Is your Business Game Score Accurate and Timely?

Imagine a sporting event ( in this case a basketball game) where no one is keeping score. Or alternatively, they’re keeping the wrong score. In a competitive world, these scenarios do not make any sense. In fact, we might even wonder what’s the purpose of playing in a  game without keeping score or not correctly keeping track of the score. Conversely, you’re watching the game where the score is being kept…. and accurately. Now every time someone scores, your eyes turn towards the scoreboard. Can you relate to this? . Looking at the first scenario, running a business without accurate and timely financial statements is really no different. However, in the second scenario, it’s completely different. It’s also a more enjoyable game.

Often small business owners don’t know the score or it’s not kept accurately and in a timely manner. So they have learned to not trust their financial statements over time because they are either inaccurate, not timely to have any relevance, or both. The number one priority of an accounting professional is the preparation, analysis, and presentation of the accurate financial statements on time every month.

There are three core statements that drive this monthly reporting process are the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, and the statement of cash flow. There are lots of reasons and issues that cause the financial statements to not be timely or maybe inaccurate, so it is no wonder many business owners do not trust them. But these issues can and should be resolved so that owners know the score when they need to.

At the Storytelling Beancounter, our goal is to help the business owner with that. We have implemented processes and procedures to provide financial information that is relevant, timely and accurate. Ideally, most small businesses would finalize the prior month’s financials by the 15th or 20th of the following month. Now with online real time technology, the bar has been raised with a shorter  turnaround time. Exceptions may occasionally cause slight delays, but these should be rare exceptions. With accurate financial statements in their hands in a timely manner after the completion of the month, business owners are empowered to make relevant, impactful, and correct decisions to improve the profitability of their companies.

Here are some of the ways businesses can benefit by using our PRIME Services to run their operations efficiency and have  timely, decision making information at their fingertips:

Our online accounting services are cost-effective, flexible and comprehensive. It includes  online accounting software as well as a free virtual office setup from to help you to improve efficiency and productivity in your business.  We act like a virtual accounting department for your business. Get the financial help you need, on your schedule and at your finger tips.

We assist you with the practical day-to-day financial management of your business. We start off by helping you to maintain timely records to make informed, proactive business decisions.

We provide you with periodic monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and year-end accounting reports. In addition, we take the time to help you understand the meaning behind the numbers.

Online Accounting also includes our Accounting Help Desk Services.

We also help you with Xero & Spotlight Reporting for essential performance reporting. Spotlight Reporting is an award winning advanced reporting tool for greater clarity and better decision-making.

Contact us for more information about our Xero Online accounting services. Try a free trial.

I Just Love Xero! Why you ask? Because …….

Got a very user friendly interface (beautiful software).

Plays well (integrates) with other complimentary apps (over 100 add-on solution partners).

Got an “apple like” look and feel (would have made S.J. proud).

Has a visionary company team lead by Rod Drury.

Got some vertical industry customizability (ecommerce, franchises, real estate, etc.).

Got what small businesses need to do cloud computing effectively (a small business transformation app).

Got Xero Touch – accounting app for mobile.

Got an innovative and progressive cloud app (10 major releases in the past year) with reliable infrastructure.

Got 100,000 customers and fast growing with a focused strategic business plan to grow to 1M customers (see investor presentation).

Making a significant difference in the lives of small businesses and accounting professionals.

Moving forward to position itself as a significant global player (consistent momentum and positive growth indicators).

Best of all my clients love it as much as I do.

Xero just gets IT.

You’re invited to join the 1st “Xero-ing on Small Business” Hangout Party

Where: Xero  Hangout

When: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 from 4pm – 5pm EDT

Come on out and mingle with your peeps and tell your story. Talk about why you’re hooked on Xero, share your knowledge and expertise and tell us about the your favorite Add-ons.

Engage in discussions with one another about all things related to Xero and its add on partners.

Some areas of interest we’ll be exploring:

• Knowledge Sharing – come prepared to share and gain knowledge
• Collaborations – project based and ad hoc
• Online Apps – share about your favorite Xero-add ons
• Vertical Focus with Xero + Add-ons
• Resources – blog articles, white papers, webinars, podcasts and videos
• Business Challenges – ask questions like how can I do this? Or is there a way to do it better, faster, cheaper?
• Best Practices – share practices that make your business more efficient and effective
• Q & A – open forum to interact with others in the hangout

Come prepared to participate and interact with your Xero aficionados. Bring your Xero peeps along!

We’ll be LOOKing for you! So join us here.

So come on, let’s get this party started. Let’s celebrate and have a good time.

Now go ahead and take a closer look at the picture of a Spotlight Dashboard. What is it telling you? The snapshot visuals are meant to draw your attention to some key aspects (metrics) in your business. Upon further investigation, you’ll start to get a sense of what happened, why it happened and how you can take steps to improve upon what happened.

Numerous studies have shown that many people recognize patterns and information more readily in visual formats. But we also believe that verbalizing the meaning behind the picture reinforces the visual effect, making the outcome more effective or compelling.

Yes, there is a story behind the visuals and the numbers. We can help you tell that story. We’ll show you the financial picture and describe your business story.  Contact us now to get your 1st month free.

This one is from QuotientApp – an amazing online “quote app” and incredibly simple quoting system for your business.

Follow @Quotientapp

@QuotientApp Hot Tweets

Tips & Tricks:

Q. How to hide “unit price” and “quantity” fields.

A. Leave the ‘Quantity’ field empty. Then there’ll be not quantity or unit price on the quote… just a price

Q. Sending T&C’s to clients but ideally not in the quote area. Is there any chance an attach can be added to notes

A. If your T&C is online you can link to it from the note description text

Q. Would love support for markdown or something similar in the long-form text boxes. Wanted to add bullet points today, couldn’t.

A. Note the space after the * for the lists. Support for some basic textile markup… *bold* _italics_ Lists: * Bullet 1 * Bullet 2 ** Indented

Q. How do we make sure it will add the invoice to an existing Xero contact?

A. It will add it to an existing Xero contact if the company name is the same, else it’ll create it in Xero if it doesn’t exist.

Q. Can line items be coded to different Xero a/cs?

A. Quotient line items can now be coded to different Xero account codes

The Suggestion Box:

Q. Can you install a Quote reminder option to follow up with client about the Quote ?

A. Follow up reminders is a great idea, we’ll see what we can do

Coming attractions:

@QuotientApp – “In the next 2-3 months we’ll be releasing a completely new UI for contacts with Xero syncing. Plus an innovative inventory system”.

Now step back for a minute and imagine it’s your business that’s in the spotlight. The lights are on and your business has to perform. And more importantly, others are watching the performance intensely. So how’s your business performing? Do you know? Can you describe the performance? Is there room for improvement? What can you do differently and what works?
These are all important questions. However, the key is to be able to answer these questions and apply the lessons learned.

So that’s where we come in with Spotlight Reporting. Allow me to Introduce you to the Spotlight Reporting family.

Spotlight Dashboard

Spotlight Dashboard is the one page reporting dashboard that focuses on what really matters. With drag-and-drop functionality, Dashboard is super-fast and easy to use.

Spotlight Reporting

Spotlight Reporting puts the power of business intelligence at your fingertips. Create useful, attractive performance reports quickly and efficiently – helping you to reach your goals faster.

Spotlight Forecasting

Spotlight Forecasting creates simple cashflow forecasts and scenario budgets using a combination of data and visuals. Look forward, strategise and plan for the future with Spotlight Forecasting.

So now that you’ve seen the lineup, let’s start the performance. Lights, camera, action – you’re now ready to step into the Spotlight. All eyes are on your business. Is your business ready to perform? How does your performance rate? And yes, hopefully, everyone including you, the business owner is applauding. What a performance! Your business is now shining in the Spotlight.

Contact us to help you evaluate your performance.

In my business, I am often challenged (and frankly frustrated at times) when I try to explain/show/suggest to small business owners how they can improve their business performance by understanding what the numbers really mean. Fortunately, the ones that do get the meaning behind the numbers are able to be proactive and make timely, informed decision to take their business to the next level. I like to think of these as my “wow clients” because we have a win-win business relationship.

I provide them with value-added services:

• Understandable, usable analysis for focused vision
• Better discussion and decision-making information
• Proactive management reporting
• Greater clarity for making informed decisions
• Non-financial data and KPI’s monitored
• Customised reporting to meet their particular needs

In turn, they take actionable steps to achieve business success.

Here’s how we do it with Spotlight + Xero

Spotlight Dashboard is the easy-to-use performance tool that’s a ‘must have’ for those wanting business intelligence at their fingertips. Combining a rich mix of data grabs, charts and text options – this is the ultimate one-pager for better business insight and decision-making.

Xero is easy to use online accounting software that’s designed specifically for small businesses.

Want to improve your business vision? Contact us for more information.

Choose from Spotlight Dashboard, Reporting or Forecasting to suit your business needs.

If you’re a Xero user, contact us to get a  free 1 month trial of our Spotlight Dashboard service.

Be sure to understand what you need as a franchisee to operate the business successfully. On the other hand, understand what your requirements are as a franchisee to the franchisor. Ideally it should be a win-win relationship. You create a successful business based on the support and expertise of the franchisor. In return for this support, the franchisor receives his royalty fees knowing that the business will be successful based on his proven business model.

It’s all about processes – get them in place – are all the ducks in a row?

So here’s where we really get to put the franchisor’s experience and expertise to the test. Are there streamlined processes in place to help you run the business? And have these been proven to be effective by others in the business? A positive answer to these critical questions should most help to steer you in on the right path whether or not this is the right business to acquire.

Manage the Process – operational management – Who’s in charge of operations?

Now comes your part as a franchisee. Can you follow the “rules book” from the franchisee? After all, at this stage of the game, the franchisor is acting like your coach. He know the rules and is in fact saying to you that if you follow the rules of the game, you will succeed. Well it’s not quite that simple, but you know what I mean. So know the rules of engagement to manage the process.

Know your Numbers – so what are they telling you… and are you listening?

Ah yes, the numbers. Sometimes the most neglected part of running the business. So often, the focus is on marketing and sales. But without accurate and timely financial information most businesses are running blind and doomed to failure. You need to understand the numbers so you can see where your business has been (historical financial information) and where it’s going based on projected financial information. This helps you to run your business proactively based on informed decisions that allows you to make course corrections along the way. It’s sort of like your business compass or GPS system.

Here are a few crucial numbers you need to know and monitor to control your business operations:

Pay particular attention to cash flow. It’s still the king. Review the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement every month to assess net worth, net profits or losses and cash flow. On a quarterly basis, calculate the following financial ratios to evaluate key performance measures:
Sales year to date
Gross profit margin
Cost of sales as a percentage of sales
Labour rate as a percentage of sales

By comparing these ratios to those of franchise or industry averages, you can determine the progress of your business. If you need advice or assistance, an accountant experienced with franchises would be your best resource. This professional can help you interpret financial results and benchmark your progress relative to both competitive businesses and other locations within your franchise system. He or she can also guide you on how to strengthen and improve results.

Proactive Management – are you working on your business?

And finally, your ultimate goal is to get to the stage where you‘re working On your business rather than In it. So often, franchisees start off a business with great excitement and lots of ambition and enthusiasm. Only to find out that things are not as they anticipated and they actually become an employee of the business rather than an employer. In short, the business is running them, rather than them running the business. For those of who who really want to understand this philosophy, I highly recommend you read “The E-myth Re-Visited” by Michael Gerber. There is a famous chapter in the book entitled “Working On your Business, Not In It”. I think you’ll enjoy it.

The Bottom Line

So here you are! You’ve decided on a franchise in which to invest. It’s a financially stable company that provides “know how” and support to help you become a successful entrepreneur. But be sure to get the accounting support you need, either from the franchisor or your own accounting professional — and be committed to follow the “rule book”, know the numbers and manage and monitor your business in real time to achieve financial success. After all, isn’t that why you’re an entrepreneur?

Related article: Streamline and leverage your business back office processes and gain greater visibility with Xero

But in this context, I would like to shift gears to refer to the word “quote” in a business context. You’re presenting a proposal for services for a client’s acceptance. And that’s where Quotient comes in. It can exude the same qualities and has the same impact. Just imagine, presenting a meticulously,  customized pricing quote to a client and he accepts and approves it without question. Even if there were some questions, the outcome was successful.  How does that make you feel? Wasn’t that your goal? You’re probably thinking, “mission accomplished.”

The reason you were successful in this endeavour may be because you were proactive and put some thought into the process to equate value with price. You, for lack of a better word, quoted a fair and reasonable price for the services you provide. In short, based on your proposal. the client recognized that he was getting valuable services for the price quoted.

So what does this have to do with Quotient? Well, glad you asked.

Quotient touts itself as the incredibly simple quoting system for your business which allows you to present your product or service in an innovative way and gives your customers the ability to view, discuss and accept your quotes online – it’s never been easier.

You can speed up the quote making process by using one of your own pre-populated quote templates for a common product or service. Line items can be marked as recommended options or as optional extras (up-sells if you will) and you can attach documents or images to line items. A sent quote can be altered and revised as many times as your customer requires without creating a messy paper or email trail. On every quote you can track how many times it has been opened and when it was last viewed by your customer.

The Quotient Dashboard essentially becomes the heartbeat of your business for you and your team. It’s where you begin to make a new quote or search for past and present quotes. You get an overview of accepted quotes relative to quotes still outstanding or expired. At a glance you can see any unanswered questions, quotes still in draft, recently accepted (or declined) quotes and quotes that have recently been sent.

Quotient is so easy to use, with a learning curve so low that you’ll have your first quote out in a matter of minutes from signing up to the free 30 day trial.

Best of all, there’s the Quotient plus Xero combination for a seamless, time saving integration experience.
Quotient can connect directly to your Xero account so that accepted quotes automatically appear as draft invoices in Xero. This saves you time and eliminates any human error by not having to re-enter details from the quote to invoice stage.

All relevant contact and quote information is transferred. This includes selected line items, quantities, account codes and tax rates and there’s also a handy link back to the original quote which links the two systems together nicely.

Together, the Xero dashboard gives you a real-time view of your business at a glance, including bank balances and money coming in and going out. With automatic bank statement feeds and no more data entry or downloads, reconciliation is a breeze and you’ll have much greater visibility of your cashflow. You can see at a glance who owes you money. Also you can customize, create, send and receive invoices and generate and view interactive reports with ease.

Quotient and Xero are two dynamic apps that really help you manage your business efficiently and effectively. So with a win-win approach to your customers, each successful proposal presented and accepted with Quotient should give you the rewarding feeling of  “mission accomplished”.

This article is all about my favorite reports that I like in Xero and why I think they’re great.

So let’s start off with the Tracking Summary Report

A handy report for helping you slice and dice some of the accounts in Xero. More precisely, the Tracking Summary Report allows you to report on your accounts from a tracking point of view. Using this report, you can  generate a list of your tracking options showing the activity in a particular group of accounts for a particular time period. Needless to say, you need to have tracking categories set up in Xero and actually using the feature with transactions to be able to run this report.

What display on this report?

• All options in the tracking category that have transactions assigned to accounts within the Account Group during the period of the report will display.
• The accounts reported on will be all the accounts that belong in that group in your Chart of Accounts or the groups you have changed or set up if you have created your own layout for this report.
• If none of the options for the tracking category have transactions assigned to the accounts covered by the report, no activity will display (perhaps just an opening or closing balance depending on where and when you last used the tracking option).
• If there are transactions occurring in the Account Group chosen that were not tracked, these are displayed as ‘Unassigned’.
• Opening and closing balances are displayed for each category option across all accounts used by that option based on the To and From dates entered. The balances are based on the financial year to date for revenue and expense-based account groups and a balance of all transactions for asset, liability and equity-based groups.
• Net activity shows the outcome of all transactions in and out of the accounts belonging to the Account Group.

Some things to Note:

• The report will be run based on all the options you have created for the chosen category.
• If you only have one category, this will be selected by default.
• You can only report on one category at a time.
• If you have categories listed that you have never used, the report will will have no values to display.

So here’s what I Like about the Tracking Summary Report:

• You see summary information or additional notes on the report*.
• It’s customizable
• You can change the layout of the report
• Depending on the status of the report and your role you will be able to export, archive or edit it.

*If you are viewing a report that has been saved or published by your financial adviser

So what’s your take? Do you Like It or Don’t Like It?

Xero Reports Feature List #2 coming soon. So stay tuned…..