When it comes to handling your accounts and taxes, or anything that has to do with money for that matter, people will of course want the best. Accountants from large multi-national companies are places that people tend to go to first. And sure, there are some benefits to picking a larger corporation to handle your accounting needs (accuracy, liability confidence, proven-track record, etc). But going with a smaller accounting firm may better suit the needs of individuals who want a more personal experience with their accounting needs.

There a lot of people that take comfort and look for the kind of satisfaction that you can get from a personalized and less formal setting when it comes to someone handling their taxes and bookkeeping. Just like in relationships with other professionals who care for your needs, such as family doctors, dentists, and lawyers, the relationship that you establish with your accountant is not any different.

Working with someone that you can actually talk to and develop a long term relationship with is very important to many people when it comes to handling something as sensitive as their finances. With accountants that work at smaller firms, you get some of the advantages that don’t commonly exist with larger companies. When you sign on to be one a client of accountants working at a smaller company, you are given an accountant professional that is friendly, highly capable, and knowledgeable on ways that are best to keep you and your financial state in the highest regard. But at the same time, smaller firms of accountants want you to get service that is tailor made for your situation. They understand that not everybody’s financial situation is the same, and that is why the service should not be standardized either. To be able to provide the best service for you, they also try to create informal relationships with you where you can ask questions about your finances, and learn about the process as you go along.

Accountants at smaller offices usually have a wide range of services that they can provide you. While the taxes and the bookkeeping are both very important in keeping your finances in order, there are other possible situations like business and budget planning, and having a qualified accountant on your side can help you make better decisions. Signing on with them will give you complete and total management over your financial status, and can even be your doorway to maximizing all that your business can get out of the industry that it is in.

The specific type of tax planning that is appropriate for your case is what you will get, and you will also get the results that are appropriate for you. When it comes to your finances, there should be no chances taken. Your finances affect you, your loved ones, and your business (if you have one). You do not want to put all of that which is at stake in the hands of someone who does not understand you and your particular situation and looks at you as just one out of the millions of other individuals and businesses that need accounting help. Look for smaller firms with accountants to feel the benefits a personalized service can offer.

Some folks have created a terribly successful career in bookkeeping whereas other folks have just thought about a career in bookkeeping but have never acted on it. Bookkeeping is not the identical as accounting, this can be a common misperception. Accounting is a much larger range of financial duties and responsibilities, where bookkeeping is just one function that provides some of the basic information required for accounting.

Bookkeepers need to have a very good eye for detail, as a simple numeric error can easily report on erroneous figures that can be very hard to identify where the error is. Bookkeepers need to be very patient and methodical in their approach to their work and when required have great analysis skills to identify erroneous book entries. Bookkeepers perform all manner of record-keeping tasks and need to be flexible in their relationships with their customers, as quite often their customers do not have as much skill in bookkeeping as they do.. They prepare what are known as supply documents for all the operations of a business – the buying, selling, transferring, paying and collecting. The documents embody papers like purchase orders, invoices, credit card slips, time cards, time sheets and expense reports. Bookkeepers conjointly verify and enter in the source documents what are referred to as the money effects of the transactions and different business events. Those include paying the workers, making sales, borrowing cash or buying products or raw materials for production.

Bookkeepers make entries of the financial effects into journals and accounts. These are two different things. A journal is the record of transactions in chronological order. Accounts may be a separate record, or page for each asset and each liability. One transaction will affect many accounts. Bookkeepers prepare reports at the top of specific period of time, such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. To try and do this, all the accounts need to be up to date. Inventory records must be updated and therefore the reports checked and double checked to confirm that they are as error free as possible.

The bookkeepers additionally compile complete listings of all accounts. This can be known as the adjusted trial balance. Whereas a tiny business might have 100 or so accounts, very large businesses will have a lot of than 10,000 accounts. The final step is for the bookkeeper to close the books, which suggests that bringing all the bookkeeping for a fiscal year to a shut and summarized.

Self-employment is the ticket to higher earnings without limit and the right to control and work your own schedule. But it’s not easy work. A lot of self-employed people are working longer hours and weeks than ever in their own business. The difference is they are doing work they truly enjoy, and are getting paid for it!

You have the talent and ability to work on your own! Perhaps you’re just not sure what business you’d like to specialize in.

Sales aren’t just the slick folks on the automobile showroom who want to know what it will take to get you in that car today. Selling is the process by which a product reaches a consumer. It can take many forms. If you have some preconceived ideas about sales right now, erase them from your mind. Start with a clean slate by remaining open to all possibilities in your home-based businesses.

After all, if you’re marketing a product you would buy yourself, it will be easy to convince others of its value. Since you’re selecting the right business opportunity, you’ll unquestionably choose the business that has the most appeal to you. Selling something you love almost never feels like work, or real selling!

HOW TO GET STARTED

If you currently have a job, you may want to break into your home-based business on a part-time basis until you’ve built up enough earnings base to leave. There will probably be no greater feeling than when you walk out the door and into a business where you call the shots!

If you’re between jobs, then by all means go at this full-force. All you need to do is to contact the businesses listed here that interest you and begin the process of determining if this is right for you.

There may be several opportunities here that are franchises. There is no available data that says that electing to go the franchise route to start your business has any lower success rate than beginning a new business from scratch. Again, view these choices with an open mind and investigate the opportunity thoroughly before making the commitment. If you’re working part or full time, you can, perhaps, be even choosier.

THE TOP 10 WAYS TO EARN MONEY AT HOME

1. ANTIQUES

The buying and selling of antiques has been and should continue to be a very productive business, financially, for those that do it. Here, you only need an extra room in the house, or the use of your garage — and you have an office!

If you have a large home that has some antique furnishings, you might consider turning it into a showroom for your antique acquisitions and sales, providing you satisfy any local zoning regulations. The interest in antiques will survive into the foreseeable future. Many people choose to spend their free time on the weekends “antiquating” from place to place to try and pick up a few odds or ends and maybe a jewel or two. If you know anything about antiques, this may be a great opportunity for you.

For more information, check out the book, “Buying and Selling Antiques”, by Don Cline and Sara Pitzer. Your local library may be filled with other publications on this subject that can get you started quickly. Your only overhead may be inventory and advertising!

2. BAKING

Have you ever been told that you have a recipe which people would line up to get if they could? Ever had anyone tell you that you should be selling those cupcakes you make? There are a number of success stories about people who have launched successful businesses by cooking at home and then marketing to local people first. Word of mouth on a good product may start to get restaurants or bakeries interested in acquiring your culinary masterpieces. Then you progress to selling them state-wide and presto! A winning home-based business!

For more practical advice on the assorted aspects of setting up a specialty foods business, you should contact your local U.S. Department of Agriculture Home Extension Agent in your county. Since every U.S. county has such an individual, that person shouldn’t be hard to find!

3. BED AND BREAKFAST PROPRIETOR(S)

Have you ever stayed in a bed and breakfast and thought, “hey, I can do this!” You probably went on vacation and simply chalked your thought up as one of those pipedreams one gets when they stay in a beautiful spot.

Don’t toss that thought away! While it’s not easy work as the hours can be long and it’s usually a seven days per week business, it’s often something that you can work into a daily schedule. After all, it’s merely an extension of doing the housework for family, right? More and more Americans are taking after Europeans and opening their homes to travelers. If you have an extra room or two since the kids moved out, you can start a bed and breakfast in your own place!

Bed and breakfast popularity will continue as more and more vacationers and business travelers seek a different accommodation away from the predictability of the average hotel room. If they enjoy their stay, many become “repeat” customers, coming back to the same familiar surroundings time and again.

If you don’t need to do any major renovations in the house to accommodate this type of establishment, you can be off and running with very little money invested, other than advertising and some new “guest room supplies”. If your dream is to buy a bed and breakfast somewhere in a vacation paradise, there are probably houses for sale that will work for this purpose.

Whatever your design, there are several good books on the subject of starting your own bed and breakfast, including “Start Your Own Bed and Breakfast”, by Beverly Mathews. Check them out at your local library.

4. CHILD CARE

Due to the financial pressures many families face today, many parents work outside of the home to bring in enough income to pay daily living expenses. A single parent is obviously working but all too often both members of a two parent family are in the workforce.

This creates a home-based opportunity. Children must be watched, all day if they’re not in school, or, otherwise, for a brief time after school before the parents finish work for the day.

Caring for one additional child may not be that lucrative, but taking care of several children can certainly be a full-time, financially successful business. Often, taking care of several children is made somewhat easier as the youngsters often will play together.

You can do this at home for only a small investment in basic equipment and toys for the kids in addition to the advertising of your business. There are several publications that address starting this type of business, including “Family Day Care”, by Betsy Squibb.

Another resource is the Day Care Council of America, 5730 Market Street, Oakland, CA. 94608.

5. COMPUTER SPECIALIST

The advent of the computer age has changed the concept of self-employment. Having a computer at home has opened a number of opportunities for running your own business utilizing this equipment. Companies everywhere are “outsourcing” work that can be done by someone else on their computer, out of their own home.

If you’re not that familiar with a computer, there are many low-cost (or free) seminars and classes that will teach you what equipment you need and how to use it.

If you’re a whiz in computers, you may end up working as a consultant, writing programs for companies. If you’re a beginner, you may find yourself able to obtain work as a writer, using your computer to produce copy that’s easy to edit. You can also keep accounting and payroll records for companies on your computer’s database.

Word processing software can be used not only for writers but for those that can offer secretarial services out of their house. Desktop publishing software can allow you to do newsletters for businesses and other organizations.

For more educational data, contact the Information Resources Clearinghouse at Syracuse University’s School of Education, 030 Huntington Hall, 150 Marshall Street, Syracuse, N.Y. 13244. Their phone number is (315) 443- 3640.

There are a substantial number of good publications, too. Your local library will have several books on computer occupations. If you can operate a computer, you can find work in the information age today.

6. GARDENING

If you like working in your garden each year and growing vegetables for your family to eat, it’s a definite possibility for home-based employment. Imagine clearing a little more space and growing more items that you can sell directly to the consumer.

Most produce stands will buy from you if your product is one of high quality. If you enjoy gardening, this could be your ticket! If you have some more land to use, do it! Plant what you can, when you can! Contact your local produce stands to ascertain their buying habits.

You can even inquire about your own produce stand if you have enough product. The more space you have on your land, the more likely you will be able to generate enough crops to run the business.

People love home-grown vegetables. They just don’t have the time or want to be bothered doing it themselves. That’s your open door!

For more information, consult books like “Plants for Profit,” and “A Complete Guide to Growing & Selling Greenhouse Crops”, by Francis Jozwik.

7. IMPORTER AND DISTRIBUTOR

There are a substantial number of products manufactured in other countries which can be bought inexpensively and sold here in the United States at a profitable level. The recent passages of the Congressional bills, NAFTA and GATT, may make it easier to bring in other products from other countries.

This is a business easily operated out of the home, depending on the types of stock you’re carrying. You may have to rent some storage space, but the capital required to start should essentially be limited to the products you’re buying to sell here.

Two good resources for you are:

* American Importers Association Membership Directory, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017; and

* American Register of Importers and Exporters, 38 Park Row, New York, N.Y. 10038.

You can also look at books in your library such as “How To Make A Fortune In Import/Export”, by Howard R. Goldsmith, obviously an optimistic look at this type of business.

If you know the type of product you want to import and the market most likely to purchase your goods, you have great potential for a successful home-based business.

8. INTERIOR DECORATOR

While this business will require you to be out and about, meeting with customers, it’s the type of work many people would love to do. If you have a fascination for decorating a home, this could be your line of work.

Many people don’t know where to start when they are remodeling or buying a house for the first time. If you have the knowledge of colors and patterns and what looks good together, plus the expertise of knowing where to get materials and furnishings, this can be a winning home-based business for you.

One excellent resource to consult is the “Interior Design Directory”, available through Whitney Communication Corporation, 1050 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10155.

9. PHOTOGRAPHER

The sky’s the limit here! Armed with your trusty camera and some good advertising, you can do weddings, models, family portraits, passports, student photos, local newspaper coverage; almost anything that requires a picture!

You can easily start this work, part-time, and work into full-time work based on your success and inclination. Not much equipment is necessary to get going as a camera off the store shelf can often do the trick today. Picking up a tripod and having a room sufficient for developing your pictures, and you’re in business — at home!

There are a number of excellent books available in your local library to get you started on the path of professional photography.

10. SEWING & ALTERATIONS

Many people love to sew. If you’re one of them, consider offering this service out of your home. When someone buys a new outfit, it rarely fits perfectly, meaning some kind of alteration must be done.

People look long and hard to find reliable individuals to do their alterations. If you can sew, you’re well on your way to opening the doors of this type of business.

One resource you can review is “Sewing for Profit”, by Judith and Allan Smith. Or your library will have a handful of capable publications on starting up this type of business.

These are our suggestions as to the top 10 ways to earn money at home, enough to be a full-time self-employed businessperson!

But there are many other opportunities. The listings that follow may give you some other ideas you need to get started in business for yourself.

Are you ready to start up your own business now?

Enterprise shipping goes beyond the normal, “I have a package and now I need to ship it” type of processing. In this situation, shipping is not a just a function of the warehouse, it is a process driven by the enterprise. There must be planning in place for how to get the information required for shipment processing, how to use the information to create business rules to ship the order properly, and how to route correctly the results of what has shipped to the appropriate data storage locations in the enterprise.

A new enterprise shipping system needs to be able to handle existing company requirements and processes as well as being scalable upward and across the enterprise. An enterprise shipping system purchase should be the last purchase required by any company. The ability to handle the work load to an infinite level is an important requirement of any enterprise shipping system.

When adopting new software, businesses need to incorporate new thought processes and automated work flows for processing their orders. Introducing a new system into a company requires a top down thought process for efficiently utilizing the enterprise shipping system. It does not make sense to automate a poor process or a manual process just to adapt to an enterprise shipping solution. Rethink existing processes to ensure they will work well in an automated environment. Validate those processes by asking the people who currently perform them manually to participate in the re-engineering of internal processes. Only when management and employee buy-in exists, will any new system perform as it was designed.

Businesses grow and change over time. An enterprise shipping solution must be able to manage that growth and must be able to adapt. Computer hardware will always get more powerful, and the operating system software used today will look nothing like the software that will be used in ten years. Enterprise shipping systems are required to keep up with those changes. Purchase once, upgrade forever. Enterprise shipping systems must be intelligent. There are complex rules in play in the enterprise that are needed to keep the customers coming back and ordering more. Shipping on Friday? Customer “123″ wants that order sent FedEx Saturday delivery, but only if the total order cost exceeds $750, and only in the fourth quarter of the year. Enterprise shipping can be that sophisticated or as simple as “Just send it UPS.”

Most importantly, an enterprise shipping solution must benefit other functions within the enterprise. Customer Service needs to know if the order shipped today. What was the tracking number? Accounting needs to know the cost of shipping. The warehouse needs to know the shipping volume trends for the last year. The VP of Distribution needs to have all of the shipping information for his 12 distribution centers for the last twelve months available to him for rate negation. Right now.

An organization can no longer live by the old adage, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Many processes within a company can be improved upon, even if those processes are working fine today. What must be kept in perspective is the cost of improvement vs. the gain in productivity or information visibility. This type of solution must be able to provide a justifiable ROI. If the cost of improvement is too great, most companies will try to find a more affordable solution before giving up on the project altogether.

This type of project need not be pushed to the side in favor of other enterprise software projects. In past years, integrating an enterprise shipping solution into the organization used to be a major project. Now the degree of difficulty has been greatly reduced thanks to better software and hardware technology. Implementing an enterprise shipping system today is now significantly easier. Many companies are finding they are able to handle the project in house with a reduced level of support from the systems integrator or software manufacturer.

Take the time to identify your objectives, select a reputable vendor, dedicate a project “owner” within your organization; and realize an enterprise shipping project is one that will be much easier to implement than a WMS or ERP project.