Author: Complete Controller

Small businesses are facing fierce competition today. Unlike previously, 2021 has proven to be more competitive mainly because most companies have shifted to an online model due to the lockdown. They are marketing online, they are selling online, and they are working remotely. These three were the only edges that small businesses had, but now since most companies are entering this area, it’s becoming difficult for the former to survive. With all of that happening, the burden falls on the finance team. Advertising is getting more expensive. Finding the right talent within your budget is a mammoth task now and managing the work from home is a challenge. What would a small do to survive this unforeseen crisis? Well, if you are among the ones facing the brunt, as we have mentioned, here are three financial tips that you could follow to reduce the excess financial burden and spend more on building your business.

Tip # 1: Join the paperless bandwagon

“Go Paperless” has been a show-off point for most businesses up until now. Since most of the work is being done remotely, including advertising, finance, and production, many companies are now seeing the logic in reducing paper use for daily tasks. Not only do you save a lot of money by eliminating the use of paper in your offices, but you also become more productive. How may you ask? Well, with the rise in remote working and cloud software, you no longer need to have journals, books, attendance sheets, paper memos, and the like in your office. A plethora of mobile and computer applications offer you the same functionality. When you switch to these apps, you realize that they are more effective. For instance, a memo rolled out via email or mobile application can notify you whenever a staff member reads it. Similarly, paperless accounting means that everything is on record on cloud software, and you or any of your team members can access it from their mobile or laptop from anywhere in the world.

Tip # 2: Start budgeting

It is difficult for a small business to stick to a budget mainly because most expenses are overhead. You spend and make a profit on a day-to-day basis. But you need to change that if you want to take your business to the next level. It would be best to start thinking big and planning your finances to achieve your goals. You should set a monthly budget for advertising, resources, daily expenses, and the like. In addition, you should have a petty cash budget for any minor expenses such as stationery, edible items, etc. Once you stick to a budget, you will realize that you were spending more previously yet getting the same results.

Tip # 3: Switch to an ecosystem

Every business runs on its finances. The ROI you generate will decide how much further you can go. Stop spending too much money and time on different software such as accounting software, inventory management software, invoicing software, CRM, etc. The best way to cut your cost and boost your productivity is to switch to an ecosystem that gives you all these functionalities in one. Your accounting, finance, CRM, invoicing, and inventory management should all be in one place, giving you the ease of visualizing your financial progress at any given time.
Since an ecosystem will regularly update your ROI, you will plan and analyze your situation better.

In a nutshell

Times are tough, but solutions are always available for those who want to optimize their business for better performance and ROI. Today, with the advancements in technology, you can regularly update your business to suit the day’s requirements, reduce your financial burden and increase your productivity. If you want to boost your business’ success and not be impacted by the crisis, you must look for ways to help you get through this situation. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

An audit is a comprehensive examination and evaluation of a company’s bookkeeping practices and financial accounts carried out by a qualified auditor. This procedure typically includes a meticulous physical verification of stock or inventory, ensuring that the records accurately reflect the actual resources available. Audits are essential components of financial accountability and can be categorized as either internal or external.

Internal Audits: These are conducted by company employees, often by the accounting team or a designated internal auditor. The primary focus is to assess the efficiency of operations, compliance with policies, and the accuracy of financial reporting. Internal audits help companies identify areas for improvement and reduce the risk of errors or fraud.

External Audits: In contrast, external audits are performed by independent auditing firms or teams not affiliated with the organization. These external auditors provide an unbiased opinion on the company’s financial statements, ensuring that they provide a true and fair view of the company’s financial position. This independence is critical for maintaining stakeholder trust and meeting regulatory requirements.

Both government agencies and private organizations recognize the importance of audits in promoting transparency and maintaining a favorable reputation within the business community. Most businesses undergo external audits at least once a year, during which an independent firm meticulously reviews all relevant financial records.

The outcome of this process is a detailed audit report that encapsulates all financial transactions and business dealings over the year. This report serves multiple stakeholders, including shareholders, regulatory bodies, and the public, by providing a clear picture of the company’s financial health.

For the auditing process to be effective, it is crucial that both the company and the auditing agency uphold principles of fairness and impartiality. If either party operates with bias, the credibility of the audit could be compromised, rendering the entire exercise redundant.

Furthermore, businesses of all sizes, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are increasingly adopting accounting software to streamline their bookkeeping processes. Such software can enhance financial accuracy, enable real-time monitoring of finances, and keep companies prepared for audits at any time.

Benefits of Being an Audit-Ready Business

Reliability and trust

Being audit-ready positions a business as reliable, which is essential for gaining the trust of investors and shareholders. A transparent audit history encourages further investments, creating a stable financial environment for the company.

Transparency and accountability

Audit-ready businesses exhibit clear and transparent accounting practices, significantly reducing any fears associated with accountability. This transparency enhances the company’s credibility and attracts more depositors who seek secure investment opportunities.

Enhanced investor confidence

Regular, thorough audits lead to updated financial reports that bolster investor trust. When a company’s financial information is consistently accurate and accessible, investors feel comfortable and informed, increasing the likelihood of their financial backing.

Attraction of foreign investments

Companies that maintain an audit-ready status attract local clients and depositors and appeal to foreign investors. The trust established through a robust track record of transparency reassures international stakeholders about the company’s reliability.

Improved business ratings

Investors often conduct due diligence to evaluate a company’s credibility, which includes checking its ratings and audit history. A well-audited company with a strong financial performance is likely to achieve higher ratings, positioning it as a formidable competitor in the marketplace.

Stronger financial relationships with banks

An audit-ready status fosters trust among shareholders and persuades banks and other financial institutions to engage more freely in lending, investment, and financial services.

Decreased instances of fraud

Regular audits significantly reduce the risk of financial fraud and improprieties. The systematic oversight provided by audits can discourage dishonest practices, fostering a corporate culture of integrity and accountability.

Accurate financial representation

Investors desire a comprehensive and truthful financial depiction before committing to their resources. Audit-ready organizations can assure them that their financial statements reflect true income, expenses, and cash flow. This accuracy allows investors to make significant investments with confidence, as they are fully informed about the financial standings and risks associated with their potential investment.

Regular audits promote an environment of reliability and trust, reducing the need for shareholders to constantly monitor daily bookkeeping practices. Through systematic checks and balances, these audits help maintain organizational integrity and financial transparency, ultimately reinforcing stakeholders’ confidence in the business. This infrastructure of accountability not only protects the company but also enhances its overall standing in the eyes of investors and the broader business community. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The primary source of revenue for any retail organization is providing products to clients to meet their increasing demands. Traditional bookkeeping techniques make it difficult for retail businesses to keep up with the enormous number of accounting and finance records. Manually tallying every monetary transaction from financial data held across numerous accounting systems at the end of each month is a demanding undertaking for them. Furthermore, erroneous accounting data can cause ripple effects, from inventories to sales, across the entire corporate process. These issues brought about the ERP system, which has become a standard solution for many companies. 

When it comes to running a retail business, there’s a lot to manage. You will make your life much easier if you have good accounting software installed in your systems. This software will keep track of employee pay, GST, and inventories. Here’s how you get the most out of your accounting software.  

Accuracy in Recording Information 

Retail businesses, big or little, must maintain track of their cash flow, inventory, and so on. These data points are vital in corporate operations. To make strategic growth decisions, merchants also want precise and real-time financial data. 

Manual transaction matching, process chores, and spreadsheet reconciliations are complicated for merchants to do. Automating these processes allows accounting and finance teams to deal with data more quickly and provide more excellent value to a company. Though it is impossible to eliminate human interaction, appropriate bookkeeping software can help break the record-keeping loop. 

Time-Saving 

Retail businesses must keep accurate sales and inventory records and define the price of each product. Using spreadsheets to capture and maintain these massive volumes of data manually is time-consuming. Accounting software can assist in removing this main stumbling block. The application automates the bookkeeping process by regulating both the frontend and backend financial activities simultaneously, saving a significant amount of time over manual processing techniques. 

Automation of the Invoice Generation Process 

Invoice generation is a critical retail process. It’s pretty impossible to manually enter and generate invoices for thousands of transactions per day. However, with the assistance of competent accounting software, this work becomes quick and easy. The computerized system can run reports to see which buyers have paid and automatically generate invoices for their transactions with only a few clicks.  

Integrated Strategy 

ERP accounting software centralizes intercompany processes so that all aspects of bookkeeping can be managed and controlled from a single platform. ERP software handles bookkeeping activities such as multi-currency exchanges, monetary transactions, journal formation, tax implications, reconciliations, invoice generation, cash flow, and more. Such systems allow firms to monitor the activity of various retail shops while also ensuring that product price is consistent across all of them. 

Stay Up-To-Date with the Competition.

Consumers aren’t the only ones that gain from technological advancements. Wise merchants are also implementing technology into their operations to improve their profitability. Select the appropriate software to assist you with complex tasks. This type of software is fully automated and can handle your taxes, inventories, payrolls and can even be used to generate tax documents.  

Keep Up with the Technological Trends

Cloud-connected smartphones and tablets have played a significant role in the rapid evolution of retail operations. Your consumer now demands more from you, and they expect it sooner than before, or they will go to another store. With the increasing technology, customers expect more from the retail experience. 

Mobile devices account for more than half of all internet traffic, and this number is growing every year. Your website should be simple to use; you should even consider establishing an app. 

Searching by geographic location (GPS) is highly prevalent. Make sure you sign up for a Google Business account to avoid losing out on an ample sales opportunity. 

People may search for what you’re selling online and get three options in a matter of seconds. If your pricing isn’t competitive, your customers will notice. Don’t undercut yourself, but don’t expect a lot of sales if your competition is half your price. 

You can keep your finger on the pulse of business with various retail-oriented accounting systems that function smoothly with your accounting package. You can also ensure that the future does not bring any unpleasant surprises, such as tax obligations that you forgot about or supplier payments that slip your mind. Forewarned is forearmed, and this is the way to a successful retail start-up. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Bookkeeping might not sound too crucial until things start turning messy. However, business owners often lose track of the bookkeeping due to various reasons that include paperwork, busy schedules, responding to countless emails, etc. Well, if you search for a solution to keep things on track, we have got you covered! Your intentions might be right, your efforts might be where they are needed, but when it comes to keeping track of business books, there is no other option but to keep them up to date.

Signs indicating a need for accounting help

Most of the time, people fail to realize the importance of accounting and financial tracking. You might wonder why there is a trend among businesses to neglect this crucial aspect related to accounting. Other tasks might seem a little more demanding and take up most of your time. You indulge in those tasks and focus all your energy there, leaving none for your business’s accounting aspect. But you only realize this mistake once things lag too far behind, and it is all a mess right on top of your head! Sure signs indicate that it is high time you get help from financial teams to support the accounting aspects of your business. These include:
• Your bills, receipts, documents are unread and unsorted
• You have no idea where your financial accounts stand at
• You are facing issues regarding cash in and out
• The records of tax filing have become a hassle for you
• You are lagging in data entry
Now that you realize these signs are evident in your business, let’s look at how we can control these issues with efficiency and productivity.

How to regain control?

To regain control of your lost track, all you need to do is think carefully about the best option that you have. It can be your own experience in the field of accounting, or you can start from scratch and tidy up your accounts. It can be in the form of hiring a professional that knows their job well and can do your work for you in addition to saving your precious time that you can spend on other endeavors. We would suggest the latter option, keeping in mind the amount of hassle it can save you. By spending a little, you can earn a lot more through intelligent solutions to your accounting issues and a clearer picture of your funds, their generation, and where they are spending. 

Full-time employee or need-based solution?

A full-time employee is undoubtedly a sweet sight, with someone sitting right in front of your office and doing all your work on your command, but it can be costly for your company. A full-time employee would require a full-time wage, whereas hiring an outsourced accountant whenever the services are needed would be more pocket-friendly and efficient.

Dedication to find your lost track:

Once the hiring part is complete, all you need to do now is provide the information required, and you can sit back and enjoy the show while your numbers align themselves most spectacularly! It sure will be beautiful if you haven’t already lost your finances. Dedication is required in reiterating this activity time after time so that everything stays on track.

Your number one priority:

Once you realize how vital bookkeeping is, it automatically becomes your priority. It might not be your number one priority for the time being or for times to come, but it surely will raise the list because you will know how easy life has become since you started investing in this field.
Hence, rather than spending your precious time straightening your bookkeeping records, financial help would be of much more use. It will not only save the precious time that you can spend on other tasks, but it will also provide a hassle-free output for you to analyze, keep track of and implement changes in your current financial position. Indeed, life will be easier! About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

When it comes to talking about marketing for B2B, you must think about outbound marketing. You probably believe that sending promotional emails to prospects will stimulate potential clients. This strategy indeed works, but it’s not the best strategy for B2B digital marketing. If you want to bring a significant number of new clients, you must ensure effective game plans. 

Technology evolves with time. Gone are the days when sending emails or making calls to prospects was enough. Now companies need to incorporate the new trends in their marketing tactics. Marketing for B2B has wholly changed. Now the companies would prefer Google search to find solutions to their problems. 

So, you have to ensure your presence in the digital realm to meet your potential clients. This blog will shed light on the best strategies for B2B marketing. Let’s discuss how you should grow your B2B business. 

Essential Strategies for B2B Digital Marketing 

It’s essential to improve your marketing efforts to achieve profitable business growth and successful outcomes. Here are the crucial strategies for B2B digital marketing that you must implement to enhance exposure. 

Research Demographics / Find Your Target Audience  

The first and foremost step is to find your target audience. You can’t come up with the best marketing strategy without knowing your target audience. It’s a waste of time and effort to spread your message to the people who might not be interested in your offerings. 

It would help if you focused on customer segmentation. Google Analytics can be beneficial for this task. As a B2B agency, it’s essential to understand your offerings and how your products or services can help other companies. Better understanding improves your connection with potential clients. 

Make Sure You Have a User-Friendly Website 

When businesses run on the online marketplace, each business must own a website in today’s era. Keep in mind; your company’s website is more than a pretty face because it enables your company to manifest credibility, expertise, quality, and solutions to the digital world. 

Website is the first source of communication for B2B agencies. Your clients will contact you through the site. Therefore, it’s essential to make a user-friendly website. Make sure the website is easily accessible to the audience, and make it mobile-friendly too.  

Strong SEO Strategy 

You need to be on the top list when someone searches for something on Google related to your company or offerings. SEO is important for B2B digital marketing. It enhances your website ranking and helps you stimulate more leads. SEO has two major components. 

On-site SEO enables you to optimize some prominent SEO metrics, such as meta title, description, keyword, image optimization, and other elements. 

Off-site SEO includes activities you can do outside your website, such as commenting, off-site blogs, broken link building, and more. 

Both SEO components enhance your website ranking, and it’s not possible to grow a B2B business without SEO. 

Social Media Presence 

Did you know? Approximately 60% of buyers check on social media before buying something. Social media referrals and recommendations play a vital role in increasing sales and strengthening the credibility of B2B business. 

If you haven’t made it to the social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you need to get started as soon as possible. You can use several social media tools to ease your effort. 

PPC Campaigns  

You need to include a PPC campaign in your B2B digital marketing strategies if you have a reasonable marketing budget. SEO gives results for the long run. However, for quicker results, PPC campaigns can be the best option. 

PPC campaign enables your company to open up significant opportunities to stimulate the attention of your prospects. PPC allows your target audience to find about your products or services faster. 

Keep in mind; you need to pay every time someone clicks on your site. Therefore, you need to segment and run a PPC campaign on a few crucial products or services that you offer. 

Final Thoughts 

The most effective way to enhance your B2B digital marketing strategy is focusing on digital assets, such as websites, blogs, and social media pages. 

Clients require credibility, quality, and recommendations to make a purchasing decision. As a B2B agency, you must approach your clients on the digital platform. Make sure you know your target audience and create a user-friendly website for your prospects. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

It might look like your office area is fully installed with a heavy security system and, you have tight control over the security of your business; you and your business could still be the victim of fraud. Therefore, your business can be more helpless against any fraud and scam than you might suspect, regardless of whether you have security gauges set up. You should know about the hideous works going on in your office. Sometimes relying only on day-to-day business operations and bookkeeping duties is not enough; instead, keeping a close look at the warning signs that direct a business fraud.   

What are the signs that might indicate fraud in your business? 

Below are some of the significant and telltale signs listed indicating your business is indeed the victim of fraud. 

Giving too much access  

Delegating all of the financial work to a single employee can be treacherous, which means putting your company at a much greater risk of fraud. Even if the employee is performing the duties well, giving too much access to a single employee regarding the payments, expenses, receiving of cash and, various other bookkeeping activities is never a good choice. Instead, assigning separate work to different employees is recommended to avoid any mishap from occurring.  

Excessive transactions and having less oversight 

It is always vital to keep a sharp eye on your bookkeeping records. In case there are various transactions made to clear mistakes, it very well may be done to conceal a fraud. Moreover, if there are several payments on a single bill, there might be a possibility that the employee is hiding the money for themselves. In such situations, where the employee is making; more transactions than needed, it is better to have more insight and audit their work. 

Unbalanced Cash Accounts 

Cash balances against your sales and expenses should always balance properly. Both too low and too high balances can be suspicious. Although having such balances can be an honest mistake, low balances can sometimes be a sign of missing money, and high balances can also indicate that an employee is trying to make up for the past fraud.   

Duplicate payments 

Such payments might happen because of blunder, oversight or, erroneously recording a seller receipt twice. However, duplicate installments are additionally a chance for a person to steal from the association. Looking at canceled checks and performing an audit of the duplicate payments can relieve the fear of fraud.  

Refusing to leave the task to others 

An employee who is consistent and devoted towards his work should always be appreciated; however, other than being an overachiever, if an employee wants to do everything on their own and never lets anybody else look at their work is a cause of concern. It simply means that he is maybe involved in fraudulent activities and trying to hide the scam from others.  

Inventory shortage  

Although product loss and waste are a common and regular part of business, excessive lessening and reduction of the inventory can be an obvious sign of theft. Apart from portable stock, dishonest insiders often sell large bulk items and raw materials.  

How to handle the warning signs of fraud? 

If you keep seeing the signs that might indicate fraud in your business, it’s better not to ignore the red flags. The sooner the symptoms mentioned above are identified and addressed, the better it is. Monitoring key pointers of any suspicious activity is the initial step to recognizing and stopping the fraud that might happen inside your organization. Approaching the suspicious employee in a non-confronting manner is always recommended. Building a good relationship with employees is vital but at the same time, keeping an eye on their activities is also essential to prevent any scam from taking place. Reach out for professional help. The securities fraud lawyer will help regain your losses and get you your money back from the scammers as soon as possible.  

Even if you believe that your business isn’t a victim of fraud, it is better to take help and move to outsourced accounting services that will provide an additional layer of review that might help prevent any fraud in the future. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Using software to manage your finances and accounts is a smart way to have accurate results and transactions, preventing human errors. Investing in accounting software or tools helps you save your costs in the long run, as your business will not need any accountants. The accounting tools are not only accurate but are also time-saving and easy to use.  

To guarantee a smooth accounting process and get hassle-free bookkeeping, you should invest in accounting tools. Some of the best-suggested accounting tools by experts are SlickPie, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Intuit QuickBooks Online, Sage 50cloud, and Wave. A few benefits of introducing Accounting Tools are:  

Time-Saving. Accounting Tools save a lot of time for small business owners who always find ways to make the best use of their time. The transactions between a buyer and seller are quicker than ever, create the three significant statements swiftly, and budgets are rather effortless to create. 

Cost Saving. An investment done on an accounting tool will be costly, but it will save your costs in the long term. Having an accounting tool will mean that you will no longer need an accountant to perform all the bookkeeping. As the accounting tools are time-saving, then that means that the staff in the finance department will be able to focus on different things other than bookkeeping. An accounting tool also creates a detailed cash flow, allowing you to take a better look at your income and expenditure to determine your unnecessary cost expenditure.  

Accuracy of Data. When performing bookkeeping manually, there are always human errors, which result in severe problems while making final decisions. A wrong calculation can cost the business a considerable loss. But when a company uses accounting tools, then the problems of inaccuracy are canceled. The measures are lengthy & complicated, or simple ones, the software will smoothly perform all calculations with very few errors. Unless the data in the software is incorrect, the software will make no mistakes.  

Convenient Tax Filing. Keeping track of all the invoices and receipts to calculate the tax can be a massive challenge for a business. Following all the complicated rules and regulations for the calculations, the company will face heavy penalties and losses even if a tiny mistake occurs while calculating taxes. But accounting tools make this task easy too! It keeps track of all your invoices and receipts to make it more convenient. If you are using an advanced version of the accounting tool, it also formats your invoices and receipts and does all the work for you.  

Easy Access. Investing in software means that it is not only present at the business premises but is available anywhere at any time. Most of the software is cloud-based, and you can have accessibility to your accounts all the time. This feature is excellent for owners who have to travel a lot and cannot be present at the business all the time. The owner will be able to make or receive payments, will be able to create reports and financial statements, and keep a check on the bookkeeping.  

Ensures Data Security. Software creators now make accounting tools that are protected with various layers of security to avoid cyber-attacks. All the data is now stored in the cloud to ensure you don’t lose any data to viruses and malfunctions. The data syncs constantly, so the chances of having old data on the cloud are ultimately canceled out. They provide an option only to give access to authorities too. 

Accounting Tools are quickly becoming one of the best investments for small businesses to make the tasks of the owners easier and to use an intelligent system in the industry. It has many benefits like ease of use, time-saving, and convenience. You can have it designed specifically for your business to follow the accounting rules according to your preference. For start-up businesses, it may be preferable to look for cheaper or free accounting tools to avoid extra spending when the costs and budgets are already tight; this works great as a cost saver and works out to be one of the reasons for your business’ success. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The experience of being in debt can be overwhelming yet challenging. Borrowing helps you accomplish a lot of the financial goals of your company. However, mismanaged debts don’t only affect the financial health of a business but also cause agitation.  

Leverage is a corporate word that is often used in substitute of debt or loan. It refers to the borrowing of funds to finance different monetary requirements of the business, including inventory, transport vehicles, and several other assets. Entrepreneurs can either borrow debt or equity to purchase the company’s assets. Using leverage or liability increases the possibilities for bankruptcy.  

Crawling out of a leverage trap isn’t a facile task. If you observe any leverage survivor company, you’ll notice wastage of time and opportunities. Debt seems easy at first, but we fail to foresee the joined obstacles. Here’s a list to determine the leverage crises and how to avoid them.  

1. Credit cards: 

Credit cards are like a two-edged sword. As a rule, if we purchase through a credit card without having enough funds, we’re supposed to make the payment from the next month’s income. If this payment cycle exceeds more than ten days, then the interest rate will pile up. That’s why financial discipline is essential while using credit cards. You must add a limit to your card, so you will never have to pay more than you can’t afford.  

2. Emergency funds: 

Some entrepreneurs are sensible enough to reserve a valuable sum of money equivalent to 6 months expenditure amount. The reason is to tackle any unforeseen obstacles. You should never use this amount in any situation unless your business is in a financial crisis, such as debt or a loan.  

3. Avoid getting fascinated by luxuries: 

Luxury can wait, but necessities cannot. Some companies tend to provide all the luxuries to their employees, including foreign trips and air-conditioned ambiance. However, it’s better to spend on luxuries when the profitability level reaches the maximum or when your company gets to save tons of money. In this way, you’ll get protection from the leverage trap.  

4. Budgeting is essential: 

By budgeting out your monthly expenses, you can wisely track where the cash is heading and where you can cleverly invest it. In case of cash crises, where you require a significant cut down of your expenditures, you’ll be able to consider the unnecessary commodities and services.  

5. Limit the number of credit cards: 

Multiple credit cards mean numerous interest rates. If you cannot repay the debt amount on credit cards, avoid using various credit cards at once. The more charges accumulated on each credit card can also mean more space to lose track of your revenue and expenditure.  

6. Maintain a master sheet of expenses: 

Always maintain a master sheet for tracking your expenses that contains room for correction so that you’ll be able to update it monthly. In this way, you can easily make timely payments in case of have multiple accounts or credit cards.   

7. Avoid borrowing too much: 

With time, you end up borrowing vast sums of loans with different maturities. An excellent way to protect your business from this leverage trap is to integrate multiple loans into a single one with slightly extensive maturity. You might have a longer EMI tenure, but your cash flows management is smartly done for now. Never hesitate to negotiate on interest rates and service charges. In the financial world, every charge is negotiable if you know how to persist.   

8. Reconsider your priorities: 

After having a deep analysis of leverage, you might create a priority list to rearrange your priorities. You may want to refrain from interfering in certain luxury items. You can either look for cheaper alternatives or avoid some purchases. It is the foremost step towards an optimistic financial situation.  For instance, you can cut down your insignificant expenditures or idle machinery.  

The most resistant part in trying to avoid leverage is to limit your expenditures and luxuries. Excess spending has become one of the most popular temptations in the present world of business. Through these strategies, you can keep control of the debt level while still having enough room for the prosperity of your company.   

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to expenses related directly to producing or purchasing inventory items for sale or resale. Inventory is a line item on the balance sheet and is considered an asset that the company holds. Inventory is one of the most critical assets for companies in the distribution industry. When inventory sells, the revenue appears in the income statement. The cost of procuring that item is known as COGS. Manufacturers also use COGS for the purchase of raw materials.  

Periodic inventory  

Under the periodic system, the amount in the inventory account doesn’t update when a company is purchasing inventory; it updates after a specified amount of time, usually annually. The inventory amount is only updated after a fiscal year finishes and the new year starts; this means that the inventory account won’t show you the cost of the stock for last year. All the purchases related to merchandise are entered and recorded in either one or more than one purchase account. When the year is about to end, the purchase accounts are closed by the company. By following the periodic system, there is no cost of goods sold when recording the sale of merchandise. 

Assumptions for cost flow 

IRS accepts three methods to move the cost to the income statement from the balance sheet. The three methods used are FIFO, LIFO, and Average Cost. They display what their names suggest and direct the order in which items flow from the inventory and money is moved on the balance sheet. FIFO means first in, first out, meaning that goods should come out of stock in the order received and their costs shown at their original purchase price. LIFO means last in, first out, removing the most recently received item first and recording inventory at its original purchase price. It doesn’t matter if the cost of goods sold has increased for the new batch; you must use the cost at their original price.   

Perpetual form of inventory system 

While following a perpetual system, the stock account is being updated at regular intervals by the company. Inventory adjusts when the actual cost of products purchased from the suppliers occurs; on the other side, the accounts adjust immediately as the items sell to customers. There is no chance for purchase accounts in this perpetual system of inventory. The actual price of sold products has a history, and that account adjusts at the time each sale occurs, which is the same for the cost related to the merchandise. Sales and accounts receivable both change to the record as one entry. On the other hand, the different products added to the inventory list decrease, and they start to make maximum the price of products sold to the customers. 

FIFO (first-in, first-out), LIFO (last-in, first-out), and Average cash flow assumptions are merged with any inventory systems, either perpetual inventory systems or periodic inventory systems, to determine the actual cost of the stock at hand. It depends upon you that how you can choose any one of them according to convenience and ease.    

Indication of a perpetual system 

The perpetual system clearly shows and ensures that a company’s inventory account will always show accurate figures as accounts update in real-time at regular time intervals. In other words, you can say that the balance in the Inventory account will start to increase by the amount of the goods purchased. This amount decreases by the cost of the goods when a sale occurs. So, it illustrates that the balance in the Inventory account should tell you more about the cost of the inventory items that are on your hand right now. Also, the companies should count the actual number and cost of their goods that they are having at the current time (take a physical inventory) at least once a year. They should adjust the perpetual records if necessary for the company. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Budgeting can indeed be a pain when you do not have the time to sit down and divide your money according to your requirements. A proper budgeting system is needed for every household to ensure that finances are used effectively rather than mismanaged. 

Technology has evolved, and there has never been a better time to be alive. If you hate going through the hassle of sitting down, laying out all your finances, and then creating a budget, there is good news for you. 

There are now mobile phone applications in the market that do the deed for you. All you have to do is find an application that works for you, then sit back and enjoy as you have one less thing to worry about. 

The Best in the Market 

Following is a list of applications that would cater to your needs of domestic budgeting. 

Please ensure that you do your research before trusting an application with your financial data. 

1. Mint

Mint is a free app available in the market for the sole purpose of budget creation.  

The app’s purpose is to allow you to keep track of your daily expenditure to stay within the limit while making everyday purchases. The app is highly user-friendly, so it is one of the top-rated ones in the market. 

Mint suggests the option of connecting you to your bank account so all the transactions can file automatically. Those who do not wish to use this option due to privacy concerns could always manually add their transactions to the app. 

The only con this app has been the targeted advertisements that are a part of the app interface, although they are not that bothersome to a vast majority since the app is free! 

2. PocketGuard 

PocketGuard is your next go-to application if you want to cub your overspending habits. The app’s primary purpose of curb unnecessary spending by tracking all your transactions through your bank account. 

PocketGuard comes in two different variations; a free, basic version and a paid, premium version that goes by the name of PocketGuard Plus. PocketGuard Plus costs its users $79.99 per year, which seems plausible according to the app’s services. 

3. EveryDollar 

EveryDollar is a budgeting app that caters to your budgeting needs as well as tracking all your purchases. The app was on the zero-based budgeting philosophy that focuses on creating equilibrium between the expenses and the income. 

The paid version of this application costs a whopping $129.99 per year, which may be a lot for some individuals, which is why it has the option of a free version. The crucial point that sets the two versions apart is that the user must manually add all the transactions to the app, which the paid version would do automatically. 

4. You Need a Budget

You Need a Budget, or YNAB is an application for those willing to invest some bucks to save some dollars.  

The app, charging $84 annually, is one of the most acceptable applications for budgeting—the app sync to your bank account, which takes away your worry of manually adding each transaction. Due to the in-depth approach of the company towards budgeting, it yields excellent results and claims to save $600 in the first two months of usage. 

The app is known for being completely safe and strict on data protection as it uses high-level encryption. 

Those who may be concerned about paying a considerable amount could always avail of the 34-day free trial that the company offers. It would be enough time for you to realize if the app is for you. 

If you are looking for a free application to create a domestic budgeting plan for you, Mint should be your first option due to its remarkable results and user-friendly programming. But if you are ready to pay for the services, you should invest in YNAB because of the promising results with the application. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.