If you decide to open an e-commerce store, you are going to have to become familiar with merchant accounts and payment gateways. In order for you to receive funds from an online transaction, you will need to have some sort of merchant account. Although your bank can probably provide one you should plan on paying dearly for it. If you do not want to do this you can check into the more popular e-commerce merchant accounts available online. With e-commerce becoming so popular, gaining a merchant account has never been easier.

Payment gateways act as a sort of go-between for the sellers shopping cart and the financial institutions involved in the transaction. Gateways are not visible to the shopper and handle the transaction between your customers financial institution and your merchant account. This is all done behind the scenes when the customer clicks buy it now or enters the checkout.

There are also third-party credit card processors such as Paypal. They do charge more per transaction but there is no monthly fee. This is best if you are just starting out in e-commerce and are unsure of how the payment process works. Almost everyone has a Paypal account. Once you are on your way to becoming an established business, you will want to check more thoroughly into merchant accounts and payment gateways to save money.

All transactions go through the payment gateway. They provide information to and from the buyers and sellers financial networks. Once this is done, the money from the sellers account goes into your merchant account.

It is extremely important that you check the differences in rates before choosing a payment gateway and merchant account. Don’t settle on the first company you come across. Do some investigating or you may end up losing money and fast. Check the services and the rates for both payment gateways and merchant accounts. Ultimately you will want to get the most services for the most reasonable amount of money. That doesn’t always mean the cheapest. You often get what you pay for and that goes for e-commerce as well.

There should be no hidden fees involved in any type of merchant account or payment gateway. Fees should be laid out for you to see. If you do not see a complete list of charges that would be incurred, do not use that service. There are reputable services and not so reputable services so know what you are getting.

Merchant accounts act on behalf of the seller whereas a payment gateway is an information port for all of the financial networks involved in the transaction. This includes the buyer and the seller. Businesses must have both a payment gateway and a merchant account if they are not using a third-party service. Without a merchant account a seller cannot receive money from an online transaction. Without a payment gateway, the transaction cannot take place at all. This is the major difference between the two.

Security is one of the most basic qualifications when looking for an online accounting service. You cannot confide in just anybody to handle the financial health of your business, especially when that person is a virtual stranger who could be on the other side of the world and normally only available for consultations through e-mail or chat.

Of course, because it is an online service, you will eventually have to accept this as an attendant risk. Still, you should always make a decision based on security because you do not want your financial records revealed to your business rivals.

The service you choose must offer you an ironclad contract that guarantees that it will never divulge your details with anybody. Anybody can make this promise, of course. But a sure way of finding out whether your service is secure is to look around for what their clients have to say about their past experiences with the service.

Dollars to donuts, businesses that have had their confidential information stolen or sold will have voluminous negative feedback about the service both online and through word-of-mouth. Usually, blogs and online forums, particularly ones about enterpreneurship will have their own discussions of the service.

Despite all this, online accounting services are steadily becoming a business process open to businesses that are still growing and cannot afford their own accounting department yet. You will save on spending on the office space and expenses for computers and supplies for personal accountants to keep your books balanced. Your financial outlay will be much diminished, and that means you can instead use the money to contract the attention of a money-saving online accounting service.

Accounting is the main language used in business. Accounting information is utilized in communicating the affairs of a business unit to others, especially those who own or manage it. This information must be carefully recorded, classified, collapsed and presented. Accounting uses several concepts to make the language send out the same meaning to all people. A few of them are given below:

First, the Business Entity Concept. From the perspective of accounting, a business is distinct from the person who owns it. This makes it possible to record transactions of the business with the proprietor. Without this distinction, affairs of this nature will not be available.

Second, is the Cost Concept. Transactions are written down in the book of accounts with the actual amounts. For example, if a firm procures a piece of land for $5000, but considers it to be worth $6000, the purchase will be written down as $5000 and not any more, or less.

This is one of the most important concepts - it prevents arbitrary values being put on transactions, chiefly those resulting in acquisition of assets. Another way of saying the same thing would be that the amount to be recorded is objectively arrived at as a result of the mutual agreement of the two parties involved.


Sometimes it is inevitable that accountants have to be content with just a rough estimate, especially when what is included is the amount of depreciation to be charged each year in respect of things, which tend to depreciate. Obviously, the amount can only be an estimate because the future life of the machinery cannot be exactly computed.

Third is the Money Measurement Concept. Accounting includes in the record the transactions that are valued in monetary terms alone, though quantitative records are also kept. An event, although just as important, like a fight between middle managers, will not be included unless its monetary effect can be measured and its implications recorded.

Businesses are heavily dependent on accounting language. Several concepts run accounting language and logic. Here are a few of the more crucial ones:

First, Going Concern Concept. In Accounting, it is assumed that the business will exist for a long time and transactions are recorded from the point of view.

It is this that necessitates distinction between expenditure that will render benefit over a long period and that whose benefit will be exhausted quickly, say within the year. Of course, if it is certain that the concerned venture will exist only for a limited time, the accounting record will be kept accordingly.

Second, Dual-Aspect Concepts. Each transaction has two aspects. If a business has acquired an asset, it must have resulted in one of the following: some other asset has been given up; or
 the obligation to pay for it has arisen; or
 there has been a profit, leading to an the amount that the business owes to the proprietor; or
 the proprietor has contributed money for the acquisition of the asset.
In accounting the two effects of an entry will be recorded.

Third is the Realization Concept. Accounting is a true recording of transaction, if it is to give integrity to its existence as language; it puts down what has already taken place and does not give a prediction of events. However, the predicted adverse effects of events that have already taken place are usually recorded. Unless money has been actually earned—-either cash has been handed over or a legal obligation to pay the specific amount agreed upon has been assumed by the customer—-sale cannot be considered as having occurred.

Unless money has been realized either cash has been received or a legal obligation to pay has been assumed by the customer no sale can be said to have taken place and no profit or income can be said to have arisen.

The purpose of this article is to provide QuickBooks help to a typical small business owner to understand the differences between using the remote access capabilities with QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Online Plus. A less expensive QuickBooks Online version is also available, from Intuit, the manufacturer of the QuickBooks products. That software was not considered for this analysis. Before we address the differences, its first important to understand the term remote access. The term remote access has been with us for a long time and has emerged to mean, according to Wikipedia,a form of communication with a data processing facility from a remote location or facility through a data link. One of the more common methods of providing this type of remote access is using a virtual private network(VPN). The definition is further enhanced by the term remote desktop, which also according to Wikipedia, refers to a software or an operating system feature allowing graphical applications to be run remotely on a server, while being displayed locally. Some allow attaching to an existing user’s session (i.e. a running desktop) and “remote controlling” it in front of the user’s eyes. Whereas, according to a Google definition, online accounting relates to accounting that can be done on the World Wide Web. With this understanding of the remote vs. online accounting, we can provide some QuickBooks help by addressing the differences in two typical small business accounting QuickBooks products,- QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Online Plus.

Generally speaking, QuickBooks Pro with remote access gives you access to your accounting data while the QuickBooks Pro and data resides on your server in a different part of your office or any other wired remote location. Whereas QuickBooks Online Plus is a web enabled accounting package providing many useful online accounting features and functions. It is important to note that QuickBooks Online Plus’s inability to handle inventory is a major drawback for those businesses that have inventory while for those businesses that do not have inventory the drawback is not relevant. The advantages and disadvantages of QuickBooks Online Plus as compared to QuickBooks Pro is analyzed below.

The advantages of QuickBooks Online Plus as compared to QuickBooks Pro with remote access are summarized and ranked by level of importance as follows:

1. You can can connect different departments, offices in multiple locations or even your home as long as you have WI-FI. You do not need a wired network

2. The monthly cost includes your accountant and no more than 3 simultaneous users. If you want 25 more users its about $3 per user per month

3. No need to perform a daily backup,since Intuit backs up daily for you

4. QuickBooks updates are automatically provided with no installation and free support is provided

5. Sign in is easy, just go to your favorite in your browser

The disadvantages of QuickBooks Online Plus as compared to QuickBooks Pro with remote access are summarized and ranked by level of importance as follows:

1. Does not handle inventory and purchase orders, this rules out retail, manufacturing and distribution type companies from using QuickBooks Online Plus

2. Lacks multi-currency functionality

3. Only one QuickBooks window at a time can be opened in QuickBooks Online Plus

4. There is no dashboard or company snapshot

By using the World Wide Web,you as the owner/employer, investor, employee can all collaborate, share, communicate,and analyze the daily accounting information and reports, since everyone receives in real time the same online accounting information. Now,your CPA or accountant can provide QuickBooks support by responding with with faster answers to your important accounting and business questions by accessing QuickBooks Online Plus through the World Wide Web and also correcting your mistakes in real time. You can also outsource selected online accounting functions with QuickBooks Online Plus. If you chose to do this, please make sure that you implement a control process to monitor the outsourced person(s) work.

I am impressed with the above-mentioned benefits of QuickBooks Online Plus as compared to QuickBooks Pro with remote access, and for these reasons if there is not a need to account for inventories or multi-currencies, then my inclination is for QuickBooks Online Plus to handle a typical small businesses accounting needs.

A more detailed analysis of the functionality and data entry capabilities and performance processing will be the subject of another topic. Even, with the benefit of such an analysis,I would recommend that you consult with an accounting professional for QuickBooks help to evaluate whether the QuickBooks Online Plus or QuickBooks Pro remote access platform is best suited for your particular situation. When evaluating this software, its also important to determine how your employees will use the software in their to day to day activities and during a test period you should observe and evaluate the speed in which the employees are able to enter the data and the computer/web processing(performance) speed of each relevant online accounting process i.e. paying vendor bills, customer invoicing, record deposits, etc..

Not all payday loan finance fees are created equal. If youre looking for a payday loan service you probably need cash quick, but it still pays to do a little research into the rates charged by different companies before you borrow. A little smart thinking can go a long way when it comes to payday lending.

All payday lenders have conditions for borrowing, and some might not be entirely clear. Ask for a detailed explanation before you submit an application if you dont understand the terms of the cash advance. Some lenders are more upfront with their fees, and you should be suspicious of those who do not clearly disclose how much you can expect to pay for finance charges. Undisclosed or hidden fees could make it difficult or impossible to repay your loan on time.

Payday advances are convenient, but the fees youll pay for them are steep. Finance charges can be from $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed, but typically range from $20 - $25 for each $100 increment. Some companies try to exploit customers looking for emergency financing, so knowing the going rate in the market is critical. Youll be paying a premium to get your cash quickly, but comparing rates first can save you money.

Comparing rates can be confusing, however. Each company can have a different way of calculating their finance fees, so you should ask companies for their APR (annual percentage rate) and EAR (effective annual rate). This will allow you to effectively compare rates side-by-side and help you make an informed decision when it comes to borrowing.

Comparing rates can be confusing, however. Each company can have a different way of calculating their finance fees, so you should ask companies for their APR (annual percentage rate) and EAR (effective annual rate). This will allow you to effectively compare rates side-by-side and help you make an informed decision when it comes to borrowing.

Most people expect to pay the loan on time and dont anticipate having to rollover the loan. Rollover fees can be avoided by repaying the loan on time, but circumstances might arise that keep you from making the repayment deadline. Its important to know what the maintenance fee is in case you have to request an extension. If you have to rollover the loan, it can save a lot of money in the long run.

You should also find out if the company you borrow from automatically renews the loans by withdrawing the finance charges electronically from your checking account on payday. If your checking account has insufficient funds, youll be hit by fees from both the lender and the bank, and potentially be worse off than you were before you got the loan!

Todays economy means there are more customers in need of emergency short-term funding, and more people applying for payday loans. There are also more companies getting into the game of payday lending. Protect yourself by looking before you leap. When you need an emergency loan, it pays to shop around.

Car accidents usually result in an increase in insurance premiums. Even if you are not responsible, your insurance company will have to incur some costs. There is an increase in car premiums and policy quotes because the accident will be rated against your coverage. There are a number of types of insurance coverage that can include collision, personal injury protection, and medical coverage. If you are found at fault’ for an accident, coverage such as personal liability and collision will cover you, your vehicle, and personal injury to the other driver. Often, if you have just one accident, you will see an increase in your car insurance quote.

Car insurance quotes will increase because you will be considered a high risk driver. The premium will reflect the nature of the accident and the costs associated with the accident. Insurance companies will usually charge ‘points’ to your policy. Depending on the insurance company, these points will be charged to your policy for a certain period of time that usually ranges from three to possibly seven years. If you are in an accident that was your fault, the insurance company will consider that you are a high risk of having accidents in the future and increase your rates. You will also receive higher insurance quotes. The length of time between an accident and your quote and premiums decreasing depends on a providers policies. As well, you may have to pay a higher deductible for the insurance.

Another reason why an accident can increase your premiums when you are ‘at-fault’ in an accident is that there are some companies who will not insure you. When there is less competition for your business, then there is less incentive to give you a good deal. As a result, your insurance quote will be higher. When you add the insurance ‘points’ into the mix, it is easy to see how an accident can become very expensive. If you have a faultless driving record, it is unlikely that your premiums will increase after an accident that was determined not to be your fault.

You can normally expect a rate increase of between 20-40%. This increase is based on the Insurance Services Office’s (ISO) criteria of raising a premium after an accident. According to the ISO, for multi-car policies, the surcharge is 20 percent of the base rate, and for single-car policies it is 40 percent. It is important to remember that there are other factors taken into consideration after an accident such as your age, gender, and driving record. These factors will affect how high the percentage increase will be.

The increase in premiums is not done so that the insurance money can get their money back, but is based on the risk that you may be involved in another car accident. Each insurance company has different policies and standards, but they look at your chances of getting into another accident. The number of accidents that you are involved in also increases your insurance premiums.

Some companies will absolve past accidents after a set period of time has expired. This can be two years, or as much as five years, but the period will vary depending on the insurance provider. Basically, you have to show the insurance company that you are no longer a high risk driver.

The best way to avoid high car insurance quotes is to avoid an accident. You can do this by practicing safe driving. One car accident can seriously impact your car insurance quote and the premium that you will pay.

As a small business owner, you need to be able to operate at your desk swiftly and easily. Though setting up a filing system sounds difficult, it is a relatively easy task that can be made easier by a few filing tips and tricks.

Sit at your desk for a few minutes and figure out where you will instinctively look for things. Take a few minutes to sit down at your primary workspace and reach for equipment, supplies and files. That will help you establish the idea spot for filing those items for you personally.

Now that you know where you will naturally look for information, you must determine whether an alphabetical, numerical or subject filing system will work best for you. Do you search for things according to the client’s name? The category (i.e. expenses, financial, marketing)? By reference number? This is a critical step, as it will determine how you will lay out your filing system. Do this before you buy anything for your filing system.

Next, roughly determine your storage needs. Do you have a large number of files that you access on a daily basis? Do you only access your files weekly? The answers will determine if you need a desktop file holder, a two drawer filing cabinet close to your desk or a four drawer lateral filing cabinet across the room. So many options exist today, that you should choose carefully. Allow for growth when looking at filing cabinets - buy something to accommodate twice the files you think you will have now. This will limit the number of times you will have to resort and reorganize your filing system.

Invest in a good labeling system for clarity and easy access. Being able to read the file labels sounds obvious, but clarity in labeling will save you more filing time than you can imagine. Most companies who make labels provide templates that integrate with the most popular word processing software. You may want to consider one of the small label making systems that can now also print out individual mailing labels. Items that perform double duty are usually a wise investment.

Now you are ready to purchase file folders. The best investment is to purchase colored hanging folders (make sure the plastic label tabs are included) and plain manila file folders for filing system.

This ways applies to setting up a filing system that is easy to use and easy to grow with. Broad subject categories will allow you to easily add new files as you grow, and will eliminate the need to upgrade or reorganize your filing system on a regular basis.

No accountant? Save money with our free online accounting service. Visit quickbook web.

Cash is a vital component of any profit-generating organization. An organization’s assets generate revenue, which in turn generates cash inflows. These cash inflows are used for several purposes: to pay creditors, compensate employees, reward shareholders, provide asset replacement, and provide for growth.

Cash is unique because it’s the single asset that is readily convertible into any other type of asset. Therefore, it’s also the most widely desired asset. However, cash is also the asset that is most susceptible to fraud and abuse.

Therefore, management has to ensure that adequate controls and safeguards are in place to eliminate any unauthorized transactions with cash. Fortunately, there are ways management can safeguard the cash generated by its organization. Each of the following methods will help an organization prevent losses due to human error or theft:

Monthly Bank Reconciliation. Monthly bank reconciliation will help ensure that the amount of cash generated by an organization is consistent with bank records. In addition, an independent review of the reconciliation by management will provide an additional safeguard. Independent verification of bank reconciliation acts as a check to make sure the reconciliation was done properly and ensures there is no abuse of the organization’s cash.

Segregation of Duties Over Cash Handling. Every organization must make sure that there is adequate segregation of duties over cash handling. Separating the duties of cash receipts and disbursements prevents an individual from committing and concealing embezzlement.

Accountability for Cash Shortages. Management should hold supervisors accountable for cash shortages. If supervisors know that they’ll be held accountable for a cash shortage, they’ll be motivated to keep a close eye on how cash is used within their departments.

Authorized Cash Disbursement. Management should allow cash to be disbursed only through checks issued by authorized signers, which will provide a method for tracking cash usage. In addition, your organization should require signatures on all checks in order for them to be valid.

Internal Audits. Every organization should arrange to have internal audits conducted on a regular basis. Whether the auditors come from an internal audit staff or an outside auditing firm, auditing an organization’s accounting system can identify how effective and accurate the operation is and whether or not any improvements need to be made.

Why pay for expensive accounting software when you can get it free? Go to quickbook invoice.

Every day, a new piece of software is being launched on the market, and businesses of all kinds are already reaping the benefits of employing all kinds of software that improve their overall performance to a great extent. Computers and software have left no industry dull, and the legal practice is no exception.

The diverse and complicated activities taking place within the legal practices are definitely easier to perform with the help of legal technology solutions. The number of practices employing legal software is constantly growing, as a direct result of the numerous benefits that legal technology solutions bring.

The legal technology solutions include legal billing software, e-conveyance, digital dictation software, legal accounts software, online case tracking, and so forth.

Meeting the specific needs of each legal office, while benefiting from the ultimate management solution is now possible due to the legal accounts software. This solution is integrated and comprehensive, and if implemented properly, it meets all the required rules and standards.

Holding all the information regarding clients and matters in a single database generates a significant maintenance time reduction, as well as cost savings. The legal accounts software allows for the information inside a legal office to be held in such a single data source, which is constantly and centrally used and updated. Furthermore, the full integration of the legal accounts software with other legal technology solutions ensures the simultaneous updating of the accounts information, which delivers great control.

Both the common management reports and the accounting reports, which are normally provided by sophisticated packages, are included in the legal accounts software. Any piece of information, from Client Matter Balances to Profit, Loss and Balance Sheet reports can be analyzed with the help of this software.

Moreover, the analysis can be performed either by department or by branch, and standard reports can be modified as they are running, due to their pre-installed parameters.

The other functions of good legal accounts software include Cheque Printing, Ledger Card, Time Recording and Automatic Bank Reconciliation. The Cheque Printing function allows the printing of customizable cheques, either for the firm or for clients, from any bank account. The Ledger Card function displays essential information, such as client, office, bill, disbursements, and deposit balances, related to the client’s matter.

Choosing the most appropriate way to record your time is possible with the Time Recording function of the legal accounts software. The accuracy of the information inside the systems is increased and the time spent on duplicating work is substantially reduced. The Bank Reconciliation facility allows the analysis and cross-reference of batch payments and receipts, and displays the changing reconciled balance.

Why pay for expensive accounting software when you can get it free? Go to quickbook 2008.