Archive for September, 2008
Friday, September 19th, 2008
Why are some companies in the most competitive industries so incredibly innovative and how do they consistently bring new creative concepts in commercial applications? Not long, ago Wal-Mart began teaming up with some of the largest retailers so they could sell gift cars at their check-out stands. These would be bought by Wal-Mart Shoppers as gifts.
The gift card strategy is one that works extremely well in that companies realize that 20% of the gift card value is never actually used. This means the retailer can make a deal with the company to sell the cards and retain a percentage of this known quantity. Sounds good doesn’t it?
Indeed, this makes for a nice concept, I do recall recently being in Wal-Mart and seeing the rack for “pre-paid” cards and it said coming soon; ‘Southwest Airlines $150 Prepaid Cards.”
It got me thinking that the future of airline travel for the consumer will need to re-adjust with reality of the flying public and the challenges of fuel commodities. Now then, if 20% never gets used and the airline splits that with Wal-Mart, they have advanced sales. Wal-Mart pays the airline 60-days after the cards are sold and keeps the cash flow. The airline can then either discount the gift cards to Wal-Mart or split the profits of what is not sold.
Meanwhile, the airline still has some monies left over from what will never be used, everyone wins and the more they sell the lower the airline ticket prices can be to offset higher fuel costs. There is only one problem I see with this scheme from what I can see and that is that the FTC has recently been petitioned by the Consumers Union to make a stipulation in the laws on gift card sales to prevent companies from going bankrupt and consumers holding worthless gift cards. And let’s face it, in the airlines we will see more bankruptcies this year, even if the price of fu Read the rest of this entry »
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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
If you run your own business, no matter what size, bookkeeping is a legal requirement by H M Revenue and Customs.
Basic records you must keep
Your basic records will normally include:
- a record of all your sales, with copies of any invoices you’ve issued
- a record of all your business purchases and expenses
- invoices for all your business purchases and expenses
- details of any amounts you personally pay into or take from the business
- copies of business bank statements
You or your accountant will use these records to create a profit and loss account – which shows the sales income you’ve received and the expenses you’ve paid, and what profit/ loss you’ve actually made. Your tax liability will be based on this.
Other records you must keep
All businesses are different and there are many specific types of detailed records that may need to be kept. Some examples of records you should keep include:
- cash book
- petty cash book
- order notes and invoices
- copy sales invoices
- details of any other business income received
- details of any private money brought into the business
- till rolls or other form of electronic record of sales
- details of any other income
- any cash taken out of the till to pay small business expenses
- bills and invoices for purchases and expenses
- a record of stock on hand at the end of the year
- all bank and building society statements, pass books, cheque stubs and paying-in slips which include details of business transactions
If you do not keep accurate and complete records you may end up paying more tax than is due because of lack of evidence of tax deductible Read the rest of this entry »
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Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
If you are a big business firm and needs accounting help, opt for outsourcing services. Accounting is one of the indispensable functions of any business organization and is required on the daily basis. You cannot just keep account files and ledgers piling up in one corner of the office for long time. You might be wondering why so much stress on mere accounting work? It’s not an ordinary work rather the most essential one. Accounting is the most important activity in an organization since this is the one that decides the future profits and losses of the business. Whatever be the size of company accounting is an essential part of all the business functions and you must be careful about the way it is carried out in your company. The efficient accounting status ensures the bright future prospects for your business and can turn your small business into a large size organization in short time.
Accounting help differs from business to business. If you are running a small firm, you can get the accounting software installed and small staff would suffice the requirement. But, if you are an industry running over a large scale, it would be real difficult and expensive for you to hire large manpower just for the purpose of accounting howsoever essential this function is.
So, it becomes must for you to have a comprehensive understanding of how an accounting system works in an organization. You cannot just hand over such a confidential task in the hands of any newbie chartered accountant who has just qualified his examination. You need an expert set of professional to carry out the accounting work. But, due to expensive labor charges in USA most of the companies have been facing difficulties and backlog of pending accounts, book keeping, and journal entries since long time. And, this is where accounting help from accounting outsourcing companies comes i Read the rest of this entry »
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