Finance
Cutting Expenses: 4 Reasons Your Business Needs to Capitalize on Discounts
Small businesses succeed, in large part, because of entrepreneurs’ efforts to minimize costs and increase efficiency. Unfortunately, too many business owners become complacent in their daily operations and forget to actively search for the best deal.
How to Keep Your Small Business Alive During Tough Financial Times
Small business owners need to be savvy and come up with real ways to reduce their expenses and increase their cash flow. In simple terms, less money needs to be leaving your account and more money needs to be coming in. It is an obvious statement to say that you need higher profits, but so many companies are missing opportunities to do just that.
Businesses Should Prepare for Internet Tax Law
The U.S. Senate has passed the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, and it is currently under consideration in the House of Representatives. Most analysts feel confident that some version of the law will pass although it isn’t yet clear what changes might be made.
5 Tax Issues That Cause IRS Trouble for 1099 Workers
Are you a freelancer or independent contractor who receives a Form 1099 instead of a W-2 form at the end of the year? If so, then you should be aware of the five tax issues that are the most likely to cause IRS trouble for anyone subject to 1099 reporting of wages or income.
Accounting Tips for Seasonal Small Businesses
Do you run a seasonal small business—one where the bulk of your revenue comes in a few months or even weeks? If you do, chances are you are all too aware of the intense nature of the season—a time when you can’t possibly keep up with the workload. One of the first things that slides during a crush of activity for many small seasonal businesses is accounting.
Gain More Customers by Accepting Mobile Payments
Unless your business is fixed in a store or shop or in your home, you’re going to need to accept mobile payments for when you’re doing business on the go or in the field. With industry technology becoming more reliable and more affordable every day, there’s no reason not to accept mobile payments.
Financial Statement Fruit Salad Is a Recipe for Disaster
You can’t make good decisions for your business without accurate financial statements. If someone is inputting the wrong information, or putting it in the wrong locations, then you’ll have financial statements which can’t be relied upon. You don’t need to know the intricacies of how each entry is made. You do need to know enough to question if the statements don’t appear to be right.
Sometimes Revenue Is the Wrong Sales Metric
Revenue is important! The top sales executive needs to be accountable for producing the expected revenue. But the top sales executive is also accountable for executing the corporate strategy. Sometimes to do both, we have to change the way we measure (and compensate) sales people. Sometimes revenue quotas are the wrong thing.
An Overview of Traditional Financing
When you’re looking to raise funds to start or grow your small business, the usual place to start is the bank. Bank financing is a tried and true source of capital for many small businesses. Traditional financing will generally provide the most affordable, if not the easiest, access to the funding your business needs.
An Overview of Alternative Financing
With credit tight and traditional bank loans difficult to obtain, many small business owners are turning to the alternative financing industry to get the funding their business needs. “Alternative” financing can include a wide variety of options, some better suited to certain businesses than others. You should investigate each option to determine which is best for your business.