Archive for October, 2011
October 31st, 2011 | 
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Starting a life coaching business on a shoe-string budget could be very stressful. It will take only a few months after which you will feel the pinch. Beware of the enticing and expensive coaching certification programs. Resist the influential and convincing online order now advertisement. Keep your credit card and hard-earned cash to avoid impulsive purchases. Most of all, read this frightening start-up coaching article.
Here’s the good news! To avoid the disappointments and frustrations that could destroy you, find out if life coaching business is meant for you. True, going into business gives you freedom and greater monetary rewards. Remember though that starting one, regardless of the type, entails long hours, hard work, trials, mistakes and setbacks. Will you be willing to go through all these and pursue it regardless?
Any coach or businessman will tell you that he had to do what it takes to be successful. Are you ready for this?
What to do before starting a Life Coaching Business
These are simple steps to take to ensure that the Life Coaching business is meant for you. Something you truly want to do for the rest of your life. You should have the skills and the patience to run it. Otherwise you have to learn these skills.
Start-up tips
These tips are designed for you to avoid the coaching blues:
To get an insight into the business, hire a coach. Discover what it is like being a client over the phone. This will make you more credible when you start to enlist clients into your coaching program as you have learned first-hand the value that a coach delivers consistently. You will realize the skills and abilities necessary to inspire your clients to improve and act on your advice.
Interact with and learn from great coaches. how does coaching work for them? What was it like to start life coaching business? Take note of how the business has given them the freedom to control their schedule and the flexibility to do other interests, like traveling, at the same time earn an income from coaching.
Do a SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) analysis. List all of them in four columns. Zero in on the good and bad trends since they started. Take note of the prospects and the difficulties to be confronted. Do your homework- search the internet, buy a home study DVD or watch free videos, read articles on the business. It is better to spend time on this analysis. Hastily acquiring a certification program is both expensive and time consuming. In the end, you might discover that the life coaching business is not for you.
By: Lynne Quintana
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In the modem world no business can afford to remain secretive because various parties such as creditors, employees, taxation authorities, investors, public and government etc., are interested to know about the affairs of the business. Affairs of the business can be studied mainly by consulting final accounts and the balance sheet of the particular business. Final accounts and the balance sheet are end products of book-keeping. Because of the importance of these statements it became necessary for the accountants to develop some principles, concepts and conventions which may be regarded as fundamentals of accounting. Such fundamentals having wide acceptance give reliability and creditability to the financial statements prepared by the accountants. The need for ‘generally accepted accounting principles’ arises for two reasons: First, to be logical and consistent in recording the transactions and second, to conform to, the established practices and procedures.
There is no agreement among the accountants as regards the basic concepts of accounting. There is no uniformity in generally accepted accounting principles (GAPP). The terms-axioms, assumptions, conventions, concepts, generalizations, methods, rules, doctrines, techniques, postulates, standards and canons are used freely and inconsistently in the same sense.
Principles
“A general law or rule, adopted or professed as a guide to action, a settled ground or basis of conduct or practice.” This definition given by dictionaries comes nearest to describing what most accountants mean by the word ‘Principle’. Care should be taken to make it clear that as applied to accounting practice, the world principle, does not connote a rule for which there can be no deviation. An accounting principle is not a principle in the sense that it admits of no conflict with other principles.
Postulates
Mean to assume without proof, to take for granted or positive consent, a position assumed as self- evident. Postulates are assumptions but they are not arbitrary deliberate assumptions but generally recognized assumptions which reflect the judgment of ‘facts’ or trend or events, assumptions which have been borne out in past by facts supposed by legal institutions making them enforceable to some extent.
Doctrines
Mean principles of belief: what the scriptures teach on any subject. It refer to an established principle propagated by a teacher which is followed in strict faith. But in accounting practice, no such doctrine need be adhered to but the word denotes the general principles or policies to be followed.
Axiom
Denotes a statement of truth which cannot be questioned by anyone.
Standards
Refer to the basis expected in accounting practice, under different circumstances. In Indian context, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) constituted an Accounting Standards Board on 21st April, 1977. The main function of ASB is to formulate accounting standards taking into consideration the applicable laws, customs, usages and business environment.
Accounting Assumptions
The International Accounting Standards Committee (lASC) as well as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) treat (vide IAS-I & AS-I) the following as the fundamental accounting assumptions:
(1) Going concern
In the ordinary course, accounting assumes that the business will continue to exist and carry on its operations for an indefinite period in the future. The entity is assumed to remain in operation sufficiently long to carry out its objects and plans. The values attached to the assets will be on the basis of its current worth. The assumption is that the fixed assets are not intended for re-sale. Therefore, it may be contended that a balance sheet which is prepared on the basis of record of facts on historical costs cannot show the true or real worth of the concern at a particular date. The underlying principle there is that the earning power and not the cost is the basis for valuing a continuing business. The business is to continue indefinitely and the financial and accounting policies are followed to maintain the continuity of the business unit.
(2) Consistency
There should be uniformity in accounting processes and policies from one period to another. Material changes, if any, should be disclosed even though there is improvement in technique. A change of method from one period to another will affect the result of the trading materially. Only when the accounting procedures are adhered to consistently from year to year the results disclosed in the financial statements will be uniform and comparable.
(3) Accrual
Accounting attempts to recognize non-cash events and circumstances as they occur. Accrual is concerned with expected future cash receipts and payments: it is the accounting process of recognizing assets, liabilities or income for amounts expected to be received or paid in future. Common examples of accruals include purchases and sales of goods or services on credit, interest, rent (not yet paid), wages and salaries, taxes. Thus, we make record of all expenses and incomes relating to the accounting period whether actual cash has been disbursed or received or not. If a fundamental accounting assumption (i.e. Going concern, consistency and accrual) is not followed (in the preparation of financial statements) the fact should be disclosed. [AS-I para 27].
By: Anil Kumar Gupta
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Posted in Accounting | 
Tags: Accountants, Accounting Principles, Axioms, Balance Sheet, Business Affairs, Canons, Generalizations, Postulates | 
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Finance is the general term applied to the commercial service of providing funds and capital. This is part of the area of economics that focuses on the strategies and methods of looking after money and other financial assets. A more general and accepted definition is the control of business plus public sector assets and money. People that look after or manage the arranging of finance are called finance managers.
Managing this involves dealing with the optimization and allocation of funds to various areas either by borrowing or by using those available from internal resources. The term optimization is used to explain the procedure whereby finance is maximized by reducing costs and increasing the return. Poor finance management is caused when managers neglect the rules and a deterioration occurs affecting markets around the world. It is for this very reason that finance managers are very careful with finance they agree too and where it is funded from.
Finance managers can be very short sighted, only looking at the initial cost involved and not the future return capability of the project. Finance managers are people who always like to see where they have been and do not look towards the future in the same way that a sales manager does. Many small business owners forget that the business loan they have arranged is not for personal use; a distinction which gets blurred regularly. Managers are rarely impressed with this situation as they believe they have aright to know what their money is being used for.
This may cause some concern amongst small business owners but they should train themselves to be more focused on their business which should in turn create a better frame of mind for the future. An important area for businesses to receive finance is their own bank or failing that good friends or even relatives. The simple trick is for finance managers to arrange loans using outside lenders thereby protecting their own assets whilst maximizing their own profit simultaneously. Bob Hope once said that you can only get a loan from a bank if you can prove to them you have absolutely no need for it; advice which could not be more true.
By: Francisco Segura
About the Author:
Asset Tracking Software
Posted in Finance |
Tags: Distinction, Even Relatives, Finance Finance, Finance Managers, Interesting Facts, Lenders, Poor Finance, Small Business Owners |
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So here’s a simple question for you as a fantasy decision-maker in charge of a state’s finances. Let’s say you go to court against Big Tobacco and come out with a big win. Because the court finally agreed to accept the medical evidence, Big Tobacco was ordered to pay money into a massive settlement fund. Every year, this pays out a big chunk of change to your state. What do you want to spend it on? It could be education except you really want to fire all the bad teachers first. Then you can use the extra money to pay higher salaries to attract better people into teaching and raise education standards. Ah, but that’s going to provoke a fight with the unions, so we’d better look for something less controversial. What about health? This would be ideal politics. The tobacco industry has made so many ill, it’s only right its money should be used to improve health care for all. Except how is that going to be done? Even a big lump of change gets lost in the total cost of running health care in a state. . .
Pennsylvania decided to use part of the money to fund adultBasic. This was an outreach plan for adults who would otherwise fall through the cracks. Their income is too great to qualify for Medicaid, but they can’t afford the premium rates for a private plan. The way it worked was simplicity itself. The state funded its own health plan. The actual cost per person was $600 per month, but the state only charged each person $36. The total cost of this plan in 2010 was $166 million. To give you an idea of the popularity of the plan, the state was subsidizing some 40,000 people with half-million people on the waiting list. Remember, there are some 50 million people without any form of insurance across the country. It should not surprise you there were so many people who felt they met the entry requirements for adultBasic in one state.
However, in February, the Pennsylvanian government announced it was looking at a big deficit, so Governor Tom Corbett looked around for cuts. Presumably feeling the 40,000 enrolled in the plan were freeloaders, he ordered the plan shut down immediately. Big Tobacco’s money now flows directly into the state’s coffers and is mixed in with general revenue. Curiously, the state has now discovered it will have a surplus of more than $750 million in the current year. It’s remarkable how quickly the fortunes of a state can turn around. One of the immediate consequences has been a 30% increase in the number of people walking into ERs around the state. This adds significantly to the cost of running the health care services. Ironically, this additional cost alone may be more than the state was spending on adultBasic.
The Democrats have been frustrated at their failure to get adultBasic reinstated. It was one of the few state-funded health insurance plans for the low-income group. Yet a Republican governor will always get political traction out of cutting such a high-profile example of “big government”. Adult Americans should pay for cover out of their own pockets and not look to the state to provide cheap health insurance (even with money from the tobacco industry).
Taking out the right policy when you are buying auto insurance is vital, as otherwise you could end up wasting a lot of money by taking out the wrong level of cover that does not offer the protection that you need. Many people who take out auto insurance simply go for the first plan they come across but this can end up being a costly mistake that fails to benefit them in the long term, even if the initial policy is the cheapest they have come across.
The reason why you should always check the cost of the plans that you are considering before you make your auto insurance purchase is so that you know exactly what you are signing up to in terms of the level of cover that you are getting, the benefits that you will receive, and what you can and cannot claim for under your insurance plan.
Checking different insurance plans these days is far easier than it used to be in the past, which means that you won’t have to go out of your way in order to make sure that you are choosing the right policy. Remember, when you sign up to a particular insurance plan you may end up tied into it unless you are prepared to pay out money to get out of it early. It therefore pays to take the time to check any auto insurance plan you are considering taking out before you rush into signing up for the cover.
The Internet makes it easy to check any insurance plan that you are considering signing up to, as you will be able to see for yourself what the cover does and doesn’t include. This will enable you to quickly determine whether the plan it suited to your needs before you make any commitment, which reduces the risk of ending up with the wrong plan for your needs.
Make sure when you are looking at the various auto insurance plans that you do not simply focus on the cost of the cover, as although price is important it is not the only thing that should help you to make your decision. You also need to look at the level of cover that you get and work out whether it is adequate for your needs so that you are certain that any cover that you take out is going to be suited to your requirements.
By checking auto insurance plans before you make any commitment you will have the peace of mind that your cover is suited to your requirements and offers the level of protection that you need.
If you ever wanted to know what is accounting then this is your change to learn? Who is in charge of setting basic accounting standards that we all follow? Is there some type of regulatory system is place to investigate and arrest people for accounting fraud? Well guess what, there is, at least to a certain degree any way. So hear is a quick accounting principles education that can explain everything.
First, just what is accounting anyway? Well in simple terms accounting is the comprehensive system of gathering and recording financial information of a business for the purpose of preparing summaries for tax authorizing, investors, managers and other who make decisions within the companies or organizations that they are involved in. The accounting terminology or terms can get tricky at times and you may need to keep handy an accounting glossary that explains the terms in plain language if you are a beginner. To keep people from ethics frauds in accounting the United States top experts created the Financial Accounting Standards Board or (FASB) for short. This was established in 1973 and it replaced the Accounting Principles Board(APB). The job of the (FASB) is to analyze and review problems in the field that is brought to them. After much deliberation they will make an assessment of what type of action that will be taken when an accounting issue occurs.
This was mainly voluntary and it had very good success. Double-entry accounting was founded in Italy in the 1400′s and the accounting formula has change since then. The reason why the basic accounting concepts worked or well was that the business community would not be able to function properly if there were no consistency in the reporting of finances.The FASB has its’ own private financing and is not government organized. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants(AICPA) are a big supporter of the FASB and many of our Certified Public Accountants(CPAs) are members of this prestigious organization. Accounting careers are shaped on you being a member. They are bound by the guidelines and principles that they offer as other countries also have similar boards that require a high level of accounting conduct.
The FASB created the basic accounting concepts code known as General Accepted Accounting Principles(GAAP). The idea behind this is if everyone uses the same business financial statement prepared according to GAAP, then who ever uses the information can trust or rely on the information more steadily than if prepare differently. Any business that prepare their statements without using the GAAP standards, like a lot of small businesses do, cannot say that their statements are created under GAAP guidelines and they should let the user know they are not and let the buyer beware.
To keep a watch out on everything the government relies on the Securities Exchange Commission(SEC) to sort of police the accounting world. They mostly focus on public companies because they are responsible for protecting investors from fraudulent misrepresentation. The SEC has established it own set of accounting standards and with the economy the way it is today they really have their hands full with this.
Accountants are now more involved with preparing income tax returns and they use their business financial statements. The Internal Revenue Service(IRS) may review those financial records when they perform an audit and not following the rules can get you in to big trouble risking fines and penalties.
As you can see the principles and standards in many ways are a combination of voluntary and regulatory guidelines. There is a push to create an international accounting standards board or (IASB) due to the growing globalization process. This will be a huge undertaking that will surely take years to build. Now that the stock markets around the world are in trouble it is obviously needed.
By: Ellis Jackson Jr
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Posted in Accounting |
Tags: Accounting Fraud, Accounting Glossary, Basic Accounting Principles, Double Entry Accounting, Fasb, Financial Accounting Standards Board, Good Success, Regulatory System |
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