Author: Complete Controller

We have all heard the quote, “Unity is strength!” but how many of us have sat down and thought about how being united affects the quality of work and brings forth new ways to cater to an issue?

In the vast and well-spread-out world of accounting, professionals in different industries have different aspects of the business they must focus on.

Accountants

An accountant’s job is to put their accountancy skills to good use and prepare tax returns and other statements for the company that employs them. The accountant is a professional with official certification that vouches for their knowledge and experience.

Bookkeeper

As the name suggests, a bookkeeper takes care of the books, a.k .a. financial records that reflect all the company’s expenses, costs, and sales. A bookkeeper must keep the accounting books clear and ensure that every cost and expense mentioned aligns with the company’s budget.

Consultants

A consultant, also called a financial adviser, is an individual whose job is to advise. The business owner does not have the apt knowledge to make financial decisions that would benefit them and increase their asset value. The consultants thoroughly study the business’s financial data and then advise the business owner to make decisions that would help their empire grow.

These three professionals come together and join forces to complete the world of accountancy. There are so many advantages to them joining together to help their clients.

A Multifaceted System

When a bookkeeper, an accountant, and a consultant join hands when dealing with a single client, all professionals take charge to cater to their side of the job.

All of them are professionals who can work on different aspects of the same business, all regarding its finances. An accountant would manage all the business accounts and develop a plan to calculate the taxes, profits, and losses. They would also create financial statements for their client.

On the other hand, the bookkeeper would immediately take over the company’s books and identify all the costs, sales, and other expenses.

A consultant would then profoundly study all the data to make an informed decision. Their job asks them to identify trends and designs that would make the business grow. They could also identify any loopholes and advise ways to get them out.

Together, all three professionals could cater to client’s different needs and help them grow their businesses exponentially.

Technology – An Added Plus!

We are now in the era of technology. Everything has been upgraded and made easier with the help of technology, which is why accounting professionals should also use it.

There are so many modes of digitizing accountancy and finances, which would provide ease to these professionals and make the task quicker, which would eventually benefit the client.

Help Each Other To Help Them

Since they are from the same field, accounting professionals can help each other to help their clients.

If all professionals come together and form a system, they could develop a plan and design it to cater to all the financial system issues. They would each highlight how they can help the business in their department and then develop a plan that is a success in theory and would be compatible when applied practically.

An accountant, consultant, and bookkeeper joining hands and forming a team might seem like a dream come true for any client plunging into the business world. Business owners, especially those getting into it for the first time, are often scared and have many questions to answer.

These financial advisors and professionals would be able to communicate with the client and help them understand how their business would perform in the competitive market.

Conclusion 

In the world of accountancy, unity is indeed strength. When united, accountants, bookkeepers, and consultants form a multifaceted system. Their collaboration leverages technology, providing efficiency. By helping each other and forming a cohesive team, they can address diverse financial needs, offering clients a comprehensive and successful approach to business growth. This united front becomes a valuable resource for clients entering the competitive business landscape, providing guidance and insights to navigate challenges successfully.

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.

Just because you have vehicles waiting for services does not mean the auto repair shop is profitable. To boost your margins, plan your operations for efficient customer service that adds to your reputation and permits your technicians enough time to make appropriate repairs. Stock high-margin parts and retain meticulous books so that you could endure doing the things that made your money and alter your practices were needed to boost profit.

Schedule Properly

Making a schedule that permits sufficient time for repairs to be executed appropriately keeps your technicians busy with enough work. Track the job done in the past to measure the number of repairs your techs could perform in one day and then maintain the repair schedule so that you have sufficient trucks and cars coming in and going out on the same day. If you retain too many repairs assured to customers, something will be wasted or insufficiently repaired. If you maintain a schedule too casually, you will contain a schedule of no more than that amount of work for every employee.

Focus on Labor Cost

Shopping for cheaper parts to boost your profit margin on your sales might increase your profit slightly, but controlling your worker’s expenses results in much more growth in profit margin. For instance, a body shape business’s profit margin on sales typically averages between 20 to 28%; however, the labor profit margin averages 50 to 60 percent. The concern instead is to lessen your labor costs by altering the advantages you gave, reducing salaries, or increasing your retail labor price. Extra strategies may involve adding hours to your employee’s schedule and hiring outside sources to pay for training like vendor-supplied training or government programs.

Check Vehicle

Clients do not appreciate parting in a shop to have something else break down soon after. You can provide your technicians extra time to inspect every car for different problems, but give some spare time to each repair order, from approximately half an hour to one hour. Show your findings to clients who mainly permit you to repair while you have the truck or car. Examination, followed by intelligence to the clients, reduces the number of vehicles you contain to process each day and maintains clients’ satisfaction, leading to returning business and reducing marketing costs.

Reduce Marketing

It charges less to keep clients than it does to attract new customers. However, you must maintain a marketing value online and in some advertising mediums; concerning customer referrals and services could also boost your profit margin and lessen your advertising costs. As truck and car manufacturing enhance, and clients tend to keep their cars longer, competition in the repair market or industry will endure to thrive and grow, according to the new or small business development center. As the number of available shops or stores increases, it becomes even more significant for you to ensure that your clients are managed relatively and not sell services and parts they do not need. Additionally, giving an examination lessens turnaround time in your store or shop and increases customer loyalty. Maintain a referral program that reimburses customers for sending you new business.

Schedule an Appointment for Each Customer Task

Proper scheduling confirms that the workers can work efficiently and be provided precisely to the clients. Scheduling is undoubtedly one of the most robust manners to boost your vehicle shop’s profit margin. Examine the previous work and control the needed repair timings.

When tasks are given to the employees, you can ensure that work is done as effectively as possible. And you could thus deliver the examined products to the clients without extreme waiting times. This is a sure-fire approach to boost your auto repair shop’s profit margin.

Invest in the Right Automobile Software

The world is becoming digitalized now, and for a positive reason. Our work has become far more straightforward and effortless, and the result is more effective and efficient with the right software. Do the research and invest in software to organize and track your sales and assist with bookkeeping and accounting activities. If you need to discover how to make your auto repair store or shop more profitable, the right software in finance can provide you with the solution you are looking for and exponentially yield your mechanic shop.

Bottom Line

Now that you know the various and innumerable approaches to leveling up your auto repair profit margin, take your time and plan. You can certainly transform your business with some clear-cut and concrete decisions. 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.

Marketing should achieve the marketing goals with advertising, promotions, and other marketing campaigns. Marketing controlling is responsible for checking the effects of marketing campaigns and improving marketing. For this purpose, marketing controlling defines critical figures to recognize whether marketing budgets are being used effectively.

Marketing Controlling

Marketing control serves to ensure the success of marketing. Marketing Controlling measures whether a marketing activity achieves the marketing goals and whether the cost-benefit ratio is correct. Using suitable vital figures shows the effects of marketing activities, impact chains, and opportunities for improvement in marketing. It also provides information for strategic marketing planning.

Other terms for marketing control are “marketing accountability,” “marketing performance,” or “return on marketing.”

Marketing Controlling Dimensions

What marketing does for the company can be divided into three dimensions:

• Effectiveness: contribution of marketing to achieve company goals
• Efficiency: Relationship between marketing impact and marketing costs to use the marketing budget in the best feasible way
• Adaptability: Marketing responsiveness to changes in customers, in the market, and among competitors

The extent to which marketing contributes to achieving corporate goals can be booked on the benefit side of marketing. However, this requires an appropriate marketing budget because marketing activities are associated with expenses. As the person responsible for marketing or marketing, you must check to what extent your marketing (benefits) achieves your company goals, whether the budget is invested correctly, and whether the costs are reasonable (effort).

You must also understand which factors are critical to achieving the goals and the desired impact. The effects can change continuously due to competitors and evolving customer expectations. Marketing must recognize such changes and adapt to them.

Task and Functions of Marketing Controlling

Even if measuring the impact of marketing campaigns precisely or determining them in advance is complicated, marketing controlling still has an essential purpose in the company. It demands marketing goal orientation. It can make practical and less effective levers visible. It supports the continuous adaptation and optimization of marketing campaigns and helps allocate marketing budgets.

To do this, Marketing Controlling must perform these tasks and functions in particular:

Control Function

The central task of marketing control is to ensure that the elements in the chain of effects interlock. It must warn if the chain threatens to break. This is the control function of marketing controlling.

Information Function

To fulfill the control function in marketing control and ensure that the chain of effects does not break, key figures show this for a single marketing campaign and all activities. This is the information function of marketing control.

Planning Function

Marketing control is integral to marketing planning and improving individual marketing campaigns. So, it also has a planning function.

Note the Side Effects of Marketing

Marketing success should not only be evaluated in terms of customer, sales, and turnover. Instead, different stakeholders play a role. In addition to the customers, dealers, market partners, investors, suppliers, and employees. Advertising, public relations, or customer relations management not only helps with sales but also strengthens relationships with investors and promotes the corporate image when it comes to finding qualified employees (employer branding).

Clarify Corporate Goals

Compile the essential corporate goals and corporate strategies.

• What do you want to achieve with your company?
• What is particularly important to you when it comes to the development of your company?
• Which goals are in the foreground in the current year?

Derive Marketing Goals

Then check your marketing goals:

• Which marketing goals can be derived from the corporate goals?
• What do you want to achieve overall with individual marketing activities?
• Check to what extent your marketing goals match the company goals: What should you adjust and coordinate better?

Assign all previous marketing campaigns to the marketing goals. Then, link marketing goals and business goals.

Define Marketing Controlling Requirements

If you know which marketing goals you are pursuing and what you want to achieve with marketing as a whole and with individual marketing campaigns, then the requirements for marketing control the result. Clarify:

• What exactly are you doing in terms of marketing control?
• What has been determined, measured, checked, or evaluated with marketing controlling?
• What metrics do you use to review your marketing activities?
• To what extent do these indicators show whether and how you can achieve the marketing goals?
• Where do you see deficits?

Then, check to what extent you want to improve your marketing control. You will find suitable methods and procedures for this in the following sections of this manual chapter. In the first step, a distinction is made between strategic and operational tasks and critical figures for marketing control.

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 we create a company, we prepare for the worst. However, it is not only necessary to know how to manage failure; we must also learn to grow. There comes a time when the business begins to bear fruit and progress, and it is necessary to make certain decisions that can change the company’s direction forever. The dark side of triumph is that success can also die.

Recently, we opened the year, and one of the most repeated goals among entrepreneurs is to grow: increase customers, hire more staff, and start selling abroad. Being ambitious and setting goals is fine, but if you know how to leap.

 

What are the Risks of Business Growth?

You must grow with your head, and for that, the first step is to know the risks or inconveniences that can maximize your business. Then, you will have to create an expansion strategy, which gives you room to maneuver and learn how to act when the time comes to grow.

These are some of the most frequent errors in business growth:

Making bad decisions

When the goal is to grow a lot, and quickly, they end up hurriedly making big decisions. Remember that to achieve sustainable growth, it is necessary to analyze each movement very well, which takes time.

To be indebted more than the account

“To make money, you have to spend money.” How many times have we heard that expression? In a way, it is correct. The thing is that you need to invest to be able to grow. However, you must be incredibly careful with the risks you assume, even more so if you are autonomous. Remember that with this legal form, you have unlimited liability. That is, you respond to the debts with all your assets. Do not play roulette!

Oversize the business

You grow, see that the company works, and want to continue growing to infinity. But what if your business model has peaked? Many employers mistake hiring more staff than they need, expanding a workspace they will never complete, or buying more products than they can sell. If you do not want the same thing to happen to you, go step by step.

Worsen relationships with customers

Sometimes, we want to be like Juan Palomo, especially if we are alone in the business. However, “I eat it, I eat it” has limitations. Accept that you are not a superhero and will need to share your efforts. When all the activity is focused on the expansion plan, it is easy to worsen the quality of the products or services and personal relationships. Loyalty to customers must be a priority. Otherwise, you may manage to grow on one side, but you will be losing on the other in the meantime.

Hire the wrong people

Human capital is essential in a company. The problem is that the rush can lead you to neglect this aspect. If you need someone quickly, one solution is to start with a temporary contract or even with an external collaboration that allows you to evaluate the quality of the worker.

Manage the organization in an inoperative way

This is a frequent difficulty, especially for businesses that sell products instead of services. A small error in the supply chain can have profound consequences, such as excess or lack of stock, loss of income, waste products, etc. In this sense, it is advisable to increase the business progressively and not underestimate this type of task. Growth requires expanding the means to manage the supply chain, from personnel to technological resources.

Chaos management

Many great people and civilizations in human history did not become great overnight. A famous saying goes around: “Rome wasn’t built in a single day, but they had to work for it every single day.” Also, these great people and civilizations were extremely good at chaos management.

Lack of chaos management can eventually become a significant hurdle to your business growth. An entrepreneur or manager should have this characteristic of managing well in chaotic or uncertain situations. Many people panic when the situation becomes challenging to manage. But that is the death of business growth. One should never panic in tough times. Instead, they should maintain their calm and make decisions with utter composure.

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.

Likely, your afore is not enough to survive only from your pension. If you want a good retirement, it is best to build an investment plan. We give you some options.

Retirement implies the finish of acquiring a period for some, except if one decides to function as an expert. For retirees, utilizing their retirement corpus that would assist in keeping charging risk under control and give a standard pay stream is of prime significance. Building a retirement portfolio with a blend of fixed salary and market-connected ventures remains a significant test for some retirees. The test is not to outlast the retirement reserves – one resigns at 58 or 60, while the future could be eighty.

If the Retirement Savings System remains unreformed, those whose savings are managed by an afore will face a complicated reality in their retirement since their pension will be equivalent to only 26% of their last salary.

The above is a scenario in which life expectancy has increased. By 2050, the number of older adults will increase to 32.4 million from 10.06 million in 2016, according to estimates from the National Population Council.

The task of saving and investing seems complicated in an environment in which 61% of workers earn between one to three minimum wages per month, that is, $2,695 at $8,085 and only 4.6% enter more than five salaries a month, that is, $13,475, according to INEGI figures.

However, if you can allocate a percentage of your income to invest for retirement, it is best to plan it now.

Currently, two out of ten people of retirement age must receive help from their family or acquaintances to pay their expenses, according to the 2015 work history survey conducted by INEGI for the National Commission of the Savings System for Withdrawal (CONSAR).

If you already have savings, the first step is to know the different investment products in the financial market and advise you with a specialist, such as an independent investment advisor certified by the authorities or with a stock exchange intermediary.

Both should help you know your risk profile to make the most appropriate investment decision. Below, we list several options:

 

Investment Plans with Life Insurance

Insurers sell it, this instrument deducts a monthly amount from your bank account, and options range from $1,000 per month.

 

Personal Retirement Plans

All financial institutions offer it; like the insurance investment plan, it is tax-deductible. The asset they have is forcing you to save; it is one of the big problems that negligence beats us.

 

Investment Funds

This instrument charges you a commission; you can buy and sell it whenever you want.

 

Exchange-traded Fund, or ETFs

They replicate some value or index behavior; you can access them from the Stock Exchange. Although the amount of contract opening depends on each stock exchange intermediary, some electronic platforms open them from $100, while in others, the minimum ranges from $10,000 to $25,000.

 

To Open an Account at a Brokerage House

They will build a portfolio according to your profile if you take this option. Suppose you do not have the appetite to tolerate the risk of shares. In that case, it can be a combination of stocks and bonds and obtain a return that will be a little more moderate,” says Ezquerra, who indicated that, although this option used to open generally for investors who already have $1 million, there are currently electronic platforms to invest in the stock market, which can be operated with an account starting at $1,000.

When one resigns, and there is a probability of the non-gaining period reaching out for an additional two decades or more, at that point, contributing a part of the retirement assets in value-supported items accepts significance. Remember that retirement salary will be dependent upon swelling in any event during the resigned years. Studies have demonstrated that values convey higher surging balanced returns than different resources.

Naming your business may seem like an effortless thing to do, but it is not. You must produce an impactful name, as a firm business name greatly helps lead generation. Customers are unconditionally attracted to solid business names and prefer to shop from them more often. One must think it through before producing their business name.

When a business starts, most plan a lot of details but always leave one of the most critical factors for the end, choosing the venture’s name, and at that moment, there is total panic. You must have several things in mind, such as the sector in which you will specialize, if you want it to be striking or personal if it will have a significant meaning behind it, or if you want people to identify it quickly.

Do not worry anymore. Here, we will leave several tips that can help you greatly in this crisis where you do not know what to do and think everything is lost.

Tips for Choosing the Name of Your Enterprise

Having a good name makes the difference between boosting the business and slowing down the success process; sometimes, it can lead to failure. Do not be scared after having read that because we are going to tell you everything you need to know to avoid catastrophes; you must follow all the tips that we give below:

1. Must sound aloud

When you are writing your multiple options, be sure to tell them several times aloud, on separate occasions, or as if you included it in a conversation, so it will be easier to notice if it is suitable for the purpose you have in mind.

An excellent technique to achieve this is using a compound that begins with the same letter, as is the case with Coca-Cola. It does not make any apparent sense, but it sounds good when you pronounce it several times, besides not being too much. It is complex to remember and avoid confusion with other products; it is understood in any language and is easy even for people with speech problems.

2. Avoid the 3.0 syndrome

Indeed, you do not understand what we are saying, but understanding is effortless. At some point, you have seen on social networks or web pages that the names are missing several legal words and vowels, to the point that they seem written by a dyslexic person. An example would be VSCO Cam, a popular Photo retouching App that very few influencers understand how to pronounce.

3. Forget the initials

We will not deny that some brands, such as 3M or IBM, have achieved enormous popularity, but this is due to their significant effort and quality. The reality is that using acronyms is not very striking. It limits creativity in advertising and does not say anything about you or your business.

You will only have a small business, not a great international company. Having realistic ambitions, trusting the most notable names, and attracting potential clients is essential.

4. Make sure you can register it

If you want a sizeable long-term brand, investigate whether it exists in the market. It does not matter if it is in another continent and you believe nothing will happen. Plagiarism is not a good option in any case. For this, you can get a handy tool, Google AdWords, to see the local and global searches like your chosen name.

In addition, you will know if, when searching, your company appears between the keywords or in similar phrases in a different heading. You can also find out if making a slight change in the name that this consideration can give you a better position on the Internet and even take the first step necessary to be the first SEO of your future online site.

Creating the name of your endeavor may seem extremely complicated at first, but you should not despair or start thinking about the worst. You should just take a break and follow all the advice we have given you in this post. You will see how you do much more quickly to find the best option for your business.

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.

Victorious bookkeepers instantly identify that client satisfaction should be their topmost priority as it’ll ultimately prosper their company. For business owners, bookkeeping can be a tremendous hassle, and multiple issues arise during the entire process just because of the lack of general comprehension. Therefore, companies always consider their client relationship as a partnership, even when their journey is challenging.

Many clients are calm and easygoing and appreciate the efforts made by bookkeeping advisors. Also, they acknowledge the dynamics of the trade. In this regard, clients usually compensate the bookkeepers based on mutually agreed-upon policies before working together. 

However, there are times when bookkeeping firms must deal with complex clients, but the ratio of their appearance is low. These clients are demanding and become rude or angry even on the slightest issues. At times, they can consume much of a bookkeeper’s valuable time.

For these reasons, differentiating between the potential clients is of pivotal importance. Here’s a short guide for understanding the nature of such clients.

1. Aggressive personality

The aggressive clients intend to impose their perspectives on bookkeepers and are very strict about deadlines. Such clients get angry instantly and are often verbally abusive.

2. Over-efficient

The kind of client who appears to showcase his wisdom about a bookkeeper’s services as if he knows everything better than him, and in the wake of displaying such services, such a client becomes highly arrogant.

3. Complainers

The clients who are always unhappy regardless of satisfactory services are the complainers. It is because they feel like they are being treated unjustly.

4. Confused clients

The confused clients kept asking the same questions about a particular service and couldn’t decide on their own.

Top four strategies to handle bookkeeping client issues:

Undoubtedly, dealing with demanding clients is tough, and the main challenge is dealing with their superiority. Usually, we reciprocate the behavior we get. However, this would lead to losing valuable clients and the goodwill of your bookkeeping firm. To solve any conflict, we must deal with them gently and patiently.

The following ways can help you resolve the issues with the bookkeeping clients.

1. Listen to the client’s queries

In case of disturbance in providing the services, clients often get frustrated. However, there are situations when the issues don’t arise from your end. In such cases, clients expect bookkeepers to listen to them attentively, and they also want the problems to get resolved without any delays. As a bookkeeper, you must answer their queries with utmost patience and vent their exhaustion.

2. Comprehend and apologize

It is a significant part where many bookkeepers falter. When a bookkeeper faces a complicated client, he usually starts challenging the client or makes excuses. He tries to end the dispute instantly to ease his distress. Remember that when clients get irritated, they expect an apology from the advisor to put things right for them. For this purpose, identifying what has disappointed the client instead of making excuses would be more feasible.

3. Analyze the problem by asking questions

The most appropriate way of handling a rude customer is by showing compassion. A cordial speech would be enough to mellow down the client’s anger. Once he gets calmed down, ask him questions regarding the current issue. This activity will present your concern about the challenges faced by the client.

However, the questions must be relevant, and you should also provide reasoning. Also, keep the conversation precise and positive. If you can’t handle the case single-handedly, you can always opt for better professional advice.

4. Generate creative strategies for their cases

Since demanding clients behave incorrectly, they won’t hear your explanations, even if they don’t occur on your platform. They don’t care if you’re stuck, too; they want to get their problem resolved. As a bookkeeping consultant, you need to acknowledge their concerns and develop effective solutions. There is a possibility that you must go the extra mile for their contentment, which includes asking for their suggestions and ideas.

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.

If you want to keep your account records clear and straight, you should record all the purchases made during a specified period. While recording inventory purchases, keep a few factors in mind: original purchase price, trade discount, purchase return and allowance, transportation cost, and ownership and transfer fee. Inventory is a significant aspect of almost any company or business. Buying and selling inventory is very important. You should track the primary activity, purchases, and sales of your inventory items with the unit’s inventory accounting system. In the language of business, the term inventory describes the products and materials held by a company for the ultimate purpose of resale.

• Inventory entries

Inventory works as a kind of asset. An asset refers to any property a company owns, physical or non-physical, that helps add value to their business. Assets increase if you have debits and decrease if you have credits. Debits and credits considerably impact many accounts that record journal entries for inventory—such as accounts payable, finished goods inventory, raw material inventory, and merchandise inventory.

• Manufacturing of a product

While manufacturing a product, you have to look at multiple inventory journal entries. You should review physical inventory levels at the end of the year to calculate the cost of the goods sold. It is advantageous to make a physical inventory list at least once yearly, write down the date the transaction was completed, and mention it in the left column of the given account’s balance sheet.

• Establishment of inventory controls

The most critical step when managing inventory levels is safeguarding your inventory from theft and damage. Ensure that those workers who perform your financial management, manage inventory controls, and perform accounting entries know those inventoried items well. Make access limited for inventory supply and apply specific procedures for shipping and receiving products. Also, label inventory before storing to access the items quickly. Lock areas where you hold products when operations are closed. Being overly organized will help you access these items when needed and minimize losses to theft or carelessness. You must keep damaged products separately and keep a record of damaged products on the waste sheet.

• Goods for resale

Implement purchasing and receiving procedures because you must add goods intended for resale to inventory through the receiving process. When receiving the goods, make sure that the packing or receiving slip matches the invoice and materials. Debit the inventory account to record the inventory purchases. If a person knows about COGS accounting, he should understand that COGS is how much it costs to produce goods or services. The cost of goods available for sale equals the starting value of inventory plus the cost of goods purchased. The cost of goods sold also equals the cost of goods available for sale, less the ending value of the merchandise.

• Physical inventory

Perform physical inventory audits on an annual basis. While conducting a physical inventory audit, it is of great importance and very vital to create an accurate balance sheet. Physical inventory reserves directly impact units’ cost of goods sold, profit, and revenue. Also, it affects the information on the financial statements. There are two systems to account for inventory. These include the perpetual system and the periodic system. So, the company uses one of these two systems to make a journal entry for inventory purchases. In the journal entry of inventory purchase, the difference between the perpetual and periodic systems is just on the debit side. The amount of inventory purchased in the perpetual system is posted to the inventory account while it is assigned to the purchase account under the periodic inventory system instead.

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 official audit is a documented explanation of whether or not a company’s financial statements are materially accurate, along with the standards, assumptions, and evidence used to conduct an audit. Suppose the IRS audits your business tax return. In that case, the platform carefully examines whether your business included the total income or applied only the tax deductions and credits allowed by the law.

The IRS audits are not random but a planned procedure. IRS selects such tax returns with errors based on complicated criteria. After filing a tax return, the IRS has three years to begin and finish an audit. However, these officials are professionals, so they consume less time than expected to complete the process.

During this time, the IRS will require financial information and documents explaining the position of your business tax return. So, providing them with the correct details is your responsibility.

Internal and External Audits

As an entrepreneur, acknowledging the differences between internal and external audits is paramount. This is because both the audits serve different purposes.

A CPA consultant has to perform an external audit, and it is only responsible for the auditing process and doesn’t involve taxation matters. However, many consider them to be a more reliable platform than others.

On the contrary, the employed accountants or bookkeepers double as internal auditors. They might perform the same activities as the external ones but also handle minor financial tasks. In some cases, the external auditors rely on the internal ones to manage monetary functions.

For a sound auditing procedure, you must take every step attentively. Here’s a step-by-step guide for managing your firm’s finances, ultimately leading to a smooth auditing procedure.

Step 1: Strategizing

For the successful execution of an audit procedure, creating a strategy would be the most feasible option. The planning phase might include scheduling and group meetings with your audit officials. In most cases, the department manager must provide all the necessary information.

Step 2: Reviewing procedure

Next, the assigned internal auditors will review your generated policies and financial management/ the purpose of this activity is to ensure that your written strategies perfectly align with your company’s standards. To avoid any inconvenience, you have to identify the departments ignoring the imposed policies made by the organization.

Step 3: Fieldwork

During this period, the auditor physically visits your company to examine if you’re working legally or not. Your workforce must follow the rules and regulations to pass this audit. If any employee alters roles within the platform, you must adjust immediately. Fieldwork includes meeting with the management and employees and enquiring them about the regular activities and tasks.

Step 4: Follow up

During the report inspection, the auditor often finds missing information. For instance, if any notice gets misplaced, the officer will ask for it immediately.

If an employee fails to provide an authentic justification, he must clarify it in the board meeting. However, most auditors explain the situation before submitting the findings.

Step 5: Reporting

Once your auditor examines all the provided information and completes the review process, he will issue a draft report, which delivers audit results.

The reports include an independent evaluation of your company’s strengths while stating the weaknesses and recommendations for corrective execution. The internal auditor will make sure that the information has no additional issues. After reviewing, the auditor proceeds with the final report.

Step 6: Looking for errors

If you find any hidden issues within the report, you need to track the source immediately and implement accurate internal controls to alleviate the problem with written documentation. It appears to be a simple process. So why do companies find it hard to make audits a priority? This is because an audit is a highly time-consuming process, which makes it a draining procedure. 

The demands of managing a business can be pretty overwhelming, and it might not be easy to prioritize among tons of tasks. Hiring an accountant to review your finances is a significant decision. Undoubtedly, auditing is an exhausting procedure and consumes valuable time and cash, but the benefits of this process outshine everything. 

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.

In the wake of COVID-19, work-from-home (WFH) has become the norm for most organizations in the corporate world. Working from home may sound like a dream to many, but the fact is that it comes with its fair share of problems that require using the right tools to overcome.

We have narrowed down the list to a total of 7 tools you must have to ensure the smooth functioning of the work you carry out. These tools are essential and could ultimately make or break your productivity.

Internet Calling System

Working remotely requires you to always stay in contact with your coworkers. That is the only way to promote efficacy within the organization. You need to have a system of communication that allows you to stay in touch with your coworkers.

Open communication is incredibly efficient in international parties because it makes completing tasks very easy.

Nextiva is excellent for internet calling.

Project Management Tools

As the name suggests, companies use project management tools to track and manage ongoing projects.

It can often be difficult to manage many projects all at once, which would add to the complexity of the already strenuous task. Project management tools allow the user to keep track of all the functions at hand and meet all deadlines.

The tools also can send reminders when a deadline is close, which would be very convenient for those working remotely.

Hive and Monday are great options for those looking for project management tools.

Help Desk Tools

Companies use Help Desk Tools to help all the clients and customers affiliated with the organization.

Customer service plays a significant role in how your business or company is received in the public eye. Your organization will likely flourish if the customer service is quick and apt. So, these help desk tools will make the task easier regardless of your location.

Guru focuses on problem-solving while also making the job easier.

Internal Knowledge Base Tools

Although less used, these tools could completely upscale the functioning of your operation by creating a communication system, especially when onboarding, to give out instructions and ensure that all the group members can communicate effectively.

A confluence is a good option for this purpose.

Video Call Tools

Video conferencing is the most crucial part of working from home. These virtual meetings ensure the workforce discusses all agendas and you distribute information to the correct people.

These tools are a quick but secure way of getting into conference video calls so that these meetings can take place virtually and the work does not lag, no matter what.

Zoom quickly rose to fame after the onset of COVID-19, which makes it a good option.

Collaboration Tools

The primary purpose of these tools is to allow you to collaborate and share with your teammates.

These tools are excellent for handling projects that require working with their group members.

For this purpose, collaboration tools are used by those who need to work in a team.

Discord and Slack are well-liked options in this area.

Time Tracking Tools

This one is a no-brainer.

These tools allow the user to keep a proper check while they work. Such devices are used mainly by the managing staff to keep track of the rest of the employees, assisting them in tracking the working hours of all employees so that they receive payment accordingly.

The primary purpose of these tools is to prevent any dodging on the employees, which can sometimes be the case in the corporate world.

TimeDoctor is an excellent tool that gets the job done.

Using these tools would improve and upgrade your working experience. Working from home is often associated with low productivity levels, but you won’t complain once you have these excellent tools to assist you.

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.