Memorial Day 2006

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What did you do on today, Monday 29th, 2006? Was your day spent with your family and friends at a picnic or barbeque? Did you take the time to attend a parade or ceremony honoring those who died to protect our freedom and way of life? Or did you take advantage of all the sales and spent the day shopping, never taking a moment to think about the meaning of this day?
I remember as a child this day consisted of marching proudly in a parade and feeling my heart burst with pride. Standing by while gun salutes boomed and the playing of taps moved me to tears. My mother placing flowers on my grandfather and uncle’s graves. And I remember this as a family day, spent with those we loved, listening to the stories of the past and enjoying the present. Not a day of shopping – not a day of beer drinking – not a day of television watching. And of course, back then not so long ago; Memorial Day always came on the 30th of May, not designated as a Monday so a three day weekend was the focus of the holiday.
It was in 1991 that the agony of war came into my life. I was working for a man whose son was a pilot and was sent over to Iraq just prior to the beginning of Desert Storm. The night before the actual action began this young man’s plane crashed and his life was ended. Now I never met this man, and my relationship with his family was just beginning, but I will never forget the pain endured and the courage that this family showed both then and long into the future. And there is never a Memorial Day that passes that I don’t remember him and pray for his family. Hopefully you can find the time to remember today and pray for those left behind.
Below are the words of Andy Rooney of CBS 60 Minutes as given last night, Sunday, May 28, 2006. It is his words that have moved me to write this article today. Please read them and take them to heart.

Andy Rooney, CBS 60 Minutes, Sunday May 28, 2006

“Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day we have set aside to honor by remembering all the Americans who have died fighting for the thing we like the most about our America: the freedom we have to live as we please.

No official day to remember is adequate for something like that. It’s too formal. It gets to be just another day on the calendar. No one would know from Memorial Day that Richie M., who was shot through the forehead coming onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, wore different color socks on each foot because he thought it brought him good luck.

No one would remember on Memorial Day that Eddie G. had promised to marry Julie W. the day after he got home from the war, but didn’t marry Julie because he never came home from the war. Eddie was shot dead on an un-American desert island, Iwo Jima.

For too many Americans, Memorial Day has become just another day off. There’s only so much time any of us can spend remembering those we loved who have died, but the men, boys really, who died in our wars deserve at least a few moments of reflection during which we consider what they did for us.

They died.

We use the phrase “gave their lives,” but they didn’t give their lives. Their lives were taken from them.

There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.

Because I was in the Army during World War II, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed.

Charley Wood wrote poetry in high school. He was killed when his Piper Cub was shot down while he was flying as a spotter for the artillery.

Bob O’Connor went down in flames in his B17.

Obie Slingerland and I were best friends and co-captains of our high school football team. Obie was killed on the deck of the Saratoga when a bomb that hadn’t dropped exploded as he landed.

I won’t think of them anymore tomorrow, Memorial Day, than I think of them any other day of my life.

Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It’s for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way - some new religion maybe - that takes war out of our lives.

That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.”

Written By Andy Rooney © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Online Software

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You have heard about it, may even know someone who uses this type of service, but is it for you? Mostly likely the answer will be yes and below you will see the benefits.

Because this is a site dedicated to the bookkeeping industry, we will be looking at online bookkeeping software. Let’s review the common approach to picking out software, installing and implementing it and maintaining the program. Most people start with what they know or what their accountants/consultants prefer to work with. A business owner is busy running their business and so wants the easiest solution to record his financial information and for most companies that suggest a solution that is inexpensive to purchase, implement and maintain.

Whether you are a small company with only one or two people accessing your software, or a larger company with employees in multiple locations or sales personnel on the road, an online software solution can be the answer for your company. Buying a program to install on your computer is just the start of the cost of using software. Who will install it – you or will you hire someone? Will you be running a network – and can you set the network up or will you be paying an IT consultant? Do you have multiple locations or the need for personnel to access your records from remote locations? If so, this is probably another set-up expense you will incur. And there are those yearly support fees that all software companies charge so you may keep current with their software without having to pay the full purchase price every time you need to upgrade.

And this is where online software comes into play. An online software program is purchased by paying a monthly, per user fee which often saves the business owner a great deal of expense and adds convenience and security. Should you be a small company with only one or two people using the software, than the expense of the monthly subscription is usually much less than the purchase of the software outright. If you have multiple locations the ability for your personnel to access the software anywhere there is an internet connection – at home, on site, while traveling or at another office – saves time, phone calls, and the expense of setting up terminal services (remote access), in-house servers and the maintenance of the servers and associated software. The subscription cost includes all upgrades and maintenance of the software and back-ups of your data to a secure location.

So let’s review – for a monthly per user fee you always have the latest version of the software, it is already installed and upgrades are done automatically, and your data is backed up. You don’t have to buy a server or server software, you don’t have to hire an IT consultant and you or your personnel can access your information using a secure log-in from anywhere in the world as long as they can access the internet. And the log-in routine can be set-up to restrict access to certain parts of the program if needed. Sale reps traveling could access client contact information, estimates, order status and invoices without having access to the company’s financial records, for example. Or a consultant bookkeeper or your accountant could access your records from their office if there is a need. There are no additional support costs and you can add users as your company grows. Or you are on vacation and just want to check in on sales volume. There are many conveniences to being able to access your records remotely, these are just a few.

There are many programs to choose from; however Intuit’s Online Edition subscription is one choice that many business owners and their accountants will find attractive because the online version is an already familiar format. Intuit offers a free trial offer and gives you the option of importing your data from your current desktop version of QuickBooks.

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Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping

Copyright 2006 Bookkeeping R Us All Rights Reserved

There are several distinct advantages to outsourcing your bookkeeping functions. First and foremost is saving money. Having said that don’t step over dollars to pick up dimes. You get what you pay for and if you don’t pay for quality than you won’t have quality service. However, you can save money by outsourcing because you won’t be paying for employer payroll tax expense (FICA, FUTA and SUTA) workman’s compensation and general liability insurances, vacation time, sick time, health insurance and other benefits a good full time bookkeeper will expect from his/her employer. Just remember, however, that these costs will be built into the consultant’s hourly rate and their fee will reflect these costs. Any bookkeeping consultant who has not taken these costs into consideration is not a bookkeeper you want - if they don’t know enough to include these costs into their fees, then they don’t know enough to be a help to your business. You should expect to pay at least three times what you would pay an experienced full charge bookkeeper.

And just how do you save money by paying three times the amount you would pay an employee? Well, let’s see. There will be no recruiting, interviewing and training costs for start. And if you should find yourself unhappy with the services there will be no additional recruiting, interviewing and training to replace your bookkeeper. Also, you will not have to be concerned about law suits such as sexual harassment, unlawful firing, age discrimination, sexist, etc. Or an increase in your unemployment rates because you laid off an employee that you really wanted to fire but had no lawful cause to do so. So right away we have less time and money spent and potentially less hassle if things don’t go well.

And of course you will not be paying the 7.65% employer’s share of FICA and Medicaid, or SUTA or FUTA expense, or workman’s compensation and general liability insurance premiums. Also any worthy bookkeeper will expect at least two weeks vacation, coverage for sick time, health and dental insurance, a 401k plan where the employer matches employee contributions and even perhaps more benefits.

Most free-lance bookkeepers will have their own offices saving you space within your office. So you will not be buying that extra desk, calculator, computer and computer software. Your bookkeeper will be providing all of that as part of his/her fee. No software updates, computer maintenance, training costs, etc. Of course should you prefer to have your computerized bookkeeping records available to you at your office, a small investment in software installed on your computer makes this possible. Also no office supplies to be paid for. You will be amazed at just how much pens, pencils, and paper can be used by a bookkeeper. Your consultant bookkeeper will either ask you to drop off the work at their office, will pick it up at your office or some may even offer remote bookkeeping service. And by having your bookkeeping done off-site, your bookkeeper will be able to work more efficiently and accurately because her/his office will most likely offer less distractions than your busy office. All of this is saving you money.

And the best reason for outsourcing is that you control the amount of money spent on bookkeeping. What I mean by this is that the person you hire to do your bookkeeping will be doing just that - not answering the phone, dealing with drop-bys, chatting to other employees, etc. Also you can start with just a few hours a month and add on when you need to and then adjust downward again should it be necessary. Can you imagine finding an employee to start with only four hours a month, then asking them to put in 20 hours a week for awhile and then back down to four hours a month again. I don’t think you would keep them for very long, but a free lance bookkeeper is able to work around these variables and even more importantly expects to work with flexible schedules.

So have I convinced you yet? If so, then just remember “you will get what you pay for”. Go for top quality because your financial records are the core of your business and without great bookkeeping you cannot expect to succeed no matter what type of business you have. After all don’t you think you are worth it?

Resources:

MacMillan Associates

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Construction Job Costing for Profit

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It is not enough to look at the bottom line of your profit and loss statement to determine how profitable your company is, but to also examine each job for profitability. You could conceivably being making a company wide profit but loosing money on some jobs.

What costs should be included in your job costs reports? Materials, Labor and Subcontractor costs are the obvious. However, there are other costs to consider such as labor and overhead burden and equipment costs for example. Labor burden consists of payroll tax expenses (FICA, SUTA, and FUTA) and other payroll related costs such as workman’s compensation insurance and general liability insurance. By estimating a yearly budget for overhead costs and defining an estimated rate to charge a job for overhead you will have a way to apply overhead burden to your job costs (estimated yearly overhead expenses divided by estimated yearly sales = estimated overhead rate).

Should you own heavy equipment then the cost of running that equipment for each job should also be considered as part of that’s job’s cost. Fuel, annualized repairs costs, purchase price and insurance should all be considered in assigning a per hour cost of using a piece of equipment.

The goal is to consider all costs that might affect a job’s profitability. By seeing whether you are obtaining your estimated profit or perhaps not reaching your estimated profit as you proceed into the job, it will help you see areas where you will be able to make up the short falls. Should that not be possible, than you will have good information for estimating the next job that is similar. Without profit we cannot continue to stay in business.

Resources:

MacMillan Associates

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