Choosing the Right Accountant for Your Small Business

Most smaller sized companies accounting practice are people who have worked for large companies for a while and have now branched on their particular circumstances to manage a lower profile clients they are able to create a close relationship private. This is not to express large companies do not provide an important thing to typically experienced annual packages, although many other small business owners prefer to use a picture of their great city of accountants who care close to men and women and small medium-sized companies.

There are different types of accounting, such as administration, tax, legal recovery firms, accounting firms and more. The first thing you need to do is to clarify the specific purpose you hire a professional accountant in Los Angeles. Newcastle accounting of all specialties, which means that you should have no trouble getting one that suits your particular requirements.

On the way to, keep in mind that you need an individual; it is possible to work with. Character, style, interest equivalent, comfort, and company size are critical. An advanced blue-jean contractor, humans in a button-down collar in the workplace corner stay with you the construction of the downtown can not be your best option for you personally.

Once you tell your prospective accountant is sure to test them on your own key requirements to determine their own level of knowledge in areas you need. In the event that the conversation with larger practices, determine whether or not the person you speak with at first will be the only one coping mechanism of your business. Or, do not make a decision until you have met someone you relate every day.

Does the accountant have expertise closely related to your needs and your small business? How can the service you need money? Basis on which payments will be produced? A straight-forward investigation as they may appear, however, appears to get the details at an early stage can help you better assess the extent of various companies and find the ideal choice for you.

Consider the dimensions of the business and what type of accountant you really need. If it is a small business, you should not require an accountant from Los Angeles who often works in collaboration with leading business organizations that deal with management accounting and evaluation of budgetary expenditures, etc. usually a small organization can generally need a simple accounting support and guidance on their accounting services and tax concerns.

Also be sure to ask about how they are sensitive. If they are just interested in doing business with you once a year to sort your taxes and financial statements, then say goodbye to each of them, if that's not what you want. An excellent accounting firm would like to speak with you often and will also be happy to assist you in your property at some point that is useful to a person, even if it means that once you are done just to work at night.

ABCs of Accounting Outsourcing for Small Business Entities

Small businesses must evaluate the difference which the accounting outsourcing services will bring to the performance of their organization and then tap these services by the right vendor.

Outsourcing can yield productive results for small businesses as well as it does for the businesses of larger size. The recent trend is that, the small sized companies are assigning their non-core operations, especially the tasks of the accounting department to professional outsiders to a greater extent which permits the owners of these businesses to address the aspects of critical importance. Pursuing in the same way as the large businesses, small companies are outsourcing their accounting services. However, the outsourcing process is not a simple responsibility. It involves taking out some time and arranging for the funds in order to find the appropriate service provider. After that, the owners have to establish a working relationship with that vendor, and give time to their employees to adjust to the outsourcing scene.

You as a small business owner need to first weigh up the need for outsourcing accounts. It is very important to assess if the external specialized workforce will be able to execute the work in a better, faster or more economical manner than your employees. You are also recommended to contrive a strategy so as not to be fooled by the mousetrap often laid by the outside experts. In general, the first step in the process of charting out a plan is to clutch on to the areas of core competencies of your business concern. Then, mull over outsourcing the other functions that are not as significant.

Small business owners nowadays use the services of outside vendors for the different areas of accounting such as bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payables, billing, auditing, taxation and any other which is required. These Entrepreneurs earlier used to appoint accountants and bookkeepers for these tasks. But now they realize that they are already short of funds and appointing an accounting would further add up to their expenses without having any effect on the volume of sales. By assigning accounting jobs to external facilitators they can save huge amount of money as these people charge fixed fees for the work they do and sometimes even quote fees on hourly basis if work can be administered in a very short span of time.

The accounting outsourcing services will vary from vendor to vendor. It's worth it if you take time regarding finalizing a right vendor who has recruited highly professional Accountants Croydon for the purpose of carrying out your accounting functions in an absolutely efficient manner and charges you reasonably.

Author of this article is a team leader of accountants Kent in a reputed outsourcing firm that provides professionals who render accounting outsourcing services in all the fields.

A Small Business Can Promote Its Services in a Big Way

If you're a small business owner, you probably struggle to find time and money to market and promote your business. Questions swirl around in your mind: what should you spend on first? Is it important to have a website for your business or to run ads in the local newspaper? One person you talk to says it's a good idea to buy promotional items like pens and give them away. Another person you talk to insists that postcard marketing is the way to go. How can you, as a small business owner with a limited budget, get your products and services out into the public in a big way without breaking the bank?There are several steps you can take to overcome these challenges:
Focus and define not what you do or sell, but how it helps other people. That's called the benefit statement. No matter what kind of promotional activity you're doing for your business, knowing the benefits you want to share with your customers and sharing them consistently can go a long way to helping your marketing efforts be successful.
Who are your best potential customers? As a consultant, I hear over and over from small business owners "Oh, everyone is my customer." Even bottled water has a unique market (not everyone buys or appreciates bottled water, believe it or not.) So who are your customers? Are they local, national? Are your customers men, women, teens, children? What age are they, what do they look like, what problems do they have that only your business can solve? Sit down and write-up a short description of your ideal customers. Like knowing the benefits your company provides, knowing who your ideal customers can help you communicate with them better and, more importantly, weed out any marketing opportunities that do not reach them.
Focus your marketing efforts on the big picture stuff first. If your company needs a website, hire a professional within the budget you can afford to create a great website that accomplishes your business goals. If you own a retail store, concentrate on making the store experience wonderful to build word of mouth referrals.
Create a great website for your business. No matter what your business does, in today's world, people go online to research everything under the sun. If your business doesn't have a website, you run the risk of missing potential customers. But don't settle for any old website or let your best friend slap together something. First impressions are always lasting impressions, and a sloppy site can also turn off prospective customers.
Now when it comes time to choose the marketing activities for your business, compare the audience or people the activity will reach with the profile you created of your ideal customer. Will you reach your ideal customer if you run that newspaper ad? When you know who your ideal customer is, you can spot opportunities to reach them through various marketing activities.
I'm a big fan of marketing plans. If your eyes glaze over and you yawn at the thought of creating a marketing plan, think of it this way. Most people draw up a financial plan for their life; a simple budget, let's say, so that they know what money they have each week to pay the rent, the utility bill, the phone bill, etc. A marketing plan helps you figure out why, when and how to promote your business so that you can put your resources behind efforts that have the best potential. Without a marketing plan, you run the risk of diluting your resources or running marketing campaigns when you 'have the time.' And let's face it - what small business owner can actually say, "I have time today. Let me work on that." Most small business owners don't have time to tie their shoelaces much less focus on creating a marketing plan!These basics can help you organize and think about your marketing plan for your small business in a very general way. For specific advice, it's best to find a great marketing consultant or agency you can trust to guide you through the process.

Basics of Small Business Accounting

Accounting is a key function of any business-big or small. Good accounting practices are necessary to maintain an accurate set of books which in turn are necessary for taking business decisions, raising capital or bank loans and of-course for knowing how much money your business is making. Many small business owners ignore the fact and consider it boring and unimportant as accounting is a monotonous task, and anyone can get bored very easily while maintaining the day-to-day accounting and financial transactions. They would rather focus on things they think are more critical to their business, such as marketing/sales. While marketing/sales may be the most critical activity for any business the finance or accounting department cannot be ignored. For a small business to succeed accounting is as important. Without accounting, your small business might not reach its full potential. Importance of Accounting for a Small Business Decision Making Accounting is a way for you to keep records on your business performance. A business owner should be able to see how the business is performing over the years. Accounting helps in making better business decisions and is useful in the growth of a business.

Obtain Funds/Loans A detailed and correct set of accounts are important when a business is seeking outside financing. A financial institution would be reluctant to assign a loan unless the financial state of affairs of a business is presented in an acceptable manner. Taxes With good records, preparing an accurate tax return will be easier and filing will more likely be done on time. Poor recordkeeping may result in underpayment or overpayment of your taxes. Small business accounting is no rocket science and accounts can me maintained in a simple and proper way. Small business accounting software’s such as QuickBooks and Peachtree are available in the market which could reduce the efforts in maintaining the accounts of a business. Any person with basic knowledge of accounting and work on these software’s. Small Business Accounting Outsourcing In a small business it is often seen that due to high overheads small businesses are not able to or rather cannot afford a qualified and experienced accountant to manage the day to day accounting activities of the business. Hence the owner either ignores the accounting aspect of the business or does it himself. Both the cases can be harmful in the near future. Ignoring the accounting activities can create problems in the future and if the business owner does it himself then his time is divided between daily routine aspect of the business and thereby giving little time to more important aspects of the business, i.e. marketing/sales.

Accounting outsourcing can be the answer to these problems. Many small businesses in developing countries such as USA, Canada are considering accounting outsourcing. Advantages of Accounting Outsourcing - Cost minimizing, usually saving of 50% as compared with an in-house accountant - Up to date books, have access to up to date books at any given period of time - Fast and accurate - Concentrate on other important aspects of the business Outsourcing Accounting sets every small business owner free from all accounting hassles so that they may better concentrate on the growth of their organization. If you own a small business and are worried about proper maintenance of accounting transactions, then you must try out these accounting outsourcing service providers, as it will perfectly manage your financial activities without increasing company expenses and responsibilities. Online bookkeeping and Bookkeeping Outsourcing have vital effect in today's world. Businesses of any sizes can benefit from this combination. Outsourcing bookkeeping through the web based platform is a great offer in today's era.

DigiMark2011 by TEC

If we see the history of internet shortly, we had seen a lot of changes. There was a time when there was little beyond Yahoo, Hotmail and few other websites. We used to chat using MSN, Yahoo and MIRCmessengers. A very few people even knew about search option in Yahoo as search engine. But now, other than millions of websites most popular aspect is ‘Social Media’. Our life is so much use to of brands that it was quiet natural to create multiple temples of branding for ourselves. Now, it is a situation that there could be little life without Facebook, Twitter and Google. Innovations are coming day by day and more social media platforms are emerging with vast pace. Like ‘Pinterest’ has gained lots of importance as in 2011 it broke lots of records in case of reach and growth in social media. How people are shifting towards LinkedIn from Facebook is also considerable. How ‘Kolaveri Di’ became so popular song just shared on social media i.e: Youtube and made records of views due to Facebook and Twitter. It’s also possible that people may forget facebook and twitter take a gigantic chat room until becomes too irritating. And we might see more innovative products of Google or some other brands. People are also moving from java and symbion sets towards android. Use of social media has increased due to increase in the usage of android sets.

TEC (Training, Event and Consultancy) organized Digimark 2011 the first Pakistan Digital Media Summit titled “DIGIMARK2011-Pakistan” at the Royal Palm here on 18th August 2011. Approximate 200 participants from national/multinational brands, SMEs, digital media experts/analysts, print/electronic media professionals and bloggers attended the summit.

Dr Shahid A Zia, CEO, TEC shared at DigiMark2011 that TEC will continue to conduct regular conferences on contemporary issue for a purpose to bridge gaps among the Public/Corporate sectors, Research institutes, Universities and developing a culture of creating and sharing knowledge. Guest speakers included Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant Google Pakistan (Presented: Google Advertising Ecosystem), Monis Rehman, CEO, Naseeb Networks, (Presented Online Advertising Trends & the Local Publisher Perspective), Farhan Mirza, VP marketing Strategic Alliancez, (Presented Social Media & Advertising Models – Taking Brands to the Next Level), Peter Lucas, Director Marketing, Online & Out of Home Solutions, Jang Group, (Presented Efficacy of Online Advertising), Hassan Khan, Online Media Strategist, Media Mind, (Presented Building Brands through Rich Media), Muhammad Muaz Bin Shahbaz, Regional head of Sales and Marketing Rozee.PK, introduced Digital Environment in Pakistan.

The event was designed to guide the corporate sector in building brand image, communication and product promotion, with customers via digital media, taking their business to escalating heights. The corporate professionals and students were given an opportunity to benefit from the valuable experiences of knowledge and expertise by exclusive interaction with e-marketing veterans and entrepreneurs. Event was focused to deliver value to corporate sector with a 360 degree perspective of online media marketing techniques.

Online media is the fastest growing means of advertising; online advertising is targeted and interactive. Online advertising is targeted, measurable, cost effective, and interactive and the numbers don’t lie. It has immense global reach time and frequency capping.” Since March 2011, there had been about 20,432,000 internet users in Pakistan proliferating every single day.

Event was quite interesting full of interactive knowledge and information as primary target audience was corporate sector like MNC’s, Banks, SME’s, digital agencies, social media marketing companies and individuals, including Business heads, Marketing Meads, PR Managers, Brand Managers, Media Managers,  Digital & Social Media Experts and Analysts, from Print and Electronic Media representatives, Bloggers & Business students.  3WOGLE, Strategic Alliancez, PK Economists, Pakistan Today, Jang News Group, Rozee.PK, 7th SENS, AVIVONS, and  City FM 89.


Stay Connected for an upcoming event and second chapter by TEC named DigiMark2012.

Past Event Photographs:

 

TEDx Kids Islamabad

First time in Pakistan TEDx Kids Islamabad has been organized. It's first of its kind of TED events in Pakistan. Eminent speakers will be making the day of students. Kids from different schools will be part of this event.

Pehli Kiran:
Event is held at Pehli Kiran. The Pehli Kiran School System is an initiative of the JAQ Education Trust, consisting of eight non-formal schools in katchi abadis of Islamabad. The schools are unique in that they cater to children from mobile squatter communities, who do not have access to basic educational opportunities.

 

While the school infrastructure is quite simple, consisting of open-air sheds, JAQ trust is striving to create a happy, child-friendly environment for better learning and caters to some of the most intelligent, creative, inspirational and fun young Pakistanis that we have had the pleasure of meeting.

Speakers:
Soofia Asad
Umair Jaffar
Fauzia Aziz Minallah
Nadine Murtaza

Event Details:
Venue   : Pehli Kiran, School Number 8, F-11, Islamabad, Pakistan
Date    : July 7, 2012

Karachi’s Latest HotSpot “Club Genova” Opened, 2012

A launching ceremony of Club Genova was held on June, 2012. Club Genova is a classy new addition to Karachi’s latest hot spots. Club Genova had opened its doors to general public on Saturday June 30th. Club Genova is the only place in Karachi where one can find a place according to his/her interest. It’s a place where one can find three different themes under one roof including a cigar lounge, a café and a restaurant. It is a place where anybody from any field of life can have a good time.  Club Genova with a Great Ambiance, Prime location and elegant atmosphere is definitely the next hot spot in Karachi.

Quality cuisine accompanied with an exclusive cigar lounge at a prime location has got the attention of lots of residents. Club Genova has revolutionized the eating out experience by becoming one of the very few to host so many things in one place. Club Genova offers three different themes under one roof, an Italian theme for the restaurant, a place where you can enjoy delicious Italian and Mexican cuisine or a mouth watering burger, the exclusive cigar lounge is one of the many unique features that the Club Genova has to offer, with Sports Bikes Display and a cigar shop. So, with the three different options available at one stop makes it one of the best choice to go for.

One of the speciality of Club Genova is that it also offers homemade sheesha flavours to visitors in the cigar lounge, providing the best place to enjoy with friends and colleagues after spending a long working day or to dine out. Club Genova with an eye catching bar offers amazing cocktails specials. Such unconventional amenities being offered by Club Genova has made the eating out spots one of the best choice. And for sure having such options at one platform will make me go for it.

The launch event was attended by social and fashion industry personalities including Anoushey Ashraf, Faizan Haq, Faryal Julmani, Zubaida Aapa, Shallam Xavier, Mathira, Nida Bloach, Obaid Sheikh,  Areeba and Abeer.

Event Coverage:

CEO Talk Series on I.T Entrepreneurship

For I.T events in Pakistan one of the important I.T upcoming event is CEO Talk on I.T Entrepreneurship. In an effort to inspire and motivate budding entrepreneurs and college students, Pakistan Information Technology Board (PITB) has organized a series of talks by CEOs of leading companies who have had an indelible impact on the industry. These visionaries share their extraordinary stories of confronting challenges, finding innovative solutions and working exceptionally hard towards successfully setting up companies that today others aspire to emulate. 

Each session is a unique opportunity for you to learn from individuals who are leaders in their field. Speakers in the past have included Zafar Khan (CEO, Sofizar) Monis Rehhman (CEO, Naseeb Networks), Naseer Akhtar (CEO - Infotech) and Murad Akhtaer (CEO, Tintash)

In its next session, PITB has been fortunate to have Babar Ahmed (CEO, Mindstorm Studios) speak about his experience – his profile is attached. The details of the event are as follows:

Date:        Saturday July 7, 2012

Time:       4:00pm

Venue:     Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park, Lahore

Registration for this event is on a first come first serve basis. To register online please visit  http://pitb.gov.pk/registerform Registration closes on July 6, 2012. 

Musical Night

A musical night with Sultan Fateh Ali Khan has been organized to pay tribute to Golden Era of the Pakistani film songs, singers and songwriters. Sultan Fateh Ali Khan with his students, will be presenting an eclectic mix of raags, traditional folk music and light songs. As we all know that "Moseeqi Rooh ki Ghiza hoti ha" so  take the enjoyment of classical songs. Singers will be performing songs of some heavy-weights like Mehdi Hassan, Musarrat Nazir, Saleem Raza, Mala, Naseem Begum, Attaullah essa Khel, Tahira Syed, Noor, and many more with two performances each...





Previous Performance:

Hope to have a ejoyable musical magical night!

Event Details:
Venue  : Kuch Khaas, House 1, Street 1, F-6/3, Islamabad. (Entrance on Margalla Rd)
Date    : Saturday, July 7, 2012
Time    : 6.30pm- 9pm

Tickets :
Non-Memebers Rs. 600
Members           Rs. 500

For Registration Contact 051-8357483...

Marketing Conference 2012

Marketing Conference is one of the Mega event being organized in the month of July by Terrabizz group. Marketing is one of the most important tool for the success of the business. All the big giants, multinationals companies invest a major portion of their revenue on Marketing activities. It depends they are interested in sales, branding, etc… Well Marketing is much more a broader term then just selling. What it includes and how we can benefit from using effecting marketing strategies is one of the crucial task to perform. Marketing Conference is being organized to solve your problem either you are a big giant, a multinational, a national or a local company and see problems in targeting the audience of your right target market. Everyone that belongs to the marketing fraternity of Pakistan will be there.

As someone working with the marketing oriented company, you must be enthusiastic to attend what is going to be the most revolutionary marketing event of the year, Marketing Conference 2012 with the theme “Inspire & Ignite Marketing Excellence”.

Marketing Gurus on the Panel:
Fredrik Härén – Best-selling Author and World’s Renowned Speaker on Creativity & Idea Generation
(His book, “The Idea Book” is included in the “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time”)

Randall Blackford – General Manager Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan, KFC
(He was Gold medalist at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival)

 Salman Wassay – Chief Commercial Officer, Ufone
Aly Mustansir – Head of Marketing and Brand Management, HBL

Badar Khushnood – Country Consultant, Google Pakistan
Javed Iqbal – Director Marketing, Engro Foods Limited

Shaheen Sadiq – Head of Communication, Nestle Pakistan
H. Aftab Ahmad – Chairman, TNS Aftab
Sarwar Khan – Managing Director, Maxus
Sohaib Sheikh – Head of Marketing, Wateen Telecom
Syed Ali Rizvi – Chief Operating Officer, Interflow Communications
Adil Ahmed – Director, Symmetry Group
Salman Rauf – Director, Empact Activation Services
Imtisal Abbasi – Chief Operating Officer, IAL Saatchi & Saatchi

Sidra Iqbal – A Television Personality, PR Practitioner, Brand Activist and Youth Development Advocate is the master of ceremonies.



"Complete Event Brochure available here http://goo.gl/qGDrD"


Why attend this conference:
There would be a big opportunity to network with professionals, industry gurus, Corporte Tiecons, etc… It is helpful for the professionals as well as for the students. Such a huge number of professionals are coming at one platform. You can get help how to cope up with the challenges of The New Media Dynamics, Brand ROI, Youth Marketing, Delivering Brand Promise, etc…

SPONSORS:
Marketing Conference 2012 has been sponsored by Engro Foods, ARY News, Dalda Foods, Google, CityFM89, Symmetry Group, P@SHA, MIT Enterprise Forum, Advertising Association of Pakistan, Synergyzer Magazine, Brands Magazine, CIO Pakistan, Slogan Magazine, and Brandsynario.com

Registration Details:
Per Participant Fee 7,500/ - PKR
15 % Discount for 3 or More Registrations

For Registrations email register@terrabizgroup.com

Special Discounts:
Avail a Special "Google" discount of  20% i.e:Invest only Rs. 6000 instead of regular fee of Rs.7500... And students with valid ID cards can avail discount of 50%. Sign Up Here http://goo.gl/8kPxJ

Event Details:

Venue : Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore

Date    : July 5, 2012

Time   : 10am-5pm