When Is It Time to Hire an In-House Accountant..

When Is It Time to Hire an In-House Accountant?

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As you’re growing your business, there are two main hurdles to jump when it comes to accountants. The first is when it’s time to outsource your accounting. The second is when it’s time to bring a full-time accountant in-house. While these two situations sound very similar (and they sort of are), they’re actually very different. So, it’s important to be aware of when each should occur. Implementing the wrong scenario at the wrong time, can lead to unpaid tax men, vendors, and employees knocking at your door. Today, we’re going to cover the latter hurdle: How to determine when it is time to bring on a full-time accountant as an employee.

Outsourced accounting may be all your business needs for years. In fact, it might be the only accounting you’ll ever need if your company stays relatively small and uncomplicated. However, there are some very obvious indicators that show when it’s time to upgrade:

  • Is your company growing quickly?
  • Are you arranging complex financial deals with banks, alternative lenders, etc. to bring in more cash flow?
  • Do you overload your current accountant and often find yourself thinking that you could use someone that is more dedicated to your specific needs?

Based on the fact that you read the title of this post, and you’re now two paragraphs in, it’s probably safe to assume you answered “yes” to at least one of these questions.

First let’s decide what you actually need to bring in-house

When it comes to accounting services for small businesses, it’s important to differentiate between the need for a bookkeeper and an accountant. Maybe you don’t need a full-fledged accountant on staff. Maybe what you’re looking for is an accounting clerk or bookkeeper. These positions require a little less general knowledge than a high-pedigree accountant.

So, what’s the difference?

To start, most accountants have logged roughly 120 hours of college credits. Most of them have gone on to earn a certification from their state such as their CPA (Certified Public Accountant). These are the individuals who can do the highly technical and complex accounting and finance work such as analysis and SEC reporting. Bookkeepers, on the other hand, are more focused on “running” your books. They manage the day-to-day transnational accounting for your company. They aren’t the ones to provide services such as growth strategy, financial strategies, lending solutions, financial policy advice, and so on.

Now, let’s talk about some milestones. Most small businesses can start out with a basic bookkeeper; someone that will ensure everything is running smooth as far as payroll, AP, AR, etc. But, once you hit some key milestones, it would be wise to climb the accounting food chain and bring a specialist on board.

Is your company structure getting complicated?

When your business was just starting out, you were a one-person wonder! And I can almost bet that to make things simple, and because you really didn’t know how else to do it, you formed your company as an LLC. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that now you have investors that want to give you funding, employees you may want to issue shares or options to, or maybe it’s time for a jumbo loan from the local bank. The point is, when things start getting complicated, it becomes too much for you to stay on top of. The path gets a little muddy if you’re not careful. Enter a good in-house accountant who can be your guide as you navigate the financial maze that lies ahead, particularly making sense of your tax obligations and strategies.

*TIP* Keep this in mind when you’re hiring a full-time accountant: Their value is in helping you with the financial strategy of your business. You’re not looking for someone to simply come in and update the books or remind you to ask your clients about their overdue payments. If that’s what you need, hire a bookkeeper.

Are you making a lot of money?

While it seems like common sense when you think about it, but one major factor that seems to be forgotten in the decision making process for hiring an accountant, is how much money your business is actually making. The idea is this: The more money you earn, the more money you need to keep track of. Is your money coming from multiple countries? Is it coming from multiple business entities? Bottom line: if there’s a lot of it coming in, and it’s coming from many different places, that means it’s time to hire someone to help you keep track of it.

I already know you’re thinking, “how much is considered a lot.” The answer is: It depends. Some companies won’t feel the pain of keeping everything in line until they’re pulling in well over $1 million. Just keep this in mind: A good accountant will run at least $75,000 USD per year on average. So, if you don’t want half your income going to an accountant, that means you’re probably not quite there yet.

And speaking of a typical accountant’s salary, that brings us to our final point.

How much are you spending on outsourced accounting now?

If you’re spending $70,000 USD or more with your external accounting firm, that’s probably a good sign your business is big enough and complex enough to hire someone in-house. Spending just a little more will enable you to get the more personalized service and dedication that comes with an employee as opposed to an external service provider. Keep in mind though,the benefits of in-house accounting will be a little jump for you price-wise. You should plan on an extra 20% to cover the cost of benefits in addition to the salary you’ll pay.

Again, switching from an outsourced accounting firm to an in-house accountant really is a case-by-case decision. If you strongly believe your current relationship is perfect, and you’re happy with the way things are going, by all means, stay where you are. But if things are getting expensive, and you’re not feeling the benefits match what you’re paying, it may be time to make the jump.

Some last thoughts

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. The decision is really up to you. You’re the one that knows your business best. Simply follow the guidelines above, and you’ll know when it’s the right time!

How to Incorporate Social Giveback Into Your Small ....

How to Incorporate Social Giveback Into Your Small Business Strategy

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We’ve told you why incorporating social giveback programs is important to your business strategy; now we’re going to give you tips on how to do it!

Do your research

Just as you wouldn’t enter into a business deal without researching a new potential partner, read up on charities before deciding which one (or ones) to support.

Charity Navigator is a great place to start because it aggregates data about most charities in the United States. By law, each registered non-profit must make its Form 990 public. To clarify, this means you can find out what percentage of funds it receives are going to its stated purpose (versus non-charitable activities like advertising), how much each board member receives in compensation each year, and how much funding the charity is receiving from other big donors. This can give you an idea as to how much good your donations may do.

Additionally, search for negative news stories, legal claims or bad coverage the charity has received. It may be an indication you don’t want your brand associated with it.

Look for a natural tie-in to your product or company

Look for an opportunity tied to your products or services. For example, headphone and speaker company LSTN Sound Co. gives a portion of its profits from every product sold to provide hearing aids for people in need.

A strong “why” behind the social giving connection will help customers remember you — humans have evolved over millennia to value storytelling. If there isn’t an obvious connection between your business and a local cause, the next best thing is a cause the founder is personally connected to. Perhaps you have a family member who has dealt with a particular illness or disability. Align with that cause and tell your customers why it’s personal to you.

Have an outside partner verify your giving

It can seem as if the government loves setting regulations for small businesses. Charitable giving by small businesses is no exception. For example, there are myriad rules governing giving, from how you can advertise it ($1 from every bottle sold benefits Charity XYZ) to how you may be able to claim it (or not) on your year-end returns.

In order to protect yourselves, it’s wise to have a third-party monitor and verify your giving practices. In addition, you should get written confirmation from the charity to which you’re donating. Talk to your accountant or lawyer about the best tracking mechanism for your business. Although the extra step may sound like a headache now, it will provide the peace of mind needed to free you up to focus on the important things.

Maintaining a Long Term Strategy That's Right for....

Maintaining a Long Term Strategy That’s Right for Your Small Business

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Below are a few considerations for maintaining a long term strategy in your small business.

 

When in doubt, remember your value proposition

From a broad perspective, business strategy is: “A long-term plan for growth and profitability,” according to the Harvard Business Review. It can be easy to get distracted from the plan and not keep your metaphorical eyes on the prize. Many growing companies find themselves with competing priorities and initiatives. For example, diversification of a product line may be a profitable goal. Diversifying your offerings, however, can make you distracted from core company competencies and stretch resources too thinly. This can result in your team finding it difficult to reach their original goals. Your long-term strategy should mesh with the vision or mission that made you want to start your business and the overarching value you provide customers.

Build on core competencies

Recognize and understand your company’s core competencies — knowing these can help you deliver new products your customers want.

For example, your core competency is making pizza and “going vegan” becomes a rising trend in town. Perhaps you can start offering vegan options to serve customers effectively. If serving health-conscious customers is a core competency, then adding gluten-free options may be a way to provide more options for customers. Ignoring your core competencies to branch out into a new offering may be successful. It can also be a harder road for your company to travel and harder for customers to accept.

Be nimble and fluid

Smaller firms have the ability to pivot quicker than large firms. Markets change, new competitors arise, technology impacts how you run your business, and your customers’ tastes change over time.

Analyzing sales data, utilizing industry research and soliciting customer feedback regularly can help inform what initiatives are driving your business today. As external changes begin to effect your business, if your strategy is based on the value you’re bringing customers, making changes to your business can be less of a disruption and more of a rapid adaptation.

Get Smart About Customer Service

Getting Smart About Your Customer Service

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Here are three things to consider for improving your small businesses customer service.

Upgrade your FAQ page

Adding a Frequently Asked Questions page may seem like a time-saver but it can increase customers’ frustration if answers they’re looking for are not included and readily available. Ask yourself how easy it is for customers to get the information they need. Are the FAQs actually questions customers frequently ask?

If not, direct customers to send an email instead. Spelling out their specific question can make it easier for you and your employees to drill down and find solutions. After you’ve amassed questions that are actually frequently asked, consider integrating them into your website on a FAQ page and making them part of customer service training. Additionally, you can opt for live chat support so customers can get the answers even faster.

Turn problems into opportunities

Keeping existing customers happy while attracting new ones is all about offering a stellar service experience. If a customer calls, emails or comes to you with an issue, you may have a chance to do more than just fix what’s wrong. If they seem receptive, you could spin your solution to their problem into an opportunity for a client testimonial, a positive online review, a recommendation or even an opportunity to sell them on additional products or services.

Keep in mind, however, this may not work in every situation. In some cases, a customer may not be receptive to listening to a sales pitch. It doesn’t matter how conscientious you’ve been in solving their current problem. The key is to listen to what the customer has to say, solve their problem if possible, and take advantage of an opening if the opportunity presents itself.

Streamline your sales experience

If you do business online, a difficult-to-navigate sales platform can be a major turn-off for customers. Optimize your site to eliminate barriers for shoppers:

  • Make sure your products have easy to understand descriptions and that pricing is clear.
  • Ensure your site is easy to use on desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
  • Eliminate unnecessary steps in the checkout process (Ex.: Billing and shipping addresses the same? Customers shouldn’t have to enter it twice).
  • Provide customers multiple payment options.
  • Weed out broken links or outdated pages.
  • Ask your customers for feedback — a simple “Rate your transaction” for example — after they’ve made a purchase can help you pinpoint which areas of your sales site may need work.

How to get Media Coverage as a Small Business

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How do you get media coverage?

As a small business owner, getting media coverage — a part of public relations — should be a priority for you. But this can often prove to be difficult for companies that do not have the resources to hire a full-time public relations person on staff or an external agency. How, then, do you manage to do media relations? Here are a few tricks you can use to start to get your company media coverage.

Do your research

As you read up on your industry, make note of the writers and reporters who cover businesses like yours and the kind of stories they write (executive profiles, industry news, how to’s, etc.). Follow relevant reporters on Twitter to get a better understanding of what beats they are passionate about, and begin to engage them in conversation online, even if you disagree with their views (as long as you disagree respectfully).

Think of it as setting yourself up for a warm call as opposed to a cold call. When the time comes to pitch a writer, having knowledge of their beat is important, but having some professional relationship with them can go further.

Personalize your pitches

Like most things in life, a little personalization goes along way. Always write concise personal notes to the reporters whom you would like to write about your company. It is helpful to start your letter to a journalist with something that shows you know their previous work. For example, you could start your note by saying:

Hi Patricia, I really liked your recent article about lawnmower safety. People need to know the potential dangers involved in maintaining their machinery. However, I noticed that you didn’t mention the Mowzer6000, the new lawnmower that I invented that has 20 additional safety features. Perhaps you’d like to write a follow-up article that highlights this? I’m happy to speak with you. Here’s my number…

Be responsive

When a reporter calls, emails or DMs you, respond as soon as you can. Media professionals assume reporters are on a tight deadline, and frequently reporters use the quote of the first reliable source who responds. Responding days — or often even 24 hours — after they’ve reached out to you is useless in terms of getting you into an article.

Be proactive

Sign up for Help A Reporter Out (HARO) alerts. HARO is a popular free service that connects professional journalists and bloggers with relevant sources and experts. Frequently, journalists have to produce a story on a deadline and need a salient quote for their story. When they need a quote they will often write to the HARO list-serve. For example, Jane the Journalist covers the steel and metals beat for the New York Herald Tribune. She wants to find out how cheaper metal prices are affecting manufacturers in New Jersey. You own a small manufacturing plant in New Jersey. You respond to the article and say, “We’ve been able to produce better quality widgets than ever before, because it is now less expensive for us to make widgets.” Jane likes your quote and publishes it in the New York Herald Tribune.

Establish a Cyber Attack Response Plan for Your Business

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More than ever it is important to have a cyber attack response plan in place.

HBO’s high-profile cyber attack in July resulted in the personal information of Game of Thrones actors being leaked online, as well as scripts and episodes of unreleased shows being leaked. In total, hackers reportedly stole 1.5 terabytes of data from HBO. The hackers also demanded that HBO pay to prevent more information from being leaked. So, while a cyber attack or data breach sounds like a CEO’s worst nightmare, there are many ways to help reduce the possibilities of it happening to your company.

Establish cyber security policies

Depending on what state (or states) you do business in, the potential legal obligations if your firm experiences a breach can differ. “Companies that do business nationally may have to comply with as many as 46 different state laws,” according to Entrepreneur. “You also could face liability lawsuits from affected parties”. Understand what your legal obligations consist of and consider cyber-insurance if you feel it is warranted.

Make understanding potential security risks part of on-boarding new employees. It is also a good idea to provide periodic training and updates for existing employees, as it suits their role in the company. Employees who regularly use company computers and software can become targets for phishing scams and malware attacks.

Enlist your technology providers and IT department in keeping your employees up to date as well. New kinds of cyber threats happen, so make sure your employees know what to look out for.

What to do if it happens

If by chance your company faces a security breach the first thing to do is to understand and contain it. For example, you notice that a specific set of files has been accessed. Make sure to investigate the extent of the breach and increase security on other files. Try adding extra layers of encryption or taking them offline temporarily. Make sure your internal IT teams work to contain the breach, and have external experts audit your systems to determine what has been compromised.

Notify customers, employees and partners once you learn specifically what data has been compromised. Communicate what data was lost, how the situation is being controlled and what your customers may need to do.

Depending on your company’s resources and number of customers, it may take time to reach every person and/or company affected. One way to do this proactively is to put out a press release that addresses the issue and provides links to FAQs about the breach for customers. You should also create an internal FAQ for staff members who will likely have to answer your customers’ questions.

To maintain trust, it can be necessary to be transparent with the public about the breach. It is also important to emphasize the strict measures your company takes to safeguard against such breaches in the future.

What Small Businesses Can Learn from Big Business About Customer Loyalty Programs

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Below see how your small business matches up and learn the advantages of creating a customer loyalty program.

The next time you see a friend use one credit card specifically for the points, there’s a customer loyalty program working like a charm. What can small businesses learn from credit cards, airlines, hotel chains and retailers who have developed strong customer loyalty programs? Quite a lot it turns out.

Think about how to go beyond your core businesses to add value to customers’ lives. For example, a dry cleaner can offer a loyalty program where customers get their 10th shirt dry cleaned for free. Any retail environment, whether it is a restaurant, a bakery, or a barber shop, can offer similar programs. Getting started is easy: All you need is a card and a specific stamp that can’t be easily copied.

Other businesses, like hotel chains, offer points to exchange for value on a future purchase. You may join an airline loyalty program that gives the 8th flight for free in any given year. But such loyalty programs go beyond a simple formula and are frequently paired with value added services (like free luggage, free WiFi at airports, access to airport lounges, exclusive access to sales, etc.) that build loyalty and create a stickiness around their service.

Stand Out

Every business has competitors and there are many ways that you can make your business stand out from the rest. One easy way to do this is to institute a loyalty program that provides real value for your customers. This can include practical things that they can use, rather than giving them a key-chain that they’ll likely throw away. Services such as Belly Card make it easier to digitally manage your loyalty program. You can use this tool to track data about how and when they choose to redeem their rewards.

There are also other ways that large retailers use loyalty programs with great success.  Amazon generates plenty of extra income from their Amazon Prime loyalty program. While signing up for Amazon Prime costs $99 per year, if used a dozen times it will pay for itself as users get “free” shipping with each purchase. Using Amazon Prime becomes so easy for shoppers that it then quickly becomes addictive. Soon, customers will use Amazon Prime for tons of purchases.

Small businesses can also use this strategy. The same dry cleaner mentioned earlier can sell an inexpensive membership that gives customers 10% off every purchase and a free local delivery upon sign-up. Once customers have already bought in, this program will encourage users to return to the dry cleaner where they can forever take advantage of their discount.

Setting up a loyalty program will surely make your business stand out. You will be able to rise above your competition easily. Before rushing to set up your program, though, it is essential to think creatively about what value you can add for your customers that won’t cost you much but is something they will appreciate. Remember, the best customers are repeat customers, so always keep them coming back for more!

Tips for Growing Your Business’ Instagram Following

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Below are three tips for growing your business’ Instagram following.

 

Know Your Brand’s Social Identity

Before you can begin racking up Instagram followers, the first step is to figure out your brand’s social identity. After all, if you don’t know what your brand is about online, how will your followers? Ask yourself, if my brand were a person, what would he or she be like?” Use the answer along with a profile of your key customers — as the starting point to begin to figure out what your brand should look, sound, and feel like on social media.

Continuity is key when it comes to building a social strategy. Decide how often you’ll post, and plan content in advance. For most businesses, one post per day is more than enough. Mix in videos and photos to keep content interesting — especially if you’re making your posts shoppable. Keep short (your photos or videos should speak for themselves), use no more than two hashtags in your copy, and use similar filters and colors for every post to hone your brand’s look.”

Keep in mind that, as with most new platforms, Instagram regulations are ever-evolving. The FCC has issued guidelines on rules brands should follow when engaging with influencers and celebrities. All entrepreneurs should familiarize themselves with current regulations before engaging in influencer campaigns to ensure all regulatory guidelines are being followed.

How to use Hashtags on Instagram Without Being #Annoying

Hashtags can be a great way to grow your following organically, invite your customers into a conversation and weigh in on topics; however, used incorrectly, hashtags can make your team look like social-media novices… Or worse, #thirsty for attention.

Generally speaking, there are two types of hashtags: community hashtags, which are used to catalog posts by topic (#food), and brand hashtags, which are unique to your company and designed to engage consumers in conversation or promote a marketing campaign (#yourbrandtag). Your brand hashtag can be used in every post, along with one or two community hashtags. Use a service like Hashtagify to research and track the most effective tags. To invite even more Instagram non-followers to find your content, comment on your original post with up to 10 additional community hashtags. Including these as a comment instead of with your original post will still lead new users to your account, but without your original post looking like a minefield of hashtags. This will allow your social identity to take center stage.

How to win over Competitors’ Followers

When you’re trying to build your Instagram following, one of the first places you should look is at your competitors’ social accounts. Do their businesses have more followers than yours? If so, what are they doing differently to engage fans?

Take note of the hashtags your competitors use, and begin to incorporate them (appropriately!) into your own posts. Look at the public profiles of your competitors’ followers. Like posts that are relevant to your brand, and comment when it feels appropriate and organic. For example, if you operate a sporting goods store, you might comment on how delicious a user’s campfire meal looks. You can also make special offers: if you operate a restaurant, you can search #food in your zip code and comment, “looks delicious, but we think you’ll love our breakfast even more! Come visit us any time this week and save 15% off your bill when you show this post.”

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