March 2007 Virtual Staffing Newsletter - Issue #10 corner

Keep Your Business Up to Date !

This month's newsletter is filled with various tips to help your business run smoothly. Find information on how to handle accounting issues that can bog down your time, what to do to keep up to date with taxes, and how to make a statement with your business logo. Make sure you check out our Small Business Tip of the Month - be aware of the new DST, Daylight Saving Time, schedule and how it can affect your business.

Business Accounting - As a small to medium size business owner, business accounting can be an enigma. Is is better to do it yourself or pay someone else? At what point does it make sense to have someone else take care of payroll?

With the many quality accounting programs available today, you CAN do it yourself ! VSI is happy to help work with you to set up your business with an accounting program such as QuickBooks. We can schedule training sessions to teach you to use your new program and show you how to optimize your accounting to your unique business needs. We can also help you to "catch up" if you are behind on entering data and balancing accounts.

Accounting is not limited to checking and credit card accounts. We can show you how to use reporting to help you get a better view of your business and how to adjust to the changing needs of your customers.

With the addition of payroll features within many accounting programs, you can organize your payroll and withholding taxes. This can save you time by filling in forms required by federal and state agencies. Also, most employees will be happy with the option of direct deposit.

VSI will, of course, be happy to take on any and all of these tasks for you. While you are capable of doing this yourself, consider if you are worth more to your company elsewhere. As the most prominent person in your company, you will find that customers would rather work with you than anyone else, and you can sell your business better than anyone. Fostering those relationships may be a better use of your time than sitting at a desk, and in turn make your company more money.

When thinking of the financial impact of hiring someone to do your accounting, keep in mind that because we are familiar with accounting and the programs to do it, we will work quickly and efficiently. Because we charge on an hourly rate, you may find the cost to be substantially less than you would think. Also, think about additional costs that have been incurred by your company from finance charges and penalties, that would be saved when someone else is making sure accounts are taken care of in a timely manner.

Be Prepared for Tax Time - Many of us are finding ourselves in a rush to get paperwork together and prepare our taxes both for our business and personal finances. With the proper planning, this time of year doesn't have to be scary. While it is best to consult a tax accountant for specifics to your company, as we at VSI are not CPAs, here are some tips to keep you from feeling frazzled this month.

* Talk to your accountant - Being prepared can save you time and money. Make sure you know what paperwork your accountant wants from you. It is better to take the time to organize everything now, than to have to find papers that are missing after your first appointment with your accountant. Also, by presenting your information in an organized manner, you can help your accountant work more efficiently and therefore save yourself money. Even if you are not planning on using an accountant to do your taxes, VSI highly recommends that you have a CPA audit your company finances annually.

Check to make sure you know when taxes are due. Although most of us are familiar with April 15th as tax day, the truth is that there are many factors that dictate your due date, including how you've incorporated your business. Also, there are many other dates throughout the year in regard to taxes, some involving filing forms and others with paying taxes due.

* Make sure your records are up to date - Before you can start your taxes you need to make sure that you have balanced all your financial accounts. If you have a discrepancy with your financial institutions, it is an easier fix now than if you wait and have to make changes to your tax forms later.

Also, have a list of unreimbursed expenses that you have personally paid on behalf of your business. Include items such as phone calls, postage, and business mileage. Talk to your tax advisor to ensure that these items will be deductible for you.

Review your accounts and decide if there are any receivables that you don't think you will be able to collect. It may be a wise decision to write off those accounts and decrease your taxable income.

* Relax - This may not seem possible, but you will work more efficiently if you are not panicking about getting taxes done. If you are behind on getting everything together for tax time, just work steady. Try setting a timer for 15-30 minutes and get as much done as you can in that time. You will be surprised at how much you are able to accomplish. When the timer goes off, take a 10-15 minute break and then start over again. Before long you will have everything done.

Consult your accountant about what to do if you can't be done by the tax due dates. You may be able to file an extension to help give you more time to organize.

* Plan for next year - Now that you have everything done, you can take a deep breath and enjoy a job well done. Then start a plan for next year. By organizing your finances now, you will find next year's taxes so much easier.

This is a good time to review your process for taking care of your business' accounting. Be realistic about your time and skills. Would your time be better spent meeting with clients and leaving your accounting to someone else?

Business Logos - Logos are a vital part of any business. They set the tone for a business and when designed right will be effective for years to come. I often use the analogy that you would not walk into a business meeting in a t-shirt and cut offs. A clean, professionally-designed logo is an indicator that a business is a well run organization. In today's competitive marketplace we need all the help we can get.

A logo needs to hold up whether it is used large or reduced down to a very small size. You need both a strong full color and black and white version. Be careful of logos where the name of your company is embedded in small type within a busy graphic. Have your designer show you the logo at a small size to make sure your name is still very legible.

Ask the designer for the logo in following formats: tiff, jpeg and if possible Illustrator .eps. If the graphics person doesn't understand this request, find someone who does. A pro will know and understand the request. There will come a time when having these various formats on hand will save you money.

Once the logo is completed, make SURE you have the designer create 2 CDs for your archives. Designers can move, go out of business, lose files or lose hard drives. Have the designer put all the logo files onto a CD and then ask for a duplicate CD. Always keep one of the CDs as a master filed safely away where it won't get lost. Use the other CD to loan to your printing company etc. when needed. Printing companies can lose CDs. If this happens, have the master CD duplicated and return it to your archive.

- Article by Kathy Walker
Counterpoint Design
303.932.2400
http://www.counterpointdesign.com

Help Wanted ! We are looking for experienced technicians in both the Phoenix and Denver markets. If you know of anyone that is experienced and is looking for a great challenge, please ask them to send their resume and cover letter to jobs@azvsi.com Thank you for your help in finding the right people for our company!

Referrals - Thank you for letting us serve your business. Our success has been based on your satisfaction with our company and your willingness to continue to provide referrals. For this reason we ask, "How likely are you to refer our company to a friend or colleague?" If you don't feel you could recommend us, please let us know how we could better meet your needs. We greatly appreciate you and are hopeful that you will continue to refer new business to us!

Small business tip of the month - The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has changed the start of Daylight Saving Time this year. Remember to set your clocks forward one hour this Sunday (the second Sunday in March) instead of on the first Sunday in April as in the past.

Even if you are not in a location that adheres to DST, you may find that you need to be more aware of the difference in the schedule this year. While many software programs have made updates to account for the new schedule, you may find problems arise if you have not updated your information systems locally.

Please contact VSI or your local IT Support with any questions or concerns about how DST will impact your internal system.

For more information and interesting facts about Daylight Saving Time visit http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html.