finances.
These are just the top few ways that an accountant can help an individual, family, or business. If you are still not convinced that you need this type of assistance, consider having an initial consultation with an accountant. Many offer at least a few minutes of free advice, giving you a glimpse of what you should be doing to keep your finances in good condition.

The Enterprise Reconciliation Lifecycle - Phase 3: Exception Resolution

What next after matching?
To be frank, the important stuff. The reason to match is to find exceptions, or breaks as they are called in some industries, even though we hope to see none. The best result is a blank exceptions listing. However, this scenario frequently evades us, often as a consequence of situations outside of our control (such as third parties). Exceptions are what cause risk to the business: financial risk, reputational risk, the risk of losing clients, or of failing an audit, or of falling foul of compliance-related regulations and legislation. If, therefore, we accept that exceptions happen, how best can we deal with them?
Degrees of exception resolution
The answer is quickly and efficiently, commensurate with the level of risk they pose, and in a way that clearly demonstrates this. In this article we define two degrees of exception resolution: exception management and case management. The latter builds upon the former and may - or may not - have validity in various situations. Consider two scenarios:
The first is a traditional bank (check) reconciliation: matching checks issued to those cleared by the bank. The match rate is high - over 99% - and the transaction values low. The transactions should match one-to-one. Where there is a discrepancy it is likely sufficient and appropriate for a user to review these on screen, work through them, annotate notes and comments, and get them resolved. The above represents base exception management.
Now envision the matching of trading activity at an investment manager. Very high transaction values, many-to-one or many-to-many matching, high risk associated with clients' monies. A million dollar break requires immediate attention. Here multiple transactions may need to be grouped together, and defined resolution workflows, likely with multiple resolution paths, applied. Initial and ongoing alerts, reminders, and escalation triggers for delays need to be automatically generated. Here we are talking about case management.
How increased automation can help boost compliance
If good financial governance dictates that the timely reconciliation of accounts is in order and the resolution of exceptions a necessary step in this process, then legislation and other regulatory requirements across most geographies and industries require it to varying degrees. It is insufficient merely to undertake exception resolution; one also needs to prove it. An enterprise reconciliation solution allows all these activities to be recorded within a single, easily accessible database. This not only reduces day-to-day operational costs, but also renders audit activities, internal and external, much more efficient.

An Interest In Math Could Lead To An Accounting Degree

Math whiz-kids: are you looking for a career that every business needs, doesn't come with a lot of stress and has job placement almost instantly upon graduation? Look no further than a degree in accounting. Career training can range from certificates to Master's degrees in accounting. Most accountants hold at least a Bachelor's degree.
To make the grade, you'll have to be analytical, interpret facts and figures quickly plus sport the ability to clearly and concisely communicate the results to management or clients. High standards of integrity are an important trait in this profession. Since the recent financial catastrophes and Ponzi schemes have hit the news, you'll more likely be closely monitored, at least initially.
Accounting is a system of economic information that's identified, recorded, summarized and reported. Then the managers and decision-makers decide on a course of action based upon the findings. Computers handle most of the mundane tasks of accounting, so professionals are freed up to spend more time analyzing data. Two of the newest study areas to combine accounting degrees are ethics and computer science.
Staying current with industry standards and technological applications is imperative in maintaining a successful, progressive accounting career. Even accountants with degrees seek continuing education or work towards more specialized degrees. Online classes allow more students to join the growing industry or take refresher courses or earn advanced degrees.
Although this is one career where advancement is steady, the competition is also fierce and it looks like it will remain competitive for many years to come. Certification requirements will probably become more rigorous, specialization will become more evident and accountants with the highest degrees will be much sought after. Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification not only demonstrates your professional commitment and expertise, but it is also a crucial designation to perform certain functions. For instance, only a CPA has the ability to sign an audit option, which is the official declaration representing a company's financial position.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accounting is divided into four categories: public accountants, management accountants, government accountants and auditors/internal auditors. Each category has its own niche that it covers. Public accountants focus primarily on auditing and tax-related functions. Management accountants often start as trainees in a corporation and work as cost accountants or internal auditors. Government accountants oversee the performance and allocation of government funding. Internal auditors conduct compliance audits and accounting information systems.
There are also private and public accountants. Public accounting offers higher salaries, more variety and better opportunities for advancement based on merit. Your actual working hours as a public accountant will be applied to your CPA requirements. Private accounting is considered more stable with a fixed location, set hours and steady workload. Private accountants also usually get a Bachelor's degree, but aren't required to have a CPA.