Author: Complete Controller

AI marketing is a technique for enhancing the customer journey via the use of technology. It may also be utilized to increase the ROI of marketing efforts. This is done by gaining insight into your target audience via big data analytics, machine learning, and other methods. By using these data, you may improve the effectiveness of consumer contact points. Whether you’re email marketing or giving customer service, AI removes a great deal of the guesswork associated with client interactions.

On a larger scale, it may be utilized to automate previously manual operations. AI marketing applications include content creation, PPC advertising, and even site design. Currently, our firm relies heavily on AI to assist with our video marketing efforts.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Marketing

AI can help simplify and improve marketing efforts in the realm of digital marketing. Additionally, it can remove the possibility of human mistakes. While most digital marketing relies on human creativity, AI software may create a report entirely from data. To connect with your consumers, you will, nevertheless, need a personal touch.

We’ve all heard a lot about programmatic and cognitive advertising, which utilizes sophisticated algorithms to optimize demand and supply. Prepare to hear more about artificial intelligence advertising as well.

We used to create our advertisements, and many of us still do, but why bother now? Allow AI to generate publicity for you. That is precisely what Coca-Cola and Quartz have chosen to accomplish in collaboration with DigitasLBi Hewlett Packard Enterprise. They’re set to capture the market with this win-win scenario. IBM Watson has evolved into the most powerful tool for every company, and an increasing number of businesses are using AI to increase sales.

Artificial Intelligence and Customer Service

After “advertising,” the first term that comes to mind when discussing artificial intelligence in marketing is “personalization.” Brands are eager to include customized experiences in their marketing strategies. However, without AI, you can never attain ideal bespoke customer service.

Personalization requires effective communication. When it comes to purchasing help, no brand can provide each client with a dedicated human assistant. AI personal shop assistants and chatbots are here to take the place of humans in the communication chain.

Today, every brand is impacted by AI in some manner. Why not take an Uber? The platform automatically determines the optimal number of drivers to deploy depending on volume. Use Yelp to give a restaurant a rating. Artificial intelligence is used to rank and sort relevant data. AI powers the whole of social media. That is why when Facebook announces modifications to its newsfeed algorithm, it is a huge issue. Even businesses that do not use AI internally are affected externally by the technology. Even the tiniest companies must consider SEO, Google rankings, and keyword search as AI systems comb through data and refine relevant results. After all, how will people discover you if you are not ranked?

Over the past several years, the central question has been how far artificial intelligence will go. Consider how significant the 1997 chess encounter between Deep Blue and Garry Kasparov was. Wait. By 2050, AI specialists believe AI will be capable of doing every human job. While it may not get the same level of attention as the man vs. machine chess match, AI is advancing daily. In the end, that is precisely what it was intended to do: learn and iterate to improve with each click and interaction. While many businesses are investigating how artificial intelligence may affect internal procedures for providing products and services, brands are already using AI to improve brand experiences.

Finally

The introduction of AI into the market has enabled small businesses to adopt tried and true techniques for achieving more significant business objectives. Through AI, start-ups continuously acquire a competitive advantage, while large corporations provide the foundation for developing new solutions. AI has become an integral part of reality, from acting like a robot in a manufacturing facility to self-driving vehicles and voice-activated resources during complex medical procedures.

The Accenture Institute for High Performance has published a study report claiming that by 2035, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have doubled yearly economic growth rates in several industrialized nations. Annual growth in the United States increased from 2.6% to 4.6%, equating to an extra $8.3 trillion with broad AI use. In the United Kingdom, AI can contribute an additional $814 billion to the economy, boosting yearly growth from 2.5% to 3.9%.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Artificial intelligence has quickly become the latest hot commodity across nearly every industry; indeed, it seems like every major tech company already leverages AI in some way, or at least has plans to shortly. Such fast-paced, hi-tech computation has already improved our lives in so many ways, from how we use the internet, communicate, shop, and even learn.

There’s no denying that customer satisfaction is one of the most critical measures of success for any profit-oriented business. It raises the question: can artificial intelligence be used to ensure customer satisfaction? The short answer is yes.

What is Customer Success?

Simply put, Customer Success is just another word for Customer Service or Customer Satisfaction. It is the business and its employees’ practice to ensure their customers’ continued satisfaction, maintain a positive brand image, and drive profits.

Is AI Replacing Humans in Customer Satisfaction?

It’s improbable that AI will replace a team of trained customer service representatives anytime soon. Customer satisfaction primarily hinges upon forming a relationship between the customer and service representative and nuanced communication that can not be mimicked by any machine, no matter how powerful. Basic human skills include listening with empathy, encouragement, and subtle solutions to abstract data or complex problems.

That said, there are several ways AI can help improve the Customer Service Experience.

What Role Does AI Play in Customer Satisfaction?

AI can analyze customer behavior and use this information to produce observable data that shows businesses precisely what their customers like and dislike and the best possible way to appeal to different demographics of customers when it comes to customer satisfaction.

AI is Making Marketing & Advertising Smarter

 By analyzing customer behavior, AI allows businesses to see new and more effective ways of advertising to different demographics, thus enhancing specialized advertising so that people only see relevant ads.

AI Helps Businesses Strategize their Customer Service Initiative

AI can help companies see what areas of the customer success process are falling short, allowing them to strategize and improve. AI can also show enterprises what is working and why so they can use this data to continue doing the things their clients have already responded to positively.

AI-Powered Chatbots & How They’re Improving Customer Success

Many companies are already utilizing AI-powered chatbots to provide new and innovative customer service solutions to their customers. These chatbots can solve customers’ problems faster and more efficiently than any human. Moreover, the bots learn as they work, meaning their ability to provide positive customer success experiences will only improve over time.

Artificial Intelligence & CRM

Effective customer success is at the core of CRM or ‘Customer Relationship Management. Many businesses, such as banks and insurance firms, rely on maintaining the best possible CRM standards. AI can streamline the most basic and even the most complex processes, allowing information and other amenities to be delivered to clients quickly and efficiently.

These days, large organizations such as banks deal with more clients than ever; and more money than ever. AI can ensure that various financial processes happen faster and more securely than would otherwise ever be possible.

AI is Keeping Customers in the Know

The modern customer prides themselves on being highly knowledgeable regarding the products they buy, the services they avail of, and most importantly, the businesses they support. AI can deliver information to customers faster than ever, keeping them updated with the latest news about their support companies.

AI Keeps Customers Secure

The modern customer values their privacy and data. The importance of digital privacy and what digital corporations like Facebook are doing with our data have been hot-button topics. Thanks to AI-powered systems such as blockchain technology, businesses can offer their customers better privacy solutions than ever before. It has gone a long way in restoring people’s trust in big tech.

In Conclusion

AI is still a very new technology, and innovations are constantly happening daily. It’s difficult to say just where we could go from here. Will AI one day completely replace human beings in the Customer Service industry? Or will human businesses and AI continue working in tandem to make the customer service experience better for everybody involved? About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

In the first quarter of 2019, many self-employed people reviewed their accounting for filing taxes. All income and expenses must fit when accounts are rendered to the Treasury. It would be best to have all your billing in order before possible tax checks. What content is mandatory in an ordinary invoice for its legal and fiscal validity?

Basic Information in the Ordinary Invoice

The Billing Regulation in Article Six establishes the requirements of the invoices that we detail below. It would be best to remember that having an accounting and billing program contributes to the accurate monitoring of income and expenses.

• Number and series: The numbering of the invoices within each series will be correlated
• Expedition date
• Name and surnames. Full company name, both of whom issued the invoice of both recipients
• Tax Identification Number (NIF) is attributed by the Spanish Tax Administration or, as the case may be, by another Member State of the European Union. The operation has been performed by the person obliged to issue the invoice
• Domicile of the obligor to issue invoice and of the recipient of the operations detailed therein
• Description of the operations, including all the necessary data for the determination of the taxable base of the tax, that is, the total amount of the consideration, corresponding to those and their amount, including the unit price without tax of said operations, as well as any discount or discount that is not included in displayed unit price
• If applicable, the tax rate of VAT the equivalence surcharge, and the withholding percentage in the IRPF equally, if appropriate, as happens with professionals
• The date on which the transactions are documented or on which, if applicable, the advance payment has been received, provided it is a date other than the date of issue of the invoice

Do you wonder how to proceed if you are missing some information or have committed some incorrectness? Imagine that you have issued an invoice with the wrong CIF or fiscal address. These errors are not pectate minute precise and require issuing a rectifying invoice with numbering and series different from the original. That rectifying invoice will be the only one valid for the Treasury.

Ordinary Invoices Must Have the Following Considerations

You can’t miss the following information from an average invoice:

• A unique identification number
• Contact information, agency name, and address
• It would help if you had a clear description of the products, services, and charges with the company address and name.
• The deadline or supply date for the goods or services
• Invoice date
• Charge rate
• Required VAT cost
• The total amount that you have earned

Invoices for individual traders 

Sole traders must include the following things in their invoices:

• Add the usable company name and business owner’s name
• You must give your address to get legal documents if you use your business name.

Invoices for limited companies

Be careful while adding your company, especially if it is limited. It must be complete and accurate, as you will need to write it on the certification of incorporation. If you wish to add your director’s name on invoices, you will have to register all company directors’ names.

Value-added tax invoices

You will use VAT invoices if you and your clients have registered for value-added tax (VAT). But you will need to add extra information as compared to non-VAT invoices.

How Can We Change Already Delivered Invoices? 

Already issued invoices mean your clients have got invoices already. If you find errors in those invoices, you will have multiple options per the mistake standards. You will issue a credit note if you have to higher or lower the original amount mentioned on the invoice. It only happens when you have forgotten to add a discount, or you will have to refund your client for damaged products.

You can automatically add all details and build credit notes directly from the invoice. You will not issue a credit note when you only have to correct some details on the invoices. You can include the details such as your information, client’s data, document contact, etc. But the easiest way is an invoice re-creation with the corrected information or details. You can send a new bill to your client with a note in which you will explain the reason for its re-creation if you need it. You will have to continue the numbering with a unique invoice number. Make sure you do not skip numbers.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Only a decade ago, inbound marketing was a novel concept. Marketers realized they couldn’t just produce a large amount of material; it needed to be optimized and of good quality for search engines.

Previously, such material was mainly restricted to the written word. That is no longer the case now. A complete content strategy includes written material like blogs and ebooks and visual content such as podcasts, graphic assets, and videos.

That last component — video — continues to grow in popularity. According to the 2018 State of Inbound study, 45% of marketers plan to increase their investment on YouTube this year – more than any other marketing medium.

Locate Video Keywords to Boost Your Video SEO

Keywords for YouTube are somewhat different from those for search engines such as Google or Bing.

For instance, you’ll often find YouTube terms beginning with “how to.”

Brian Dean suggests doing a Google search for several terms related to your specialty. Then, determine if any keywords provide video results.

For instance, if you type “how to bake apple pie” into Google, you’ll get a slew of video results, at least one of which is from YouTube.

Invite Visitors to Leave Comments

If your videos get a large number of comments, this indicates to YouTube that they are popular.

YouTube, like Google, favors popular content. YouTube utilizes comments as a criterion to determine which videos are the most popular.

It’s good to conclude your video with a question to spark conversation.

Close Accurate Captions

YouTube transcribes your videos automatically to offer subtitles. On the other hand, YouTube’s auto-subtitles are barely 70% correct, resulting in confusing and often humiliating captions.

Google recognizes and penalizes helpful search results. Spam is defined as “automatically produced nonsense,” which accurately describes the majority of auto-captions. You risk getting flagged as spam and losing your YouTube channel’s search ranking by employing incorrect subtitles.

To counteract the negative impacts of auto-captions on your YouTube SEO strategy, you’ll want to provide correct closed captions to your YouTube videos using an SRT file.

While search engines can crawl text, they are unable to see videos. Your captions will be dense with relevant keywords that describe the subject of your video, allowing Google to crawl and rank your material appropriately.

Create “Shareable” Content

It is not enough to create an interactive video; it is also necessary to provide material your viewers will enjoy.

“Shareable” material is distinctive and innovative and provides value to its target audience, facilitating sharing and expanding reach.

The quality of your material will set your video apart from the competition, and a solid call to action may also help boost your site’s authority via new links and mentions.

Video Repurpose

Many methods exist to repurpose an existing video, prolonging its “life” and distribution.

For instance, you might produce a ten-minute movie on your site providing video SEO advice. Your objective is to boost this page’s rating and improve your site’s awareness and traffic.

Rather than just advertising the specific page, which you should do anyway, you might also share a sample of this film on your Facebook page, directing your audience to your website for additional information.

Additionally, you may build an infographic, a slideshow, or shorter films that all point to your site’s primary source of information.

Conclusion

The key to incorporating video into your SEO strategy is to invest the time necessary to create high-quality content targeted toward a specific objective. After all, video is not always the savior of your website.

Consider it in terms of a cycle. Video improves your rating, which results in more people seeing your site and more people clicking on your link. However, they will leave your site quickly if your on-page material is not of good quality.

Indeed, this may be harmful. Hosting a low-quality video with little or no context will decrease rank since the search engine does not want to direct users to a pointless website. While more visitors may initially notice your site in the SERPs, they will soon leave if your website does not fulfill its purpose. This will raise your bounce rate (a measure we previously identified as Google values for SEO), signaling to Google that your page is unimportant. What is the final result? You’ll lose the ranking you just achieved, and you may lose other ranks due to your site’s lack of authority in Google’s eyes. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Marketing is critical for entrepreneurs since, without a consumer market, no business can start and flourish. At the heart of marketing is the process of gaining and keeping consumers. Entrepreneurs must develop the offer (design the product and establish the price), get the offer to market (through distribution), and simultaneously communicate the request to the market (communications). These actions develop marketing’s well-known Four Ps: product, pricing, location (distribution), and promotion (contact).

Entrepreneurs often find themselves responsible for developing the whole “marketing system”—from product and pricing to distribution and communication. Due to the difficulty and expense of bringing new goods and services to market — which is exacerbated for new businesses — they must be more creative in their marketing. Many entrepreneurs depend on their ingenuity rather than their financial resources to establish an appealing image in a crowded marketplace.

A critical component of obtaining market acceptability is establishing brand recognition, which may be nonexistent depending on the endeavor stage. Entrepreneurs must distinguish their products or service so that the consumer understands their uniqueness and value. This is marketing’s responsibility.

Entrepreneurs and marketers have a lot in common:

Thinking Outside the Box

Numerous entrepreneurs possess an uncanny ability to think beyond the box, developing novel solutions to common issues that no one else has considered. This may be advantageous for creating unique and customized marketing strategies.

Dedication

Who better to get an insider’s view on a firm than the one with the utmost enthusiasm for their business and industry? Entrepreneurs often invest 110% in everything business-related, including marketing efforts.

Brand Recognition

Entrepreneurs often have the most intimate knowledge of their brand and distill it to its most basic form. While others may confuse an image, those who founded the company often have the most transparent view of its essence.

Planning Capabilities

Any company that has grown to be successful has benefited from the expertise of a competent planner. Entrepreneurs are often exceptional at charting a clear route for development and executing it. This is also true for marketers seeking to increase their customers’ brand loyalty.

Customer Appreciation

Entrepreneurs also place a premium on the consumer. As with marketing experts, they understand the consumer’s influence on the success of any company. They know the only route to genuine development is via them and are always looking for innovative methods to engage their audience.

Every One of Us is a Marketer

Numerous small company owners believe they provide just what their consumers need. However, they become very hesitant when asked to discuss it from a commercial viewpoint. That ought not to be the case. Rather than that, adopt the perspective of an experienced marketer.

Entrepreneurs with strong marketing skills are not concerned with sales pitches or glossy brochures but rather with the distinct value propositions of their offerings. In short, they understand that their products or services provide value to their consumers and must communicate that value to prospective purchasers.

Customers Are Priority

When it comes to effective marketing, the focus is on showing value to the consumer rather than just extolling the virtues of a product.

An intelligent method is first to ascertain the client’s requirements and then show that the product satisfies them. Additionally, this makes every discussion seem more like a problem-solving exercise rather than a sales pitch.

Mike Rowe, a television personality, has one of the greatest stories of this being done. In an article published on his Facebook page, he describes how he prioritized the customer’s perspective during a job interview in which he was asked to sell a pencil. Mike Rowe constructs an ideal client in this example and explains why the pencil would be helpful to them. He recognizes the worth of the product, but maybe more importantly, he understands who he is selling to.

Segmenting a market is a critical skill. Stated no product or service has an “everyone” market. Market segmentation makes it much simpler to communicate with prospective customers since more information about their desires and requirements is available.

To accomplish this well, you must also have a marketing strategy that details how a product or service will be presented to the market and information on future needs.

Conclusion

Businesses that want to win the fight for the customer experience cannot afford to confine marketing to “observation without involvement.” Marketers are responsible for managing events and procuring branded gifts; they hold the keys to a more profound knowledge of the market and improved communication with internal and external stakeholders. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Paid search marketing, also referred to as PPC or search engine marketing (SEM), has been a mainstay of digital channel marketing for many years, owing to its potential efficacy, scalability, and breadth of targeting possibilities. SEM may target audiences via keyword targeting and gather mountains of data through paid search. The paid search benefits from a comprehensive strategy that can take various forms. This article discusses five ways to develop a complete marketing strategy that can elevate your SEM and the rest of your marketing efforts. 

Align Your Budget With Your Product’s or Service’s Seasonal Patterns

While implementing the methods already establishes a strong image, there is always more to guarantee that your brand receives the most significant amount of accessible exposure.

It is critical to ask yourself: Are there any seasonal, yearly, or weekly patterns in my data that we might profit from? Certain goods or services (e.g., education, farming, etc.) are more valued in the spring or autumn, while others may need some time over the holidays. It’s beneficial to extract data from year to year to better understand the critical times for your company. With this information, you may adjust your budget to increase during the most valuable periods and decrease during the quietest periods.

You can maximize sponsored search effectiveness by better understanding your brand’s purpose. Budgeting for seasonal trends may be accomplished in various methods but often includes examining marketing expenditures over a year and then adding or removing a percentage from the 12 months to replicate the patterns seen in the data.

Divide the Analysis into Device Types

With mobile traffic quickly increasing share, it’s essential to segment any sponsored vs. organic data by device.

Mobile is or is rapidly becoming the primary source of traffic in a wide variety of verticals. However, site engagement on mobile is often lower than on desktop or even tablets.

With mobile search advertising costing much more than organic results in the near term, SEO is compelling to take the lead.

Engines are becoming more adept at structuring mobile SERPs around micro-moments. Mobile results are becoming distinct from desktops, where many previously concentrated their study on organic versus natural search.

With mobile-first search nearing its tipping point, it’s worthwhile to move away from desktop-centric analyses.

Evaluation & Optimization

Incorporating SEO and PPC into a holistic plan may require more rigorous testing and optimization. For instance, your SEO approach may influence your PPC strategy. SEO data may assist you in identifying keywords for your next sponsored campaign. Then you can utilize PPC campaigns to evaluate the efficacy of these keywords and the effectiveness of various creative and message methods.

After testing, you may evaluate user engagement and clicks to identify the most engaging creative message. Finally, you may compare paid and organic outcomes to decide if you should increase or decrease your investment in PPC in the future. Without synergy, all these trials would take much longer to conclude, implement improvements, and benefit your company.

• Does your inability to combine SEO and PPC negatively impact your users’ search experience with your brand?

Users often see disagreement, uncertainty, and sometimes contradictory messaging on SERPs from the same brand/domain across organic and sponsored results for specific keywords. Consider going along Fifth Avenue in search of a particular product. You come upon a shop that seems to sell the item you’re searching for. However, each of their window displays conveys distinct and contradictory signals about the goods or why you should purchase them. Would you enter? The same is true for search engine users.

• Are your marketing expenses increasing because of your inability to combine SEO and PPC?

It’s straightforward. If you already control the SERPs via a high position for a particular term, do you need to spend more on PPC to acquire the same search traffic you would otherwise win? This is particularly true for brand-related keyword searches.

Conclusion

Marketers in an omnichannel world consider how to piece together the consumer experience across all channels, including retail, catalog, advertising, and digital… When we examine these broad-brush attribution models, we see an obvious potential to combine three digital media into one that can function independently. A comprehensive approach to search marketing will result in more intelligence, informed investment, and cohesive collaboration. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

It isn’t easy to detect fraud, such as bribery, corruption, money laundering, tax fraud, and misusing authority when part of the public sector. By internally controlling the administration and checking up on the budget, fraud can be prevented in the public sector. A strict and robust environment that quickly detects fraud through data analytics and internal audits can efficiently create and retain programs for fraud management. When influential individuals exploit the vulnerable, such as by accepting cash given under the table for their selfish purposes, fraud management must control the deceit.

What are the Signs that will Detect Fraud?

• Unethical practices occur in the public sector, and opportunities, incentives, or internal and external pressure can make an individual commit fraud.
• There is a high chance of fraud when security is absent in public structures, such as poor systems in the IT department.
• When employees are reassigned frequently, there are limited resources to investigate corruption and bribery, which increases fraud.
• As managers have to achieve goals and targets, they may succumb to taking bribes and commit corruption to meet high expectations.
• When decisions override between two individuals on high posts, there is a lack of coordination, which may lead to unethical practices by the subordinates.

Forgery, making false documents, and manipulating accounting are also forms of fraud. Therefore, efficient fraud management protocols must be implemented to minimize these occurrences.

How Can Fraud Be Prevented?

If not wholly, criminalizing corruption and bribery and putting the accused individuals behind bars instead of the entire organization may dial down the unethical practices. There should be rules, regulations, and codes of ethics and conduct that should be made compulsory for the governing officials of the public sector. Starting hotlines that entertain tip-offs can decrease the number of frauds within the public sector. A prevention strategy such as carrying out internal and external audits that investigate the activities within the public sector will minimize fraudulent acts, misconduct, and abuse of power.

Since no records of fraud and accounts presented might be unreliable, public sector organizations are reluctant to make a case against their employees. Also, building a topic requires time, energy, and effort that may already exhaust the sources. Due to this, individuals may get leverage, and they would repeat their crimes again and again. Also, when a department receives exposure, there are concerns about its image.

To curb fraud, a tone needs to be set from the top. Senior executives should take the prompt initiative to practice ethical behaviors that leave an impact and act as an example.

How to Deal with a Fraudster?

When there are delivery concerns, and the accused is part of senior management, the subordinates would hesitate to complain. There are targets to be achieved, and reporting against an old may result in losing their job.

• Conduct risk assessments that aren’t just a formality but will be carried out thoroughly for proper fraud management.
• Risk assessments must be carried out routinely when new programs are introduced. This way, discrepancies between the previous evaluations can be compared, and changes can then be seen.
• The public sector needs to train employees to detect potential acts of fraud, such as choosing an individual who closely checks and monitors the environment.
• By employing data analytics, the public sector can carry out fraud management in which regular checkups on suspicious activity promptly alert the concerned authorities.
• Employing security, reporting suspicious transactions, and rotating employees among different departments may minimize fraud and help manage it.

Mostly, when fraudsters are detected, they are dismissed, not before giving a warning. If the case is severe, there might be a chance that the accused will be notified by the relevant authorities and may even face criminal charges. Unlawful acts such as extortion and racketeering must be addressed to avoid fraud risks properly. Fraud management can only happen when individuals, whether the general public or government officials, decide to cooperate and make a collective effort to reduce fraud.

By pointing out the wrongdoings and choosing to do the right thing, one by one, the chances of deceit within the public sector will be reduced. When opting to point a fraudster, ensure that you have all the evidence and proof that indicate that the accused is responsible and has committed callous acts for their gain. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

A business plan is a document that we write to manage business proceedings for better results. Companies use it to analyze their business idea in detail. It relies on the entire business structure as it is a type of business skeleton. Contemplate everything while creating it. Also, don’t forget to value your business’s internal and external aspects. You can add positive and negative ways to make a deal based on timeless customer or investor relations. Take your business plan into account before starting to shoot a specific business.

The objectives of a business plan are, first and foremost:

• Identify, describe, and specify in detail the business idea.
• Examine its technical feasibility and profitability.
• Mark the objectives that are intended to be achieved.
• Establish mechanisms to evaluate the progress of the business and its results.

After choosing the company’s name, it is worth spending some time and effort to prepare the business plan before taking the next step, that is, taking action. It will prevent us from making mistakes and encountering difficulties and unforeseen events that we could have missed. In this regard, this document must be realistic and consistent. It is no use fooling ourselves. By the way, do you know what m-commerce is? Well, if not, we will tell you in the following article:

What is a Business Plan?

We must remember that a business plan is not a rigid script that must be followed strictly. It is a document that establishes the limits and guidelines on which work must begin but can also be modified or adapted according to the circumstances.

A business plan is essential for business owners to change their business ideas and illustrations into realities. But, the condition should be a highly devoted time and reflection needed to make a business plan.

A good business plan will help us to:

• Determine which the best business opportunities are for our company.
• Detect the most exciting markets for our project.
• Decide what kind of products or services to offer.
• Establish the objectives, strategies, and plans to follow.
• Learn to manage our resources more efficiently.
• Create coordinated work programs.
• Measure and evaluate the results.
• Analyze the situation of our company or project against the competition.

Despite that, we didn’t get the same result as expected even when we launched our business idea. But, still, it is the best and most valuable source of information for upcoming projects and contracts.

Errors to Avoid when Preparing a Business Plan

Before explaining how a business plan should be developed, it is essential to know what we should not do in any case. The most common mistakes that we should try to avoid not knowing the market well, ignoring the competition, not calibrating production costs correctly, investing, ignoring legal and administrative procedures, not establishing the necessary boundaries between family and business, and not paying enough attention to marketing. In short, confuse a business idea with a serious business plan.

Investment Proposal vs. Business Plan 

A comparison between the Business plan and investment proposal is as follows. There are two core facts that we can compare.

Business plan

• It has an internal document
• It works as a helpful guide for decision-making within the business.

Investment proposal

• It has an external document
• You can invest in the business as it provides attempts to convince those outside the company.  

Now, you know that a business plan and an investment proposal are similar to each other. Sometimes, experts call the investment proposal an investor-ready business plan. In general, the content of both of them is the same. We use an investment proposal instead of a business plan for a different audience. Business plans help in the decision-making process of managers, executives, and employees as they are highly internal documents. On the other side, businesses design investment proposals for external agencies.

In a Nutshell

If you need a detailed roadmap, you can use a business plan. It explains the fundamental goals of the company and the best way to get all of them. The general information about a business plan will rely on the nature of your business and the targeted audience. Revisit your business plan regularly as it is realistic, detailed, accurate as easy as possible. The business plan becomes incredibly useful for everyday business planning. It consists of forecasts about business performance, detailed financial projections, and market plans. Also, you will need to update it regularly as per the requirements to make it highly effective.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

They say living a life with no risk means you haven’t lived well enough, so does that mean living an all-risk life is the way to go? That sounds good enough if you answer your first question, which is:

“What if I Fail?”

Failure is inevitable, but you reduce your chances of failing at something if you take a calculated risk. So talking about Crypto, is it a calculated risk or a wild one? Let’s evaluate.

Cryptocurrency is tempting, especially for the latest generation, but is it worth it? Is it worth risking a setting that can protect your future? At this point, you can either live with your 9-5 job or take a risk, retire early, and invest in Crypto. 

Investing in Crypto and keeping it as the only source of income would mean that all profits are yours and all losses are yours as well. This would also mean that it cannot be seen as a risk anymore because it is your only income mode. You could, however, take a calculated risk with Crypto and retire early. 

See, retiring early and keeping Crypto as the only source of income is fundamentally playing with fire. Two things happen when you play with fire:

1. Either you crash and burn
2. Or you bring in another hoop of fire.

Humans are destined to live. We know the keys to survival, but once we realize that life is more about creating ways to enjoy life rather than endure, the consequences of taking risks suddenly feel a lot less. 

Let’s have a look at the repercussions that can happen if Crypto’s all you have and what might happen if even that slips out of your fingers.

The Deal With Crypto

Crypto’s the up-and-coming jazz! Yes, sure, it is good money. It can also be a substantial source because you invest in it now and years later; when you’re settled and require money, you can pat your past on the back, take that money out, and use it. But there is one problem, how can you be sure that this amount will sustain till then? And more so, will it be as beneficial as you think it might be?

Volatility

Cryptocurrency works on impression. The impression of Crypto is directly proportional to its market value. Crypto is volatile and what is volatile is a risk, provided you have a backup. This is how it works: you buy your bitcoin in dollars, and dollar crashes, you will not be able to trade your bitcoin. Your bitcoin value will subsequently drop as the dollar rate collapses. 

These factors can be either on your side or against you because you can’t tell what’s going to happen when.

Let’s say you retire early after investing everything in Crypto. You take a full-fledged vacation and party like there’s no tomorrow. Two days after you come back, you realize your cryptocurrency has crashed. What do you do? Can you handle the outcome? Can you still put as much faith in it again? Will you be able to start from scratch?

Fraud!

Traditional theft

Traditional Theft regarding cryptocurrency means crypto criminals can potentially hack into their investors’ crypto wallets and steal their currency. Crypto criminals then set up fake wallets to bilk counterparties and fraudulent crypto exchanges to steal money from customers smartly. 

Tech-preneur

Elon Musk recently gave a statement saying that Tesla was up for purchase via bitcoin. This made the public think that Bitcoin is gaining value and its worth is increasing. Sometime later, Musk took back his statement and dumped a percentage of his shares.

Reality

Preferably, invest in Crypto. It does have its benefits, but the risk is only good enough if it’s an intelligent risk. Every decision in life, big or small, is based on consequences, the understanding of handling potential repercussions, and the acceptance that at any given point in time, it can take a wrong turn because the results are beyond your control.

Playing with fire is tempting, but you ought to make sure that you don’t get burnt. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Ah, the inevitable: COVID-19. If we sit down and think about it, has Covid-19 not changed us entirely? Our lives changed to digital in the blink of an eye, from a typical day of waking up at 8 to get ready to go to work, days where our commute spent the most time with us, to days where our worktable gives us the most company. 

A digital lifestyle has completely taken over all of us. COVID-19 essentially puts us on that path, but is it not convenient? Everything is available at your doorstep, favorable for the seller, customer, and consumer.

When we talk digital, we don’t just say work from home, but our entire lifestyle has taken an energy shift. Let’s start with the work-from-home culture:

Digital at Work

After COVID-19 took over, our lifestyle changed, and society shifted to the work-from-home culture at the earliest. What this did was that it adapted people to a life of convenience. When working from the comfort of your home became a rule, while being tucked comfortably in your blanket, most people knew they had it well. 

This digital lifestyle soon became convenient for many, and with COVID-19 on the rise, we anticipated this would continue. In many ways, this helped firms as well, as many saved bills on electricity and other expenditures. 

E-Commerce

E-commerce is essentially the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet. This can be business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and consumer-to-consumer. 

• Business-to-business is essentially one where products or services are exchanged between companies. An example of this could be online retailers or wholesalers. 
• More commonly known as B2C, business-to-consumer is how companies directly sell products to consumers. B2C does not have any middle-person involvement. Online retailers sell their products and services to consumers on the internet. A great example of the business-to-consumer theory would be Amazon. 
• Consumer-to-consumer is a business strategy whereby individuals trade privately. This may be for goods and services or any other type of e-commerce. Still, the essence of the consumer-to-consumer process is where the deal is exchanged from one consumer to another without any business or third-party involvement.

E-commerce rose in demand during the pandemic. From the comfort of their homes, people sold and ordered stuff online. Logically speaking, if anyone sits in front of a computer for the better part of their day, they are bound to get involved in activities besides work, especially during weekdays, to ease the stress. 

This is where online shopping comes in. People tend to get rid of stuff they own while others look for property to buy. During the lockdown, it has been convenient and quite feasible. To think that I can get anything on my doorstep is a tempting thought, and the logistics speed is even more convincing. 

The first wave of COVID-19 around the world sent everyone into panic mode. That is when the digital world first took over. After the second wave dropped by, people were confined to their homes even more, and now, they had no other option.

Conclusion

The digital lifestyle has taken a turn, and life is gradually going digital. With everything going digital, our minds have accustomed themselves to everything regarding technology, and every individual has become increasingly tech-savvy. What do technologically radiant people go for? They look towards technology to fill the distraction element in their life. 

What’s the distraction? Online shopping! It provides material support to the one sitting at home and food on the table for the one delivering the order. 

Digital media has wholly converted itself from leisure to necessity. At this point, not having at least one gadget may mean you are cut off from the world and not up to date on the latest gossip around town. 

Especially after COVID-19, staying in touch and active is essential. As much as social media can drain us, we are bound by it somehow. A digital lifestyle existed already, but COVID-19 just made it all the more accessible. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.