Business Software » Small Businesses

Sales Accounting For Profit With Accounting Software

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:24:51 +0000

It is a natural phenomenon for small business to be deeply involved in the particular skills and operations of the business. A fundamental issue that many small businesses overlook is that the particular industry in which they work and their personal skills are just tools of the trade not the trade of business itself. That trade of business is to produce a satisfactory bottom line.

While all business keeps financial records and many use accounting software the serious benefits of producing the accounts has a tendency to be restricted to accounting for tax purposes. The most useful function of a good bookkeeping system is however to use the financial information to generate higher levels of profitability.

The first step is to acquire and adopt an accounting software package suitable for the skills and knowledge of the small business. The second essential step is to produce a regular monthly income and expenses statement, usually called a profit and loss account.

Any individual monthly profit and loss account is of useful by limited value as a financial tool. Several consecutive monthly financial accounts can be indicative of where action can be taken to use the bookkeeping tool as a tool for accounting for profit.

Having produced a set of monthly accounts the next stage is to simply sit back and look at the numbers. The financial numbers tell the story of how the business has performed financially and with an intimate knowledge of how the figures came about the small business owner is perfectly placed to consider all potential options.

Sales turnover is a critical area to be considered. The historical sales income should be viewed in three separate modes being sales volume, sales prices and marginal profitability, the most critical and important of which is likely to be marginal profitability.

It is useful to stand back from the numbers and consider how the sales volume was achieved, what the driving forces where to achieve that level and what additional promotion can be done to increase sales volume even higher. Thinking about how the sales volume was obtained is the basis for determining how even higher levels can be produced in succeeding months.

Selling prices are often driven by market forces and product costs. An important area to consider is whether the sales prices obtained where the maximum prices obtainable at the same volume. Other considerations would be to consider the effect of increasing sales prices which would increase profitability if the same volume is maintained and even the effect of reducing sales prices if the volume of business increases to produce a higher level of gross profit.

Businesses in niche markets can charge a high selling price for the products or services without affecting the demand for the goods. On the other side of the coin the supermarket approach could be adopted by generating high volumes of sales from promoting the products at the lowest available prices.

The most critical area to be considered is the marginal profit from different products or services. The marginal profit is the gross profit which is the difference between the net selling price and the variable cost of that business area.

A lot of time can be spent working in the wrong direction, By identifying the most profitable items compared with the time and effort involved the small business can become more financially efficient by diverting more effort to those areas producing the highest financial returns.

The essential tool to this study is to maintain accounting records on a regular basis and produce a monthly profit and loss account. Periodically take a step back and consider the direction, future and opportunities available based on historical performance and the changes required to positively influence the bottom line, using and viewing the accounting software as a business tool. That tool is accounting for profit.

By: Terry Cartwright

Small Business Inventory Software – How to Find the Best Inventory Software Solution

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:38:12 +0000

Many start up businesses and also existing smaller businesses fail or do not do as well as they should because of poor or inadequate inventory software. The problem is basically one of attitude, often caused by ignorance. It is self evident that a small business is generally short of resources (it would hardly be small if there were adequate resources) and it is the ability to extract the maximum return from managing these resources that is the hallmark of success. You simply need to think of inventory as a major business investment that needs constant attention and action.

It is of course possible to manage your inventory effectively with the use of old-fashioned pen and paper. Indeed, many small businesses do so because of misconceptions about the investment required in small business inventory software. This means that excessive demands can be made on another scarce business resource – namely the management of time. We need to address the following concerns that any typical small business owner would have:

Is it possible to automate the inventory management process at a reasonable cost. Would such a system be easy to install, use and maintain. Would it be possible to train my existing stuff to use the system to my maximum advantage. Would the benefits from the implementation of the system justify the investment.

The simple answer is that small business inventory software developers have created many low-cost packages specifically suited for smaller businesses that have a wide variety of surprisingly sophisticated features.

By: James K Murray

Streamline Your Business With Small Business Management Software

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:37:53 +0000

Small businesses often face a multitude of day to day problems and one of them is having difficulty in streamlining business procedures to maximise their potential. Without procedures and processes that are streamlined a business owner can find that a disproportionate amount of time is wasted each day. Whilst this can sometimes be through no fault of a particular individual it is still time during the working day that is lost and can never be retrieved.

In order to streamline a business and its processes and procedures it is wise to look into small business management software. With this management software it is possible to run most aspects of a business through one single software application. Not only does this provide a single interface for employees and business owners to perform work tasks through, it also helps to cut down on the amount of time spent switching between various applications.

Small businesses that opt to use small business management software soon see the benefits of doing so in terms of increased productivity and lowered inefficiency. Both of these combined can make a real difference to a small business’s bottom line, something that all business owners and managers are all concerned about.

Integrating small business management software into a business is also very straightforward, which means that managers will not have to face loosing too many working hours as their staff learn to use it. In fact as soon as you have been set up with a password and ID it is possible to be up and running with small business management software in a matter of minutes. Obviously users of this type of software will learn more about how to get the most out of it as they are using it and develop their own style.

Streamlining a small business means that all employees will be using the same efficient means of completing work related tasks and so on. By only using one application to create and save customer contacts, create work rotas, assign individual tasks, create quotes and invoices and much more a great deal of time is saved.

Traditionally, these tasks would have been completed through separate applications which meant waiting for each one to open every day and then having to swap between them during the working day. Over time this can lead to poor working practises and even lost documentation – which has to be avoided at all costs. In fact by only using one application it can enable a business to refine their processes to such an extent that there is little room left for error.

Any business owner or manager who wants to create a more positive working environment and increase productivity in a very short space of time should look towards small business management software. It is the practical and simplistic way to streamline a business and increase revenue. So rather than trying to change internal processes and retain the same software choose small business management software and you will soon see the results.

By: Devllin Walker

Benefits of Hosted Software For Start-up and Small Businesses

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 23:23:01 +0000

Introduction

According to research carried out by UK Online, a business broadband supplier, two thirds of small businesses defined as those with 1-10 employees and clearly this includes start-ups, do not yet have an internet connection at all. Further analysis shows that of those that do just over half do not have a company website, almost 20% are using a slow dial up network and 20% do not take basic security precautions such as using anti virus software. With this group representing something like 3.5million businesses in the UK the scope for growth and increased opportunities for these businesses by increased use of IT and the internet is enormous. We need to ask ourselves why so many people are shy of using the internet for business when something in the region of 61% of households have internet access according to the 2007 Office of National Statistics report?

Some answers can be found in the complexity of the business requirement, faster speeds, greater bandwidth etc., which in turn leads to cost implications. In addition the purchase and maintenance of complex business software such as databases is a challenge for small business. Finally many business owners in this category have little understanding of computers, the internet and the benefits that can accrue from this technology. In a small business start up, many owners give little thought to the IT and software requirements they need going forward except perhaps for a simple PC or laptop and some standard office software. Anything more complex is too expensive and because of lack of knowledge they have little idea of the benefits it could provide for the future. However the solution to this conundrum is at hand in the form of hosted systems.

Hosted systems

To outline what a hosted system is, we need to understand how most companies operate their standard IT systems. For very small companies any IT system they have is likely to comprise a laptop and some standard office software on which it would reside. For larger companies they will have a server which provides additional facilities for the PCs connected to it, may have software resident on it in addition to local software that may reside on individual PCs. A hosted system on the other hand has what ever software the company is supplying, often bespoke for a particular function, on servers many miles distant, access being achieved by way of an internet connection. Why is this beneficial? Well typically payment for this type of system is on a monthly rental model based on the number of people who use it. This means that the initial cost of using this software is substantially lower than otherwise would be the case. There are many more benefits of using hosted systems. These include:

Automatic (and usually) free upgrades keeping you up to date Scalability – so you do not need to buy additional software licences Low cost Secure – most companies use the very latest spam filters, firewalls and antivirus software to protect you and your data Back up – the majority of businesses are at great risk as they do not back up their data on a regular and consistent basis. Hosted systems automatically provide back up. Redundancy – Hosted system suppliers usually have multiple servers, in multiple locations with multiple communications to ensure availability better than most systems in an office. Reliability – Part of the service these companies provide is an IT support function that only large companies can normally afford. Availability – Being internet based your data and applications are available to you at anytime (not just office hours) and in any part of the world – very useful if you are travelling.

So what sorts of applications are available from hosted systems? The typical office software such as spreadsheets, word processors and presentation software are now all available for use free from Google from its Google Labs web site. Google have committed a great deal of resources into the hosted software market and we are sure to see more coming from them in the not too distant future. Highly featured CRM (contact relationship management) systems are also available and these systems are essential for any business wishing to develop prospects and customers in the medium term. Intranets have tended in the past to be for large companies and are usually bespoke and in house costing large amounts of cash. Yet increasingly these are being used by small companies with remote workers or partners. Other applications are websites and in particular e-commerce websites. Typically these have been extremely expensive to design, set up, maintain and regularly update the range of products sold, which is probably why many small businesses have not fully embraced the technology. Now however there are hosted systems available which reduces this cost to a small monthly amount. (Further details of these last two applications are in the next section)

Examples

The first example of hosted solutions is supplied by Intranet Works which provides intranet services to small and stat up businesses. It has ten applications all of which can be configured to the users’ requirements. In addition to an online diary and task list (which can be synchronised to MS Outlook) it has a series of database templates including a CRM package. Documents can be stored and viewed by any user who has the right permissions at anytime and from anywhere where there is an internet connection. This is an ideal product for companies with an extended supply chain, project management businesses, and those with remote workers, salespeople and service engineers.

Conclusion

For start ups and small businesses hosted systems are an ideal solution to the need to have and use software applications but at the same time to keep the costs of the business in the initial stages as low as possible. There is no doubt that in the future there will be a massive explosion in the number and type of applications available and if companies like Google have their way will end up dominating the market.

By: Bob Francis

Accounting Software for a Small Business

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:39:08 +0000

Can you do your accounting the old fashioned way with a ledger book? Yes, you can, but with all the accounting software out there, why would you?In general, you probably wouldn’t, but I do know of a number of small businesses that have tracked their accounts in Excel for the first few years while waiting for the company to generate enough cash to buy an accounting package.I don’t recommend this strategy because basic accounting software is not that expensive and keeping appropriate track of your accounts is important for your business. Keeping a good account allows you to track your profitability by customer, allows you to understand how your employees spend their time, and allows you to understand how your marketing dollars drive your sales.Make sure when you get your software that you are able to: Track every revenue item and every expense by customer or job type.You are able to customize your expense categories.The reports that you can run will give you a good understanding of how money flows through your business.Keep time by employee and run reports showing time by customer.Download your data to your accountant’s software system.Have more than one seat license to use the product.The three packages often recommended for small businesses are QuickBooks Pro 2008, Peachtree Complete Accounting 2008, and for Mac users: Myob Accountedge 2007 for Mac Also Includes Network Edition. (QuickBooks Pro also has a Mac addition and MYOB has a PC addition).From my discussions with business owners, the majority start out with QuickBooks, but don’t like it that much. Peachtree seems to be the favorite, but it is not available on the Mac. Any of these packages are fine for a small business, but please make sure that you have an accountant help you set up your accounts if you do not understand accounting yourself. The software will only benefit you if you understand what it is telling you.Another note: if you are doing Department of Defense contracts, you must comply with the DCAA (Defense Contract Auditing Agency) accounting rules. A lot of specialty accounting firms would have you believe that you must have special software to be DCAA compliant. In many cases, special software will make it easier, especially if you have multiple contracts over multiple years. If you are just going for an SBIR or two, the above mentioned accounting packages can be used and can be DCAA compliant. Go to the DCAA website and click on the menu item: Standard Audit Programs. About half way down is the Preaward Survey of Prospective Contractor Accounting System. The DCAA will do an audit of your accounting system prior to beginning an award and this is the check list they will use to make sure your accounting system is up to their standards.

By: C. Worrall

Accounting Software Are For All Kinds of Business

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:26:39 +0000

Even small businesses have their own accounting transactions to be recorded. Most of these small businesses have the manual type of accounting system. They record all the transactions from inventory, purchases, sales, and even payroll systems. Hiring individuals specializing in the following field of expertise such as inventory, recording, purchasing, payroll master, and sales is given preference. Jobs such as this takes time and need to exert sufficient effort especially for business engage in selling. A small business accounting software will lessen this task as well as the salaries expense if you opt to use this instead of manually doing it.

Program developers develop the software to provide relief for small businesses. What the small business accounting software can do is beyond the achievement of manpower tasked with the same job it can perform. The software itself, after encoding the accounting entries could produce the desired financial statement vital in determining the business status. The accounting process is quicker and the job rate accomplishment is outstanding.

In exchange for this software, companies are able to save from having to employ several people for different jobs that require long hours of accomplishing. All the necessary entries can be encoded by fewer people, which can be easily processed by the small business accounting software. The software can automatically generate once encoded, financial documents, such as the financial statement, balance sheet, and the reconciliation reports.

Businesspersons who are after low overhead expense should try the software. Different small business accounting software produces similar results but vary according to its content software content and capabilities. A business minded individual will know how to differentiate and distinguish a good software from a low quality one.

In choosing the ideal software, consider the type of your business and the kind of transactions involved. As much as possible, pick the one that resembles the accounting system your office practiced as if it has been customized especially for you business. The highly recommended small business accounting software are those that are out of the box accounting system, If possible, choose a developer that could provide a customize accounting software for your kind of business.

Small business accounting software is very useful for all types of businesses especially the small types. Aside from the cost cutting of expenses due to the minimized staff hiring, results cannot be easily distorted by anyone. You can put a company password that only authorized personnel can access. All the accounting reports are guaranteed to be accurate and with an insignificant rate of error. Other accounting records such incoming and outgoing statements are thoroughly monitored. Payroll systems are programmed for payroll officers ease in making.

For business to be more mobile, they have to adapt to the new technologies. They have to offer accurate and faster services and this can be done only through the use of such accounting software. You can save more with the latest invention than the traditional system used by business. Give their sample a try and you will see the difference.

By: Jason Hansen

How to Choose Accounting Software For Small Business

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:54:07 +0000

Before we begin, let me just say that small businesses may or may not need accounting software. Depending on the goals of the company, it must be determined if software, excel, or pencil and paper will accomplish the accounting needs.

Accounting software for small to mid-size companies generally consists of entering in accounting information to a database. From that database, the software pulls the relevant numbers and automatically performs the correct single or double-entry calculations.

Double-entry accounting uses several different accounts or categories to gain an understanding of the financial condition. The account types used are: asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense. It is referred to as double-entry because every transaction is entered twice, once as a credit and once as a debit.

This type of software would require background knowledge of accounting principles. So if a controller or bookkeeper is not on the payroll, it would be more applicable to use more user-friendly accounting software.

Accounting software requiring little bookkeeping or accounting knowledge is available. Free software is usually based upon multiple spreadsheets. This is the most transparent method of viewing the accounting. Transparency is good because it means that accounting information is easily used to make decisions for the company.

There are a growing number of companies which are developing and providing free accounting software for marketing campaigns. Don’t discard such an option and pay attention to everything, as you may find a pleasant surprise among those products. After all, what do you have to lose if it’s free?

If you ever consider downloading free accounting software, a recommendation would be to simply test the trail version. It is the best way to see whether it suits you or not. This is because you don’t have to commit yourself to anything, and if you decide to try another one, you can simply search for it until you find the right demo for you.

For different businesses ranging from S corporations to the single owner sole proprietorship, small business accounting software needs can be totally different. One accounting need that is required of all companies is preparing sets of information for tax reporting.

Some small businesses do not need to keep a balance sheet. If that is the case, accounting software does not need to be able to calculate double-entry procedures. Software that can be downloaded for free is usually a great solution in these situations.

Whatever you should finally decide upon, remember to patiently look for the right option for you. Take into consideration the nature of your business, your plans with it, its domain of activity and all the other variables. If you do all that, you will be able to find the accounting software that best suits your needs.

By: Joe Coffee

Does Your Small Business Need Payroll Software Solutions?

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:32:55 +0000

Most small businesses don’t necessarily require a whole software package just to do payroll. Unless you actually enjoy spending hours upon hours doing boring calculations that seem to go on forever, that is. And those calculations might not even end up being accurate, which could get you in trouble not only with your employees, but the government as well.

How can you make things easier on yourself, as a business owner, when it comes to keeping the books? Well, if you can get a good small business payroll system going, that would sure make things run smoother.

Most small business payroll software packages are easy to use. And they can cut down on how much time you have to devote to your daily payroll related tasks, and if time is money then that saves you money too! Instead of hiring a whole other person just to keep your payroll straight, or find a payroll company to do it for you, just find a program with the features you need and install it. Save yourself money and do it yourself. Most of these payroll software packages are easy to figure out how to use.

And these small business payroll software also offer other benefits when compared to outsourcing your payroll to a payroll service. You never have to worry about your data getting into the wrong hands. Sending your payroll out over the internet or giving your data to a payroll firm means trusting those companies with sensitive data in order for them to complete their service for your business. If you purchase and set up your own payroll database, it’s a one-time-only fee that you can run on your own computer, and you won’t have to worry about your data leaking anywhere along the way. You never have to worry about whether your information, your employees information, or your businesses’ information will ever be misused.

All you have to do is make a list of features that your business will require in a small business payroll software package, and find one that offers those features at a good price. You might also want to consider purchasing a full-feature payroll package that will offer even more tools to help you complete your payroll tasks. Some software companies will even bundle their account and payroll software packages together at a discounted rate.

A good payroll software package will automatically calculate how much your employees are earning, how much taxes need to be deducted, etcetera. Some packages will also give you the option of making custom payroll designations that will give you another aspect of control over how your payroll works.

And if you need to print payroll checks, there are programs that will let you print those payroll checks along wit their pay stubs with the click of your mouse. You also want to keep an eye out for programs that will allow you to create, print, save, and send tax documents or forms like the 941, W2 and so forth.

Before you purchase a small business software package, make sure that the company you’re dealing with will offer you good technical support, and has a good track record. Another good thing that many of these payroll software companies offer is free, periodic updates of their product that will allow your business to keep up with changes in taxation and so forth as they occur.

The right payroll software package can work magic for your small business and let you keep pace with the growth and expansion of your business. So take some time to look around for the right payroll software package, read as much as you can about them, check out demos and free trials, and pick the best payroll software package for you!

By: Ian E. Wright

Choosing A Payroll Accounting Software For Small Business

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:05:39 +0000

You need people to run a business unless you happen to be a one-man-industry. So, if you have employees, you have payments to make, taxes to deduct from the salaries and send the deducted money to the state exchequer. In case of larger establishments, these things are taken care of by the professionals, who are experts in the area, which takes the accounting load off the higher management.

But if you own a small business, you need to take care of the payroll all by yourself. The old paper system, quite obviously, is too cumbersome and time consuming to fit today’s business needs. Therefore, what you need is an efficient payroll accounting software.

A small-business payroll software manages payroll and taxes in a small business establishment. Now, you may be in a fix as to whether or not your establishment is a small business. The answer is quite simple. If you have less than 500 employees, your business is small business for the purpose of getting an accounting software. In other words, irrespective of how much revenue it generates or the amount of profit you might be making, if you have less than 500 employees, you just need a payroll accounting software designed for small businesses.

The tedious tasks of figuring, documenting and executing a payroll is made easy by payroll accounting software whether it is on monthly, biweekly or weekly basis. So far as the cost of the software is concerned, it depends upon the number of employees and the duration of payment. Other than that, the state where your company is located together with the tax procedure followed also matter. These factors influence the features in the software, which, in turn, affects their prices.

Executing payroll is a complicated process and involves skilled manpower. That’s the reason why even small businesses have to have full time employees specifically for this purpose. A payroll accounting software reduces the necessity of the payroll executors and makes the whole exercise far smoother, faster and accurate. What is further heartening is the fact that these software are constantly evolving and are getting faster, friendlier and more accurate.

While choosing a payroll accounting software you must also keep in mind the growing needs of the company. So, get a software that is flexible enough to accommodate a reasonable amount of work expansion. It is also advisable to purchase the software that comes with an assurance of an up-gradation later in time. The best deal is the one that give you the most for the least.

By: Aasheesh Jain

Software Applications For Small Businesses

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:04:43 +0000

There are several software applications for small businesses available in the market. Any small business must learn to use these software applications for the success of the business. Software applications can perform a variety of tasks for your business and are very helpful for the smooth operations of any business. Here are some examples of what the software applications can do for your business.

What Kind of Jobs Software Applications Can Do?

Any business today needs a website for competing with other business in the industry because of the evolution of the Internet. Software applications for small businesses can help in the development of professional looking website. In addition, they can also help you in maintaining the websites. There are several tasks need to be performed on the computer on a regular basis. It is possible to get these tasks done automatically with the help of software applications. Some applications are even capable of removing all the tedious paperwork required for keeping the information in an organized way. Some applications can suggest you off the shelf suggestions that are very useful for the smooth operation and growth of the business. In addition, you get the facility of one to one consultation and training.

Database Management:

Most of the businesses gather data from different resources before they reach any big decision. However, when you gather information from several different resources, you face the problem of information coming in different formats. Every individual formats the spreadsheets differently using incompatible units and using different kind of rules for subtotaling and categorizing the data. This makes the job of making summary report very difficult for the person concerned. You can get rid of this problem with the help of well-designed software applications. This kind of applications set some standards for data formatting for all those people who send the information and then write a code to extract the summary report from the different databases using report generation user interface.

Windows Applications:

Windows application development is also effective method of using software applications for the smooth operation of small businesses. A well-designed windows application can simplify the most complex type of task making business operations easier. These applications are capable of customizing according to your requirements and that too at very fast speed. You are only required to input the data and all the job of record keeping is taken care by the software applications. All this information is very useful for the purpose of taxation and warranty claims etc. it also helps you in managing your cash flow in a better way. There is no point in knowing how much your bank balance is if you do not know how much money do you require for different budgetary demands.

By: Alexander Gordon