Have you ever taken $20 out of an ATM and wondered later where it went? Start keeping a daily spending diary to keep track of where your money goes. Try it out for one week and you’ll be amazed at how much you can spend on the little things like coffee, eating out and entertainment. Here’s how to do it:

1. Take a blank piece of paper and create a column for each day of the week, Monday through Friday.
2. Put the piece of paper in your wallet or purse - somewhere where you can have it with you at all times.
3. Make a note of every single penny that you spend - This is very important, if you forget to write down a coffee here and a soda there, you won’t have a complete picture of how you’re spending your money by the end of the week.

At the end of the week quickly order the items that you spent money on throughout the week into the following categories: Food, transportation, entertainment, clothing, housing and other. Next add up your expenses in each category. Here’s an example of one day:

Monday

Coffee - $2.75

Food: $10.60
Bus fare - $3.00
Transportation: $3.00
Lunch - $7.85

Entertainment: $2.50
Magazine - $2.50
TOTAL: $16.10

Next, find out what percentage of your money you spend on each category by dividing the total for each category by the overall total. Following the example above, I spent 66% on food ($10.60/$16.10).

Once you have completed your calculations look carefully through your analysis. Does anything surprise you? Are you spending more money than you thought on small items? Small things, like coffee, drinks, cigarettes etc… can really add up in a week! Just think, if you spend $3 on coffee every day, that’s $21 a week or $1,092 a year! Identify these areas that surprise you and look for opportunities to cut back on your spending.

Keeping a daily spending diary is an easy way to take control over your spending and to identify some less than desirable spending habits. Also as an added bonus, by keeping a daily spending diary, you’re already halfway there in creating your own personal budget. Next week we’ll explain how to set up your budget. In the meantime, congratulations on taking an important first step! You’re on your way to learning more about Your Money and You.

TIP: Use your daily spending diary as a savings tool. After one week you should be able to easily identify some areas to cut back on your spending. The money you save will bring you one step closer to your goals of opening a business, saving for your children’s education, purchasing a home or taking a dream vacation.

Andrea Stiles Pullas has written a series of finance related articles. For additional information on similar topics, visit http://yourmoney.accion.org

Expenses like income are treated differently depending on your method of accounting (cash or accrual). Cash accounting says a cost is “expensed” when you write the check to pay for it. Accrual accounting expenses the cost when the transaction occurs whether or not money is exchanged, e.g. a supplier may give you 30 days to pay your bill or you may pay your payroll/sales taxes monthly. Accrual accounting attempts to keep expenses matched up with the sale that generated it. Bills that are paid in a lump sum for the year can be accrued (spread out) each month; e.g. unemployment insurance is paid in lump sums which throws off your P&L because of the large payment.

A solution is to record the payment to the Pre-paid Expenses account within Current Assets on the Balance Sheet. You can then divide the amount by the number of months paid and then each month reduce the Pre-Paid Expenses by the smaller monthly payment and record it in the Unemployment Insurance account on your P&L.

Most of your expenses come from your checkbook register but there is a couple you will want to watch out for.

The principle portion of your loans and credit cards that you pay on your bill are not expenses. The principle portion paid should go to the liability account on the balance sheet for the loan. The interest portion of the bill is an expense. You need to look at the bill and split out the two portions.

Items that are purchased in the $500+ range (start ups and businesses with sales less than $300,000) are considered investments in the business and should be depreciated over an IRS predetermined time span. This is where tax law and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are applied. Larger businesses are able to expense bigger ticket items. A small business puts these $500+ purchases on their balance sheet under long term assets.

Don’t worry about recording depreciation monthly unless your accountant has given you a schedule. Depreciation becomes a non-cash expense and accounts for the items you put on the balance sheet above $500 earlier.

Something to watch out for with depreciation is that the new tax laws have accelerated the ability to depreciated your assets, a good thing for lowering taxes but it often leaves a small business looking like it is not re-investing in itself. Ask your accountant to run the depreciation schedule two ways, one for taxes using the acceptable accelerated depreciation and the second way using the straight line depreciation based upon the lifespan of the asset for your business books. Why is this important? Banks run ratios that use assets to determine bank ability. As for you, it will give you a better idea of when to re-invest in furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

The most difficult thing about using P&Ls is consistent coding of expenses into their appropriate accounts. If you are unsure about which accounts to use, start with the ones on the tax return you will be using; e.g. schedule C for sole proprietors.

Bruce Hunter is the CEO of CORE Magazine in Denver Colorado. CORE is the leading online source for small business startup. Visit our free online resource center now to get free access to information on small business finance.

An income statement a.k.a. Profit & Loss, is a summary of income received and expenses reported during a stated period. The periods are usually stated in monthly, quarterly, or annual terms.

A mid-month income statement can misrepresent the data. For instance, if your business records most of your sales in the first 7 days of the month but does not record expenses till after the 20th of the month. This mid-month statement will overstate income and understate expenses.

Income can also be called sales or revenue.

Income can be subcategorized by type of sales. For example a fish store could have: Freshwater Fish, Saltwater Fish, Equipment, Tank Supplies, and Food. Breaking down income this way at the end of the period helps the owner look at her Income Statement and know the dollar total of each type of sale. Another tool is to know what percentage of your sales come from new customers versus existing customers.

One common mistake is to track income that is not earned by selling your business’ product or service in the income section of the income statement; e.g. sales of assets, loan deposits, or tax refunds. Loan deposits are tracked on the balance sheet. Other income generated from other business activity such as gain on sale of assets and tax refunds is reported at the bottom of the income statement after expenses in the area reserved for non-operational income.

When is a sale a sale?

A cash accounting method records the sale when the customer pays. An accrual method records the sale at the time the customer order is confirmed. Payment is handled separately on the balance sheet against the receivable generated from the sale. Why is this an issue? The accrual method attempts to match a sale’s income with its expenses to better determine if the sale was profitable. Cash accounting tracks sales and expenses as they are paid by your customer or you making it harder to determine if the sale was profitable.

When printing out your P&L use the feature (within software) called percent of income. What this does is divide each account for income and expenses by the total sales for the period. Monitoring this percent allows you to compare periods regardless of the amount of the income or expense. For example, if sales for the month are 50,000 for January and your payroll is 10,000, then 10,000 divided by 50,000 equals 20%. This translates to: for every dollar of sales you spend 20 cents for payroll. The next month your sales are 40,000 and your payroll is still 10,000. 10,000 divided by 40,000 equals 25% or for every dollar of sales you spent 25 cents for payroll. You can see how knowing the percent of income can be a valuable management tool.

Bruce Hunter is the CEO of CORE Magazine in Denver Colorado. CORE is the leading online source for small business startup. Visit our free online resource center now to get free access to information on small business finance.

Usually, bookkeeping is considered as the most time and effort consuming task of every organization. The primary objective of bookkeeping section in any organization is to help the management in making maximum revenue after tax payment. Unless this section makes its complete contribution to that objective, the profit can never be justified. In every industry, bookkeeping department works to help the management for smooth operation of organizational tasks. A single sensible and qualified bookkeeping professional can maximize the profit of the organization as he knows how to utilize the working capital to the greatest possible advantage. Normally, most of the organizations employ best possible human and capital racecourses to handle the bookkeeping tasks but in case the organization is having problems with bookkeeping section, they can go for outsourcing to get bookkeeping help.

The elements entering in to the basic organizational structure are many and varied. The only common denominator is money and its flow thus there should be someone to monitor each and every transaction. Bookkeeping help translates the operating results in terms of money so that the organization may get an enlightened vision to make highly profitable strategies. It is true that bookkeeping task must take into account the separateness of each individual entry and should categorize and record transactions according to their class. Bookkeeping help provider must know how to distinguish between various pillars of organization i.e. member of board of directors, shareholders, debenture holders, managers, CEO and last but not the least- clients and consumers. In many respects, bookkeeping department is comparable to profit-center of an organization that is liable to draw diverse situations in favor of company. Reliable and accurate bookkeeping help can truly be the profit-center of any company.

The extent to which bookkeeping help can benefit the business is infinite. Bookkeeping service provide that you hire has its own specialist who are efficient enough to change the overall impact of your balance sheet. As per the nature and requirement of the business or institution, bookkeeping service provider firm’s experts put their effort to make over your business in to a renowned name of corporate world. No doubt, that every business would like to be the headline of leading business magazines, newspapers or T.V. channel and only high revenues and top position can make it possible. Wise chosen bookkeeping help providers strive to take your business on pinnacle so that the annual report of your company may get first lead in every business magazine or newspaper.

Bookkeeping help is there just to lighten you burden and not to increase the operational cost. Keeping the record of each day to day, weekly and monthly transaction is not possible without appropriate staff. As everyone cannot afford to pay high salary of bookkeeping staff, hiring bookkeeping help is the best option. Cost of these hired bookkeeping professional will be definitely very low in comparison to salaries of employed staff. Though journals and ledgers do not affect your business but it is good to be accurate with every transaction if you are really willing to get exact idea about the position of your business.

Alvis Brazma gives advice to business owners about how to manage their business efficiently without any hassles. To know more about Accounting outsourcing services,Small Business Accounting,Bookkeeping help, Accounting Outsourcing, Bookkeeping help visit this leading internet source: www.impacctusa.com

Keeping a tab on various financial transactions throughout the year is a tough job, especially when you are a businessperson handling small business. Whether you own a big or small business enterprise, every organization needs an expert to take care of his or financial numbers efficiently. In fact, small enterprises equally need the small business accounting like their counterparts. It is moreover, a good idea to go for small business accounting services from various vendors.

Every business wants to do a great business in terms of both money and popularity; hence, a small business accounting is needed to handle the account books of various small companies. Well, sometimes running a small business can become overwhelming and that is the reason, why many small organizations opt for small business accounting firms because they offer results that are more profitable in a shorter period of time. In fact, the services offered by small business accounting also enhance the business performance of its clients in the market. Alternatively, you can say that with the help of it, the smaller organizations tend to earn more profits and are at the same time able to curtail losses that were incurred during the financial year. Like many big and large business enterprises, small companies are also getting tech savvy and in turn opting for various software solutions specifically designed for them. In fact, with the help of this accounting software, you can ease the whole process of making records and tallying them over and over again.

However, most of the small business owners are not a qualified accountant and are always busy in churning out new and effective ways to get the business more profitable. Hence, hiring an accountant for various small business accounting tasks is a good option. This is one of the foremost and significant reasons to have small business accounting expert for a big business deals for a future. And taking services from small business accounting firm is a perfect way to reduce time and personnel resources. Therefore, small business accounting is professionals who specialize in providing efficient and accurate accounting services. To achieve this, all you have to do is to hire a person from it for your business needs. The accountant will handle the small business accounting work carefully and accurately. As a result, you will be able to know the position of your firm and also if your firm is making any profit or not.

Nobody wants to make a mess with numbers and especially, when these are your profit earning numbers. Hence, every businessperson wants to make sure that all the calculations are properly executed as well as maintained. To avoid such kind of blunders, small business accounting is a perfect way. In fact, it also helps in preparing a daily report on the regular transactions and the client is updated through online file transfers. Small business accounting additionally provides the business owners with healthy relationship with his counterparts, agents, shareholders and consumers. Therefore, small business accounting is your way to more success.

Alvis Brazma gives advice to business owners about how to manage their business efficiently without any hassles. To know more about Accounting outsourcing services, Small Business Accounting, Bookkeeping help, Accounting Outsourcing, Small Business Accounting visit this leading internet source: www.impacctusa.com

A financial product that provides cash flow, cash infusion and asset protection…

Medical professionals today are presented with many challenges outside of their diagnostic and treatment expertise.

The business of medicine has become a serious concern for providers of all kinds.
With growing demand from a population living longer, aided and abetted by “baby boomers” reaching stage in life when medical treatment has become more frequent, medical practitioners could use an additional eight hours to the already crowded twenty-four currently in use.

Add to this picture a Federal deficit causing our leaders in Washington DC to decrease reimbursements to the medical community as a whole (causing the same affect from the non-governmental payers), with the thought in mind that savings generated by lower payments to doctors (et al) will, in itself, actually have an affect on the government’s finances.

The final straw is added to the scenario as patients and their attorneys are convinced that mal-practice suits offer a better retirement plan to individuals (and counsel) than IRA’s, pension accounts and hard work.

In the end, the medical professional is working more hours, and receiving less payment for services rendered, under the intense pressure that a lawsuit is an ever present probability.

The reality described above is the proximate cause of fewer talented and motivated individuals entering the medical profession, and the professionals already practicing medicine, leaving!
Unlike the news media however, this article will suggest solutions to the devastating picture painted above.

If we were to wave a magic wand and suddenly arrive at three solutions, these answers would have to:

1. provide a cash flow solution for the slow and protracted payment system inherent in the medical community,
2. provide a cash infusion for building other sources of income during the business hours currently in affect and
3. provide a means by which a medical practitioner can protect from judgment, the largest asset found in his/her business… accounts receivable.

Enter, Medical Accounts Receivable funding (MAR funding).

No other form of finance is structured to provide immediate and unlimited debt-free cash flow, a large initial cash infusion and a built-in asset protection capability.

An analysis of the process of MAR funding, will explain it all.

Every medical practitioner that is paid by third party payers, has an existing bucket of medical accounts receivable providing a slow, unpredictable cash flow for their business.
This is the laziest asset one finds in doing an analysis of businesses.

Many group practices have upward of $750,000 in delayed payments coming from the insurance companies and governmental payers.

The most efficient thing to do with such an asset is to convert it to cash, and use such cash to provide additional income for the practice.

An example recently addressed by us was a Cardiology group in Southern Florida.
This group of professionals described the exact scenario outlined in the first paragraph herein.
“We work more hours daily, see more patients, and we are still going to have less income than last year.”
The question was then posed, “what percent of your patients do you prescribe annual stress testing?”
To which they responded that they require over 80% of their patients to endure stress testing at least once per year.
Following up we asked how much of that stress testing was outsourced to other facilities, the answer was … all!

Moving forward we advised this group to sell their existing A/R and build a stress test lab of their own.
The cost involved in selling these claims would be overwhelmingly recovered from this new daily source of income.
Astutely however, one of the physicians noted that if they sold the current A/R they would not have the cash flow, as unpredictable as it was, for daily overhead and working capital. Not so!

MAR funding puts back the cash flow, in an even more predictable and steady manner.
Although past receivables have been sold off in this scenario, the newly generated ones each day can similarly be sold to establish a regular daily funding pipeline.
This is a true example of “having your cake and eating it too.” Add to this the “icing” on that cake, asset protection.
The best way to protect an asset is not to own it. The sale of A/R is a natural way to protect assets yet also solves a business need for the medical group.

Martin Hayes is a Customer Service Specialist with Principle Commercial Corporation.

For more information about medical accounts receivable (MAR) funding or commercial loans for medical facilities please visit http://www.PrincipleCommercial.com/MedicalAR

In a society like ours, knowledge of bookkeeping is highly important to those people who are engaged in any kind of mercantile activities. Since every retail shop deals with never ending flow of cash and transactions, there is a great need to establish efficient accounting systems to monitor and record this huge financial data. The analysts have to look at numerous entries from every angle to insure the profitability of the existing business. In such a situation, flaws in transactions can affect the profitability of retail business; therefore, the retail merchant must try to establish a precise retail accounting system.

Since retail accounting follows single entry system, a day book can be maintained by the accountant to keep record of every sold entity. For shopkeepers day book is the most accurate way to manage their personal account. Daybooks are easily manageable and exhibit true state of account with every person with whom the firm has any dealing on credit. A busy place like retail shop demands extra concern and precision as several financial activities take place at a time. In spite of great attentiveness by shop owners, retail businesses often face the problems of flawed accounting data. Retail accounting someway carries more cluttered transactions; accounting professional who tally every transaction on daily basis find day book a better way to make record keeping simpler. It provides him with a convenient method of monitoring daily sales as well as stock available. In case of newly launched products, often companies offer a good incentive to shopkeepers on achieving target sale. A daybook also helps a shopkeeper in accomplishing this profitable task as it avail him a comprehensive detail about the sale of every individual product.

In retail accounting, there are many things that need to be analyzed regularly as it helps in managing the day-to-day business and decision making on every aspect. It includes records such as inventory, creditor book, defaulter book, sales books and profit and loss for the month; these records are further used to prepare final personal account. If the retailer is dealing with multiple wholesalers at a time then he must take note of every receipt and payment in cash book. Particulars of cash book also include default payments that help a retailer in deciding on reliability of wholesalers and agency representatives.

Like every wing of business, retail businesses are also using computerized retail accounting system so that they may maintain accuracy of every transaction without any delay. For retail shops, computerizes accounting is a great way to reduce work load and improve work efficiency. Definitely, computerized retail accounting system can reduce the monotony of accounting tasks. If you are a retail shopkeeper and planning to incorporate computerized system in your business then make sure that which accounting software you are going to use. In case your software is not according to the requirements of your retail accounting system, you may face problems in proper execution. Therefore, always do a little research whether the software is well matched to your requirement or not, as it will help you in choosing the best retail accounting software for your organization.

Alvis Brazma gives advice to business owners about how to manage their business efficiently without any hassles. To know more about Accounting outsourcing services, Retail accounting, Bookkeeping help, Accounting Outsourcing, Retail accounting visit this leading internet source: www.impacctusa.com

More and more small businesses are cropping up. Unlike the multi-million dollar companies, not everyone can hire professional payroll personnel. On paper accounting is headed to extinction and now-a-days small businesses require accounting payroll software solutions that help them save time and money simultaneously.

Business accounting software solution checklist:

• The business accounting software solutions you get should include the latest payroll tax calculations.
• The software you purchase should save time for you and your company.
• The payroll accounting software you use should assure compatibility checks, invoices, statements, printable catalog, payroll tax forms, and more.
• No matter how much revenue your company generates, you need an accounting software for your small business if you have less than 500 employees.
• Make sure it has real-time modules which you can personalize and customize, depending on the number of operators within the same file. This helps to keep your data up to date and easily accessible.
• The client server financial accounting systems you use should be portable to over 600 different kinds of platforms. Compatible with an IBM Z90® series Mainframe to a 32 or 64 Bit Windows. This actually is the most important factor in choosing a business accounting software solution.
• Make sure you can get the last five-year comparative or the previous week’s sales, or the last two years inventories, at the click of a button.
• Does the software ease daily tasks? Make sure the software’s improvements, if any, are developed thanks to customer and partner suggestions.
• Bookkeeping software should have a culmination of general ledger, checks & payroll accounting, accounts payable, after the fact journal, and accounts receivable and payroll system.
• The software should not be rigid. It should be able to accommodate all kinds of client reports. If yours is a small but growing company, the software’s module integration must be excellent.
• The write-up software should be flexible enough to be able to handle high volume data entry. Accountants usually enter information either through a ‘heads-up’ or through a ‘heads-down’ mode. The software you buy should have multi-state payroll processing features.
• Once again, it’s not about how expensive or how may features it has, always look for referrals and read testimonials to find out whether this is the software you need.

Most small-businesses use less powerful systems. You can lead with maintaining all information online in real-time by using modules such as:

• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Bank Reconciliation
• Unified Payroll
• Depreciation
• Inventory Management
• Job Management
• Order Billing

Among all accounting write up software, the simplest and most efficient to use are:

1. Client Data Center
2. Payroll Service Bureau
3. Commercial Business
4. Contractor Management

The bottom line is, the client server accounting package should be simple-to-use, be able to report formatting, systematic, and pay attention to its real-time aspect.

The article is written by the owner of Universal Business Computing Company (UBCC), a leading name in Payroll software and Accounting solutions. For all of you seeking accounting write up software requirements, contact UBCC at info@ubcc.com

Keeping a track of financial data is no child’s play and requires efficient workforce to record them properly. Moreover, it demands a lot of time on the part of a person, who is responsible for the keeping up the account books intact. Well not anymore, as help is here to save your time and money. In fact, it not only assists in maintaining records but also provides solutions by reducing work force.

Well, making entries on various big or small income details is a Herculean task and sometimes leads to frustration for both the owner and the accountant of the company. Therefore, it needs extra care along with diligent effort if the business has to churn more profits while curbing the losses. This can be achieved through accounting help. These are needed every day, as they offer information on the financial standing of the company. Moreover, accounts is just not all about keeping the business records intact; in fact, it is also handles things like salaries of employees, sales, credit and debts, asset and liabilities also. A section plays a significant role by tracking those numbers, so that the organization does not have to deal with any of the mismanagement on any information.

Thus, it is advisable to hire an expert from accounting help to execute the work perfectly.
It is tough to hire a professional from outside, since the confidential data is involved and is at stake at the same time. Moreover, company’s division employs a huge amount of resources in the form of employees. Therefore, let go of your inhibitions, and trust accounting help. It not only saves money but also can help you in saving other resources like work force. In fact, you can say that accounting actually assists in cutting down the cost of employee salaries and perks so that the enterprise can further use this money for various business ventures. The professionals hired by you from an accounting help firm are experienced enough to utilize the software perfectly. Well, if you are worried about the fees of the hired person, then hang on; the services offered are inexpensive though but effective. Moreover, they are much cheaper in comparison to the in-house staff of your company.

It also prepares a daily report on transactions that have been made in past. It also provides transparency on the business deals that have added profits along with the losses incurred. The services offered by it ensures that the financial records, such as balance sheets, profit and loss statements, journals and ledgers, bank statements and other documents are in perfect condition for ready inspection. The advantages of these services are witnessed during the time of filing tax returns and auditing the financial records of a company. The multiple benefits of hiring accounting services have enhanced the popularity of this service amongst individuals and businesses and more and more companies are hiring them for better results. Thus, you can say that it assists in the optimization of resources for any business venture at any point-of-time.

Alvis Brazma gives advice to business owners about how to manage their business efficiently without any hassles.

To know more about Accounting outsourcing services,Bookkeeping help, Retail accounting, Accounting Outsourcing, Accounting Help visit this leading internet source: www.impacctusa.com

Information technology is rescuing rapidly into all sections of corporate world and is now seen as the most influential equipment increasing the pace of global economic development. With the involvement of information technology in industries and corporations, the only thing that got top most priority is software. Software is the core of information technology thus every concerned organization is emphasizing on employing best suitable software. Today, software industry equipped with resources and experts, has grown and broadened its horizons to support every aspect of business or any industry. As software is playing a vital role in development of every business, companies are scrutinizing their viability of outsourcing some or all of their software functions. Despite the fact, that there are countries with rich financial and human resources, India is still the top priority for software outsourcing. Software outsourcing India is the powerful leader of information technology arena, with a very sophisticated, technically trained and English speaking population.

Software outsourcing India has the perfect political, educational, technical and linguistic conditions to offer excellent services to global software market. As the world’s largest software industry U.S. keeps on outsourcing its development task globally, it has become the largest software outsourcing client. At present share of software outsourcing India in global software industry is 1.2 billion US dollars. The growth rate of Indian software industry in last five years is very high in comparison to other rival countries. India is dominating the software outsourcing industry with 80% total revenue. Key factors that are attracting U.S software development clients the most are political stability, marketing skills, bureaucracy etc.

In general, India can provide significant saving with excellent skills and experience on every outsourced project, where other countries charge a very high amount for same skills and services. Distance is no longer matters for outsourcing due to increasing use of internet and finest telecommunication infrastructures. As internet has become the essential channel of communication for software development, software outsourcing India has the most appropriate internet infrastructure to stay in touch with client nation. Software outsourcing India covers a huge range of possibilities; it is also delimited by a great deal of expertise and zeal to participate in growth of any industry or business.

If any industry is planning to outsource software development function to India then it will certainly find a way of virtually accomplishing any dream software of technology. In India there is a huge academic research that ranges from vast survey to surprising technical and linguistic skills. India is developing economy and getting ready to be powerhouse in global economy. As per the current growth rate of Indian economy, India is very near to claim leading position in global money market and software outsourcing India has a very vital role to play in that endeavor. With ever-increasing involvement in software development field, India has become the expected home of information technology and global service center for businesses. To be able to scale the efficiency of Indian software development is really necessary to experience India first. So come to India and get an offshore technical solution for your business.

Allies Harbor is a writer and writes articles on various topics including outsourcing. To know more about Accounting outsourcing,Business Process Outsourcing, Benefits of SEO outsourcing India,Outsourcing SEO Services,Article syndication, Software Outsourcing India, Outsourcing SEO,Data entry services visit www.ifrstaffing.com