New Year Goal Setting Made Easy

‘The early days of January is a time of excitement for all organizations – especially Small & Medium Enterprises, as they picture what could be in store for them in the new year. Astute SME owners take the opportunity to define and refine their New Year’s resolutions and business goals.

With this in mind, Coventry, UK-based accounting and book-keeping service provider, CORIENT, shares a few tips to help SMEs devise New Year’s resolutions that will direct them towards business success.

DOWNLOAD HERE sample new year planner template

• Create a ‘2014 report card’ and it must include all the hits and misses.

Take stock of all the ups and downs of the previous year. Good or bad, all experiences count, because EXPERIENCE MAKES YOU AN EXPERT; it makes you wise. You have to commit yourself to writing it down (please download the template provided in this blog),because it will force you to clarify what the year was and what you want in 2015.

Before we move to the next tip ask yourself one question - Are you from that breed that makes resolutions year after year and keeps it for only a few weeks or maybe even just a few days.If your answer is ‘yes’, then no problem! We have a solution for you too in the next tip.

• Choose resolutions that you really want to achieve.

To start with make sure you set a realistic goal for yourself and your organization. Being in accounting and book-keeping services, we encounter all types of challenges very closely. If you break down every problem into small sets of challenges and approach it one by one, you will definitely achieve your goal / target sooner than later. It will really surprise you. TRY IT OUT.

• Resolute for a year but commit for each day.

Make it a habit that at the start of each day or may be each week you WRITE DOWN goals to be achieved in the coming week(template is ready for your reference in an excel sheet).Keep it with you 24 x 7. Do you forget to take your phone daily? No, right! So make this a habit too. Right down because it will motivate you to take action.Refer to it for an hour or two at least in a day, similar to the way you would scan your phone every few minutes!

• The most important write it down

Here was a fascinating study conducted on the 1979 Harvard MBA program where graduate students were asked “have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”  The result, only 3% had written goals and plans, 13% had goals but they weren’t in writing and 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same group was interviewed again and the result was absolutely mind-blowing. The 13% of the class who had goals, but did not write them down was earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined!

Don’t leave your choice of resolution to the last minute – take time to think about your goals. If you don’t, you risk reacting to your current environment and missing the big picture.

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk

Inexpensive Advertising: Cheap Ways to Promote Small Business

Give away branded merchandise. Merchandising manufacturers cater for all budgets. Stick to useful items that people will actually use, such as t-shirts, keyrings, mugs and pens, and give these things to customers, suppliers and anyone else at every opportunity.

Make more use of business cards. Business cards are very useful for reinforcing word-of-mouth recommendations. Carry plenty with you and give two to contacts - one for themselves, one to pass on.

Use your pen

Many successful business people advocate sending hand written notes. Bill Cullen, Felix Denis and others regularly send short letters and messages offering thanks, making suggestions, offering referrals to their clients, prospects and business partners.

Get Social

Facebook, Twitter and others are very useful services if used properly. Remember to not continuously bombard your friends or likes with sales messages or you will find yourself alone

Get a website

Yes, this is our pet one and we have left it to the end. If you don’t have a website, why not? If you have a website – work it. Get the information your customers and prospects want online. Use it to support your business

Use third party review website:

The best way to props fast is to get as many people as you can to review your business. If you own a spa get as many people as possible to review in on yelp or if you know a hostel get on hostelworld or hostelbookers.  

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visitwww.corientbs.co.uk

For accountants and SMEs – How to beat deadline pressure?

If you are a business owner in the UK, the end of January always runs the risk of being a stressful time. 31st January is the self-assessment deadline for tax returns for the previous financial year. This period is specially a bumper ride for accountants. As Deadline is nearing and you are yet to accomplish your accounting and tax preparation. Or possibly not even close to finishing all your important documentation! Don’t let the pressure of a deadline kick your ass! Not after reading the tips shared herewith.

Mastering the art of meeting and managing deadlines in a professional environment is integral to success. The capacity to manage deadlines is also one of the more prominent ways that you can demonstrate stability and dependability to your employer. A must watch for all accountants and SME

Whether you decide to prepare and submit your tax returns yourself or hire an accountant to do this on your behalf these tips will help you to cope with a tight deadline.

Click here to download the sample planning template

- Assess the pending tasks

Ensure you have the entire job list with status either on your desk or at least on your desktop. Clean your desk put aside everything unwanted so that it helps you focus on what you are supposed to be doing to complete the pending tasks and whom to assign what to get better results on time.

- Underestimating your staff strength? Asses now!

Make sure, you assign the job to employees with the right skill set, it will ensure job efficiency and the job will progress toward its finality without any roadblocks.  We have to make sure we eliminate all the stumbling blocks at the initial stage. If we asses our strengths and also weaknesses at the start, it will help us to be ready with the back-up plan too.

- Ensure that you have the complete client data

It’s very important to assess which clients have sent all the data and which clients have not. Because once the work process starts, the incomplete data or documentation will only add up to your workload. It will unnecessary harm the productivity, and also add up to your frustration in the middle of the job.

- Your constant presence matters!

Just as an airplane has to increase its speed to create enough lift, you need to generate enough momentum to affect your motivation and productivity. An example is when people feel like they are really on a roll. So make sure you meet up with your team on daily basis. Listen to their issues and encourage them to come up with great ideas.

- Complete the work but don’t forget to follow up

Now that you have a complete picture in front of you and you have begun with the jobs, you also need to keep in mind to reach out to clients, who have sent partial or no data. Regular follow up through emails or call will make your job easier.

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visitwww.corientbs.co.uk

Business Planning for Christmas Holidays-

Beginning with the end in mind will help you make the requisite initial decisions i.e., Research, Deliverables, Deadlines and Manpower so you can get on the holiday confidently. The vision plan will help you benchmark your targets and will show your employees that you have well thought through your idea.

· Identify the holiday’s followed by employee leaves

Now while you are planning your vision for meeting your target before the holiday barge in, do not forget to have a list of all the holiday dates of the respective employees (whoever may be on the leave) beforehand. Do not give work-related surprise or shock any opportunity to hit hard on your head during holidays. So it’s better to have a list of people that will be on the leave.

· Prioritize your deliverables - Pre, during and Post-Christmas

Once you have the list of holidays and the employees to be on leave in front of you, the next important task for you would be to set your priorities straight and you must segregate it into three segments i.e., Pre-Christmas, during Christmas and Post-Christmas. Assess, Identify and Define detailed requirements and the important deliverables in each segment. During this phase main business functions to be performed by you is to single out those that need to be addressed as a matter of priority, and the Client's information requirements is described.

· Assign skill sets to the available manpower

Action makes louder noise than just the words! Always remember that once you have committed to taking control of your work during holidays and determined your objective in launching, the next step is to plot a course of action. This is where determining and adhering to priorities is so important. Great you have both the list ready ‘Employee on leave’ and ‘Work Priority’; But now you have to ensure the right skill set that will be assigned the job at hand. Because for you time is money, isn't it? So you should identify the job for each employee vis-a-vis their skill set well in advance. It will deliver 100% results without wasting your valuable time.   

· Let them change their hats; Expect only what you expect them to deliver!

Economists always favored the six thinking hats! But did you ever consider considering the six hats to make your job simpler? There might be days where your employees are not well versed with every bit of your business. It’s okay! Every person needs to gain a particular knowledge or skill, which he / she is not well versed with. And so give him / her sufficient time to understand the role and responsibilities and give them enough space to get familiar with the employee whose hat he / she might adore during holidays. Once the task / job is assigned during holidays, communicate with employees, encourage them to be 100% ready, be clear with the employees about your expectations.

· Didn't get reply from the other end? Don’t let the same happen to your friends & clients

It is definitely a good idea to set up an out-of-office Outlook auto reply to let your clients and partners know when you are coming back or how they can reach you during your holiday. However, an automatic vacation response is not a solely business feature. You can set it up for your personal Gmail or Outlook.com accounts as well, so that your friends and relatives do not lose sleep wondering where you have gone. Your colleagues and clients will be grateful if you make it clear and complete.

click here to download a sample template for planning  

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk for further information.

THE NEW WORLD OF CLOUD BASED ACCOUNTING

UK accountants are turning to cloud technology in their droves. According to a recent Censuswide poll, the biggest motivating factors include the opportunity to cut internal overheads such as travel and data input costs, improve service and increase client satisfaction.

Rather than waiting for year end, cloud software empowers even the smallest microbusiness to exercise greater financial control and stay up-to-date with their accounts.

Firms need to download their data to a file and then send that to the accountant. This is not a responsive way to work. But with the cloud, the accountant can look at the financial information at any time of day and always get the very latest picture. Hence , adopting a single ledger model, accountants and their clients no longer have to transfer client data into desktop software systems, but will benefit from shared access to up-to-date finance data in the cloud.

Gartner says cloud computing will become the bulk of new IT Spend by 2016 and IDC predicts that over the 2013–2017 forecast period, public IT cloud services will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5%, five times that of the IT industry as a whole. 

Clearly, the cloud is destined to have a profound impact on all business functions and although cloud adoption in the finance function initially lagged behind other functions, such as humans resources, sales and marketing, it is now clearly catching up.  

Cloud Computing is a trend that is clearly seen in accounting professionals amongst others. The cost-efficiency and the avoidance of at-home servicing of IT facilities is the driving factor. Cloud computing has many benefits for accounting firms, such as the ability to link offices around the world, making it easier to access and transfer information securely among them and their clients. Instead of rolling out updates on hundreds of desktops, they can be uploaded just once onto the system hosted in a cloud and be available to users across all member firms.

About the Author

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk for further information.

Outsourcing: A revolution is underway for SME sector

In today’s competitive environment, outsourcing accounting has become an important decision making element in a business. All the business houses cannot ignore the accounting of financial data of their company. A company failed to maintain proper financial records can lose their business as these records are the fundamental source of business information. SMEs are increasingly looking at outsourcing their accounting services to reduce costs and to be competitive in the market in the near future.

As in all sectors, so is in accounting and financial sector technology is changing at a fast pace. When you run a business, you want to focus on your core activities. We doubt you want to spend hours grappling with receipt processing, bank reconciliation or a hundred other bookkeeping tasks.

The pace of change of technology causes problems for organisations of any size, but for the small to medium enterprise (SME) sector, it can cause critical issues. A new investment in an up-to-date technology platform can rapidly become a constraint on the business as newer technologies come through, but the business just cannot afford to continue investing in keeping everything up to date.

Consequently, many SMEs are outsourcing some or all of their accounting and book keeping services.  The realbusiness.co.uk website has an article that discusses how SMEs could use the services of an accountant, especially if the enterprise only has one employee. It would be difficult to rely solely on just one person for everything, so bookkeeping duties can be assigned to accounting services instead. There are various advantages according to the article:

The key benefits of outsourcing:

• Lower operations cost by up to 50%  & improve process, productivity and profits

• Move fixed costs to variable costs. Pay for the outsourced function only for what you need

• Gain a competitive advantage by expanding your range of services

• Reduce overheads of recruiting and training specialist staff

• Avoid the liability of IT systems and software maintenance

• Open access to best practices such as technology and infrastructure

• Safety & security- A robust IT infrastructure and strict adherence to legislation

Someone preoccupied with the day-to-day running of a business might find that they make errors or miss deadlines where accounts are concerned, but outsourcing to an expert ensures that accounts are delivered in a timely manner, with no mistakes or errors.

About the Author

Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk for further information.