Category: Content

Do you want to invest money for the first time? Don’t know what to avoid and what to do? Investing your money anywhere you have not tried before can be scary and unclear initially. Investing money requires careful thought of vital economic aspects, enough information, and the sense to avoid making wrong investment moves. Instead, it would help if you described your investment aims clearly.

It would help to define specific investing goals before investing your money. For example, to purchase an automobile or asset, finance your children’s education, or want to invest for retirement? Having clear investment objectives will keep you determined and focused on accomplishing them.

Investing Do’s

• Long term investment

Most effective investors are those who invest money in long-term investment plans. These investment types have many advantages as they are stress-free and permit your investment to provide another effect. Additionally, long-term investment removes the need for you to pay various charges to the investment broker for starting different trades. Moreover, you can make more money by opting for a long-term investment plan because of compounding interest.

• Research before investing

It would be best to research that business or company you need to invest your money in before actually investing in. Initiate the company’s management, financial statement, and core values. Similarly, try to discover valuable details that offer a vision of the business investment potential. Most significantly, you must have an investment advisor to help you recognize possible investment chances to invest your money with minimal risk. Moreover, you must take some online courses to do research related to investment.

• Broaden your investment portfolio

Another way to boost the possibilities of developing success in your investment journey is to have different investments. A proper investment portfolio means having various investments and several sorts of investments. Expanding your investment portfolio helps cover bad-performance investments. If one or more investments start to incline, they may not significantly affect your overall investment portfolio. Finally, enhancing your investment portfolio is an outstanding option anytime you need to invest your money to reduce risks.

 Investing Don’ts

• Avoid taking needless risk

When you have decided to invest money, you should not take needless risks, for example. You must avoid taking a move to invest all your money in a hot investment chance and have hope to make high returns. Try to protect your cash by making reasonable returns. Making huge risks means you might have a chance of losing all your investments because of one wrong investment decision.

• Don’t let emotions guide your investment decisions

Since you can succeed in saving your money, your investment choices can significantly affect your feelings. As such, try not to bring your emotions into your investment choices, which can affect your judgment. It would be best if you settled on your investment choices when you’re quiet, confident, and have built up an existing methodology

• Avoid investing mindlessly

The second you venture into the investment procedures, chances are you’ll get unrequested guidance from investment organizations, agents, or experts. However, guarantee you try not to invest mindlessly, depending on your proposals or suggestions, regardless of whether they look engaging. Instead, pick a certified and experienced individual financial advisor to control your investment choices.

• Avoid checking your investment regularly

Anything related to your cash can be very passionate, and if you’re checking how your investment is getting along every day, it can arouse your feelings. This might lead to an unrehearsed choice to sell all your investment stocks, which may be expensive over the long haul. You should go for long-haul investment plans and try not to check their progress every day.

Bottom Line

Suppose you are a beginner and know where to invest your money and what you should avoid while investing it. Many people won’t invest for an extended period, and some invest in taking profit on a timely, regular basis or after a few days. Remember where you invest your money, don’t panic about having good outcomes.

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.

Starting and managing a business can be challenging if you don’t have the right expertise. Thankfully, there are several tips you can follow to ease this process. If you want to grow your business and boost your clientele, developing an effective strategy is best. This piece looks at a few essential tips to help you create a winning growth strategy for your business.

Generate a Sales Funnel

To begin with, you need to curate a revenue model for your business. A sales funnel describes the series of steps that someone will take to become your customer. Your sales funnel is a crucial component of a successful business expansion. It’ll help you automate your revenue stream.

Research the Market

After establishing a revenue model for your business, it’s time for you to penetrate your market. Getting new customers could be a daunting task at first. However, careful market research can help you find clients and retain them. More importantly, keeping your existing customers loyal to the business is best. That’ll be relatively cost-effective and help you preserve valuable resources.

Get Client Referrals

An excellent way to get new clients is to ask the existing ones for referrals. It’s also important to note that merely having high-quality products and services will not guarantee more referrals for your business. You’ll need to search for referrals actively. An effective way to get started is to offer incentives to your clients. For example, you can offer special discounts or cash on new referrals. Through these methods, you can expand your clientele.

Curate a Customer Loyalty Program

Another excellent method to enhance your customer base is to begin a customer loyalty program. The program can boost sales even with a small investment. It retains your old clients and attracts new ones. If you offer a clear incentive to your customers to purchase your products or services, you’ll likely get new clients.

Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy

In today’s Internet-dominated world, digital marketing drives more buyers to your business and converts them into loyal clients. Without a digital marketing strategy, you won’t know who your online targeted audience is. Use all online platforms to your advantage to enhance your brand recognition and gain new customers.

Generate an Email List

Email is an excellent way to connect with potential customers. Creating an effective email marketing strategy can help you reach your targeted audience in a personalized manner. Start by building an email list and increasing your reach. These days, people check their emails frequently, and it’d be great for them to see your business is thinking of them.

Research Your Competitors

Your business can’t succeed in the industry unless you know what your competition is doing. If you can understand your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can improvise and get ahead of them. Always test the waters before entering the market. Otherwise, it can be detrimental to your business’s growth.

Attend Trade Shows

Participating in trade shows can also contribute to your business’s success. Such events usually gather people who are interested in your type of products or services. Moreover, this will also give you access to your ideal audience, who will more likely convert into loyal customers.

Utilize User-Generated Content

User-generated content is crucial to gain the attention of prospective clients. People are more likely to trust online reviews and recommendations from friends and family members. Encourage your customers to submit reviews of your products and services and see your clientele grow.

Seek Influencers’ Services

Influencer marketing is an excellent method for achieving business growth. Start by finding influencers in your niche and connecting with them. Offer them lucrative packages to promote your products or services on their respective pages. This marketing will especially appeal to your younger clientele, who follow such individuals on their social media accounts.

Use Software for Project Management

If you aim to manage your projects manually, it can be time-consuming. To prevent this, use project management applications. The saved resources can be reinvested in your business and help you achieve business growth.

The Bottom Line

If you want your business to expand, tap into new markets, and increase sales, it’s best to follow the tips mentioned above. Create a sales funnel and research your market to mark your targeted audience. Also, develop an effective digital marketing plan to reach and retain your online audience through customer loyalty programs and user-generated content.

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.

By: Jennifer Brazer

Jennifer is the author of From Cubicle to Cloud and Founder/CEO of Complete Controller, a pioneering financial services firm that helps entrepreneurs break free of traditional constraints and scale their businesses to new heights.

Fact Checked By: Brittany McMillen

Break These Business Funding Rules for Financial Success

Breaking business funding rules can lead to more flexible financing options and better cash flow for your company. Traditional funding approaches often constrain entrepreneurs with outdated requirements that no longer reflect today’s business landscape.

I’ve spent over 20 years guiding businesses through financial challenges at Complete Controller, and I’ve witnessed countless entrepreneurs transform their funding approach by ignoring conventional wisdom. Did you know that 73% of small businesses securing lines of credit in Q1 2025 had monthly revenues under $15,000? This represents a dramatic shift from just three years ago when such businesses were routinely denied. In this article, I’ll share the specific funding rules worth breaking, how to leverage alternative financing sources, and practical strategies that have helped my clients secure the capital they needed when traditional paths failed them.

What business funding rules should you break for financial success?

• Break rules about perfect credit, comprehensive business plans, loan amounts, and traditional funding sources
• Modern lenders now prioritize business performance and cash flow over personal credit history
• Alternative funding options offer more flexibility and faster approvals than conventional bank loans
• Strategic financing should align with your specific business stage and growth objectives
• Breaking outdated rules opens access to previously unavailable capital sources

Why “Perfect Credit” is No Longer a Non-Negotiable

The outdated notion that perfect credit scores determine funding eligibility has fallen by the wayside. Modern alternative lenders focus primarily on your business performance and revenue consistency rather than personal credit history. This shift democratizes access to capital for entrepreneurs with complicated financial pasts.

The credit landscape has evolved dramatically, with fintech companies leading the charge in developing new underwriting models. These models analyze business health markers like customer retention rates, digital footprint quality, and consistent cash flow patterns that traditional banks often overlook.

Breaking the myth

Creditworthiness isn’t the ultimate gatekeeper it once was. Modern alternative lenders prioritize recent business performance and cash flow over personal credit history.

Strategic Approaches:

• Revenue-based financing: Secure loans tied to future earnings rather than credit scores
• Co-signer options: Bring a partner with stronger credit into funding agreements
• Profit reinvestment: Show lenders your business can consistently generate cash

Case study: Spotless credit isn’t everything

A service-based startup with a 620 owner credit score secured $75k in funding by demonstrating 18 months of consistent profit margins and signed client contracts.

“We used our existing customer relationships as collateral for a boutique lender. Our poor personal credit barely came up in negotiations.”

This shift represents a fundamental break from traditional funding requirements. Businesses can now access alternative funding sources for entrepreneurs by demonstrating business stability through operational metrics rather than personal creditworthiness.

The Outdated Demand for Comprehensive Business Plans

The days of 30-page business plans filled with hypothetical projections are fading fast. Modern investors and lenders have shifted their focus to proven results and market validation rather than elaborate documentation of untested ideas.

This evolution makes perfect sense—why would lenders prioritize speculative forecasts over actual performance data? The shift benefits entrepreneurs by allowing them to secure funding based on what they’ve accomplished rather than what they promise to accomplish.

Myth-busting

Detailed 30-page plans are not essential for all funding. Investors now prioritize proof of concept and market validation over hypothetical projections.

Actionable Steps:

1. Minimum viable plan: Focus on 3 key areas: target market, revenue streams, and cost structure
2. Validated assumptions: Use pre-revenue customer interviews to build credibility
3. Milestone-based funding: Secure tranches of capital tied to specific achievements

Tools to Implement:

• Lean Startup methodology for agile planning
• Financial scenario modeling software (e.g., QuickBooks forecasts)

Instead of spending weeks perfecting a comprehensive business plan that will likely change after market feedback, focus on developing a lean document that highlights your business model’s core strengths and evidence of market fit. This approach aligns with modern startup funding strategies that emphasize flexibility and rapid iteration.

Historical data supports this shift—SBA 7(a) loan averages dropped from $538,903 in 2022 to $443,097 in 2024, while approval numbers increased 47%. This shows that lenders are increasingly comfortable with smaller, targeted loans based on validated business concepts rather than comprehensive planning documents.

Why You Should Ask for More Than “Enough”

Conventional wisdom often encourages entrepreneurs to request only the minimum funding needed to avoid excessive debt. This approach, while seemingly conservative, frequently leads to undercapitalization and cash flow problems that can cripple otherwise viable businesses.

Smart entrepreneurs break this rule by developing funding strategies that account for growth opportunities, unexpected challenges, and the true cost of scaling operations.

Breaking conventional wisdom

Underestimating funding needs creates cash flow crises. Modern lenders reward bold strategic financing when paired with clear repayment strategies.

Revenue-driven approaches

• Growth funding: Secure capital for marketing/sales initiatives that drive future revenue
• Asset-backed loans: Use existing equipment/inventory as collateral for larger sums
• Staggered repayment: Negotiate flexible terms that match seasonal cash flows

Opportunities in 2025

SBA’s removal of $5M per borrower caps enables larger loan approvals for established businesses.

The data clearly supports a more strategic approach to funding amounts. Alternative lending applications now equal large bank applications (49% vs 49%) according to 2024 Federal Reserve data, showing that entrepreneurs have embraced non-traditional funding sources that often provide more flexible capital structures.

Understanding the full capital requirements of your business growth plan—including marketing costs, inventory expansion, hiring expenses, and cushion for unexpected setbacks—positions you for sustainable growth rather than constant fundraising cycles. This approach to navigating business funding regulations creates stability and focus.

Navigating the Hidden Rules of Start-Up Funding

Startup funding comes with its own set of unwritten rules that can unnecessarily limit your options. Breaking free from these constraints opens up creative financing strategies that align better with early-stage business realities.

The conventional startup funding path—friends and family round, seed funding, Series A, etc.—works for some business models but proves completely inappropriate for others. Understanding which rules to break based on your specific business model is crucial.

Common missteps

Rule	Why It Fails	Better Approach
“Startups can’t get loans”	New businesses lack collateral	Revenue-based lines of credit
“Equity is only for VCs”	Dilutes ownership unnecessarily	Revenue sharing agreements
“Funding must come first”	Creates debt before validation	Customer-funded growth

Alternative Strategies:

• Pre-sales financing: Secure orders before production
• Strategic partnerships: Trade equity for operational support
• Crowdfunding campaigns: Build community while raising capital

Online lender usage grew from 20% of small businesses in 2019 to 23% in 2023 per Federal Reserve surveys, demonstrating increasing comfort with alternative funding sources. This trend has expanded the options available to startups previously locked out of traditional funding channels.

By breaking conventional startup funding rules, you can maintain greater control over your business while accessing the capital needed for growth. This approach creates strategic flexibility that traditional funding paths often restrict through rigid requirements.

Real-World Application: When to Break vs. Follow Rules

Not all funding rules should be broken in every situation. The key is understanding which conventional wisdom applies to your specific business circumstance and which deserves to be challenged.

This strategic approach to rule-breaking requires honest assessment of your business stage, industry norms, and growth objectives. Some rules exist for good reasons, while others persist purely through tradition rather than practical value.

Scenario-based guidance

• Early-stage startups: Ignore detailed business plans; focus on MVP development
• Growth-stage companies: Use traditional loans with aggressive repayment terms
• High-risk industries: Seek niche alternative lenders specializing in your sector

Founder Insights:

“We broke the ‘perfect plan’ rule to pivot quickly. Lenders cared more about our pivot’s market traction than our original business model.”

OnShore Technology Services provides a compelling case study in strategic rule-breaking. They secured $500K through revenue-based financing to build proprietary software after being denied traditional loans. This decision increased their annual revenue by 53% to $3.8M while maintaining full ownership—an outcome that would have been impossible following conventional funding wisdom.

Understanding which business financing options align with your specific business situation allows you to make informed decisions about which rules to follow and which to strategically break.

Future-Proofing Your Funding Strategy

The business funding landscape continues to evolve rapidly, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs willing to abandon outdated assumptions. Staying ahead of these changes allows you to access emerging funding sources before they become mainstream.

This forward-looking approach positions your business to capitalize on innovative financing options that may offer better terms, greater flexibility, or strategic advantages beyond simple capital access.

Emerging opportunities

1. AI-driven underwriting: Platforms analyzing alternative data points (social media engagement, supply chain contracts)
2. ESG-focused loans: Green initiatives attracting lower-interest capital
3. Silent partner models: Structured debt agreements without equity dilution

Action Plan:

• Quarterly funding audits: Reassess needs as business evolves
• Diversified debt stack: Combine multiple financing types for flexibility
• Regulatory awareness: Monitor SBA rule changes for new options

The rise of tips for obtaining business financing through AI-powered platforms represents just one example of how traditional funding rules continue to evolve. These platforms can analyze thousands of non-traditional data points to evaluate business health, creating opportunities for companies that might not qualify under conventional metrics.

By staying informed about emerging funding trends and being willing to experiment with new financial models, you position your business to capitalize on opportunities that competitors miss due to adherence to outdated funding rules.

Conclusion

Breaking outdated funding rules requires strategic risk-taking and modern lender awareness. By aligning financing with your business’s unique stage and needs, you can unlock smarter capital sources that traditional approaches might miss.

I’ve seen countless businesses transform their growth trajectory by challenging conventional funding wisdom—whether by securing capital despite imperfect credit, streamlining their business plans, or boldly requesting the full amount needed for sustainable growth. These entrepreneurs didn’t blindly break rules; they strategically identified which constraints no longer served their business objectives.

Ready to transform your funding approach? Our team at Complete Controller helps businesses optimize financial strategies for modern funding landscapes. Visit Complete Controller to learn how we can help you break free from outdated funding constraints.

FAQ

What are the minimum requirements for a business loan?

Lenders increasingly prioritize recent revenue performance over credit scores. Some alternative options require as little as 3 months of consistent profitability. Requirements vary widely among lenders, with traditional banks demanding 2+ years in business while alternative lenders may approve businesses with just 6 months of operation and steady revenue.

How can I get funding without a formal business plan?

Focus on demonstrating market validation through customer contracts, pre-orders, or social proof. Lean financial projections can substitute for full business plans. Investors increasingly value proof of concept and actual customer traction over hypothetical forecasts. Prepare a concise 5-10 page document highlighting your business model, market opportunity, and key financial metrics.

What are the risks of breaking traditional funding rules?

Higher debt loads may increase repayment pressure. Mitigate this by securing flexible terms and building cash reserves matching your risk tolerance. Non-traditional funding sources often charge higher interest rates or require faster repayment schedules. Balance the benefits of quick capital access against potentially more demanding terms.

Are SBA loans still capped at $5 million?

No – recent rule changes allow borrowing beyond previous limits, though approval requires strong financials. The SBA has created more flexibility for established businesses to access larger loan amounts when they can demonstrate clear ability to service the debt and show compelling growth opportunities that justify the increased capital.

How does alternative financing differ from traditional loans?

Alternative lenders prioritize recent business performance and offer faster approvals, often accepting imperfect credit histories for higher-cost structures. They typically provide funds in days rather than weeks or months, use technology-driven underwriting processes, and structure repayments based on revenue fluctuations rather than fixed monthly payments.

Sources

• Entrepreneur. 5 Business-Funding ‘Rules’ to Break. March 22, 2017. https://www.entrepreneur.com/
• Halo Capital Group. 5 Business-Funding ‘Rules’ to Break. https://halocapitalgroup.com/
• Guidant Financial. 7 Common Funding Small Business Mistakes. October 25, 2024. https://www.guidantfinancial.com/
• PNC. 4 Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Small Business. April 22, 2025. https://www.pnc.com/
• Guidant Financial. The Complete Guide to Your Small Business Funding Options. https://www.guidantfinancial.com/
• The Funding Family. 8 Steps to Securing Funding for Your New Business. July 1, 2024. https://www.thefundingfamily.com/
• Business.com. How to Write a Business Growth Plan. December 16, 2024. https://www.business.com/
• Bipartisan Policy Center. “Increasing Small Business Access to Capital in the Digital Age.” April 29, 2024. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/small-businesses-matter-capital-access/
• LendingTree. “The SBA Provides Billions Each Fiscal Year.” January 13, 2025. https://www.lendingtree.com/business/sba-loans-study/
• Innovative Finance Playbook. “Onshore Technology Case Study.” https://playbook.innovative.finance/case-studies/onshore-technology-case-study/
• Metrobi. “Business Line of Credit Requirements: How to Qualify in 2025.” April 7, 2025. https://metrobi.com/blog/business-line-of-credit-requirements/
• NerdWallet. “Alternative Lending: What It Is, Best Companies.” November 6, 2024. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/small-business-loans-alternative-lending

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 tired of living in a rental home for years? Possibly, you will soon be looking for a new home. It is the logical thing to do anyway. Your own home will give you peace of mind, the likes of which you never experienced in a rental home. Think about it, and you won’t be worrying about paying rent every month on a given date, fearing being threatened by the landlord who is willing to rent the place to another tenant. All this indicates that you are shopping for a home, so get started and follow these so the home hunt becomes easy for you.

Why Relocate to Your Own Home?

Having your own home is fun and relaxing. The comfort you feel sitting at your property is difficult to explain in words. Still, it is the closest thing to the perfect life you imagine. Having your own home means you will go to a place where you don’t have to worry about always complaining about the landlord. Purchasing your own home is a one-time investment. After that, you’ll have monthly utility bills and annual home improvement. No more rent, advances, and landlords to worry about!

• Do a quick survey

Start your search for a new home by surveying on your own. Remember that this practice allows home hunters to understand what and how to look for homes. Depending on your preference and budget, you can choose to invest in a house or an apartment. Make a list of areas that you are willing to relocate to. Explore every neighborhood by yourself and check the property firsthand. Include options such as space, bathrooms, and bedrooms that you want to specify in the property you would like to search. Add other amenities you may want in your home to the list. Inspect every property, keeping your requirements in mind, so you don’t end up missing out on any detail. Likewise, explore the neighborhood and see parks, gymnasiums, playgrounds, and shopping malls nearby. Do your share of work so finding your new home becomes more accessible.

• Hire a real estate agency

It is a no-brainer, so get started and find a real estate agency already. No matter how much you know about properties and real estate, you must contact a real estate agency at some stage. You will likely find highly proficient real estate agents working for an equally reputed agency, but that’s not a given. It is best to do your part of the search and persist with it if you don’t find the right expert. Continue your search for a suitable property in the meantime, as you might end up finding a property that suits your needs and budget.

To hire a real estate agent, do everything you can to find a top-of-the-line real estate agent. Ensure that the agent you get in touch with knows his job well. A reputable real estate agent will provide firsthand insight into the real estate market. He has extensive real estate knowledge and knows what to look for in your new home. Think of yourself as a novice, as this could be the first time you intend to buy a home. The real estate agent does this all the time and has much more experience and contacts that he will use to ensure you find and buy a home of your choice.

• Seek advice and implement

Your agent is a wealth of information for you. Make sure to use him so that finding a home becomes more effortless. Real estate agents come in handy in multiple ways. They give you an insight into the real estate market and help you reach the right decision. They’ll save you from committing errors and suffering losses as a result. Carefully assess your options and act upon the advice of your agent. In the meantime, keep your requirements intact, but be flexible to make minor adjustments if they help you find a property that offers more appraisal value. After all, if you invested in a property whose value increased twofold quickly, sell it off and buy another without hesitating.

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.

An audit is an investigation and inquiry into bookkeeping and accounts by an auditor, similar to the physical verification of stock or inventory. An audit can be done internally or by external auditors to check a company’s accounting facts and figures.

Internal audits are performed by an organization’s workers or by the head of a specific department. In contrast, External audits are performed by an external auditing company or a team of external auditors.

All government and private registered businesses are required to undergo an external audit once a year. A self-governing company also conducts an external audit. Once the auditing process is complete, the company prepares an audit report that is used by shareholders, government assistance, and the public.

The audit report includes a complete evaluation of the business’s financial transparency, taxation records, governmental policy compliance, and the assessment of a business’s work ethics and organizational policies.

Apt accounting software is one of the best ways to keep your business ready for an audit. Such automated software helps small or medium-sized companies maintain proper bookkeeping records, thus being always audit-ready.

Advantages of Being an Audit-Ready Business

There are so many benefits of an audit-ready company

• Trusted by financier
  One major plus is that it builds the financier’s trust in the business. An audit-ready company has its bookkeeping reports matched and transparent. This increases the reliability of the business, and investors can safely finance it. If accounting data is advanced and transparent, investors can easily deduce the company’s accounting information. Regular audit reports help increase an investor’s confidence and trust in a business. An audit-ready business usually attracts more investors and shareholders from native and foreign countries.
• Protected from fraudulent schemes 
  Small and medium-sized businesses are more susceptible to fraud and deceit. If a particular company or business has undergone regular audits, it would be less prone to scams and schemes.
• A clear financial picture 
  Depositors always want to see an accurate financial picture of a company or business. Auditing helps build trust and attract investors. An authentic financial image can only be obtained if the accounting date is up to date. Checks and balances can always be maintained through audits.

Steps in Auditing

Categorization of expenses

The primary step in audit-ready bookkeeping is the categorization of expenditures as:

• Direct expenses
• Capital expenses that have lasting benefits

Organized documentation

All the documents, slips, deposits, and invoices are well arranged. Business dealings are complete, and these documents are together. An auditor does this. An important point to consider is that all sorts of business happenings affect a business financially. An auditor knows the pertinent information and its commercial effect on business transactions.

Tracking number

A tracking number is for all commercial transactions. This number is vital for an audit to trace the track of all transactions.

Financial statements

Business statements must be able to justify their expenditures. Sometimes, when these expenses are not justifiable, problems can occur, affecting a business’s credibility and eventually leading to loss. Auditors make assumptions about costs and critically assess them. These stages are critical in conserving up-to-date records and managing accounting reports, government audits, and tax returns—poor auditing results in economic losses for the business and its owners.

In conclusion, an audit-ready business improves the business’s compliance with internal revenue service regulations and prevents fraudulent cases and business losses. It improves accounting processes and internal controls.

All these plusses ensure that high-level investments occur whenever a business or a company is audit-ready and keeps its accounts clear and its transactions transparent. It guarantees the industry more investors and fiscal benefits because investors trust audit-ready businesses. Many future decisions can be made by stockholders when they trust the company or business they are investing their money in. Prospective investors are also more attracted to these audit-ready businesses with a maintained solid, transparent, and professional image.   

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.

Regardless of the proficiency of your workforce, there comes a time when they begin to feel tired. If one or more of your team members show signs of employee burnout, know that it is time they badly need some time out. Usually, employees working in a fast-paced work environment feel tired and exhausted early. The same is not the case where employees work in a relaxed atmosphere. Perhaps this tells us that employee burnout has something to do with the burden of work. Indeed, the responsibility of work is one of the reasons, but there are many others.

Why is Preventing Burnout Important?

Before we find ways employees feel burned out at work, it would help to identify why this happens in the first place. Businesses set monthly, quarterly, and annual targets for teams. To achieve these, managers ask and expect their teams to work their hearts out. Employees respond by pushing their performance envelope all the time.

Maintaining this pace for some time makes them feel tired and mentally exhausted. Such employees take some time off work. They have difficulty paying attention to work, even during duty hours. Good managers can pinpoint who may be experiencing burnout. They try ways to prevent burnout using various techniques. Managers often try the following to identify and avoid employee burnout:

Deploy Employee Wellness Programs

It is a norm for employees to feel isolated and overworked. Managers have a responsibility to make every employee feel comfortable in the workplace. To ensure employees feel at ease, managers must make them feel comfortable. One of the ways they can achieve that is by coming up with employee wellness programs. They may need approval from higher-ups. Once approved, the manager must announce the program is in place and employees can benefit from it. Wellness programs may include holidays, dinners and events, bonuses and prizes for achievers, etc.

Maintain Work-Life Balance

Employees tend to feel tired during the day, which is normal. However, they are done and dusted when you see them tired and bored and feel sleepy at the beginning of the day. Managers can cheer up such employees using various methods, including a proper work-life balance. Try not to push employees and make them work long hours every other day.

Request them to leave for home and do their work for the day during duty hours only. It will improve their efficiency and give them enough hours to enjoy quality time with family. Not to mention, it will reduce employee burnout considerably.

Facilitate Work at Home Occasionally

With Covid-19 protocols in place, working from home is integral to every workplace. As a friendly gesture, allow your team members to work from home from time to time. Working from home will make them feel relaxed, knowing they can work from the comfort of their home. It will save them money and time without reducing their work efficiency. On the contrary, there have been notable cases where employees notably improved during WFH.

Communicate with Your Employees

A principal reason employees feel exhausted at work is a lack of communication. They know the targets but often experience barricades when meeting them. Proper communication can effectively eliminate many barriers, including lack of communication. Managers must maintain frequent communication with employees to make them feel at ease. Discussing performance-related issues can also relax your employees and help them refocus on the targets at hand.

Set Realistic Targets and Performance Goals

Employees feel burned out in many ways, especially when they have unrealistic targets to achieve. An employee who is unable to complete his monthly targets can feel discouraged. Such employees suffer from issues like low esteem and lackluster performance. Missing targets become a norm for such employees, and managers won’t like that. As someone who understands employee behavior, it is best to discuss their targets with your employees and make them realistic.

It will let them reach targets easily. Ask them not to make it a practice to miss monthly targets and motivate them by reminding them how they achieved targets last time. It will encourage them to an extent and allow them to develop strategies to reach targets more efficiently.

It is widespread for managers to use efficient ways to prevent employee burnout. 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.

Being in a professional organization means that some fixed regulations must be followed, but that is not always the case. As the workers are the stakeholders of the business, then it means that they are a part of the organization and know its situation, too.

One of the critical difficulties small and medium-sized businesses face is the timely management of payroll. Since SMEs usually function with monthly budgets and tight plans, a slight delay in a payment or a setback of any sort could severely impact the cash flow and, eventually, the payroll.

When setting up a salary, there is always wiggle room to negotiate. A business needs some payroll wiggle room to manage its financial position more appropriately when facing any crisis and ensure they are not on a tight budget.

Payroll is a list created by the company that enlists the workers’ information in the organization and calculates their monthly or daily pay. Businesses find strategies to manage their expenses accordingly and solve the issues caused. One of the solutions could potentially be finding wiggle rooms in their payrolls. To manage their payrolls thoughtfully, they should avoid some common mistakes.

• Making mistakes and errors. This common mistake leads to delayed payments, making the owner make all their expense payments simultaneously. It will lead to no planning and no wiggle room to save extra money.
• Untrained staff creating the payrolls. The firm should either get payroll software or train their staff on making payroll, as the chances of overstatement and understatement are very high.
• Saving up extra money. Instead of saving up so much money, the business should hire a team that provides you with the services of creating payrolls.

To find wiggle room in your payroll, you should try these strategies:

• Create the payroll as soon as possible. It will motivate the employees, and their productivity might increase. You could take advantage of their acceptable behaviors and suggest wiggle rooms by explaining the business situation. The extra funds will benefit them in the long run as the business will be more successful and have higher wages.
• Try paying the wages through check: Most companies use direct debit to pay their employees, but going old school could be beneficial. It could result in late withdrawal and will by the depositor sometimes, creating a wiggle room. It will only apply if the withdrawals are not performed online or through ATMs.
• Exceed payments of other expenses. Most of the additional costs have room for delayed payments, such as trade payables. You should avoid late payments to the workers at all costs, as this will ruin the relationship between the employee and the employer. You can also find ways to cut down your unwanted expenses to obtain extra funds in the business for any potential emergencies.

If you have senior employees who have been in your business for a long time, creating some wiggle room with them might not be as difficult. The best way for a company to generate wiggle room is by communicating. It is not the only way to make wiggle room. You can also find ways to use the money in your bank account, which you pay back, to stay longer in the business. A business should look for other ways to save costs, like cutting their expenses to have some extra amount in their accounts.

The firm should invest in payroll companies to experience better performance and to have a better payroll system. The most important way to find wiggle rooms should always be to have accurate accounts. A wiggle room in payroll plays a remarkable role in cost-saving as you can pay your workers less than the usual salary. The business could use that to reinvest for further expansion or repay its debts with the saved money.

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 coronavirus pandemic has transformed businesses and created a massive challenge for many industries and organizations. But it also offered some great opportunities. This post will discuss how companies can rethink and reset their strategic plan during difficult times.

Working from Home 2.0

Many businesses have experienced having to have people working from home because of the pandemic, and many companies are now rethinking their entire business model. They’re raising questions like, “Do they still need offices?” and “Is this a better and more cost-effective way of working?”.

But if we are honest with ourselves, productivity has gone up for businesses, but how people work from home is not necessarily great for everyone. Some people have comfortable and well-designed home offices with all the equipment at their disposal. On the other hand, some people prefer to work from their kitchen table and are more comfortable in that setting. All in all, businesses must support individuals working from home and give them suitable computers and equipment. More importantly, companies must give employees the proper mental support to work without stress.

Business Model Innovation

Businesses must reflect on “what are we offering our customers?” and “how do we operate as a business.” Recently, many industries have been completely transformed during 2020, whether it’s the hospitality industry, event management industry, etc.

Businesses that have thrived in these difficult times are the ones that have been able to react to this situation quickly. Without the pandemic, businesses must always consider how the market is shifting and how we transform our business model to adapt to the new norm. This adaptability and innovation of the new model are more important in 2021 than last year.

Virtual Interfaces

It is another big trend where brands need to rethink how they deliver their services in a digital format. Technology like augmented, virtual, and mixed reality has transformed how we think about customer service.

During the pandemic, people realized that it’s not an obligation to visit a shop to try makeup when an app allows you to apply it digitally on your face—trying and testing products before purchasing them from the comfort of your couch sounds inspired by a sci-fi movie.

Automation

Businesses have been looking at their business processes and taking people out of the process as they are not genuinely adding value. So, we’ve seen this in warehouses in supply chains, automated vehicles, and trucks and ships driving autonomously. These are just a few examples of how businesses have advocated the idea of automation to minimize human errors.

In 2021, we expect to witness a boom in white-collar automation. For instance, if you look at the job of a doctor or a lawyer, professionals are trying to rethink how they can automate bits of their position through artificial intelligence. Healthcare organizations are considering educating patients to help save them money and time on the commute.

From Global to Local

The coronavirus disrupts the supply chain in this economic and political climate. Great tension is also observed between economies like the US and China. It means that companies need to rethink where they’re getting their goods from and whom they are selling.

We see a significant movement towards more localized business operations and processes here. Consumers today are more aware of environmental awareness and realize that rather than shipping fruits and vegetables from across the world, they can grow them locally and be more self-sufficient.

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.

Today, the practice known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization revolves around and is most associated with the Google search engine. However, the technique predated the most popular search engine in the world. Although SEO most commonly revolves around search queries, the practice started in 1991 with the first website launch and became officially mainstream in 1997.

Earlier, website owners tend to have little traffic but attractive websites. As time progressed and improved online searching methods became available, search engines became a means of bridging the gap between users and their search queries.

Since Google became the most popular search engine, optimizing a website according to its requirements became mainstream. SEO has become an essential online marketing tool for users worldwide, and millions of businesses promote themselves through this practice.

Search Engine Marketing vs. Optimization

The practice had many names before the term Search Engine Optimization became official. That includes search engine placement, ranking, positioning, registration, submission, and website promotion. However, there is one term without which the discussion remains incomplete: search engine marketing.

Search engine marketing is for paid techniques to promote a webpage or any other online prospect. Many believed that search engine marketing would replace search engine optimization, but that did not happen.

Throughout time, both these methods have existed peacefully. The difference between them is SEO; we optimize website pages and content to gain search rankings and, ultimately, visitors.

On the other hand, search engine marketing relies primarily on paid techniques. A marketer bids on keywords for a limited time window during which users can see their ads on top of the search engines. Whenever a user clicks on the line, the marketer pays the price of that click. It then directs the searcher to the relevant page.

Search Engine Optimization History

With Search Engine Optimization becoming a household name and more people becoming familiar with the term, finding relevant information has become even more accessible.

Before the accessible searching features, the practice of search engine optimization revolved around keywords. Marketers use keywords in their content to gain rankings. However, the practice has changed, and search engine algorithms now consider the quality of content and relevancy over several keywords present.

The same practice was used for the backlinking process, where marketers used to gain backlinks from relevant or irrelevant sources to gain rankings. However, that practice has also significantly improved, and now the SERP relies on the quality of backlinks over quantity. Numerous updates stopped this spammy backlinking feature from giving users genuine information and results to their queries.

The ranking criteria have changed to quality, and whoever attempts to spam themselves up to rankings goes into black hat SEO. Such practices might penalize a site and, in some cases, complete blockage of user accounts.

In early 2000, we saw the emergence of Google from an ordinary search engine to the world’s most renowned and authentic source of information. Google itself provided guidelines for effective white hat SEO techniques to gain organic rankings and visitors.

Why it Became Important?

Since 2010, the emergence of online marketing and presence for businesses has become essential. These marketing methods started to take over traditional promotion techniques to reach relevant people and get better outcomes. The companies that emerged online took over brick-and-mortar retail systems, and users also preferred the shift in the processes.

More people liked such methods as they became customer-centric and relied heavily on the user experience. Businesses created better UI and UX for users to engage and effective options throughout the buyer’s journey.

Users who felt easy in making buying decisions started to give positive feedback, which further became the basis for earning relevant organic traffic. Almost all industries use SEO today to reach their relevant audience and gain better rankings.

Search Engine Optimization gave rise to other marketing techniques, such as Social Media Campaigns, to reach a more targeted audience. Whichever method users prefer has its foundations in Search Engine Optimization.

Final Word

Search engine optimization has become a staple of online marketing today that relies heavily on user experience. Multiple updates are constantly happening, but it is for sure that this practice will evolve with time. As more people rely on the online presence of information, better chances of finding relevant information through white hat SEO techniques have become more manageable. There is no telling where this technology will end up, starting from the mere idea of bringing the best information to a searcher. 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.

Payroll is a list you use to calculate the workers’ wages according to their policies, which could be a per-time or per-piece wage. The payroll also includes information about the employees.

From any amenities or perks to the employee’s salary package to the fixed deductions and attendance history, the payroll document includes all the minute details that could affect the net payable amount of a salaried employee.

Any cash the business pays is called an outflow, and payroll is also an outflow because the company pays its employees. If the sum amount of payroll is high, then the cash flow could end up hostile if the overall outflows are more significant than the inflows (incomes) of the business. The chances of outflow being more significant are more likely because payroll is one of the business’s most significant expenses and could negatively affect the net cash flows, making it a liquidity problem.

As payroll plays a significant role in the expense account of the business, any error or mistake can be a barrier to making a successful payroll document. A few common problems in payroll are:

Inaccuracy

An improper payment to an employee will result in imbalanced records and will further become a problem while creating cash flow statements. Inaccuracy becomes the problem as this will result in an incorrect cash flow. Overstating the cash flow means that the outflows recorded in the statement are less than the actual amount, creating the concept that the business has enough cash to expand or pay off its debts when it is untrue. Another issue is if it is understated, it will result in negative cash flow, and the finance department will be unnecessarily worried.

• Not recording the attendance of a staff member

If the authorities are not tracking employees’ absences, this will affect the profit calculation of the business.

• The confusion caused by part-time employees

Some businesses work with full-time employees, part-time employees, and contractors. Sometimes, it is hard to classify what employee comes under what group, which is confusing while listing a payroll.

• Not having enough funds to pay wages

When a business has low profits, paying its employees’ wages gets complicated as it is one of the most significant expenses. The company might have to take a loan to pay its workers in this situation. Not having enough funds to pay wages is also a cash flow problem because the business will need excessive funds to pay the salaries, generating through loans that will give rise to outflows.

Payroll problems result in cash flow problems in the long run, as payroll is part of cash flow. To avoid these payroll and cash flow issues, companies should find efficient ways to prevent these risks.

• An efficient attendance recording system

A business could always use a punching clock or thumb impression recording system to get accurate employee information. A punch system provides information like the employees’ performance and working hours.

• An automated payroll/accounting software

Businesses should also install payroll software to save themselves from the burden of recording all employee details.

Long-Term Planning & Cost Optimization

To ensure that you always have cash in hand for wages and salaries, try cutting down other avoidable expenses like finding a cheaper supplier or a place with lesser rent. The business could also issue a business credit card to earn a line of credit to pay their employees- make sure not to exceed your limit and pay before the due date. If a business can’t afford a few employees, it can make them redundant and find contractors or part-time employees who ask for lesser wages. If nothing works and you can take debts, you could sell a non-current asset to have additional funds in the business and have a better position in the net cash flows.

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.