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Capital financing relates to any kind of capital, which happens as the aftermath of a business decision. In other words, capital financing might seem like the current assets and liabilities of a company but is more complicated than that. The term capital financing is utilized to define four different kinds of capital. The four are venture capital, debt capital, working capital, and equity capital. These labels relate to the origin of capital financing. While a business flourishes and expands the business function, external finance might be required to support an increase in the capital. Equipment, properties, and main assets are financed via capital financing options so that companies could keep the most amount of cash in hand for interim business requirements. While funding is accessible for every business, big companies hold more choices because of their size and records of commercial achievements. Some kinds of capital financing entail private investors, equity financing, bank loans, and business bonds.

Debt financing is another capital that is acquired via borrowing of funds to be paid back at a future date. General forms of debt financing are credits and loans. The advantage of debt financing is related to the fact that it enables a business to leverage a trivial sum of money into a far larger amount, empowering further swift development that might not be possible otherwise.

 

Call for the Establishment

This calls for the establishment of efficient financial management. Financial management entails development, systematizing, regulating, and monitoring financial capitals to accomplish business objectives. You could achieve efficient financial management only if you have developed a comprehensive business strategy. An approach in this regard relates to holding determined goals and being agreed, established, and assessed the procedures, policies, strategies, and practices to accomplish these goals.

The standards of bookkeeping are considered as one of the guiding principles for efficient financial management. The bookkeeping systems of your organization for maintaining financial records and documentation should perceive recognized external principles of bookkeeping. Establishing efficient financial practices and systems to evaluate the financial strength of the company is considered as a significant part of running a business and assures that your tax requirements are met.

Effective Financial Management System

While establishing an effective financial management system, bookkeeping is the process of recording financial transactions. These records could support applying for financing, evaluate business practices, compliance with tax obligations, and productive management. This financial transaction includes equity to and from shareholders, payments to retailers and account payables, payroll to employees, and billing and cash receipts from customers. An accurately organized bookkeeping system would assure a sufficient internal control system where all the transactions are recorded and only officially sanctioned transactions are carried out. The posting of financial transactions is usually related to the accountabilities of a bookkeeper. It must be noted that bookkeeping is the handling and recording of financial transactions after the transaction has been made.

Along with that, due to tax, you would be officially obligated to maintain records about your commercial expenditures such as general sales tax (GST), employees’ salaries, your income, fuel tax credits, fringe tax benefits, and superannuation. Fundamental skills in efficient financial management initiate in the critical fields of cash management and bookkeeping that must be executed following particular monetary regulations to guarantee reliability in the practices of bookkeeping. Fresh managers in the leading roles would soon go on to learn how to create financial statements with the assistance from bookkeeping records and evaluate these statements to comprehend the financial situation of the company. For the reason that financial evaluation demonstrates the actual condition of the business, efficient financial management is considered as one of the most significant processes in the management.

 

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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.

Taking the first steps in investing can be scary and difficult. Making investment decisions requires thought and timing. Investing earlier in life will help you build greater wealth over time. After you have done your research, chosen and purchased your investments, you know that you can afford to relax while being fully aware that your money is being invested wisely.  But you must keep it in mind that you can’t afford to put your feet up and forget all about your investments altogether.

Investment tips for Contemplation

Revising Your Portfolio

If you fail to keep track of your portfolio, it can turn out to be one of the biggest amateur investor mistakes. Many experts recommend that you revise and keep track of your portfolio around every 6 to 12 months or so. Check and see how much your funds are, but make sure that you don’t consider them in isolation. How do you manage to do this? Bookkeeping will help you in providing all of the necessary and relevant information from which all of your accounts are formulated.

For you to get the complete picture, compare your funds with others in the same group. Over time, don’t just let your savings and investments drift. You need to make sure that your asset provisions are still suitable and fitting as per your risk level.

How should you evaluate your portfolio?

If you happen to have more money than you can invest, and you feel that the returns you will get on your present investments will be quite impressive, you may start contemplating on buying more. If your salary happens to have risen, or if you happen to have some programs you wish to invest in.

If your portfolio happens to do well, and your attitude, timeframe and goals risk happen to remain the same, the most straightforward approach you can take is to spread out all your money through your existing investments.

Nevertheless, at this stage, just as your confidence grows in your investing skills, you will find many investors who wish to start enhancing their portfolios, especially with higher risk and with more interesting funds. This is a sign of adding in minor companies or more specialist or international funds.

 Investment tips when Buying Shares

The most assured and confident all of the investors, who happen to have the conviction and courage to hand-pick all those businesses and companies they think will perform well, might want to enhance their portfolios with some zing and direct shareholdings.

Focusing on individual companies and investing a share of your portfolio can be a prudent way for you to boost up your returns. That is, only if you happen to make the correct and right choices.  We admit that it is easier said than done.

Chances are, if you are taking and following the tips from a stranger you met in the bar, then your money will most probably go down the drain.

It is wiser and more sensible for you to buy shares of those companies you are aware of and familiar with. You have a clear understanding of that company and its reputation. If not, it wouldn’t hurt you to do some research.

Another easy way an investor can learn all about buying shares can be by joining an investment club. This is a place where you can meet up with other like-minded people who wish to pool in and buy shares together.

You should find yourself a financial advisor located in your area

It is easy and cheap to invest in a diverse range of investments. Still, if you happen to be confused about the options or have huge sums of money you are looking to put away, or if you have big goals in your mind that could be early retirement or school fees, you should seek an independent financial adviser.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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.

Let’s face it, protecting your privacy from hackers and spies is no easy task. Smart cybercriminals would go to extremes to hurt individuals and companies financially. Cybersecurity has become a serious issue these days as criminal minds have been inventing new ways to steal sensitive information that will lead them to personal financial gains. With an increased success rate of cybercriminal activities for hackers and scammers, many people are finding hacking a lucrative career path and a steppingstone towards faster growth and success.

My Personal Take on Online Security and Protecting Your Privacy

The internet, which is a blessing these days, can also be a dangerous place to share your personal and business information. Privacy has more or less become a rare commodity these days, and companies can no longer claim to have 100% cybersecurity or secured systems and networks. The malicious apps and malware software, dangerous viruses, and phishing scams are growing in number, and companies have little or no clue what to do to secure their networks. If we specifically talk about data breaches and identity theft, they are becoming commonplace, creating real risks to your privacy.

What Cybercriminals Look For?

Hackers, scammers, and spies want valuable data. This includes bank details, bookkeeping records, credit card numbers, email addresses, home addresses, vendor details, stakeholders’ details, birth dates, past financial records, and more. They will exploit any opportunity at hand and make individuals and companies pay for their lack of cyber or online security. The main reason why cybercriminals can easily break into your accounts is due to outdated operating systems, networks, or browsers.

This is why protecting your privacy against cybercriminals is absolutely mandatory for every individual and company regardless of the size, scale, and location. Two of the most common reasons why cybercriminals desire to steal data is 1) blackmailing where personal data is stolen for personal interests and 2) extortion. Where an individuals or company’s data is held for ransom.

Here’re the tips for protecting your privacy from hackers and spies, which means online security needs to be duly tracked, updated, and embraced to prevent cybercriminal activities.

Minimize Your Digital Presence

Sharing too much data on social media and the internet can be dangerous for you. According to experts, it can pose potential threats to not only individuals but also for the companies. Sharing personal information and tweeting too much about your day-round activities can turn into a disaster. Recently, a story about a young girl who had been followed by some crazy pedophile tweeted about being home alone and being attacked, took the internet and social media by storm. This made headlines across the world, making people aware of the dark side of the internet. So, this fun-loving and socially interactive activity can be dangerous, which needs to be minimized and stopped right away for one’s safety and the sake of online security. To cut a long story short, just restrict your online presence and do not give any personal information to anyone before verifying their legitimacy and credentials.

Keep Your Systems and Networks Updated

Giving easy grounds to cybercriminals means letting go of your personal and business information to online criminals without showing any resistance. There is no denying the fact that outdated systems and networks are vulnerable to cyber threats. One thing is clear; they can’t prevent cybercriminals from entering your servers due to obsolete software and firewalls. So, you need to keep online security in-check and keep all system software updated, encrypt your wireless network, and have firewall software that will oppose spyware and phishing attacks. Most importantly, malicious viruses attacking your servers.

Implement Strict Password Policies

By establishing code and implementing strict password policies, you can expect to elevate your online security. In today’s world, where protecting your privacy has become an extremely challenging task, a strictness in implementing password policies can help prevent data leakages and keep cyber criminals away from breaking into your system and networks.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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

Accounting is a complex profession in the financial industry as well in the financial matters of business and has different software and tools. Often tools or software are used by the people who are specialized in bookkeeping and have to manage and record numerous financial entries. Similarly, QuickBooks is one of the accounting software packages that help professionals in accounting and finance in managing the transactions that take place within a business. Meanwhile, QuickBooks is developed and marketed to serve the accounting and finance-related needs of firms that are either small or medium-sized businesses.

 

How Do I Close My Financial Year in QuickBooks?

Different periods exist in the field of accounting and finance and range from one month to an entire financial year. The most important period in terms of closing the records of transactions in the fiscal year is the end of a financial year. The period varies depending on the needs of business regarding its transactions.

Likewise, QuickBooks being an accounting software provides an option for recording and closing the financial information when the fiscal year is ended. While using the QuickBooks software, it is necessary to make sure that data is not changed. Close attention needs to be paid while entering the data into the right period. But it sometimes happens, the data is entered into the wrong period inadvertently. The wrong input data then creates more work for the CPA in the next financial year, as the accounting professional is required to adjust the data that has been wrongly posted.

Thus, the users have the option to close each period if they prioritize to regulate their business more efficiently. QuickBooks being smoother helps businesses in keeping their accounting data for longer runs. However, recording a financial year-end in the QuickBooks can require the users to condense their file when they want to save a large volume of data. Besides, there is a probability that the employees of a business can add, change, or delete the entries as per their needs.

However, changing the entries will require making the appropriate adjustment in the entries that were wrongly posted in the previous financial year or the previous month. Besides this, it should be remembered that QuickBooks is driven by the date of entry made by the accountants. For instance, if the entry was made on 1/1/11, which was the first day of the new financial year in the financial books of a business, then the entry is considered to be put in the fiscal year of the period. To adjust or change the period of entry, such as 1/1/12, the accountants will have to consider that the entry is now in the previous financial year.

To solve this problem of the change while closing the financial year in QuickBooks, the accountant will have to use the Set Closing Date and Password option within Company Preferences. Through this option, accountants can lock the information that was input in the earlier financial year or previous period. The change in the period of entry cannot be completed without entering the password.

One of the important features in QuickBooks is the automatic year-end adjustment. The program adjusts the company’s expenses and revenues and zeros them out so that the new financial year can be started. On the last day of the fiscal year, the section of equity on the balance sheet will show the line of net income. This reflects the profits for the current fiscal year. The QuickBooks module increases the retained earnings section by the value of net income and reduces the net income account by the same value. In this way, QuickBooks allows an accountant to start the new financial year from zero net income.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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 a fantastic tool for accounting and bookkeeping and is essential for any owner of a small business. It can help any business owner who is looking for an accounting and management software for keeping their books in order. QuickBooks has added online features that will make accounting and bookkeeping functions even more user-friendly. Here are 5 QuickBooks Online Features That Will Make Your Life Easier:

 

Online Payment of Bill

QuickBooks announced their first in-product integration recently, which is providing the customers with a facility of online bill payment. By using an application, QuickBooks is now able to provide the customers with the ability to pay their bills online quickly. This facility is making it easy to manage the cash flow of business because the outgoing and incoming cash is tracked in just one place. Various credit verification questions may be asked if paying the bill through the app. These questions are mostly private questions that only the person using the app knows. Once a person has signed up, then vendor bills can be paid online, and their progress can be tracked too.

 

Time Tracking

The second-best feature of QuickBooks can be time racking. Time tracking in QuickBooks online essential is one of the most used features these days. The feature of time tracking can let you track very easily and bill customers for your time.

 

Partial Purchase Orders

QuickBooks is continuously rolling out features that support inventory management. However, partial purchase orders are the latest update for an inventory-centric business. Partial purchase orders are the feature, which is easy to use. In addition to this, no preference and no setups are needed to be put in place. If you have QuickBooks Online Plus with the purchase orders turned on, you can easily receive partial purchase orders.

 

Project Tracking

Project tracking is still in beta, technically. Therefore, it is an amazing feature, and it can also be turned on by using QuickBooks Labs. Besides, it is not a full-on job costing. There is much more to come, but it better to turn it on and to get used to it.

 

Bank Reconcile

Bank Reconcile is another amazing feature of QuickBooks. You can easily reconcile your bank using QuickBooks, and all the bank account work can be done effectively. Moreover, it is also essential to work with an accountant for the reconciliation of the bank and bank cards. In addition to this, it is important to know that, since the chart of accounts and payment terms are supported in QuickBooks, the warehouse operations automatically replace the account entries and the term QuickBooks import records. 

 

QuickBooks has been a well-respected and often used accounting and bookkeeping software used by business owners and individuals. The added online features have made QuickBooks even more valuable. These five features are the most used, but more features may be useful. Explore and discover what works best for you or your business.

 

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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.

Growing cybersecurity threats are leading companies from all across the globe into problems. From small-scale business startups to well-established IT conglomerates, there wouldn’t be any organization in the entire world that is immune to the threats of cybercrime. Cyber-attacks are an increasing phenomenon in today’s corporate world, and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are increasingly targeted due to their lack of cyber defense. Arguably, cyber-attacks on SMEs have increased over the past decade or so, and small businesses are still getting fooled at the hands of cybercriminals. Small business owners need to change their perception that their company is too small to be a playground for cybercriminals. They need to understand the fact that small businesses are vulnerable to cybercrimes, and the prevention of cybercrime is a MUST!

Digitalization and Cybersecurity Threats

The age of digitalization is leading into a world where business data is exchanged across the board and transmitted through different internal and external communication channels and platforms and perhaps saved in database servers or the cloud or both. This indicates that businesses are likely to see intrusions and infiltrations into their servers by unknown parties, predominantly known as hackers, spies, digital thieves, scammers, or whatever you name online criminals. Unfortunately, cybercrime or hacking has become a very lucrative profession, and those who know the art of stealing from the company’s databases and servers are making a lot of money. Although larger companies and corporations may have taken some preventive measures for their businesses, SMEs mostly lack in the cyber defense department.

Due to weak cyber defense mechanisms, SMEs are an attractive target for cybercriminals. It is no secret that fraudsters use sneaky tactics to steal from companies and try their latest tricks to hurt businesses financially. “Cybercrime is a curse that will last forever,” said one of the top industry veterans associated with a multinational IT firm. Well, this industry has something for everybody–from solo-playing con artists to organized crime syndicates. Regardless of the size and scale, companies need to come up with a sound crime prevention plan for protecting themselves in a world of cybercrime.

What Can SMEs Do Defend Against Cybercrime?

Cybercriminals these days are equipped with wider hacking knowing and expertise that help them to steal important business data such as vendor details, bank, and financial statements, bookkeeping and accounting records, trade secrets, stakeholders’ information, and other sensitive data. SMEs need to protect themselves against cybercrime and make serious efforts to prevent confidential information leaking from the company’s servers.

There are countless ways SMEs can protect themselves from cybercrime or cyber attackers. Here’s what you can do

Install Anti-virus

Those SMEs that cannot afford to buy expensive antivirus software can download free antivirus solutions as they can also protect them from malicious cyber-attacks. Of course, free antiviruses can work too, but it’s better to have a more robust antivirus solution. Most cyber-attacks happen when SMEs fail to understand the notable worth of such antivirus software and ignore its incorporation in the company’s system and servers. So, this makes me feel safe to say that cybercrime is a menace that needs to be dealt with wisely!

One thing is for sure, cybercriminals have become smarter than ever and use sneaky tactics to break into the company’s accounts and servers. Some of them even have the hacking knowledge and expertise that allow them to surpass antivirus software. So, SMEs need not rely on free antivirus software and purchase more robust solutions for protecting their company against potential cyber threats and dangers.

BYOD Device Policy

Bring your device (BYOD) policy may help companies to keep their operational costs lean. This is the strategy that is common in startup business ventures that help companies to prevent the leakage of important business data from day one. BYOD policy can help businesses, as this is a convenient and cost-effective way to cut business costs. But the lack of a clear BYOD policy can be an open invitation for cybercriminals to hack into your systems and networks through unprotected devices. SMEs need to address this issue in companies that allow BYOD with its employees.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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.

Let’s face it; external threats of fraud are getting worse, and some organizations don’t have a clue what to do about it!

With the growing influence of the internet and dependency on employees in the modern-day workplace, theft of confidential data and trade secrets is more common. Monitoring employee activities and tracking their performance and conduct is easy.  But monitoring day-to-day external operations is more difficult because they are multifaceted. Getting in control of your core business operations, whether financial or managerial, is critical to your long-term success. Perhaps it’s the first thing that determines your company’s profitability and productivity. Guarding against external threats of fraud can help identify and protect your company from fraud, vandalism, libel, hacking, and other inappropriate behavior or misconduct.

Small Organizations Are Vulnerable to External Threats of Fraud!

According to a survey, more than half of the corporate houses around the globe or two-third of companies have experienced and suffered one or more instances of fraud. Surprisingly, the US tops the list of the most severe level financial crimes ever recorded in a corporate world. This indicates that fraud is an ongoing and most widespread activity that costs businesses billions of dollars each year. Small and mid-sized businesses are more vulnerable to external threats of fraud, as they usually lack resources and an adequate level of checks and balances. As per the ACFE Report to the nations, the typical organization loses a significant 5% annual revenue and profit due to occupational fraud. Also, the cases of fraud are far less likely to be committed by a team of individuals and more likely to be committed by a single individual or in an individual capacity.

External Threats of Fraud Possess Risk That Impacts Company Profitability

The need to have a secure and reliable way to manage your company’s finances is essential for putting your business in the right direction and expecting to have long-term growth and success. In a digital world full of fraudsters, computer hackers, data breaches, and spies, you and your company can expect to get affected in one form or another as identity thieves can easily get a hold on your company’s sensitive data and secrets. This makes it clear that external threats of fraud can significantly hurt companies making them get out of the competitive business race. So, having proper checks and balance systems and mechanisms in place can help you reduce costly errors or mistakes.

Types of External Threats of Frauds

External fraud can cause serious damage to your bottom line. It commonly involves your customers and external parties, such as your vendors, banks, etc. Some of the most common types of frauds include vendor and telemarketing fraud or scam, corporate espionage, check and credit card fraud, tax scams, shoplifting, ID theft, insurance fraud, bookkeeping or accounting fraud when hired for services, mortgage, and investment fraud, internet or cybercrime, etc.

Protecting Your Company Against External Threats of Fraud

Create a Code of Conduct and Sound Management Plan

It is ideal for documenting everything appropriately and maintaining a file of important business transactions and financial records. The data saved in your computer is more vulnerable to theft and an easy target for spies and hackers. This also includes the list of duties that who is going to manage which work. Also, it is quite effective to create and document procedures and create a disaster recovery plan in case of data theft. Moreover, training of employees and implementation of effective procedures, coupled with activities like maintaining and auditing the program, is a big plus for minimizing external threats of fraud.

Shore up Your Site’s Security

There is no denying the fact that creating and implementing security measures and ensuring all the data security network protocols can be a nightmare. Especially when you have piles of business records, files, and documents all in one place, to prevent leakage of sensitive data, you need to classify each file. This allows you to have control over your company’s data. 

If the sensitive data is housed online, you must assign different layers of security, perhaps by putting firewalls on the server. If the data is stored in-house, you need to shore up your on-site security to reduce external threats of fraud. This includes locking everything down, installing fire and security alarms, and limiting access to your critical documents. This also includes labeling all records, files, and documents appropriately, conducting regular bookkeeping audits, and other similar tasks.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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 food and beverage industry is a tough nut to crack when it comes to generating comprehensive revenue. The competition in the industry is always increasing, which means you must come up with a differentiating strategy to up your percentage of revenue. However, it is still a lucrative industry for new start up’s and also for seasoned restaurant owners who have the expertise to cut labor costs and other overheads, which tend to take up most of the percentage in revenue.

 

The high percentage of labor costs in revenue is due to the high dependence on labor in the industry. From cooking to serving and then after-sale services, all jobs are labor-intensive. Even the back end of your operations highly depends on skilled labor and their efficiency to carry out the designated tasks.

Labor costs

According to research, labor costs in the food and beverage industry take up around 20 -40% in the percentage of revenue. The percentage varies from restaurant to restaurant as well as other factors such as level of automation, target market, location, and type of offered services. This is a high percentage when we observe that it is a single cost, and we have not added other costs, which would result in a higher number, leaving business owners with little margins.

 

Food and labor costs differ from the kind of food service provider. As a fantastic restaurant, you will incur and higher food and labor cost percentages than if you are running a fast food or casual dine-in restaurant. The product itself, quality, service, pricing operating hours will influence the percentage of revenue. States have minimum wage limits for jobs, so you will incur a minimum cost as soon as you hire a worker. The amount of beverage sales, as a part of the food mix, has a substantial effect on the cost percentage as a whole.

Calculating labor costs

The biggest and most obvious cost would include the wages paid to your workers for the work they are performing for your business. Some of them are paid on an hourly basis, while others would be permanent staff. Businesses often are careless about factoring in other labor-related costs, which are related to benefits, leaves, vacations, health care, and so on. It is not easy to calculate all these costs accurately, and you would require proper bookkeeping set up to account for them at their closest.

Labor costs as a percentage of revenue substantially rise as you add the obscured costs, which are not so obvious. 

Other costs

Once you have calculated all the costs, the job is not done because other costs are still to be calculated, which have complications of their own. The cost of acquiring the raw material for food before it is prepared and served or sold is another significant cost that cannot be ignored. Logistics, overheads, and utility bills are some other costs that you should keep in mind while operating in the food and beverage industry.

How to reduce labor costs?

The survival of your business depends on your ability to reduce costs and bring them to an optimum level. While reducing all costs is important, costs related to labor are perilous because they take up a significant share of the percentage of revenue. The staff for food and beverage businesses should be hired on a need basis. There will be instances when your restaurant would appear understaffed because it’s full, and at times it would appear to be overstaffed because there is no one to serve. Striking an optimum balance in between is the key to reduce labor costs. One way is to keep a specific number of permanent employees and hire the rest on an hourly basis if the demand arises. There are ways to work around the high costs and reduce its effect on the percentage of revenue. You need a bit of creativity and common sense.

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-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure 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.

Securing your servers and networks and protecting your privacy from online criminals has become an onerous task these days. Hackers and scammers have been inventing new ways to break into the company’s accounts and system, for the money. The thing is hacking has turned into a profitable business, and people from all across the globe have been trying their luck in this ‘profession’. From SMEs to big tech conglomerates, privacy has more or less become an increasingly rare commodity, and hackers are exploiting personal and business information.

According to a study, online criminals will exploit any opportunity at hand and hurt people by manipulating their identities. Typically, most cybercriminals steal sensitive data for money that would be acquired either through taking ransom or selling the information on the dark web for money, which accounts for 77% of total online security breaches. You may be surprised to know that 15% of cases were reported in 2016 against cybercriminals who went on stealing others’ information for personal reasons.

The Growing Use of Social Media Apps and Cybersecurity

The growing popularity of social media and tempting social apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc. where have brought people together and provided a playground to interact with each other seamlessly have also created a lot of troubles from them. The internet and social media, where are a blessing, are also a curse! How?  They have a dark side that can hurt people’s image and reputation and damage them both emotionally and physically, which is why there should not be any compromises on one’s online security. Also, people have to realize that they need to prevent shady individuals, online con artists, and cybercriminals from entering their system and networks.

The fact is the bad guys want to steal from you no matter how they are going to make that possible. Once, they had to hold on to your personal data only when they are going to be in a position to manipulate you for ransom or anything else. Giving you the reality check, never fill out your social media profile with legit or accurate information as it can lead you to real trouble. It’s better to restrict your social media activity and limit your online presence as much as possible. Or else, it can pose a threat to your online security.

One thing is clear; the more information you share online–it will become easier for someone to get their hands dirty and damage your reputation. So, never provide essential pieces of personal information such as contact number, email address, complete bios, D/O/B on social media platforms. Well, that’s precisely the point of providing accurate details on your profile and share everything you and your family in your Facebook profile? Come one—you need to understand the bitter realities of the internet, and if you care about your privacy, you need to change yourself!

What Else Can You Do?

Besides restricting your online presence on social media apps, you need to keep your system and networks safe from cyber-attacks. For that, you need to come up with a well-thought-out plan and clear-cut prevention strategy for protecting your data. This includes bookkeeping records and personal and business details. What you can do is create your security policy or hire an IT professional to get this right for you. By setting up strong passwords, it would be troublesome for cybercriminals to break into your computer or network.

Moreover, you need to be careful with software installation and keep your software, browsers, and operating systems updated. Robust anti-virus software can help prevent cyber-attacks and keep cybercriminals from infiltrating your system. A layer or layers of firewall can be a stepping stone for a greater and more robust online security.

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