Thursday, January 29, 2009

Top 3 Reports Every Business Owner and Investor Must Have

A question I commonly hear is what reports should I use for my businesses and investments? I have several customized reports I use, but today, I'm going to share the 3 standard reports I use - these are reports that can be pulled from my accounting software. I use QuickBooks but these reports are standard in all accounting software packages.

- Report #1: Statement of Cash Flows -

Where does my cash go?

Does this question sound familiar? Many business owners and investors are constantly trying to answer this question as they scramble to make payroll or mortgage payments.

Whether it's your business, your rental properties or your option trading, the Statement of Cash Flows report tells you exactly where your cash goes.

I like this report because it gives me a ton of information in one shot. It tells:

- My cash balance as of the start date of the report
- My cash balance as of the end date of the report
- My net income or loss for the period of time being reported
- How much cash went in and out from my normal operations
- How much cash went in and out from my investing activities
- How much cash went in and out from my financing activities

Here is an example of how the Statement of Cash Flows report helps me analyze my rental property investments.

When I pull a Profit & Loss report (also called an Income Statement) for my rental property investments, I see a net loss of $10,000. This loss information is helpful in my tax planning but not when I'm trying to assess how my properties are performing.

The net loss is due to large depreciation deductions, which are non-cash deductions, claimed on my rental properties. So, I have to pick apart the Profit & Loss report to figure out if my net cash flow from the property is positive or negative. While I want the information, I don't want to spend a lot of time digging for it. This is why I l love the Statement of Cash Flows report - it does the work for me!

The Statement of Cash Flows starts with the net loss from the Profit & Loss report and makes all the non-cash adjustments for me. For example, it adds back depreciation. It factors in cash spent buying a new property (which isn't on the Profit & Loss report because it's an asset that gets reported on the Balance Sheet). And it shows the cash I spent to pay down the principal on my mortgages. (Remember that if your mortgage payment includes principal and interest, then the interest portion is included in the Profit & Loss report but the principal portion is not).

The Statement of Cash Flows answers the nagging question - where does my cash go!

- Report #2: Accounts Receivable Report -

As a business owner, I want to know who owes me money! I use this report to not only make collection calls, but to study my customers' habits. Who pays me quickly? Who is very slow to pay me? I use this information to help focus my efforts on customers who pay me without any hassle and better manage those who don't.

- Report #3: Accounts Payable Report -

I always want to pay my vendors on time. My accounts payable reports enable me to do this. Plus, these reports help me identify opportunities to negotiate discounts with my vendors, such as discounts for early payment. Those savings go right to my bottom line!

These are 3 reports you can access right now from your accounting software!

Tom Wheelwright is the founder, CEO and creative force behind ProVision Wealth Strategists, a full-service CPA and wealth strategy firm headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. ProVision coaches investors and business owners all over the world to financial freedom, creating vast amounts of wealth and business success for its clients. For more information, please visit http://www.ProVisionWealth.com.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Loans For Bad Debt - Cash For Urgencies For Bad Debtors

Introduction:

People who are suffering from bad debts and are in need of instant cash can acquire easy funds with loans for bad debt. These loans are specially meant for those people who need to consolidate their debts and don't have enough funds to pay it off instantly. These loans will surely erase all your problems on time. You have the full freedom to use the borrowed funds wherever you want. You have bad debt consolidation loans at your rescue. Repayment of loans is lot simpler and easier. Borrowers can easily use the loans amount for varied number of purposes like unexpected medical emergencies, sudden car breakage, grocery bills, and home renovation and so on.

Features:

The good thing about bad debt loans UK which also had been added to its feature is that these loans take less time to get approved. This makes it suitable to fulfill the urgent needs on time. There are basically two types of loans come out from dreadful situation. The loans can be provided in two options, secured and unsecured. Secured option needs to pledge collateral against the loan amount and you can acquire large sum of money for long term period. Unsecured is the better option for securing short term money without pledging any collateral. These loans are one of the best solutions to handle the financial crisis for bad debt holders. You can avail easily with online mode and get acquired the required cash amount within least span of time.

Requirements:

You need to follow up certain required specifications which are needed to get the approval of loan application:

1. The borrower should be permanent citizen of UK and should be an adult with the age of 18 years or more.
2. He should be regular employed earning a viable and steady source of income.
3. He should be having the minimum income of £1000 per month.
4. He should be having enough repayment ability to repay back the loan amount.
5. He should be having valid and active check account for online transactions to get the money fast.

Trevor Dikkin has a Master in Finance and has been a university teacher as well as a financial consultant for years. He specializes in loans for bad debt and also in helping people to get approved for bad debt personal loans, bad debt tenant loans, bad debt personal loans, bad debt loans UK. For further information, please visit http://www.loansforbaddebt.co.uk

Monday, January 05, 2009

Community Development Federal Grants

Community development grants are given out to help bring up minority communities and facilitate better economic and welfare opportunities. These grants are issued for a variety of purposes some of which include

- Preserving and safeguarding war field lands and giving out substantial funds for carrying out various surverying and educational activities that would promote economic welfare.

- Aiding local economies to become more aggressive and independent and providing grants for self sustenance and social and economic welfare. This would help in improving the situation of tribal groups and establish better stability.

- Establishing community ideals and policies of effective regulation and policy forming decisions.

- Helping tribal governments with sufficient funds to carry out various activities essential to community well being including the management of tribal political elections and other important tribal policies.

- Helping economically lower communities with proper foundation for commercial and industrial opportunities that are economically beneficial and sustainable. This would help improve community stability and promote better national welfare.

- Conducting water vessels education programs on safety regulation and various other programs that facilitate community wellness.

- Assisting economically challenged community students to participate in a community development work study program and to take up careers in community improvement, community organization and implementation and administration of group projects.

- Providing necessary funding to communities to solve community problems such as conflicts, tensions and various practices and behaviours among communities that arise due to different race, ethnicity, origin etc.

- Reduce poverty levels in communities consisting of low income groups where there are economical challenges and also to supply supply nutritous foods and supplements to the poor

- Handing out grants to state authorities to about an economical change in times of structural damage to the local economies by way of commercial and industrial restructuring and change in federal and state laws.

You can visit the following pages to learn more about Community development grants and how you can receive free government grants for yourself.