Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2008

What It Takes to Start Your Own Accounting Practice

Hutzpah , also spelled “chutzpah,” is a Yiddish word defined by the wiktionary as “nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence.” While that may sound like a negative term, it is a characteristic that many entrepreneurs share. In fact, many people utter the term with reference and upmost respect. Wow, he sure has hutzpah. Or, I wish I had enough hutzpah to do that. Starting Your Own Business Takes Hutzpah You’ve got to believe that you will achieve success when you first start your own business. Without that “arrogant courage,” you will always be second-guessing your decision. And doubt in an incredible energy drain; it will preoccupy you and, if left unchecked, will turn into self-fulfilling prophesy. So if you don’t have hutzpah , you need to get some. Universal Accounting Center (UAC) Makes It Easy While UAC doesn’t necessarily hand out hutzpah along with professional certification, our graduates leave our programs with the confidenc

5 Tips in “Thriving” an Economic Recession

Many would agree that there’s no question we’re currently experiencing an economic recession. That has many small business owners panicking as they worry about the longevity of their businesses and livelihoods. Entrepreneur.com’s networking guru, Ivan Misner, has written a blog series entitled “I Refuse to Participate in a Recession” where he examines how business owners, in changing their perspectives, can thrive, as opposed to survive, an economic recession. This week we will examine five tips designed to help you change your experience with the current economy. 1. Assess your internal dialogue. How you experience the economy has more to do with what you’re telling yourself about it than it does the statistics, the news forecasts and the bailout proposals. If you have determined that things are bad and they’re only going to get worse, for both the nation and your business, then chances are they will-not because that’s what’s destined to happen, but because th

Take Advantage of the Recession

Why Now’s the Perfect Time to Shift Gears In the face of recession the natural tendency is to lay low, to duck and cover. It’s likely that your competitors are doing that already, which is why this is the best time for you to shift gears and take advantage of the economic downslide. Here are six things you can to move ahead during the recession: 1. Take advantage of down time Remember all those times that you bemoaned your crowded schedule and lack of free time? And remember all those things you had to place on the backburner because you lacked the time to attend to them? Take advantage of downtime by doing those things you may not have had time for before: networking, de-cluttering your office, researching industry trends, reorganizing your files, following-up with prospective clients, etc. 2. Hire good talent Now’s the perfect time to hire good talent for less. The recession has left lots of talented individuals without jobs and without appealing positions to which they c

What Real Leaders Do Best

Some people are under the impression that leaders are bossy, manipulating, and uninterested in the ideas and opinions of their subordinates. While there may be countless supervisors who do indeed fit this description, that does not make them good leaders. As a small business owner who may manage a staff of employees or is looking to hire employees sometime in the future, you should know what makes a leader truly effective. Here are seven characteristics you should consider developing: 1. Visionary Theodore M. Hesburgh, retired president of the University of Notre Dame, once said, “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” Leaders envision what can, but hasn’t yet, been achieved. They have a clear picture of where they want their business to go and how it can get there. Unwilling to settle for the status quo, leaders are striving for improvement, progress, and continued and amplified success. More than

Wise Budgeting Tips

As an accountant you probably think you’ve got your budget under control. You know numbers and watch your spending to ensure that you are managing your money well. But unless you’re applying crucial budgeting strategies, you’re not using this valuable tool to its full advantage. Here are 5 tips that will help: 1. Ensure your budget aligns with your business strategy. This may seem obvious, but in the day-to-day tasks required in business management, strategy may be forgotten. There are fires to put out, emergency expenses to pay, and last-minute purchases to make. So unless you’re vigilantly monitoring your outflow, your strategy may be nickel and dimed into extinction. If you don’t yet have a strategy, now is the time to develop one. Does your business require more aggressive marketing techniques? Are you attempting to grow your firm by hiring a support staff? Or do you want to focus on retaining current clients? Whatever your strategy, you shou

Wise Budgeting Tips

As an accountant you probably think you’ve got your budget under control. You know numbers and watch your spending to ensure that you are managing your money well. But unless you’re applying crucial budgeting strategies, you’re not using this valuable tool to its full advantage. Here are 5 tips that will help: 1. Ensure your budget aligns with your business strategy. This may seem obvious, but in the day-to-day tasks required in business management, strategy may be forgotten. There are fires to put out, emergency expenses to pay, and last-minute purchases to make. So unless you’re vigilantly monitoring your outflow, your strategy may be nickel and dimed into extinction. If you don’t yet have a strategy, now is the time to develop one. Does your business require more aggressive marketing techniques? Are you attempting to grow your firm by hiring a support staff? Or do you want to focus on retaining current clients? Whatever your strategy, you shou

Change the Face of Your Business

Become a Profit and Growth Expert Accountants offer valuable services-services every business needs. In fact, businesses are required by law to keep books. So how could you possibly increase the value of your accounting services when they are already extremely valuable? By becoming a Profit and Growth Expert! What is a Profit and Growth Expert? A Profit and Growth Expert uses information from the accounting system to analyze a business’s fiscal standing, sharing that analysis with those who can use it to make more profitable financial decisions. A Profit and Growth Expert is a proactive accountant who realizes that the information he/she generates provides crucial data that can make or break a business. It’s the accountant’s job to share this data with business owners, explaining it in such a way that they both understand what the information indicates and can use it to make important business decisions. Profit and Growth Accounting When you enroll in the Pro

newsletter-articles at universal accounting

3_features 5 Dos And Donts 5 Mistakes Of Entrepreneurs Cash Flow Cash Flow Cash Flow Nsa A New Year With New Opportunities A Sign Of Good Times A Stable Career With Job Security Accounting Education Accounting_news Accountweb Update Achieve_balance Additional_services All_in_the_details Allen Bostrom Another Season Art Of Persuasion At The Ready Accounting Audit Facts Audit Yourself Accounting Avoid_business_failure Bankruptcy Causes Beat Procrastination Become An Idea Person And Increase Your Value Benefits Of Volunteering Best Of The Best Business Opportunities Bni Bookkeeping The Perfect Profession Bootstrap Hiring Branding_your_business Build Strong Client Relationships Building_clientele Building_clientele_ii Building_clientele_iii Building_clientele_iv Business Entities I Business Entities Ii Business Image Chamber Commerce Busine

Of Course My Business Is In The Black! Isn’t It?

My experience was pretty common. Having spent time at the helm of a small business, I know how touchy this question really is. Like many small business owners, I took my successes and failures very personally. And yes, I thought I had a real handle on what was going on financially within my business. Allen Bostrom, President of Universal Accounting Center, was a friend of mine and we would talk about what I was doing in my business and where I thought my greatest profits and losses came from. As a small business financial expert, he always made himself available to offer insight and suggestions into things I might do to build my business. Later, I’ll tell you how my lack of knowledge painfully taught me something that will make you very valuable to small business owners. My Background Wasn’t In Accounting… and it Hurt My Business Like most small business owners, my background didn’t include any accounting. I could read a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet. I could int

5 Small Business Do’s and Don’ts

A Marketing Tool you can pass on to current and potential customers Note: We’re all about driving business into your doors. The following article is a marketing piece that you could use when you are out “beating the streets” for new clientele. This is also good to have available for networking opportunities that you can attend. It is designed to be able to give something of value to those you are talking business with, to give you a natural in with the potential customer and to make that cold lead warm up to you as quickly as possible. One through four should provide you with some helpful tips, but ultimately we hope it works as an effective marketing tool. Not only will it provide potential clients with practical information, but it’s a good way to introduce the value of your services (see number 5). Copy and paste this piece onto your computer, delete this “note,” and make sure you add your contact information at the bottom. Could possibly put th

Noteworthy Financial Events and a Little “How-to”

Universal Accounting Center has heard your requests for more accounting news and tips. Here are a few timely financial events we thought might interest you . QuickBooks Time Tracker: A Feature That May Save You Time This QuickBooks Add-On is intended to make tracking timesheets much easier. For those accountants who manage payroll for small businesses, this will eliminate the need to retype timesheet information; the employees track their own time and it gets transferred into QuickBooks automatically. Data can be collected over the internet, allowing you to accomplish timely billing with fewer errors. A 60-day trial is included with the 2007 versions of QuickBooks Pro and Premier. For more information visit Intuit’s QuickBooks website . The IRS Announces a Formula for Calculating Telephone Excise Tax Refunds In May of 2006 the Treasure Department announced that beginning April 1 the government would no longer collect federal excise tax on long