Author: Jennifer Brazer

In recent years, internet start-ups have changed how employees work, offering flexible schedules, and taking in remote employees. While all of this may be quite simple for an internet start-up, it is not easy for retail outlets. They need to have a well-disciplined shift system. However, it proves to be tricky. The requirements of a strict shift system make retail jobs relatively undesirable compared to online companies that, as said before, offer their employees flexibility.

Bloomberg states that employee retention is one of the biggest problems in the retail sector in today’s world. However, if you take up certain practices to improve the quality of work in retail, there is a solution to producing happy and productive employees.

Be Predictable

It is estimated that 17% of retail employees have unstable work schedules, which leads to difficulties for employees. To avoid your employees facing such problems, it is important to inform them about your shift needs and the times you will require your employees to be on the floor. Come up with a suitable shift calendar, share it with your employees, and do your best to adhere to what you publish in that shift calendar.

Plan in Advance

In certain states, shift scheduling problems have led to lawsuits. The main practice highlighted in the lawsuits was on-call shift scheduling. This on-call practice puts employees under immense pressure, forcing them to be available during the times they are off. It can also violate the labor laws in many states.

It is much better to work with a streamlined schedule posted well in advance for employees to see. You can work with a good strategy. For example, have at least one experienced and well-performing employee on the floor at all times.

Be Transparent

Making on-paper schedules is not a thing of the past. Current technology allows you to construct and share shift schedules with your employees. Transparency will improve the relations you have with your employees and help your business in following labor laws more efficiently.

Improvement of relations with employees also means that they will be happier, and this work kind of work environment will yield higher productivity.

Encourage Communication

Managers often get pressured by shift change and vacation requests. You can streamline this practice by encouraging your employees to communicate and coordinate all of their needs through scheduling software. Given the autonomy, your employees will plan a shift schedule for themselves, which can later be approved by the scheduling manager. This will improve teamwork, shift the burden of rescheduling everyone for a one day leave, and help avoid the uncomfortable situation of telling a particular employee that they might have to work extra shifts.

Accept Feedback

Encourage employees to give you feedback on the shift schedule by making yourself available. Remember that the feedback process is always helpful.

Feedback will help build a positive employee/owner relationship, raising the happiness and productivity of employees. To avoid any accusation of favoritism, set up a feedback framework such as an anonymous questionnaire or survey. This will also help if you put some of their suggestions into action to let the employees know that their feedback and suggestions are not being ignored.

Data-Driven Decisions

Employee satisfaction is one of the primary objectives that your business wishes to achieve. However, it shouldn’t let you go off-track of your main goal to sell your products.

Note and mark the times when your retail store is filled with customers and assign shifts so that more employees are available at that time. Similarly, keep lesser employees on the floor at times when there are only a few customers around. This will balance the workload that each employee has and will also derail any grievance that employees might have related to them being more burdened as compared to their co-workers.

Work Incentives

Retail stores rarely offer their employees a clear road to promotion and growth. The most they might get is an advance to a managerial position. Due to this, temporary or even permanent employees might not be productive, and employee retention can become a serious issue. Giving incentives, such as role-based training from someone experienced, can help enhance the quality of customer service and productivity of your workers.

Acknowledgment of achievements through a proper recognition framework can help a lot in boosting your employees’ performance. You can also choose to provide bonuses. Providing respect to your employees can help you build manager-employee relationships. Assigning extra tasks, such as bookkeeping, to one of your qualified permanent employees can give them a fulfilled sense of accomplishment that will boost their overall work performance.

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 household budget is a financial plan that reveals the snapshot of your monthly income towards expenses, savings, and debt repayment. It allows you to keep a close look at your income and helps you examine where you can save money or cut extra expenses. Without a household budget, it’s like sailing a ship in an open sea, moving uncontrollably without a direction. In simplest terms, a household budget is a tool used for sustaining a financially stable lifestyle.

The Significance of a Household Budget

Planning and creating a household budget is no easy feat. It requires persistence and dedication, as it may take a lot of time, mental effort, and energy. No matter how well off you consider yourself to be, it is necessary to have a household budget to record monthly spending. No one is born with money management skills. You have to learn the art of this game before you can start building your budget.

According to studies, a household budget works as a magic formula that solves most of your money related problems. This signifies that we can save tons of money by using the scarce resources we have for the month.

We often find ourselves stuck fighting with our thoughts about how on earth we will make our ends meet for the month with a single paycheck. This concern worries most people with middle to lower incomes. If you consider yourself to be among those people, you have to learn money management strategies and skills to maintain a healthy financial life. Here are six steps to build a household budget.

6 Steps to Build a Household Budget

Know your Income and Set Goals

The first and the most crucial step in creating a budget is knowing the exact influx of your income. Whatever you earn for the month has to be wisely allocated into several subcategories like food, health, transportation, utility, clothing, household maintenance, and other miscellaneous expenses. So, after keeping, let’s say, 20% as a reserve for hard times, you need to distribute resources per set requirements.

This means that you need to identify what is important to you and draw a clear line between your needs and desires. Moreover, setting smart goals can help you maintain an equilibrium between your income and expenditures for the month, ultimately increasing your savings!

Stick to Your Goals

Your spending should never exceed your household budget! For maintaining a healthy financial life cycle, you need to plan a budget that remains within the allocated amount of money. There is certainly no point in making a budget plan if you don’t expect to support and stick with it later. Your positive attitude and conviction will allow you to reap the rewards, and negative ones will lead you to trouble.

Separate Needs and Wants

Once you start to track where your income or finances are going, you will discover which things you can afford to buy and which you can afford to postpone. By closely examining the household budget, you will get a clear picture of your monthly spending and will be able to make a separate list of your wants and needs.

Design Your Budget

People have mixed opinions regarding how to design a budget because everyone has their own set of priorities. They also feel deprived when dealing with the word ‘budget’ as it evokes fear, anxiety, stress, or frustration. So, before building your budget for the month, you need to know exactly how much money you can afford to spend in a month.

Make a Clear Execution Strategy

Once you set your priorities, you need to allocate money and decide how much money you can afford to spend for a certain need. Planning plays a critical role in defining the fate of the household budget. The better it is, the greater the rewards. So, once the plan is drafted, you need to put it into action for making optimal use of resources at your disposal.

Reevaluate the Budget

Any good household budget plan involves monitoring, tracking, periodic review, and occasional re-evaluation. If you continue making effective budget plans, there will come a time when drafting a budget will become easier than you can ever imagine.

Conclusion

A household budget can help you feel more in control of your finances. It will reveal whether or not you are exceeding your budget limits. A careful plan and a smart approach can help you save more money than you can imagine.

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.

The path toward financial stability begins with developing a budget, paying off high-interest debt, and sustaining emergency funds. Even if you set aside money from your monthly paycheck to go into a savings account that will earn interest, a piece of the monetary puzzle will still be missing. Real money is made when you invest it.

Many people hear the word investment and feel apprehension because they have no idea what to invest in or how to do it. People who aren’t financially savvy may feel intimidated by the idea of investing and believe they don’t have what it takes or enough capital to be an investor. Here are six things investment beginners can do to become investment experts quickly.

Set Specific Goals

If you want to make money in the long term, you must set specific goals for yourself. For beginners, you must think about the bigger picture rather than just making fast cash. For this reason, if you are a beginner, it would be advised that you start small and set easy-to-reach investment goals even if you are investment dumb. You don’t have to be on the exchange floor, screaming your brains out from bell to bell. That will be later. Make some small, reachable goals to invest minimum amounts in companies and products you already know and trust.

Invest in a Financial Advisor

You might need extra coaching even with enormous resources like Google’s search engine and Amazon’s digital library. Monetary advisors are not simply an additional expense. They may be able to help you differentiate a sound investment option from merely a fad, and they can also give you personalized advice. Financial strategists recommend avoiding TV for their stock market advice as most television critics offer only short-term information.

Good financial advisors will know the best investments for the long term and will help you make choices that make economic sense in the long run. They will also be aware that you are a beginner, explain things more straightforwardly to understand terms and look out for your best interests while you are still an investment toddler learning to walk.

Keep Costs Low

Even when you only have a small amount of money, numerous small investments can build into a significant payoff. Whenever you are new to investing, you should avoid spending large sums of money, even if it is available. When you keep your costs low, you will have more funds later when you want to invest in a more significant opportunity.

Keeping your investments small will protect you from significant losses if your status as a novice investor betrays you and you lose money.

Diversify Your Portfolio

Investment portfolios may include real estate stocks as well. Along with this, mutual funds and retirement accounts are included as well. Every industry has its stocks, which means you should thoroughly investigate the housing markets and stock prices before you dip your toe in the water. 

Diversification is perhaps the most considerable precaution you can take as a new investor. Think of your investments as a window. If your window is one pane of glass, the entire window is useless and a total loss if the window is broken. However, if your window is made of nine panes of glass and one break, the other eight panes can still do most of the job, and replacing the one smaller pane will have less impact financially. Your portfolio is the window.

Do In-Depth Research

It is an understatement to say that knowledge is power, especially regarding investments. Nevertheless, complex financial jargon can sometimes be very overwhelming and challenging. Therefore, you must conduct in-depth research before deciding to invest somewhere. This research can make or break your investment, not to mention your bank account. Most of the time, investments lead to loss only because they ignore completing their research.

Consider Automation

Numerous types of investments can be made with automatic contributions. For instance, a 401(k) plan or an IRA is a great way to invest your money. Low-cost finds are considered to be the best for automatic deposits.

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.

QuickBooks is accounting software that allows you to manage and organize a wide range of accounting activities such as bookkeeping, the creation of financial statements, and much much more.

In QuickBooks, accounts can be listed into different categories according to their nature, i.e., assets, liabilities, income, and expenses. Coming across a situation when you’d like to look into the information regarding a line item in QuickBooks, you will have to set up a separate account for that particular line item. Similarly, when you need to report financial information on a tax return, you must create an account to collect and report the required data.

Account Creation: How to Create A New Account?

If you want an expense account to be assigned to a tax line in QuickBooks, you will have to create a new account. To do so, first, open the menu called “Chart of Accounts” and then click on the button labeled “Account.” After that, click on the “New” button. This will now open a menu where you can choose between multiple account types.
Choose the “Expense” account option and then click on the button labeled “Continue.” You’ll be prompted to enter the name that will be used to identify your new account. You’ll then be given the option to make this account either a sub-account or the main account. After checking the appropriate box, you can click on the button labeled “Patent Account.” With this, you will have created the expense account that you will later assign to the tax line.

Add Additional Information to the Account

Once you’re done with the creation of the expense account, you’ll record information relevant to your account. For example, suppose you just created an expense account that relates to a particular utility. In that case, you can mention the name of the utility or the service provider, your unique customer number, and any particular dates, such as the billing dates. Different drop-down menus are available to allow you to enter and sort the information relevant to the expense account you just created.

Assigning the Particular Expense Account to a Tax Line

To do this, you first select the “Tax Line Mapping” menu in QuickBooks. Here, you’ll see a drop-down menu that will include multiple tax lines, allowing you to select and choose the one you think is relevant to the expense account you created. Once you’ve selected the tax line, you’ll be given a list of expense accounts to choose from. Here, you can choose the particular account you want to assign to the tax line.

Alternatively, you might want to assign a preexisting account to a tax line.

In QuickBooks, if you want to assign an expense account that exists beforehand, you first need to go to the “Chart of Accounts” menu. Once there, you can right-click the specific expense account you want to assign to a tax line. Once you see the right-click menu, choose the edit account option. Next, choose the particular option that allows you to change the “Tax Line Mapping” data. The drop-down menus you will see next can select the relevant tax line and tax form.

What your Accountant can do for You

Suppose you have given your accountant or bookkeeper access to the data you enter into QuickBooks. In that case, the best possible decision is to let them handle any expense account assignment to the respective tax liens. This helps in ensuring the accuracy and consistency of bookkeeping and other activities.

If you think you have to adjust any expense accounts and their relevant tax line, then it is recommended that you consult your accountant before making any changes to the mapping in QuickBooks. This prevents any kind of hassle in the future where you might need to backtrack through incorrectly entered or calculated data.

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.

Each organization requires an inventory to carry out the various activities to achieve its objectives as a successful business. Stock inventory is created when items are in standby mode before they are used or sold. A stock of items can be found at any stage of the process, initially as raw material, then processed stock, and finally, finished stock.

Types of Stock Inventory Management

Businesses rely on different types of inventory to conduct their operations. Some of the most common types are:

• Raw material inventory– Materials intended for production. This inventory allows continuous production, and the organization’s cost, production time, and priorities determine its size.
• Work-in-process inventory—Materials in the production line waiting between different workstations. This inventory includes products that are allotted to additional processing times of workstations.
• Finished goods inventory– Inventory of finished products intended for sale and awaiting customer delivery.
• Inventory of supplementary materials – Materials that do not directly participate in production but are necessary to complete the process. For example, indirect production includes office supplies, packaging materials, and other products.

Costs Associated with Inventory Management

The costs associated with inventory management differ depending on the production process and the type of finished product. The following are the costs associated with inventory management for adequate bookkeeping records.

• Cost of labor– Includes all costs associated with those responsible for managing inventory. This cost includes salaries and wages paid to warehouse managers, clerks, and inventory holders.
• Cost of IT– Includes purchasing and maintaining computers and software.
• Cost of management—This includes building procedures and approving and assimilating them into the system, such as storage procedures, handling procedures, and delivery procedures.

Benefits Derived from Inventory Management

There are several benefits taken from effective inventory management for the success of a business and proper bookkeeping. Savings on inventory maintenance help optimize costs associated with inventory maintenance. They also include costs related to repeat orders on other products. Meeting supply times assists in proper inventory management. It enables ongoing production and meeting schedules and delivery times to be determined. Timely delivery will lead to additional orders and new customers for the business. It indicates that proper inventory management is effective in helping the business succeed.

Another benefit of stock inventory management is the maximum utilization of production factors. Proper inventory management will enable a continuous production process and prevent downtime, delays, and idle time.

Inventory Management – 3 Main Methods

LIFO method – Last in, first out

This inventory management method is also known as the stack method. The LIFO method determines that the last product that enters the inventory will be the first to be exported. LIFO is an effective method for products with a long shelf life.

FIFO method – First in, first out

According to FIFO stock management, the first product that enters is the last product that leaves the manufacturing facility. It considers the product’s shelf life and the validity of the warranty received from the supplier against the product.

JIT – Just in time

It is one of the most common inventory management methods for products with high maintenance costs. According to this method, a company will order products from the manufacturer precisely at the time of purchase. According to consumption, inventory management is the most economical model for inventory management but requires a high level of control and analysis for demand forecasting and delivery time management.

Inventory Management and IT Services

Inventory management software allows a business to track every exit and entry from the inventory of items in the organization’s various warehouses. It is a system module that includes sales and purchasing modules to enable data integration and greater manageability, control, and analysis for maintaining costs associated with inventory management.

Linking the IT Sector with Warehouse for Effective Management

The warehouse and inventory management software will be essential to the organization’s inventory mechanism. The warehouse ensures proper maintenance of the various materials entering the facility, enables adequate inventory management, and provides exemplary service to the different factory departments. Inventory management software should allow quantitative inventory management and serial numbers for stock inventory management.

When done efficiently and professionally, Warehouse management is one of the most critical conditions for successfully managing a logistics system, stock management inventory, and bookkeeping. Both play a decisive role in helping a business succeed. Here are everyday activities that are carried out in a warehouse:

• Handling of deliveries from suppliers
• Inventory counts and complete control of inventory levels
• Preparation of inventory and supply to various departments through transportation systems
• Maintenance of physical conditions such as temperature, humidity, and pressure
• Proximity restrictions for other materials
• Regular maintenance
• Receiving finished products from production
• Receiving orders from customers
• Preparing shipments to customers

Inventory Management with Serial Numbers

According to serial numbers, inventory management enables tracking transactions of every item and managing responsibility with the supplier and customer. Inventory management software allows a company to analyze inventory movements, such as displaying sales of items according to different periods per business needs. The software must provide deadstock (unsold inventory) information to alert the business of missing items when an item falls below a specified minimum level to reduce inventory management costs.

A crucial part of inventory management software should be managing exchanges and returns of the customer. The inventory management software provider should perform a variety of actions against any return of a customer or return to a supplier. For instance, procedures include:

• Reclaiming a return certificate for monetary credit.
• Product replacement.
• Exchanging product X for product Y.
• Warranty-backed replacements with liability withdrawal.

How Can Software Help in Stock Inventory Management?

Inventory management assists with business inventory, tracking the entry and exit of items from stock and noting each sale’s speed and profit. The inventory management module consists of a price list for each customer. The software can be helpful in calculating profit per invoice.

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 restaurant industry, the first and most dependable rule of thumb is every restaurant is special.

General rules of thumb can enable new business owners to figure out where to focus first and what is in store. Below, we will discuss a few of the essential rules of thumb for owning a restaurant or eatery. These rules of thumb have been tried and true over the years.

Speculation Rules of Thumb

One of the essential pointers chain administrators use for assessing the possibility of another area is the deals to-speculation proportion. This proportion looks at the anticipated yearly offers of a proposed site with its evaluated start-up cost. The proportion resembles the following:

“Deals to Investment = Annual Sales/Start-up Cost”

The start-up cost incorporates every one of the costs important to opening the restaurant, including leasehold enhancements (or land and building), furniture and hardware, stores, compositional and configuration, bookkeeping, and legitimate, pre-opening costs, possibility, and working capital hold.

While assessing a proposed eatery’s achievability in a rented space, the general guideline is that the deals to-venture proportion should be no less than 1.5 to 1, or at least $1.50 in deals should not be out of the ordinary for each $1 of the start-up costs. This implies that, if the cost of opening a restaurant in a leasehold circumstance was assessed to be $500,000, the area should be given further thought only if the yearly deals volume of $750,000 could be a reasonable desire.

Venture deals – possess land and building. The general guideline for restaurants extends where the administrator claims the land and building require a deals to speculation proportion of no less than 1 to 1, or $1 in deals for each dollar of the start-up costs.

While there are numerous contemplations in choosing whether to open in a specific area, this is one proportion that many uses as an early pointer of whether to proceed onward to different factors in the go or no go choice process.

Gainfulness Rules of Thumb

Deals per square foot. While not all high-volume eateries profit, they do have the best chance to produce a sizable measure of benefit. Deals volume is the most solid marker of an eatery’s potential for benefit and a helpful method to take a gander at deals volume while assessing benefit potential through the proportion of offers per square foot.

It is anything but difficult to compute an eatery’s deals for each square foot. Take yearly deals and partition by the aggregate inside the area, including kitchen, eating, stockpiling, restrooms, and so forth. This is generally equivalent to the net rentable square feet in a rented space. The proportion resembles the following:

‘Deals Per Square Foot = Annual Sales/Square Footage’

Much of the time, full-benefit eateries that do not produce $150 of offers per square foot have almost no possibility of creating a benefit. For instance, a 4,000square-foot eatery with yearly offers of anything under $600,000 would think it is exceptionally hard to abstain from losing cash. This works out to $50,000 in month-to-month and $12,000 in week-by-week deals.

Restricted administration eateries that create under $200 of offers per square foot have the smallest possibility of turning away a working misfortune. Industry midpoints uncover that constrained administration eateries tend to have marginally unique unit financial aspects compared to their full-benefit partners. Higher inhabitant costs and lower check midpoints are two of the essential purposes behind this distinction.

At deals levels of $150 to $250 per square foot (full-administration) and $200 to $300 (restricted administration), eateries with compelling cost controls may start to approach the original investment, with some who oversaw tasks ready to accomplish a net salary of up to 5% of offers.

At deals levels of $250 to $325 per square foot (full-administration) and $300 to $400 (restricted administration), eateries may see direct benefits that are characterized as 5-10% net salary (before pay charges) as a level of aggregate deals.

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.

Are you struggling to get your finances in order? Are a pencil and paper drafted budget or that endless spreadsheet just too time-consuming to manage? If any of these describe your situation, you do not have to worry anymore! Fortunately, plenty of budgeting and bookkeeping apps allow you to easily track your spending, save money, and pay your household bills simply using your phone or tablet.
Managing your money, sticking to your budget plans, and even making investment decisions are far easier with today’s smart personal finance apps. However, every tool out there is neither suitable to your needs nor worth downloading and learning to use. That is why we have come up with our favorite five essential apps that will help you to monitor your spending habits, save money, and pay your household bills on the spot and the go.

Mint: Best Way to Manage Your Finances

Mint is among essential apps for personal finance to help you effortlessly manage your money simply in one place. It is an effective all-in-one tool for budgeting, tracking your spending and household bills, and getting smarter with your money. In addition to your monthly bills, it allows you to connect your bank and credit card accounts easily. With your finances conveniently in one place, you get rid of the hassle of logging into multiple sites.

With Mint, you can create budgets seamlessly, get suggestions based on your spending, schedule payments on the go, get reminders, get specific advice to get control over your money and budget, and eventually improve your financial outlook. The free credit score is another advantage.  This app truly is an all in one package deal.

Wally: Seamlessly Track Your Money 

Like being organized with your workplace expense reports, if you want to stay updated with your expense tracking, Wally is a great choice and is a free essential app. Take a picture of your receipts with Wally rather than manually logging your expenses.

This app also saves your time by filling in data when you use geo-location on your smart device. This neat, streamlined app is immensely convenient to use, especially to gain better insight into where your dollars are going.

Digit: Automate Your Savings

If you are looking for ways to automate your savings, then Digit is one of the best apps to make saving a habit. When you connect it to one of your bank accounts, the app analyzes your income and spending patterns. Based on that pattern, the app then puts aside a certain portion of your funds in an FDIC-insured bank account for spending purposes that you can access and take out money from conveniently at any time.
Communicating with Digit is simple and fun: open the app or text the bot to know how you are doing. Thus, making it super easy to set up different savings goals. Also, you earn Digit savings 1%-annually, paid-out every quarter, and backed by a no-overdraft guarantee. You receive a text every morning telling you to check your account balance, another great feature. Surprisingly, it offers a 100-day free trial for both iOS and Android users.

Credit Karma: Improve Your Creditworthiness

If you seek ways to raise your credit score, then Credit Karma is one of the essential apps and an indispensable smart tool to achieve your goal. Not only does it update you with your Equifax® and TransUnion® credit scores, but it also gives you insightful recommendations to boost your creditworthiness.

It can provide you complete a TransUnion credit report in-app upon request that you can use to view (and dispute) disparaging signs on your account, and you can view a comprehensive breakdown of your credit usage. Fortunately, this is also free. Credit Karma does share your personal information with Equifax and Transunion.

Clarity Money: Monitor Your Credit Score and Cancel Subscriptions

Credit Money is another one of the best apps you can use to track your credit accounts, especially considering the recent Equifax breach. This nicely designed budgeting tool ensures an easier execution of your routine financial tasks. It also allows you to set up automated savings for certain goals.

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.

Every girl dreams of her “big day.”  Wearing the white dress, walking down the aisle, marrying the love of her life.  These are all things that little girls dream of.  Now, paying for that big dream is a whole different ball game. A wedding typically costs an average American couple about $35,426, excluding the honeymoon expenses.  Yes, you read that correctly.  This is the maximum reported average cost since 2006.

However, you are not legally obligated to spend such a huge price tag to give your relationship a new shape with a commitment to live together forever. Most couples do not want to spend that much. We asked money experts and wedding specialists how to set a reasonable budget and cut costs on some of the major expensive wedding elements. Here are eight great insights that you can apply to save money on your wedding day.

Be Realistic

Most couples do not see how much their wedding will cost them. They usually end up missing the mark and setting a budget that is too low, thus far over exceeding their plan. Such a situation can push them under a heavy burden of debts. Starting a marriage in debt is certainly not ideal as the marital relationship’s beauty, and happiness are lost in paying off debt for months and months.

Consequently, begin with setting realistic spending limits considering every aspect of your wedding to save money. If you suspect overspending in one area, attempt cutting back on another. It is just like doing bookkeeping when preparing a budget for your marriage.  If you start by being money conscious and budget-appropriate with your wedding, it will further set you up for this pattern down the line.

Use your Credit Card Wisely

It is okay to use a credit card for purchases related to your wedding as far as you are charging only the amount of money you can conveniently afford to pay off. Make the most of your accumulated credit card points towards your honeymoon, especially when you possess a card with great travel rewards.

Book a Sunday

Although Saturday is the most popular day for weddings, it is usually the most expensive day to have your ceremony. You are likely availing of a venue reservation at a much lower price when you choose a Sunday or even a weeknight for your marriage. While it may not be the most convenient for your guests, it will certainly save you quite a bit of money.

Choose a Religious Day

Consider having your wedding on or near a major holiday when the church is already decorated for religious marriages. These decorations can enable you to save money on flowers and other decorations. While on other days, go for simplicity. A candlelit ceremony can be inexpensive, gorgeous, and romantic. Furthermore, a Christmas wedding is always beautiful.

Trim your Guest List

Every time you add a guest’s name to your invitation list, you significantly increase the wedding budget. Besides catering costs, these additional guests also require extra centerpieces, rentals, favors, etc. Although you may ruffle a few feathers, avoid inviting any person you have not been in communication with for the past five years. There is no reason to feel pressured or obligated to invite each of your work colleagues. Consider making your wedding an “adult-only” occasion. 
This way, you won’t be stuck paying for everyone’s children as it will get pricey. You can also save a lot of money by choosing to eliminate categories like ‘friends from volunteer work’ or ‘relatives other than first cousins.’  Yes, we know that “Aunt Sue” may be briefly upset that you aren’t inviting her third cousin from Australia, but she’s not the one footing the bill when it’s all said and done.

Save Postage on your Invitations

Choose simple, sleek cards for your wedding invitations in normal envelopes. Instead of having a reply card, ask your guests to reply by telephone or online. There are so many websites out there that offer an RSVP option these days.  This electronic option will save money from bulky, expensive cards and cut your postage costs in half.

Look for Reasonable Food and Drink Options

A couple should always be honest with their caterer about their necessity to save money. Ask them for the least expensive entrees and whether a buffet will be a cheaper option than a seated dinner. Figure out whether they will allow you to bring your liquor or if severing just beer and wine will be much cheaper than a complete bar.

Better yet, consider serving tea and water instead of expensive alcoholic drinks.  If not, it is a good idea to have the bar open only during the cocktail hour and then serve only wine with dinner. 

Take Advantage of eBay

eBay is a great source for everything for your wedding, from second-hand clothes to marriage favors, ring pillows, cake toppers, and more. Show patience for the auction to end as well as for shipping. Find a reliable seller whose product reviews demonstrate that the sale is of the exact quality of their claim.

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’s not your fault, and you are certainly not alone in facing financial management difficulties. It may not be your area of expertise to put debit and credit at the top of your priorities, and that’s pretty normal! Being an entrepreneur, it is your prime duty to focus on your home-based business’s needs instead of worrying about money-management because several accounting services can take care of your finances with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Home-based businesses or industries are growing on a massive scale, which means that the demand for accounting and bookkeeping services has increased significantly.

Gone are the days when trusting online accounting and bookkeeping services used to haunt businesses. Now, the accounting houses are so professional that they won’t dare to get themselves involved in any unethical activities because they know that, if they are going to do such things, people are going to sue them. Indeed, home-based businesses find it extremely difficult to manage and overcome accounting and bookkeeping challenges, as they lack superior accounting or even basic accounting knowledge, skills, and experience in tackling tough financial concerns. For that purpose, hiring the services of experienced and well-qualified professional accountants or bookkeepers is a must.

Hiring the Right Accountant

The biggest misconception about such accounting and bookkeeping services is that they are too expensive. Not every bookkeeping firm or individual(s) with accounting knowledge charges you a lot. With so many options on the internet, you can easily find the right strategic fit suitable for your pocketbook. Home-based businesses may have little or no knowledge of account receivables/payables, financial paperwork, payroll, cash flow, or closing of financial books at the end of a specified period.

Overcoming these accounts and bookkeeping challenges requires you to hire pro-level services of qualified accountants and bookkeepers. Moreover, the time and money invested in procuring the right services always pay off in the long run of your business journey. Hiring accounting services may seem like a challenge, but once you find the services of your own choice and specifications, it will sketch a clear picture of your overall financial standing. For home-based businesses, the right accountant or bookkeeper can serve the right need and, when the need is served, the purpose of the business is served.

Using the Best Accounting Software

If hiring an accountant to combat accounting and bookkeeping challenges is not an option, then accounting software is a better alternative. As a business expands and grows, the dynamics of the accounting system in place will change. This change means that the system will either have to be upgraded per the new specifications or replaced entirely.

There could be several reasons why this could happen, perhaps due to the increase in the number of work staff, increased customer base, business growth and expansion, and evolving industry-specific needs. Therefore, home-based businesses need to ensure that the system recognizes all financial transactions and helps you track each one of them when needed. Whether you are a small business or large, you need to develop custom accounting software if all other accounting software fails to serve your business’s accounting needs.

Staying On Top Of Cash Flow

The theory is simple; businesses that do not stay on top of their cash flow or are not successful in managing their cash influx and outflow will not survive in the competitive business environment for very long. This comprehensive statement indicates that it is extremely important for home-based businesses to manage their cash flow to the best of their abilities and commitment.

However, suppose you expect to combat accounting and bookkeeping challenges and stay on top of the cash flow. In that case, you should consider hiring a professional accountant/bookkeeper or employ and integrate the right accounting software. Streamlining the process is the first and foremost critical step towards achieving success and strategic goals. Hence, you must be very careful and play an active role in deciding your company’s fate.

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.

Do you have a great business idea for the ‘next robust company’? If so, you may be thinking that your idea is simply perfect and powerful the way it is. However, it would be best if you weighed it before investing your time, money, and resources into developing a business, service, or product prototype. There is no apparent need or value in the market. You could be putting yourself in a devastating position if you spend all of your assets, consume credit cards, and take bank loans for your startup, only to see that it is useless.

Failing to evaluate your business idea could result in a great loss if it backfires. It is just like reporting transactions in the books of the financial accounts of a company. If you make material blunders in bookkeeping, you harm the business significantly. Here are four of the simplest tests to determine whether your idea is worth the investment.

Show Patience and then Build a Test Service or Product Prototype

Although you are excited and confident about your unique business idea, you must show patience. When you have several idea opportunities rushing around in your head, avoid getting in a rush to make a business plan or hire a team. Rather, wait a few weeks to figure out which exact idea is truly suitable. Move forward with an idea only when you have a burning feeling and intuition that the world immensely needs your idea as a product or a service.

Once you have patiently completed your plan, perform the simplest test of building a prototype based on your idea, and present it to a general audience to obtain their authentic and honest comments. If their eyebrows go up and show a sense of excitement as you brief them, you probably have a potential idea. On the contrary, if you see them furrowing their brow and their body language is negative, your idea might not be a potential good bet.

Design an MVP, then Test and Tweak your Idea to Best Suit your Market

A minimum viable product, MVP, is typically the simplest and most elementary picture of your business idea that you can practically sell as a product or service. Building an MVP and seeing how it works out is another one of the simplest tests to assess your idea’s potential. Many successful tech entrepreneurs also recommend that you have your product or service’s simplest version that you can easily experiment with and promote early in the idea development process so that you may cater to the necessary tweaks and changes in response to the genuine feedback from your target audience.

The test market feedback is valuable as it helps you know how to refine your product or service, and your idea’s inherent nature. For instance, your smartphone gaming idea can be evolved during the test and trial phase.

Let a Group of Critics Run It

When you have an MVP of your idea, test service, or prototype ready, bring it forth towards your potential target audience. Consequently, you should survey and talk to a minimum of fifty potential clients to determine whether they identify with your idea the exact way you do. You have to determine whether your idea is a genuine need for most of your target audience or simply very few people in simpler words. Though it is another simple test to find your business idea’s strength, you have to be prudent and diligent when selecting the fifty potential customers. If you have had previous irate encounters with them, you might not get honest feedback.

Build a Test Website Linked to Social Media

Once your business idea is out in the form of a product or service, your target market requires a place to obtain further information about it or share it with others. Thus, creating a simple website and linking it with social media is a great way to provide more details, and it is the simplest test to see how most people are reacting towards what you are selling or providing. User clicks, comments, and shares will tell you whether you should continue working on your idea or do some more improvisation before going public or back to the drawing board.

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.