Competitions usedto be a fantastic way of alerting yourcustomers;to a new productor servicethatyou are aboutto launch,however do theystillwork?Even though we are in the middle of a prettydevastatingrecession, it seemseveryone has the latestgadget and can affordto buy the best plasma TV so whatcouldyou possibly give awaythatpeoplewouldcareabout? Do peopleevenbotherwithcompetitionsanyway?

Well,it seemsmanypeopledo and if you can add somevalueto it by givingsomethingawaythatpeopleactuallywant or is seenas valuable – you can reallyropein the publicity and the customers;. You can alsobe a littlebit cleverwithyourmarketing and use new technologysuchas Facebook,Twitterand MySpace. (more…)

Many businesses think estimating is useful to only construction companies. But any company that produces estimates, quotes, bids, and proposals can use QuickBooks to get a handle on their job costing. The accuracy of your estimating process can make or break your project success. It is critical because if your estimate is too high you might lose the job, while estimates that are too low can reduce your profits or even make you lose money on a job.

However, you can reduce your risk and increase profits by using QuickBooks for estimating. Even if you don’t provide your clients with estimates, you need to enter them in order to get the most out of the QuickBooks job costing reports. These reports, especially the Job Estimates vs. Actuals reports, are the key to making sure your existing job budgets are on track. They are also important when evaluating the accuracy of your estimates so you can make adjustments for future projects. They are also required if you want to do progress invoicing. (more…)

The financial forensic1 experts of today possess a litany of credentials and licenses that are intended to promote and define their particular expertise. This article provides attorneys and clients the recipe for the “alphabet soup” that follows the name of an expert in order to assist in their hiring or cross examination in litigation. Simplified explanations, commentary and web page references are included for the most common and widely-held litigation-oriented credentials2.

FINANCIAL: The CPA, Certified Public Accountant, is a state-issued license that is well known and respected by judges and juries. Currently, the CPA license requires a five-year college degree, passing what is perceived as one of the most difficult of professional exams plus two years of supervised experience. CPAs are governed by the holder’s state board of accountancy3 and the AICPA, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants4. CPAs must obtain forty hours of continuing professional education per year and must adhere to a strict code of ethics. CFAs, or Chartered Financial Analysts, 5 are focused on investment analysis and valuation. (more…)

Have you ever read the “Ant Philosophy”? The second point of the philosophy states “Ants think winter all summer” which implies they keep on toiling in summers so that they save enough to sustain the winters. Well, if such a tiny thing can be so prudent to think of savings it must be important criteria of us as well. And opening a savings account is just the first step to consolidate our fiscal position. But before doing that, it becomes imperative for us to undergo an exhaustive saving account comparison.

We all need to compare and then select the best of the available deal. In fact there are various high interest saving accounts comparison sites that are offering the services of clubbing together of multiple providers under a single platform, thus, easing your efforts. While comparing you must look for few things that will certainly help you to avail the right savings account. (more…)

Accounting is one such crucial task carried out on day to day basis in every firm without which not even a single business activity can take place. It’s not merely dealing with financial figures but it involves crucial task of invoice keeping, maintaining records, analyzing financial data, bookkeeping, data entry, and taxation. If your business is based in US, then you can trust your accounting work in the hands of a professional accounting firm NYC.

There are umpteen accounting firm NYC active in the entire US which avails proficient accounting outsourcing services to business firms of all kinds. Accounting forms the framework of any business since it is one discipline that dictates at the end of every financial year, how much profit has been made and what is the percentage of loss incurred. Recruiting a highly trained and skilled accounting staff is similar to taming an elephant. Above all you have to spend lots of time in managing the staff and disburse the day’s task in between them. (more…)

What is goodwill? Depending on whom you ask you may find many different answers to this question. If you were to ask an accountant what goodwill is he or she would exclaim that goodwill is the amount an entity pays in acquiring a business that is in excess of the acquisition’s fair market value of its net assets (Goodwill = Purchase Price of an Entity – The Entity’s Fair Market Value of Net Assets of the business). What this basically means is that goodwill represents a value of an entity above what the current fair market value of the acquired firm’s net assets. Some examples of goodwill would be: future profitability of the acquired firm, client lists, brand name etc… Goodwill is considered an intangible asset and once the value of goodwill is established this amount is listed as an asset on the acquiring firm’s balance sheet.

In the past, firms had to account for goodwill by abiding by the Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion 17 issued in 1970. In this opinion, when a firm was purchasing another entity, the purchasing firm could account for any goodwill involved in the transaction as an asset on their balance sheet and amortize the asset over a maximum of 40 years. If the purchasing firm did not want to amortize the value of the goodwill involved in the purchase of another organization it could also use the Pooling-of-Interest accounting method. The Pooling-of-Interests accounting method combines the book value of each firm’s assets and liabilities to create the new entities’ combined balance sheet. In this transaction, it is hard, if not impossible, to figure out which entity is the purchasing entity and which entity is being purchased. The Pooling-of-Interests method basically negated the need to account for goodwill at all. However, the Pooling-of- Interests method was superseded and is no longer an option of merging firms as of the issuance of FAS 141 by the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB). The Accounting Principles Board (APB) opinion 17 was also superseded when the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued SFAS 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, in June 2001. In this statement the FASB laid out the new rules when accounting for goodwill. In this statement, amortization of all goodwill stopped regardless of when it was originated. According to this statement goodwill amounts are still to be treated as intangible assets (and listed on the purchasing firms balance sheet), but instead of amortizing this asset over a maximum of 40 years, each firm that records goodwill on their balance sheet must annually test the value of goodwill for impairment. To test goodwill for impairment an organization has to take the book value of the goodwill on their balance sheet (the carrying value), and compare it against the current fair value of this goodwill (using the present value of future cash flows). If the fair value of the goodwill in question were to decrease to a value lower than the book value (carrying value), then the firm must impair (or write off) the difference in the value of the current goodwill asset. An example of this would be if XYZ firm purchased ABC firm, and the transaction involved $100,000 worth of goodwill, this goodwill would have to be tested at least annually to make sure it does not decrease in fair value. If it were to decrease in fair value the amount that the $100,000 was reduced by would need to be impaired (written off). For the purposes of our example let’s say the fair value of the goodwill in question were to decrease by $10,000 and the fair value of this goodwill would now be $90,000 the $10,000 would be impaired (written off). That is, the $10,000 would be reduced from XYZ assets (goodwill) on its balance sheet, and this $10,000 would show up as a loss (expense) on XYZ income statement. SFAS 142 also states that if in the following accounting periods test of goodwill for impairment, the $90,000 in goodwill now on XYZ balance sheet were to increase in value the firm is not allowed to increase the goodwill asset; XYZ is only able to impair the value of the goodwill asset if it were to decrease in value. (more…)

Cash advance loans are making it easier for a lot of people to take care of their temporary cash needs. While there are a lot of cash advance loan lenders offering their services all across Australia today, some people are still unsure as to how cash advance loans can benefit them. If you are one of these people, here are some points that may help clear up this matter for you.

The main thing, I think, is that cash advance loans are FAST. And I mean fast. Think about your conventional loan. Most of the time, you have to spend at least a day filling out paperwork and stuff like that. Then you would have to look for the tons of requirements that they will ask of you. This could take you another day or so. Then you would have to wait for your application to be processed. This can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. With a cash advance loan, you only have to wait for a day or so to get everything done – from application to the release of the money. In some cases, processing times can exceed 24 hours, but this is very rare. Sometimes, processing times can even be less than 24 hours! It is difficult to find another loan product that can offer you this speed. (more…)

Though it has been said many times that it is very important to keep a complete set of books for a business either for business tax reporting or business management purposes, many businessmen and businesswomen have deliberately ignored it until they are forced to do so.

Why is it so important to maintain complete books for our businesses? The following are some of the benefits and reasons.

i) Submission of annual tax return – Every business whether it is big or small is required to compute and submit tax return on an annual basis. In order to be able to do so, a business has to keep a complete set of books. If you keep your books up to date using the correct bookkeeping methods, you can also plan for your business taxation on a timely manner. (more…)

Many businesses think estimating is useful to only construction companies. But any company that produces estimates, quotes, bids, and proposals can use QuickBooks to get a handle on their job costing. The accuracy of your estimating process can make or break your project success. It is critical because if your estimate is too high you might lose the job, while estimates that are too low can reduce your profits or even make you lose money on a job.

However, you can reduce your risk and increase profits by using QuickBooks for estimating. Even if you don’t provide your clients with estimates, you need to enter them in order to get the most out of the QuickBooks job costing reports. These reports, especially the Job Estimates vs. Actuals reports, are the key to making sure your existing job budgets are on track. They are also important when evaluating the accuracy of your estimates so you can make adjustments for future projects. They are also required if you want to do progress invoicing. (more…)

In my previous publication, The Unresolved Flaws in Financial Accounting I addressed some of the complex flaws in financial accounting that add to the confusion and frustration non-accountants face in trying to decipher financial reports. This time, I look at accounts receivable.

Accounts receivable is an asset account in a balance sheet. It allows a company to hold revenues and expenses within the period they occur which is a generally accepted accounting principle. This recognizes transactions irrespective of when actual payments take place. What this means is that when a firm sells on account, it considers future payments for its goods and/or services as assets thus increasing revenue.

To a non-accountant investor or stockholder, this recording appears easy to understand on a newly released balance sheet. The truth is that there are other entries that derive from the accounts receivable recording. The net realizable value of this account is the actually amount that the firm expects it will actually receive in payments. Off the back, that means that the amount recorded in accounts receivable though making assets look good will not be actualized. This amount is however an estimate based on previous experiences, trends, and ratios.

The net realizable value creates another account, the allowance for bad debt expense. This account holds the difference between what that actual accounts receivable and the net realizable value. Most firms use an aging method, usually in 30-day blocks to make adjustments to the value of their assets on the balance sheet. These uncollectible payments are described as “contra assets” because they reduce the vale of previously declared assets. (more…)