A structured electronic filing environment works better than having a ‘bucket’ of items that you search right through to find the item you want
What does this mean and what is the difference?
start-ups
Business fundamentals
Being able to find information you need when you need it is fundamental to the way you manage your business.
It doesn’t matter what your business does – whether you’re making pies, children’s’ clothes, iron gates or if you provide
End-of-year tax advice
I’ve researched tax information in various countries to offer you the following links to help you to prepare your records so your accountant can prepare your annual accounts in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
Give your business a flying filing start in 2015
Have you experienced one or more of these situations?
♦ Wasted time looking for information that you have filed “somewhere”?
♦ Got frustrated when you can’t find a paper or email that you know “is there somewhere”?
♦ Had to pay tax penalties because your missed a deadline due to inefficient business processes?
Cost-effective administrative support for small businesses
Did you read Lisa Martin’s story in the DominionPost recently? Her business GoFi8ure provides everyday bookkeeping and accounting support to small businesses before they get to the point of needing a full time office manager. GoFi8ure provides bookkeeping and other administrative services to free up small business owners to do what they do best – run the business.
Communication is almost more important than cashflow
To those of you still at work this week, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy thriving business in 2015. For those already on holiday and reading this in January my wishes for you in 2015 are the same.
To help you get thinking about how you will have a successful 2015, I want to share some thoughts on communication. I’ve had three interesting experiences recently that are top of mind right now.
Hard lesson in how not to run a company
Reports this week from the legal judgment on the failure of South Canterbury Finance (SCF) show how a big company that arose out of a small family business failed in part because the systems and processes in place didn’t work for a large financial company.
Brian Gaynor writing in the New Zealand Herald calls it “Hard lesson in how not to run a company”
Small business challenges in Ireland and New Zealand
I’ve been in Dublin recently with my daughter and her family. It was a busy time with her young children and chef/restauranteur husband but lots of fun and very different from life at home in New Zealand where I live with my husband and a cat!
What I found interesting was the similarities between Ireland and New Zealand. I’ve always been aware of the similar
“Keeping your head above Apple’s cloud” (Blayne Slabbert)
A few weeks ago I wrote about how to manage electronic information on all the different devices we use in our business.
So I was really interested to read at the weekend a similar article in the Dominion Post about how to use Apple’s iCloud service to make our digital life easier.
Although this article was written along the same lines as mine, it focused on Apple devices and iCloud. Interesting reading and the message is the same. The “cloud” in whatever flavour (Apple, Android etc) can help you manage your electronic information and simplify your electronic business life.
Try it. It will be worthwhile. Remember to put some structure into your cloud storage so you can find the information you’re looking for when you need it. You can do that when you download our eWorkbook that gives you a full set of instructions on how to set up a filing system for your business.
It’s a good idea to get started now so you are ahead of the game in the new financial year.
If you can’t access the Dominion Post article though the link – contact me and I’ll send you a copy.
Your first step to improve your office efficiency
You can improve the way your office operates by creating efficient access to all the information that you use in your business.
Information, both electronic and hard copy, is the cornerstone of your business. No matter what your business is you need information about stock, designs and other intellectual property, cash flow, staff, client and supplier contacts, business plans; in fact all the knowledge that is held by your business in paper files or electronic documents and systems.
Not knowing where to find all this valuable information, or being unable to access it quickly when needed, can result in loss of contracts and lower profits.
You and your staff need to get at important information quickly and efficiently
If only one person knows where and how information is filed, other people in your business won’t be able to access it when that key person is unavailable
Your systems and processes for keeping business records will reflect the information flow and ensure that everyone is able to work efficiently. This in turn will improve productivity and thus increase profits.
Think about this…
- How you lost a contract because you couldn’t find a key tender document in time for a meeting
- The complaints from your team because they couldn’t find something someone else had filed
- Information you can’t find after you have filed it
- An important email that was deleted in error or lost in the thousands of emails in your inbox
- The tax payment you missed and penalty you had to pay because you couldn’t find the reminder from your accountant
When was the last time you were in one of these situations? You need to organise our business information so you can find what you need when you need it.
Our e-workbook is here to help you. This step-by-step instruction book will give you the tools you need to build your own system for keeping your business information under control. It won’t take you long and will save your heaps of time and money currently lost in unproductive searching for information.
Don’t waste any more time searching for elusive documents or files. Create your own filing system using our instructional workbook. Available online now.
You can read more hints and tips to improve your business in the free eBook.