In Pursuit of Profit
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Your accountant just gave notice, what do you do now? Hopefully, your accountant gave you more than the obligatory two weeks, but regardless of what the timeframe looks like, the steps are the same:
Time is of the essence in this situation, especially if it coincides with a closing period or tax season, so you should get started immediately! When looking to hire management-level financial roles, it is crucial to understand the current recruiting trends that will affect your ability to hire the right candidates. So, what are we seeing so far this year? Today’s employment market is like nothing we have seen before. Accounting and finance professionals continue to be in high demand despite unemployment figures being up in other professions, but recruiting has changed significantly over the last year. Effective recruiting right now hinges on utilizing digital tools, reimagining job requirements, prioritizing career growth, providing the right employment incentives, fostering a positive workplace culture, and utilizing a professional recruiting firm 3/3/2021 What is Contingent Recruitment?According to recent data, 76% of companies report that attracting well-qualified candidates is their biggest hiring challenge, making recruitment a serious concern for most businesses. Hiring a recruiting firm is the best way to find top-notch candidates for your open positions. While some recruiting agencies use a retainer model, others use a contingency agreement. How do you decide which approach is best for your needs? With contingent recruitment, the recruiting agency only gets paid when they find and place a qualified candidate into the role they are hiring for on behalf of their client. Contingency recruiting fees are typically structured as a percentage of the candidate’s first-year base salary and can vary widely from one recruiting company to another based on geography, industry, and position level. Why Use Contingency Recruiting? Unlike retained search, where recruiting fees are typically paid in installments at the beginning and throughout the process, contingent recruiting is based on the idea of only paying once results have been achieved. Many companies prefer to work with a recruiting agency that uses a contingency model because it is often much less expensive, and the fees are easier to understand. It is reassuring to hiring companies, especially smaller businesses, to know that they will not be paying a recruiting fee until after a qualified candidate has been hired. It is undeniable that top business performance requires the right financial tools and resources. Having the right pieces in place provides better data and drives results. And while there are literally millions of online tools and apps and software programs for ecommerce companies to use, using the right financial tools can be the real differentiator between successful businesses and their competitors. So, what kinds of ecommerce financial tools are essential? Do you know how much time your company is spending on bookkeeping activities like accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP), bank reconciliations, financial reporting, and reimbursements? Or are you of the opinion that it doesn’t matter as long as it is getting done? In many small companies these responsibilities fall to the business owners, adding another hat to the stack that they are already wearing. In these instances, it can be difficult to determine how much time is truly being spent on bookkeeping because it is being squeezed in throughout the day and week where there is room. However, until you know how much time you and your employees are spending on bookkeeping and accounting functions, you will not be able to do an effective cost-benefit analysis to determine if it makes more sense to outsource these activities. Additionally, knowing where you are spending your time means you will better be able to define the role you are looking to hire or outsource to get the right fit for your company, which works to improve employee retention – not just among financial staff, but among all employees. This kind of information can help determine whether you need a bookkeeper or an accountant and whether the role should be part-time or full-time. The solution is to use time tracking software to keep a log of which activities are being done when and how much time it takes to do them. Cloud accounting is accounting software that allows you to keep the books online for your business. Financial data is encrypted and then hosted on a remote server instead of in-house for greater accessibility. With cloud accounting software (sometimes referred to as “online accounting software” or “web-based accounting software”) data is saved to the cloud and accessed by users on demand. In a nutshell, Users subscribe to an online accounting software solution and move their books to the cloud. From then on, they can access their accounts from any web browser, or from an app on their phone. Most users connect the software to their business bank account, so that banking transactions flow automatically from the bank to the books. This saves them from a lot of data entry. Some accounting software companies, like QuickBooks, have both desktop and online versions, while other companies offer only cloud-based options. The QuickBooks cloud-based software, QuickBooks Online, remains one of the most widely used accounting platforms year after year. However, companies like Xero, Zoho, Wave, FreshBooks, GoDaddy, 17hats have been growing in popularity recently.
While widespread accessibility is the primary reason companies choose to use cloud accounting software, there are many benefits to consider when determining whether cloud accounting is right for you. How is your bookkeeper doing right now? Is your bookkeeper focused and able to do high-quality work, or stuck in the weeds and struggling to keep up with business demands? Bookkeeper burnout is extremely common because bookkeepers are often asked to do more than their job description would indicate that they should be handling. This is especially true at small businesses, where everything including the kitchen sink is often thrown at bookkeepers because there are just not enough employees to do everything. Professional burnout leads to carelessness and poor-quality work, which is especially dangerous when the work is managing the company’s finances. Burnout among bookkeepers can lead to errors, sloppy work, and missed deadlines that can jeopardize ongoing cash flow and future profitability. The best way to avoid overwhelming your bookkeeper is to have a strictly defined role and stick to it, hiring additional personnel to handle other tasks where needed. So, what should be included in your bookkeeper’s duties and what should not? Recent data shows that on average employees change jobs every 15 months. Contributing to this turnover is a lack of employee satisfaction in the workplace. Globally, 85% of employees are unhappy at work, resulting in diminished productivity and increased employee churn. Furthermore, survey data shows that 40% of dissatisfied employees change jobs as a result of their dissatisfaction. Top employers understand that replacing employees is expensive and can thwart efforts to innovate and grow revenue. In fact, it can cost up to a third of an employee’s salary to find a replacement. And while employee turnover can cost a company greatly, employee retention can increase profits as well as provide a host of other benefits. Reducing costs and boosting revenue makes employee retention a win-win. Improve employee retention rates this year by investing in your employees in six critical ways: 12/21/2020 Will Technology Replace Your Accountant?As business technology continues to get more sophisticated, business owners may wonder if an accounting software can simplify their staffing needs while still providing high-quality bookkeeping and financial reporting. Accounting software companies would have you believe that managing your books is as simple as generating customer invoices, adding receipts for your expenses, and linking your bank accounts. And while software can certainly streamline these day-to-day operational activities, the question still remains, are these types of platforms a true substitute for your in-house or outsourced accountant role? So, can you replace your accountant with some shiny sleek software? Do Amazon sellers need QuickBooks? Yes! QuickBooks gives you a look at your company’s overall financial health regardless of where you sell, making it a crucial tool for running a business of any size. Fortunately for Amazon sellers, QuickBooks has an easy integration with Amazon to import order information. What can QuickBooks Online do for Amazon sellers exactly? |
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4/19/2021