Author: Complete Controller

Small and large businesses have struggled very hard to survive the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Be it North America, Europe, or the Far East. The pandemic has hit businesses globally at a massive scale, particularly impacting SMEs significantly. The global pandemic has led many companies into severe debt. 

With the business pace slowing down and revenue taking a step down, hundreds of thousands of businesses filed for bankruptcy or filed for closure themselves in the last 15 months.

According to the Wall Street Journal, over 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses were closed during the COVID-19 lockdown, a number that experts have suggested to be far better than what they initially suspected.

The most complicated businesses to take the hit include entertainment and service-driven companies such as restaurants, theaters, cinemas, and retail shopping. While online shopping platforms like Amazon, e-bay & Flipkart, etc., and online food ordering had already taken a massive toll on the retail and restaurant industry, the pandemic only led to further consumer demand, reduced spending, and social distancing SOPs being mandated for businesses to hit the companies hard. From Deans and Deluca to Hertz Car Rentals and CMX Cinemas, many major companies have filed for bankruptcy recently due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

But those are all gigantic companies with enormous cash to settle down unpaid debts and creditor loans. If you, however, are a small business owner and your revenue generation has taken a plunge, here are your top business insolvency options to get you out of debt.

Settle Out of the Courts

If you have run out of business and can’t figure out a way to pay off the debts of your creditors, it’s about time you reevaluate your decisions. Try working a solution out of the court. Liquefy any company assets like infrastructural components, brand name, & data, etc. Instead of filing for bankruptcy through court, discuss your situation with your creditors and give them at least half the minimum amount you owe them. Settling out of court can benefit both you and the creditor, and they can get some of the money owed to them. Otherwise, your creditors might not get a single penny. To settle out of court, you must have cash or assets that you can quickly liquefy. 

File for Bankruptcy

If your business accounts have completely drained, you can file for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. With Chapter 7 bankruptcy, any assets not exempted by the state laws are sold to pay off the creditors. Whatever debts remain will be wiped out in the end. In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can make repayments in 3 to 5 years. You don’t lose any property; your creditors also get their money back. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is more of an organizational restructuring where you don’t completely shut the business down. But instead, you can borrow new money from a different creditor. 

The bankruptcy option usually works better for a Limited Liability Company (LLC) as the owner cannot pay creditors by selling personal assets. If you have signed personal guarantees to your creditors, even bankruptcy won’t help you keep your other properties or assets. 

Another thing that can go down while filing for bankruptcy is that your creditor can go to court and sue you for leading the business to losses. Then you might also have to pay off the debts. 

Negotiate Deals on Your Business Debts

You can negotiate deals with them if you can’t pay your creditors the total amount. You can be done out of court directly with your creditors. You can discuss paying partially or in long-term installments. While negotiating these deals, prioritize your debts first and settle the ones that can eventually make you personally liable if you can’t pay them in time. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the global repercussions of the COVID–19 pandemic have inflicted significant hardships on businesses, both large and small, with SMEs facing substantial challenges. The economic downturn, combined with diminished consumer demand and social distancing measures, has resulted in the closure of hundreds of thousands of businesses globally, particularly affecting sectors like entertainment and services. 

Major companies have filed for bankruptcy, underscoring the severity of the crisis. Small business owners grappling with declining revenues are advised to consider options such as settling out of court, engaging in negotiations with creditors, or filing for bankruptcy under different chapters. Recognizing the potential legal ramifications and personal liabilities associated with these options is crucial. Navigating these complexities requires careful evaluation and strategic decision-making to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on small enterprises.

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.

Selecting a PAC (Authorized Certification Provider) for your clinical billing is a decision that requires careful consideration. The powers granted by the SAT to issue valid CFDIs make this choice legally binding, emphasizing the need for meticulous selection. This guide delves into crucial evaluation aspects, from understanding your billing volume to assessing records and client reviews. Whether managing a general practice or a specialized field, finding the right clinical billing software provider is pivotal for enhancing revenue and staying compliant with industry standards. Let’s explore the key factors to ensure a seamless and effective billing system for your clinical practice.


Let’s explore the key factors to ensure a seamless and effective billing system for your clinical practice.

Be Sure to Choose a PAC

Ensure your selection of a PAC is meticulous, as only an Authorized Certification Provider possesses the SAT-granted powers to issue valid CFDIs, making it legally binding.

Evaluate Your Billing Volume

Do you issue a dozen invoices a month or thousands? You must know the approximate volume of billing that you give to see the billing system you will need to acquire.

Advice and Support

We know that our clients are not experts in electronic invoicing and that our job is to help them understand the system’s operation in depth.

Price

This point is probably one of the most important because you, like us, have the right to take care of and manage your money in the best way. Find out about the costs and services offered by a PAC; in many cases, there are hidden costs, deadlines to meet, or extra charges that could cause you to spend more than necessary. Ensure that the prices offered to you are per stamped invoice since only when you get the bell from the SAT will your invoice be valid and legal.

Conditions of Use

Not all companies work the same way. Some entrepreneurs perform their billing personally, or international companies have departments that manage their billing. Whatever your needs, ensure the PAC you choose offers tools and solutions that fit them.

Past Record

How long has the clinical charging programming supplier been doing business? Life span is a significant factor. Select an organization that has a decent history in the industry. The more it has been near, the more probable it will have the option to draw in and keep up great ability.

Reviews by Clients 

Anybody can turn a survey to sound cheerful, so search for audits with meaningful data, clarifying that a clinical expert assessed and composed the audit and that it’s not simply promoting.

Experience Related to Speciality 

You will have less explicit worries about charging than numerous claims to fame rehearses if you run a general practice. Talk with the supplier to ensure the application will work with your specific claim to fame or sub-forte. It merits looking into because regardless of whether you run a general practice, you may extend with claims to fame under your corporate umbrella one day.

Size of the Staff

What number of individuals are utilizing at the firm? It’s ideal to go with a scope of laborers with skill and information in various zones of clinical charging. It enables the organization to react better to floods of charging in the middle of quieter durations.

Fees

What sort of yearly charges will be due? Is it true that you are qualified to get a rebate if you get a more considerable volume of business? How long are the current expenses set to be set up? You don’t need a startling spike in charging after the initial year of administration.

Reminders

Does this clinical charging programming supplier incorporate an amicable and helpful technique to remind patients about installments? It ought to be taken care of with the most extreme of graciousness and tact to avoid causing some disruption.

Conclusion

Whether you run a general practice or are accountable for a strength, finding the best clinical charging programming supplier should assist you with improving the income circumstance. Doing so will likewise help you with the remaining current on consenting to government guidelines and industry best practices.

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.

Cash flow is the primary function of any business, and it determines whether your financials are running successfully. Positive cash flow means paying off your debts and liabilities and maintaining more equity than liability.

Businesses have often needed help maintaining their cash flow, even those with a profitable financial period. Even if your business is posting a profit, it may still need to do better in terms of liquidity and may face problems covering overhead expenses and payroll.

A business must have a positive cash flow to manage its day-to-day business and have a credible balance sheet. 

Here are four ways to improve your business cash flow.

Offer Incentives for Early Payments 

Try sending out invoices as soon as you send them out. It helps keep track of everything that’s going out, and the sooner it’s sent out, the sooner means, the sooner you can expect payment. Try to offer discounts to customers who pay on time.

For example, if your terms for payment are net thirty days of invoice submission, try offering incentives where you’ll give them a small discount if they complete the terms within fifteen days instead. This incentive especially helps customers buy bulk orders of your product or services.

The incentive will also help you save on your costs and liabilities, as you can get your cash faster to pay off expenses or invest further. By keeping your business liquid, you’ll be prepared for any sudden changes in the market or economy, and this is something on your balance sheet that shareholders and potential investors will be looking for.

Impose Penalties for Late Payments

Try to set it in your terms and conditions that any payment made after the Net 30 period will be penalized with a late fee. It shows that you’re running a serious business with professionalism and that there can be no compromise regarding payment collection.

It also helps expose you to the market and, through trial and error, can help you learn who to do business with. Any customer who doesn’t honor your net terms and offers late payments is ultimately detrimental to your company’s bottom line, and you would be better off not doing business with those kinds of unprofessional practices.

Keep Track of Your Spending and Remove Unnecessary Expenses

Identify and remove necessary expenses by doing monthly or semiannual expense reports. Try to cut out any unnecessary expenses as much as you can. Research and invest in software that can help your business grow, such as accounting software tools to help you do your bookkeeping more efficiently.

Keep track of your purchases and remove those that don’t show any significant purpose or that be replaced with something more affordable. Try purchasing your supplies in bulk as, just like with your Net Terms with customers; more suppliers will offer discounts if you pay them in time.

If available, take full advantage of these discounts and try paying off your vendors as soon as possible to avoid having cash tangled around in loans and back payments.

Open a High-Interest Savings Account and a Business Credit Card

Try investing in high-interest savings accounts, as it is a safe way to help generate cash and improve your cash flow in the long run. Pay attention to applying for a credit card that has cashback options.

Be sure to use it responsibly, and you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of receiving cashback on purchases paid on time. It is also one of the best ways to help boost your business’s credit score and help get you approved for future loans and other banking benefits.

Conclusion

Cash flow is about managing expenses and keeping your business flush with cash. The more liquid your business is, the better equipped it will be to anticipate unforeseen circumstances.

It is vital for future investments, expense budgets, and the daily welfare of the organization. Regardless of the profitability of your business, it will be less successful than a company that may project fewer profits but with a much stronger cash flow statement in the same period.

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 digitization of the world is revolutionizing traditional customer relationships. In the digital world that results from merging the natural and virtual worlds, the new battle for power between customers and companies is now taking place as a battle for data. Because whoever has the data also has the power.

Customer Experience Management

Companies lure with new customer experiences and want data as wages. Customers wish to get data on offers and prices to get the cheapest products and services. Here, analytics becomes essential because analytics turns data into the necessary knowledge that brings companies to glass customers and customers to the glass market.

Innovations in information technology are driving the digitization of the world. Cloud, Social, Mobile, Big Data, and the Internet of Things revolutionize our world, just as fundamentally as the steam engine at the time, which broke up and rearranged society, the economy, political systems, and even state systems at the center of these upheavals is – then as now – people whose living and working conditions are changing accordingly.

In this article, we want to highlight two aspects: the person who is a consumer in his life and the company through which the person is simultaneously involved in working life and is, therefore, part of a producer or service provider. In the digital world, he is such a digital customer and part of a digital company.

Digital Customers and Digital Companies

You can define a digital customer via his digital networking and communication. He lives in his world of experience and communicates at eye level through dialogue and interaction. He maintains his social relationships. He values authenticity, transparency, and loyalty. He develops momentum and prefers simple content production. He uses diverse digital platforms (not just Facebook) and leaves traces in the digital world: customer data as part of big data.

Therefore, finding, interpreting, and using these traces in big data is one of the main concerns of digital companies because this is the only way to manage the customer’s world of experience. What distinguishes a digital company from a traditional company? A digital company is created by digital transformation within the company. Specifically, this means that information technology no longer only serves as a support process but also serves to innovate the business model and business processes. New digital business models and processes mean new sources of revenue and disruptive competitive advantages. Digital products complement the product portfolio, and information is used as a strategic advantage. In other words, the company is reinventing itself.

According to Forrester, IT departments need consulting skills and comprehensive collaboration. This requires political sensitivity and methodological competence.

Big Data Becomes Smart Data

The second essential characteristic of a digital company is that it masters digital communication. New media and channels are continually integrated into corporate contact with all business partners and at all levels. This is the only way to follow digital customers and track down all traces in the digital world. This is how you can filter big Data: Smart Customer Data is the result.

The first consequence of digitization is that small, medium-sized, and large companies no longer show the known classic differences. In the digital world, everyone is equal because the cost of taking advantage of digitalization is small.

Thanks to the cloud, computing power is equally accessible to all companies. Now, the little ones can use the same methods as the big ones. Thanks to the cloud, you can find the complex infrastructure significant data analytics needs at user-related prices. This means that all significant data sources are accessible to everyone. Everyone can individually relate all Big Data sources to their customers and put them in context: Big Data becomes Smart Data.

Data is the New World Currency

In the old world, there were currencies in which customers paid country-specific for products and services. During digitization, there is a new currency: data! If you (the customer) give me your data, I will provide (Facebook, Google, and others) a “free” service. Digitalization makes the breakthrough. Data becomes the world currency by merging the virtual with the real world.

For example, data in the virtual world are enriched by corresponding sensor data using a spatial coordinate. The localization and navigation data of smartphones and other devices make localizing the customer and offering location-based services possible. As a result, the most significant data collectors, such as Apple, Facebook, and Google, are among the highest-rated companies in the world. This is no wonder because those who use data using analytics have the power to intervene in the customer’s world of experience. Smart data (customer-related and appropriately filtered data from big data) turns customers into long-awaited glass customers.

Conversely, the power of data is available to customers. Because in the digital world, prices, product features, and services are transparent. As a result, the digital market is evident and more transparent than the traditional market. Customers use this to hunt for the best offers. A flight from Berlin to Rome can be cheaper than a taxi from Spandau to Kreuzberg. Therefore, a power struggle will occur in 2015 and the following years. Customers want to pay increasingly for data, and companies are getting hungry for data to convince customers of better customer experiences to reveal increased data.

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.

With the rapid increase of technology and the advancement of the internet, information has flown more freely today than ever before. With the click of a mouse or swipe on the phone, we can access countless archives of data and content online. No information is out of hand as news articles and comprehensive knowledge are freely available. The same goes for companies trying to improve online traffic and increase views. 

Companies must flesh out a brand and identity and invest in content marketing to create a free consumer platform. However, it must have crossed every entrepreneur’s mind at some point; “Am I giving away too much free content?” It’s essential to find the balance between providing free and paid content, and here we list some of the reasons whether there can ever be too much free content provided

Create Your Brand and Identity

Keep your audience and casual viewers informed of who you are and what your brand stands for. Studies have shown that 81% of online shoppers conduct research before making a purchase, and your site should provide enough content to keep them informed of your product or services. Consumers should walk away from your product well-informed and better understand who you are and what you do.

Maintain a Solid Online Presence

Your online presence and ease of site access are imperative for generating traffic and bringing in your target audience. Regularly update your information to keep it up to date while answering queries. It’s not enough to answer questions and provide examples they can draw from to make the solutions more relatable. Avoid holding information back, and keep it as open and honest as possible. Customers will appreciate your honesty and expertise, help build goodwill with your base, and attract casual fans.

Free Content Helps Generate Traffic

Companies like Google and Facebook have built a successful model to provide free services to their consumer bases. But please don’t forget that they are Facebook and Google for a reason, and while it is crucial to reach their lofty heights, try to understand the model they’ve implemented rather than copy it. There is plenty of money to be made through ad revenue, though it’s understandable that you don’t want to give your trade secrets away for free. 

There is nothing wrong with establishing your expertise. It lets your audience focus on why things are done rather than the how. More traffic on your site equals more ad revenue generated. Keep your content informative and enough to leave consumers satisfied.

Build a Connection with Your Audience

Make sure your content is engaging and has a personal feel to it. The days of professional language are long over, and more companies strive to be more relatable to their consumer base as social media spreads. There is no need to cross boundaries but to showcase a human voice behind all the explanations and marketing materials. Give a background description of yourself and your organization. 

Be sure to make sure your reputation is clean and address critiques and complaints. Studies have shown that 84.3% will check out the official website of a product or service before making a purchase, and it’s essential to leave an impacting message that inspires trust and repeated business to create a loyal consumer base.

It isn’t so much about how much content you produce but rather the quality of content provided. There are upsides and downsides to both paid and unpaid content scenarios, and it’s essential that the free content you provide ticks all the boxes of being productive to your business. Experiment and see what works and gauge the cost-benefit ratio to determine whether your content produces your desired results. It’s your responsibility to your consumers that they always remain informed of your brand and services.

Conclusion

In the digital age, the abundance of free content is both a boon and a challenge for businesses. While creating a brand identity and maintaining a solid online presence is vital, finding the delicate balance between free and paid content is crucial. The strategic use of free content helps generate traffic, build connections with the audience, and establish expertise.

However, the key lies in delivering quality content that resonates with consumers and adds value to the business. Experimentation, adaptation, and a keen understanding of the cost-benefit ratio ensure the content strategy aligns with the goals, leaving the audience well-informed and fostering trust for sustained 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.

We must emphasize that the work in construction is hazardous. According to official data, in 2014, a total of 4,679 construction workers died due to the four “big” fatal causes in this industry: falls, electrocution blows, or getting caught between machinery, vehicles, or heavy objects.

Given the severe risks involved in this work, it is essential for those who carry it out to be prepared and know all the rights and protections the law offers them in this country. We will review the central requests in this post.

What Does the Law Say?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a section of the Department of Labor responsible for reducing hazards to workers on the job site at the federal level.

To comply with that premise, OSHA imposes both rights for those working in this industry and obligations for their employers.

Rights of Construction Workers

Be able to read and review the copies of all the appropriate standards, rules, and regulations and know all the requirements that your employer must comply with within the workplace.

Access relevant data on the risks to which one is exposed as a worker, including medical information. Review the records of damages, injuries, and illnesses that occurred because of work in the past. Also, receive a copy of the exams performed to determine the presence of hazards in the worksite.

Request the visit of an OSHA official if there are suspicions that the workplace presents additional hazards or violates the standards established by law. In these cases, appointing an authorized employee to accompany the inspector during the site inspection is also possible.

Employees who file a complaint with OSHA have a right to confidentiality, meaning the company will not give their names to the employer. Likewise, workers have the right not to suffer discriminatory actions or retaliation due to any complaint before OSHA.

Obligations of the Construction Employer

Offer a work site free of known dangers. Train safety workers and inform them of OSHA safety and health standards applicable to their type of work. The standards must be written and communicated in the best language the employees understand. Ensure that employees use safe tools and equipment. Show in a place visible to all the official OSHA posters describing all the rights and responsibilities established by law.

Establish a detailed and written risk communication system, including rules for labeling containers and material safety data sheets.

Inform employees about the existence, location, availability, and exposure of their medical files to hazardous substances during their recruitment. Then, at minimum, they must report it once a year and deliver it to the worker each time they request this information.

Injury Aftermath

Depending on the type of accident and the circumstances in which the accident occurred, there are several legal ways to receive compensation after an injury suffered at the job site. Workers’ Compensation, Demand for Personal Injury, and Demand for Defective Products are the most important.

Labor Indemnification

As we explained in a previous post, workers’ compensation is insurance paid by the employer covering financial benefits or medical treatment for employees injured or become ill because of their work without pointing to guilt for the damages. When an employee is injured while working, they can request the benefits his employer owes him by law. If the employer refuses to compensate workers after an injury, the case can escalate and become a personal injury claim.

Claim for Personal Injury

Workers’ Compensation rules only apply for cases in which the relationship between the parties involved is between employer and employee. But in a construction site, there are always many parties involved: a general contractor, a property owner, several subcontractors, the architect, the engineers, and suppliers of machinery and materials, among others, and all of them must ensure the safety of construction workers. If the injured worker believes that one or more of the parties involved were guilty or liable for the harm suffered, he can take the case to court by filing a Personal Injury claim with the help of a lawyer.

A successful personal injury claim must demonstrate the following

• That the accused had a duty to ensure the safety of the worker.
• That the defendant failed to do so.
• That the accused’s action or lack of action was the cause of the injury suffered by the worker.

Suppose it is shown that the accused party engaged in negligence that resulted in an injury, the company violated the rules established by OSHA or the worker was not trained in safety matters. In that case, the accused party must answer for the damages.

The compensation for these damages usually considers the following

• Medical expenses, including treatments, therapies, and exceptional care.
• Salaries were lost due to the injury.
• Pain and suffering.
• Loss of ability to lead an everyday life.

Demand for Defective Products

Poor equipment, tools, or construction materials may have caused a worker’s injury. When this happens, the product’s designer, manufacturer, or marketer who caused the injuries can be identified as responsible.

A successful claim for defective products usually proves that

• The product was dangerous at the time of delivery by the defendant.
• The product was being used correctly when the injury occurred.
• The product was the cause of the damage suffered by the worker.

Construction Accident Protocol 

First, try to get medical attention immediately. The damage’s severity is not always evident, and the complications of not receiving treatment in time could be severe and even fatal. Once you are safe, ask your doctor for a medical report describing the injuries you suffered at the site.

Then, inform your employer or the shift manager about what happened. Be sure to print the name of the person to whom you report what happened. Also, note any other person who was there and witnessed the incident. Collect all evidence and take pictures of your injuries.

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.

What is Auditing, and How is it Done?

An audit is an investigation and inquiry of bookkeeping and accounts by an auditor compared to the physical verification of the stock or inventory. An audit can be done internally or by external auditors to check a company’s accounting facts and figures.

Internal audits happen by workers of an organization or the head of a specific department in a company. In contrast, an external audit is done by an external auditing company or a team of external auditors.

All government and private organizations audit and check their accounts reports—cash flows to have a transparent image and maintain a good reputation in the business community. Every business gets its auditing done once a year. An independent company or organization performs this auditing process annually, an external audit of a registered business. This self-governed company prepares a detailed report containing all the transactions and business deals that the company has done in a year. The shareholders, government assistance, and the public can utilize this audit report.

For the audit process to be clean and accurate, the company or the external auditing agency must be fair and unbiased. There is no such benefit as going through the drill of getting your accounts verified and making long and detailed reports of all your business communications.

Businesses can use accounting software in small or medium-sized, which helps keep the companies alert and always ready.

How Investors’ Confidence is Earned by Being an Audit-Ready Business

There are many advantages of being an audit-ready business; the major one is making you and your business reliable. The investors and stockholders trust you enough to invest in your business, often more than once.

No fear of accountability

An audit-ready business has its accounting reports and records clear and transparent and has no fear of responsibility. It increases the company’s credibility and makes it successful by attracting more depositors.

Increased investors’ trust

Receiving regular and up-to-date audit reports helps increase investors’ trust in a business. Suppose a company has a clean slate and its account information is precise and updated regularly. In that case, shareholders can easily infer the business’s accounting information and won’t hesitate to invest money.

Foreign investments are quickly earned

The audit-ready business will always attract clients and depositors from within their region. Foreign investors will feel comfortable investing in such companies because of their reputation and reliability.

Good business rating

Potential investors will always look at a business’s rating when they want to make a significant investment. If a company has a clear previous record and gets auditing done occasionally, it will increase its rating and become a formidable competitor in the stock market.

Banks show more reliability

An audit-ready business gains the trust of the shareholders, and foreign investment companies and other lenders and banks offer more faith in such companies.

Less prone to fraud and embezzlements

An audit-ready business is less prone to fraud monkey business. Regular audits help reduce the chances of fraud and deceit.

An accurate financial picture

Investors want to see a clear financial picture of any business they will invest a lot in, and only an audit-ready company or firm can have one with a trustworthy and reliable image in the stock market. It allows investors to invest any money without worry or pressure. An accurate financial picture can only be accomplished when accounts are maintained, and the financial statements match the cash flow.

Conclusion

So, regular audits make a business more reliable, and the shareholders do not need to get suspicious and check the business records and audit reports occasionally. Investors feel no need to check daily bookkeeping. Through these audits, a consistent check and balance can be ensured and maintained.  

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 a person applies for a new job through a recruitment consultancy, they will usually be invited for a primary meeting or interview to discuss the opportunity. A person may view such interviews as an inconvenience and a practical footstep towards attaining their next role. However, according to the experts, a person should not view this meeting as complacency. Such recruitment agencies are hired to put ahead of their best and most eligible applicants for the job. Suppose someone is unable to impress at the early interview. In that case, this will affect a person’s chances of securing a job, mainly where the agent represents many organizations in their industry of choice.

Below are a few fantastic tips to help a personal interview with a recruitment consultancy agent. This guide will also include what to assume from an interview, how to prepare for it, and how to make the most of that opportunity. 

Timekeeping is Important

If a person has lined up an appointment with a recruitment agent, it is better to turn in ten to fifteen minutes early. Moreover, always call and inform us if you are running late. If it’s too early, feel free to find a nearby coffee shop to take some time to compose and relax before showing up for the meeting. People typically think that arriving for an interview thirty to sixty minutes early will show that they are eager; however, sometimes, it can come across as anxious and shows poor judgment. 

Appropriate Attire 

Another critical tip is to treat the meeting with a recruitment agency like an interview with an employer. Dressing up for the job will give a great first impression; therefore, dressing appropriately for the role is desired. According to experts, dressing up is always better than dressing down when interviewing.

Treat Everyone Respectfully

It is no secret that once a person enters the recruiter’s office for their interview, the recruiter will judge them in every way. Consultancy agents will repeatedly enquire how an applicant has presented themselves to the administrators. They will also be judged on their abilities to interact with other applicants in the waiting area and before a group interview. 

This close judgment is because the recruitment agent will want to know how a person carries themselves in public and how durable their people skills are. So always act well-mannered and charming, and feel free to smile.

Familiarizing Yourself with the Resume

A person’s meeting with a recruitment consultancy agency is their chance to sell themselves and their experience. If candidates know their resume from the inside out, they will easily highlight their fundamental abilities and prior relevant experiences. It is better to be open and honest regarding any holes in the resume and reasons for leaving previous jobs.

Prepare Appropriately for an Interview-style Questioning

These recruitment consultants will use these interview-like meetings to evaluate how a person will perform in a formal interview. 

So, be equipped to answer some competency-style questions, for example, Telling the agency about a time when they had to deal with a complex problem or a time they dealt with a problematic client. Be confident and engaging in your answers. Also, never forget to take that occasion and ask the recruitment agent any questions a person may have. Asking questions is a fantastic way to initiate a two-way conversation between the interviewer and an interviewee, leaving a good impression. 

Be Aware of the Roles You Applied for Previously

Knowing the organizations a person may have applied for before this interview is sensible. This can be puzzling when someone has used it for several unusual positions. However, making the consulting agent fully aware of the jobs a person has already applied for will give them a better understanding of the roles that person might be more into. In addition, this information will help a recruitment agency avoid duplicating applications to the organizations that a person has already applied for.

Take Onboard Advice and Feedback

A significant thing to remember is to be open-minded regarding the feedback these agencies will give based on a person’s resume, overall presence, and interview technique. Remember, their recruitment consultants are here to help a person secure the best possible positions, so it is best to respect their feedback and try to improve accordingly. A good recruitment agency will have much knowledge and experience regarding the employed market, business developments, and clients. All the information they give will be helpful to consider in the future job search.

Stay Connected

After the meeting, be active and stay connected with the recruitment agent. It is essential to maintain a good relationship with the consultant. Feel free to take proper follow-ups through email or call weekly to check if anything new came up.

Conclusion

Keeping these tips in mind for the next person has a meeting lined up with a recruitment consultant will undoubtedly aid them throughout the process.

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.

Working from home has become the new norm since the pandemic hit the globe. As more waves and mutations of the virus are coming out, it seems the lockdown will stay in effect. Between balancing the complications of a job and running a household simultaneously, giving the full attention it deserves can be hectic. Countless distractions can take away your focus, and the need to keep a clean house has never been more critical.

Working from home takes a special kind of dedication, and balancing the home life with your work responsibilities cannot be easy. As the lockdown stretches longer, keeping a routine of how your day should go, like how an entrepreneur would run their business, is essential. Below, we’ll list a few reasons you can counter these issues and strike the perfect balance of working at home and maintaining your household by running it like a business.

Keep Your Attire Professional

It is super tempting to freshen up in the morning and start working while in your pajamas. We recommend against doing that, as it causes sluggishness, and it’s hard to focus on performing in such comfy clothing. We recommend keeping your original work routine so you can have a semblance of how life used to be. Shower up, have a standard breakfast, and wear the clothes you typically wear to work before the lockdown. Appearances are everything; even if you must work from home, it doesn’t mean you have to act like it.

Keep All Electronic Devices Powered Off

No, that doesn’t include your phone. We suggest having your television, consoles, and other entertainment and gaming devices powered off. It is easy to wander off while working and start playing games or watching a movie. Try to maintain a strict boundary between the two and avoid anything that can distract your focus from work. Be sure to keep off apps like Netflix and other streaming services and avoid YouTube at all costs, even listening to music.

Switching away from work is very tempting, and you should treat your workspace like your office. Keep your assignments as your focal point, and even if no supervisors are monitoring your work, it doesn’t mean you should slack off, even if it is on your time. In this case, we can safely say that the ends do not justify the means.

Keep a System of Chores Balanced

Professionals with children struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance, as the children are forced indoors due to the pandemic. Keep a rigid system where they’re required to finish their homework and assignments on time. Design a schedule where everyone pitches in with chores. With more people around the house during the day, they must understand that their home is like their classroom or office space.

Litter and messy rooms are unacceptable, and they should be responsible for cleaning and maintaining them. By keeping your workplace and home clean, you can focus exclusively on your work while ensuring you’re up to date with your responsibilities.

Keep Your Financials Balanced

With everyone working from home, losing track of your finances is easy as you spend more time online than ever before. With the rise of positive cases worldwide and the economy’s uncertainty, you must keep your spending to a minimum. Online spending has increased in multiple ways during the pandemic. It shows that 62% of shoppers shop more online than before the pandemic.

Think of your finances as your office budget. While spending some time is okay, think of your money as an investment. Keep track of spending and act as a bookkeeper for all the money in and out of the household.

Conclusion

As long you keep the structure of your office environment in your household, you should be sure to see improvement in your productivity both professionally and personally. All businesses want to be successful and see a profit like you want your household to succeed.

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.

Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly AI’s so-called machine learning (ML) industry, had already caused widespread chaos in almost all industries before the 2020 global pandemic hit, and the world was upset on its head.

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced many industries. However, the effect of AI on our lives has not been diminished. Self-learning algorithms, intelligent machinery, and others we will face in the future will play a significant role in the continuing battle against this epidemic.

AI is undeniably a crucial trend in choosing the innovations that will transform our way of living, working, and doing things in the immediate future. It outlines what we should expect in a reconstruction and replenishment of goals and targets for our business.

Smarter Big Data Analytics and Insights

During this pandemic, we saw in person that statistics on the distribution of viruses worldwide must be analyzed and interpreted promptly. Governments, public health institutions, university research centers, and industries create innovative collecting, aggregating, and working with knowledge. With daily reports of the current infections or death rates in our regions, we have become used to seeing the results on television.

The most extensive explanation for this pandemic is technological progress. It did not, for example, destroy as many as the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which took up to 50,000,000 lives, from advancements in medical science and health care standards to advances in information technology that allow for faster discovery of diseases and lockdowns. 

The following year, AI is on the list of technological advances enabling us to deal with pandemics more effectively.

There is tremendous growth in science and medical literature, with over 28,000 publications on COVID-19 released by April. A dedicated NLP algorithm search engine is available now so that everyone can get help from AI in researching this vast dataset.

We continue to create AI technologies to help address the enormous backlog of other medical problems, such as cancer, where care has been affected by the deployment of money in the battle against COVID-19. In addition to dealing with viruses, we can see the rapid implementation of AI in several other healthcare fields during the coming year.

Automated Detection and Prevention

We have at least seen the use of drones in many countries, including the US, to assess compliance with social distancing guidelines. More sophisticated applications are on the horizon. For example, drones can track COVID-19 symptoms, like high temperature in people in a crowd. These programs use machine vision technologies to interpret the data collected by drone cameras and communicate statistics and the probabilities of transmitting the virus to local authorities or managers.

Face detection, also driven by computer vision algorithms, would be another associated growth field. Either the police use facet detection to spot lockouts and quarantine evaders rather than trends in crowds of people and monitor human gestures that show signs inside a group. It was more contentious.

Business on the Rebound – Predicting Behavioral Transformation

The spread of COVID-19 greatly affected how we live, work, and socialize. While there has been a slow, powerful digital movement in many facets of society, we have witnessed a stampede this year. Amazon’s revenues increased 40 percent over the same timeframe last year during the second quarter of 2020, with even those who long shunned internet shopping being compelled to re-evaluate their choices.

AI instruments and platforms also help companies understand how their consumers respond to a new reality. Organizations that historically lagged behind digital platforms for trade and the development of relationships have understood the gravity of the situation and can quickly deal with topics like conduct analytics and personalization. Tools to provide self-service organizations with access to this technology are increasingly prominent in the coming years, with SMEs trying to build their competitive advantage.

End the Next Pandemic Before it Starts

Most AI algorithms are prediction-oriented, and the AI-assisted epidemiology holy grail would build a device that will forecast precisely when and where potential outbreaks occur. This investigation has generated some of the earliest warnings about the current epidemic and AI for some time. Blue Dot’s Toronto-based tool scanned 100,000 data points from the government and media daily when it warned about a possible outbreak on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan, China.

In the next 18 months, we should expect AI research to produce more advances that enhance our ability to spot and respond to the risk of viral outbreaks. However, continued global collaboration between governments and the private sector would still be needed for this to happen. World politics, lawmakers, and technological growth trajectory will likely change how this happens. Over the next year, there will also be hot subjects, such as access to medical data sets and international knowledge-sharing barriers.

Bottom Line

In the future, artificial intelligence significantly influences every phase of life. Some top AI trends discussed have emerging power.

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.