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Starting a small business out of your home, offering products or services like business consulting, photography, selling on the web or a MLM? You are now faced with tracking all your expenses and revenues for your business and you certainly don’t have the money yet to engage a bookkeeper or accountant. If your business is a sole proprietorship, whether it be a Canadian Proprietorship or a US-based Proprietorship, you do not require an accountant to submit your company financials (books) to the IRS (USA) or Revenue Canada). Your business revenue and losses are reported as part of your annual personal income tax. For this small business start-up, you won’t need to buy fancy accounting software, like Quick Books or AccPac to track your business.

Only as part of incorporating Bizfare Enterprise Inc in 2005 was it a requirement to engage an accountant. My accountant did insist on using Quick Books software for my business accounting. Up until then using a simple spreadsheet template served my business accounting needs for over ten years. This simple spreadsheet accounting stood the test of multiple audits by Revenue Canada (CRA and Revenue Canada Goods and Services Tax. Both the hardcopy columnar pad and an electronic spreadsheet version of my financial books were accepted by Revenue Canada. (BTW the audits disclosed more ways for me to claim back additional taxes for the previous three years! Now that’s my type of audit!)

In your new start-up business venture, you likely will generate somewhere between 10 to 30 accounting transactions per month. These transactions would be items like Expense, Revenue (sales), Liability (Loan) type transactions and Sales Tax (Federal + State/Provincial) Collection/Deductions. These transactions are further broken down into various Business Accounts. All the Accounts you set up for your business is called a Chart of Accounts. Recording your business financial transactions (Journal Entries) can be executed with pen and ink on an accounting columnar pad or electronically with your computer using a spreadsheet program (MS Excel, Open Office, Star Office).

Whether you employ electronic or hardcopy media, you need to develop a simple Journal template to create your Business Synoptic Journal. This Synoptic Journal format has the advantage of allowing you a complete view of all your individual journal entry transactions against all your various Business Accounts. Creating this Synoptic Journal is easier to do than you think and requires no prior accounting or bookkeeping knowledge.

TIP #1: You could further reduce the accounting line items (Journal Entries) by consolidating like items such as ‘all the Sales for the month’ and ‘all parking receipts for the month’ into one totaled line item for the month.

Where do you start to identify the various Business Accounts required for your Synoptic Journal?

If you currently work for a company or government, secure of one of their employee expense forms. Look at each of the areas identified as expenses – meals, mileage, hotel accommodations, taxi, car rental, telephone & cell phone, air fare, office supplies, etc. This is an excellent place to identify the various Business Expense Accounts you need to set up for your business accounting books. To complete your business Chart of Accounts, include a Business Bank Account, Sales, COGS (Cost of Goods Sold), Sales Tax Collection, Marketing Expense and others as required. Each of these Accounts will be a listed as a title across the top of each column of your Synoptic Journal. Each row (line item) will be the individual journal transactions entered by you. The journal transactions are grouped and summarized for each business month; usually, January through December.

So your Synoptic Journal would look something like this Sample Synoptic Journal at http://picasaweb.google.com/carl.chesal/BookkeepingTemplate.

The column headings might be in this order (from left to right):

DATE | DESCRIPTION | BANK DEPOSITS | BANK WITHDRAWALS | SALES REVENUE | COGS | SALES TAX COLLECTED & REMITTED | OFFICE SUPPLIES EXPENSE | EXPENSE #2 | EXPENSE #3 | ETC

TIP #2: Unless your business is Incorporated or an LLC, you don’t need to go through the expense of opening a business account with your bank. Usually Business accounts charge a higher monthly fee, charge for printing checks (cheques) and don’t offer any interest on your monthly account balance. Instead, open a separate personal bank account (maybe savings). This will show the ‘taxman’ that you are keeping the business separate from your personal banking. Remember you are a sole proprietor and all your business income (and losses) are to be applied directly to your personal income tax submission ( a s per IRS and CRA).

To save you time and make is very simple, I have already created a simple spreadsheet Synoptic Journal template that performs all the calculations for each month and rolls up the 12 business months so it can easily be included in your annual personal income tax preparation. This Synoptic Journal template has Debit/Credit checks and balances, tracks sales taxes, mileage and totals each account for your entire fiscal year. If you want this FREE Bookkeeping template, you can get it at Communicate Innovate. With a few key strokes, which will help identify yourself, I will gladly send you this FREE Synoptic Journal Template and also any future Small Business Tips.

TIP #3: One Rule of Accounting is that every time you record a journal entry (line item which applies the transaction against the appropriate business accounts) the Debits and Credits MUST REMAIN EQUAL at ALL Times. This Debit Equals Credit calculator is built into this FREE Bookkeeping Template. When you have completed entering a line item (journal transaction), check to ensure that the amount the the Debit cell equals the amount in the Credit cell. If they are not equal, you have not entered the amounts properly in your journal transaction. Correct the problem before entering your next journal entry.

You are now equipped to capture your business financial books with some simple accounting software. Happy bookkeeping! And Happy Selling!

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As you probably heard, in September 2005 Microsoft strategically renamed its ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains into Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Axapta into Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft CRM into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Solomon into Microsoft Dynamics SL. As so-called Project Green is rolling out – you should expect more logic to be transferred into Microsoft Business Portal, and into Microsoft Outlook (currently Microsoft CRM has outlook client and Microsoft Small Business Accounting allows you to generate invoices in Outlook directly, plus promote contacts from Outlook to SBA).

As we see and expect new high-tech and business systems market trends – remote and offshore support will be taking substantial market share in 2006-2010. Microsoft event plans to have special partnership models for BPO (Business Processes Outsourcing) partners, who will enter your AP/AR documents into the system and prepare reporting for you.

In this small article we’ll consider the alternatives and directions of Microsoft Great Plains offshore remote support:

o Technical Feasibility. As we are watching the parade of remote internet-based technologies: Terminal Services, Citrix, Web Sessions, Skype, PCAnywhere, Vonage/VOIP (with US based phone numbers, physically located offshore), we think that this is just a matter of time (let’s give it five years – up to 2010) when consultant driving to the client physical location/office will go to history

o Time Zones. Well – yes – you are right. Other countries are located in different time zones, especially Great Plains gurus in Philippines (remember Match Data Great Plains Project Accounting?). Philippines and India are almost 12 hours away from USA. However South America is about at the same time belt – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico – these are probably smaller clusters of offshore & BPO companies, but the advantage of time zone is obvious

o Pure Offshore vs. Local Consulting. Again – the choice is yours – in our opinion pure offshore is not the best option – offshore consultants and developers should be also experienced in serving clients face-to-face, this means – they should have local consulting practice in their local countries.

o Dexterity, VBA, Web Services. Here we are coming down to IT people – in our opinion the best offshore project is Microsoft Dexterity (or Great Plain Dexterity) software development

o Lovely Islands. If you are in Bermuda, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Palau, Fiji, Tahiti – you are probably underserved and have to overpay to consultants flying from Miami, Manila, Paris, Chicago, NY, LA. The same should be told about USA/Canada rural communities

o ERP Historical Trend. Well, if you stake on Microsoft Business Solutions – you still might have legacy of products: IBM Lotus Notes Domino, Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Accpac, Siebel, SalesLogix. You might need integration, data conversion, customization and heterogeneous reporting. Again – in our opinion you should consider budget offshore solution for these developers-time consuming projects

o Brazil – rising star of offshore software development. Usually offshore development is attributed to India – in our opinion Brazil has equal or better chances – in Brazil we have Microsoft Navision, CRM and Axapta clientele. From Brazil we can serve you Portuguese (mainland Portugal) and Spanish (Spain-Madrid-Barcelona-Malaga-Bilbao, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, Costa Rica, Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Beliz)

o BPO. Currently we offer these services from India. We have investments in our Indian subsidiary and it is strategic for BPO market

Please feel free to call us: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

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What are the ideals seem to continue to work in Canada?

I often ask new immigrants, when I meet for an interview. I recommend this subject, but the following factors must be considered. This must be before the work is done in Canada in demand.

CV of the rule as follows: Contact: Name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. LetterImage, at least not enough. In addition, it is necessary that all of their age, marital status and place of residence, country of origin, and religion to replace. There are laws that discriminate on these issues in Canada and may not be the basis on which a person may not in employment.

Brightness of the TOP program can significantly help to read the reader continue. For example –

Seeking opportunitiesTerrain analysis and financial planning organization to the customer, or energy, and focuses

With regard to the sales of the checkpoint, and consumer data. Here is a summary of experiences and skills of individuals. For example – the driver is over 10 years experience in manufacturing

Accounting and Finance professional leadership and excellent interpersonal skills might designated 15.5 is ideal for workersIt has been more than five years experience in the use of software and different experiences: a chronological account of the limited worker the employer since the last work. Do you play it, the key – the name of the employer, where job-month, year, title and a short position I was working in. Then you can describe role. Example. –

General Director Jan 200 – August 2006The organization of the production of income – $ 100 million and 2,000 employees RESULTS role Description: I do not understand this complementary role or profession. It is a matter of conquest, which killed more than necessary, and felt a little better. "For example –

He managed to reduce days this month, about 5.3 successfully implemented an accounting system that resulted in annual savings of $ 2,000,000 of the company

SellCertificates, etc.. Enter the newest first, such as: – one-year extension of the certificate, an entity that certifies and location. For example –

AC ICAO – - 2004 B. Com – University of Waterloo – 2000 Computer Skills: This is a list of other software that is capable of ACCPAC, SAP, Lawson, Great Plains, Excel, Access,.

Or Professional / Volunteer: not necessaryRecovery can you do it not hurt so much. You can talk about the participation in the Rotary Club, for example, in addition to its relationship with the CICA, ICAO, etc.

Overall, the program has all or nearly all the items listed above have a greater chance of the owner of an interview that the program does not exist.

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ACCPAC software can be vital for anyone looking for ways to increase the efficiency of their planning and human resources organization. While you might think that your current accounting is accurate and efficient, the truth is that good, high quality, accurate accounting software can lead to serious savings in time and effort. Naturally, this can lead to savings in money as well, particularly if the software catches a problem that you do not, or allows you to catch a problem with its assistance. What follows should help you to understand exactly why this software is right for you.

If you want to be able to have a better handle on a wide variety of the aspects of your business, accounting software can be a great way to do it. Whether you are most concerned with your ability to keep track of your inventory, or you think you could use some extra help with your finances, ACCPAC software can assist you with achieving your goals. Additionally, you should know that this great software can also help you to keep track of and contact with your suppliers. If you have any interest in assistance in these areas, this software can be very helpful.

In addition to these features, ACCPAC has other advantages as well. ACCPAC accounting software is easy to learn, and easy to operate, but still complex enough to have plenty of advanced features. Additionally, it is designed specifically for the needs of a small to medium sized business. Because small businesses often lack the resources to adequately perform all of the tasks that this great software can do, this is a very important feature. On top of these features, ACCPAC is continuously updated, meaning that you will get support for any issues you have, as well as new features.

It is clear that ACCPAC accounting software has features that your small or medium sized business can use to great effect. Additionally, this software can meet the needs of any appropriately sized business, due to its specialized design and easily accessible design. In no time at all, you will find that many of the tasks which may have taken up a great deal of your valuable time are going by with much less effort required. Because of all of these excellent features that are contained in this great software, ACCPAC is an excellent choice for the accounting software needs of any small business.

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Accounting is the measuring, and disclosure or provision of assurance about information that helps managers and other decision makers make resource allocation decisions.

How to become an Accountant.

Accountants in the US are called Certified Public Accountants and in the UK and Canada are called Chartered Accountants.

Chartered Accountants in Canada are expected to know all US CPA knowledge as well as a Canadian Accounting body of knowledge.

In order to become an Accountant an undergraduate degree is required and then a period of articling is required which can take as long as 5 years with gruelling exams and an exhausting series of finals.

In her notes compiled in 1979, Professor Linda Plunkett of the College of Charleston S.C., calls accounting the “oldest profession”; in fact, since prehistoric times families had to account for food and clothing to face the cold seasons. Later, as man began to trade, we established the concept of value and developed a monetary system. Evidence of accounting records can be found in the Babylonian Empire (4500 B.C.), in pharaohs’ Egypt and in the Code of Hammurabi (2250 B.C.). Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping became a necessity for governments to sustain social orders.

Perhaps the most significant benefits to contemporary accounting has been the introduction of computer programs to assist in the accounting function.Computer programs were introduced in business and government organizations in the 1950s, and the most important applications of computers have been in the areas of record keeping, balancing , and transaction recording.

Accounting uses various bases of measurement, mainly the cash basis, the accrual basis (or historical cost) and variations of these; all of these functions are greatly assisted by the use of various accounting software programs.

Accounting is tied to the invention and dissemination of the double entry bookkeeping process.Different Accounting Software Solutions available today:

ACCPAC web-based accounting, launched the ACCPAC Online web site in 1999 which allows end users to run ACCPAC from a simple browser for a small monthly rental fee.

Intuit’s QuickBooks for the Web represents a new product from scratch.

Microsoft Small Business Manager is a new player on the block which is a scaled down version of Great Plains Accounting Software.

Netledger centralized net computing renamed Oracle Small Business Manager

Peachtree. This product was the older Peachtree Office Accounting product and is also a web-based solution.

In 2000, Peachtree added a web-based module to its’ flagship Peachtree Complete Accounting product called Peachtree Web Accounting.

SAP mySAP – web-based accounting featuring a limited number of SAP modules.

So it appears that there are 2 different types of Accounting Software:

Web Based Accounting: which is one application on a Web Server running everybody’s application.

There are of course advantages and disadvantages to this type of application, immediately coming to mind is confidentiality and the security of the Servers being used as well as possible breakdowns.

Advantages are of course in being able to use unlimited Server Resources.

And then there is PC Based accounting which everybody has tried and is Bill Gates favorite.

Advantages;

In-house control of everything but subject to limited resources.

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A business without an accounting system would find it hard to fully flourish. This is due in part to the fact that part of the activity involved in the accounting process is the monitoring and analysis of data. The initial purchase or acquisition of assets, actual production, first company expenses, including all transactions that go in and out of the company, all of these must all go through a series of accounting processes.

With the rise of Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, where you can integrate the different processes and data of a business into a single system, a variety of departments of a business or a company that used to work independently and only correlate data at a given time, could now share data anytime that they need to.

Many companies have used this tool as a means to improve business processes which in turn boosts company performance in terms of revenues and services. One common ERP application is the integration of the payroll and accounting system. Although ERP normally integrates more than two processes of a business, the payroll-accounting system is the most basic example of ERP. Through this integration, the normally long hours spent to consolidate data coming from different departments of an organization is lessened and therefore, productivity is increased.

Sage ACCPAC software comes with an ERP solution that helps your company gain competitive advantage by automating company’s seemingly endless manual processes. It covers both operational and financial aspects of a company. It is able to perform basic accounting functions such as General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Order Entry, Inventory Control, and Purchase Order. Because of its multi-tiered technology, it can easily be customized and scaled to meet the specific needs of your company. This flexibility, along with easy-to-use and understand interface, has long been a trademark of all Sage products.

The Sage not only provides a solution to your accounting activities but also provides full support for your operations and customer relation management.

Indeed, Sage ACCPAC ERP is a must-have to tool for every company. It not only makes each type of business operation easier, it also guarantees an accurate computation and processing of financial data.

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It is natural process of growth and at some point you will need to walk away from old mini ERP to something suitable for mid-size and even large business accounting package. You maybe very concerned about how to really do this, however you are not the first one and you are not the last one facing this dilemma. Let’s review the options and steps

o Old system will be for inquiry only. Yes, you do not want to delete the old ERP, keep it, but all new transactions and master records will come to new ERP – Microsoft Dynamics GP in our described case

o Beginning Balances Approach. Naturally you as IT professional, DBA or business owner seek the cheapest and at the same time reliable way to switch to new MRP application. After extensive homework you will probably come to the following conclusion – I don’t want expensive data conversion: historical transactions, customers and vendors history files, payroll checks and transactions history. I will only do entering beginning balances for the period where I switch from my old ERP to Microsoft Great Plains

o Master records migration. Even if you are entering beginning balances only – you will still want to convert and be able to use your customers, vendors, employees, GL accounts – these are referred as master records in Microsoft Great Plains. In this case you can try two strategies – first is Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration Manager and the second one (if you are short of funds) is SQL scripting. If you bring master records via SQL scripting – you will need to run check links routine in GP

o Historical Data Conversion. We recommend you to resist and try to avoid this option as much and as long as possible. The reasons are simple – you will be in the small rank of customers who decided to do full data migration and you should expect that not every VAR knows and has experience to do this plus even if somebody did this historical full conversion – not necessarily that it went smooth and customer didn’t have problems with the following system use.. If you think that there is no way, but history conversion – try to deploy Integration Manager and post transactions into history instead of direct SQL scripting to bring data over to GP.

o Extracting data from your old ERP. Typically entry level accounting packages have proprietary database platform or utilize inexpensive DB, such as Ctree or Pervasive SQL. Try first data export through reporting – this should be definitely possible if you are sticking to beginning balances entry approach

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Company finances are an important part of any business, big or small. This is why special software is recommended to easily manage the ins and outs of the money used for a business. Using paper methods for keeping track is difficult and risky, so special programs are a better option. Choosing the software is the hard part, and it is important to choose the right one the first time.

3 Features You Should Look For In Accounting Software

• Indirect Costs and Indirect Rates for different sections of the company to be organized by.

• Labor Charging Controls that allow legal and financial data to be organized in a consistent manner.

• The ability to track multiple costs by objective.

These features are necessary and ultimately allow more organization for your company and many other legal benefits if something were to go wrong. Use these tips to choose a software program, and you will be in good hands.

5 Tips You Can Use For Getting the Best Accounting Software Financing

1. While many people avoid buying necessary software because of the high costs, most companies don’t realize you can get special business financing. Applying for small business software financing is a fairly straightforward process. Always apply before you will need the software, so that you are covered immediately.

2. Choose a reputable financing company that can meet your needs within your budget.

3. Make sure you have a good solid reason for needing finance to help your business obtain necessary software.

4. Choose reasonable payment plans. Will you lease temporarily, or “rent to own”?

5. Always be sure to get a pricing guarantee. Some companies may match pricing if a competitor offers a lower rate.

Obtaining financial help for these things is becoming popular as more people want to start businesses but do not have the funds to buy everything out of pocket, or do not wish to get a big business loan. These small scale plans help everyone have a more secure company and more organized layout when it comes to the finances of each business. Whether you need $800 software or $2,000 software program, these plans are designed to help.

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Company finances are an important part of any business, big or small. This is why special software is recommended to easily manage the ins and outs of the money used for a business. Using paper methods for keeping track is difficult and risky, so special programs are a better option. Choosing the software is the hard part, and it is important to choose the right one the first time.

3 Features You Should Look For In Accounting Software

• Indirect Costs and Indirect Rates for different sections of the company to be organized by.

• Labor Charging Controls that allow legal and financial data to be organized in a consistent manner.

• The ability to track multiple costs by objective.

These features are necessary and ultimately allow more organization for your company and many other legal benefits if something were to go wrong. Use these tips to choose a software program, and you will be in good hands.

5 Tips You Can Use For Getting the Best Accounting Software Financing

1. While many people avoid buying necessary software because of the high costs, most companies don’t realize you can get special business financing. Applying for small business software financing is a fairly straightforward process. Always apply before you will need the software, so that you are covered immediately.

2. Choose a reputable financing company that can meet your needs within your budget.

3. Make sure you have a good solid reason for needing finance to help your business obtain necessary software.

4. Choose reasonable payment plans. Will you lease temporarily, or “rent to own”?

5. Always be sure to get a pricing guarantee. Some companies may match pricing if a competitor offers a lower rate.

Obtaining financial help for these things is becoming popular as more people want to start businesses but do not have the funds to buy everything out of pocket, or do not wish to get a big business loan. These small scale plans help everyone have a more secure company and more organized layout when it comes to the finances of each business. Whether you need $800 software or $2,000 software program, these plans are designed to help.

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Simply put, accounting is the lifeline of a business. Accounting deals with summarizing, analyzing and reporting the financial data and information about a business. An accounting software records and processes the accounting transactions of a business within its functional modules. Financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position can be easily prepared with an accounting software.

An accounting software is all about the various functional modules that it has. Some of them are- General ledger which takes care of the company’s financial dealings; Accounts Payable where the company enters its bills and pays the money it owes; Accounts Receivable where money received is entered.

The different categories or types of accounting software are as follows:

a) Small business/personal accounting software which are mainly meant for home users. They are simple and inexpensive with simple functioning such as management of budgets.

b) Low end accounting software are for small business markets that are capable of serving a single national market. Such software are characterized by ’single entry’ products.

c) Mid market accounting software are for companies with large businesses. These software are capable of serving the needs of multiple national accountancy standards and facilitate accounting in multiple currencies.

d) High end accounting software are complex and expensive business accounting software that are also known as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software.

However, you have to keep certain things in mind before buying an accounting software, like the prices of the software, its different features, its after-sales support and alike. Most of the accounting software include all the important accounting modules. The more specialized features a software has, the more expensive it becomes. Your software features must be compatible with your business. Also, the after-sales support is important like FAQ package, local service center and others.

There are a lot of top accounting software available in every category. So, it is not easy to select the best ones. Below are top five accounting software in every category.

A. Small business/personal accounting software:

1.ePeachtree (Best Software)

2.MYOB Plus for Windows (MYOB Software)

3.Peachtree Complete Accounting (Best Software)

4.QuickBooks Online (Intuit)

5.Small Business Manager (Microsoft)

B. Low-End Accounting Software:

1.BusinessVision 32 (Best Software)

2.MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)

3.QuickBooks Pro 2003 (Intuit)

4.ACCPAC Pro Series (ACCPAC International)

5.Vision Point 2000 (Best Software)

C. Middle-Market Accounting Software:

1.ACCPAC Advantage Series Corporate Edition (Best Software)

2.Great Plains (Microsoft) MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)

3.Navision (Microsoft)

4.SouthWare Excellence Series (SouthWare)

5.SYSPRO (SysproUSA)

D. High-end accounting ERP Market:

1.Axapta (Microsoft Software)

2.e-Business Suite (Oracle)

3.MAS 500 (Best Software)

4.Solomon (Microsoft)

5.ACCPAC Advantage Series Enterprise Edition (Best Software)

In compiling the above list, a variety of factors such as feedbacks from customers, scalability of the software, and after-sales support are used. Also, the different attributes for different categories have been considered like for ERP software, attributes such as manufacturing solution, supply chain solution and database solution. The above compilation may not be all inclusive and some people might choose to differ with it but it is almost near to perfect list.

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