If you have spotted the term “Business Coach” appearing more and more often in the Business press, you may be wondering just what is it that a Business Coach does. If you want to know the key benefit of Business Coaching then just read on.
Coaching has been around for some time in Zambia, in sports of course but it has in the recent years entered the Business world. Among the notable Business Coaches is Chibamba Kanyama, a Zambian Economist who conducts a number of small Business Coaching programs including the one dubbed Creating the Future Teen Conference hosted under the Teen Vision Trust.
Businesses worldwide spend millions on financial software that promises to turn them into all-singing, all-dancing performers, only to fail because the chorus line hasn’t been mastered by many.
It is not a secret that one of the main reasons most company’s investments in new IT systems never pay off is incomplete adoption. Despite companies’ best efforts to define and streamline processes through the use of advanced financial systems, many businesses use only the basic functions and fail to take full advantage of the systems capabilities. This is exactly where a Business Coach can help.
Just like sports coaches push athletes to achieve their optimum performance and motivate them whenever the going gets tough a business Coach will encourage you to stay focused and realize your business ambitions by consolidating your resources and help you make right decisions based on accurate information.
What can a Business Coach offer to a well experienced financial manager? The answer can still be found by returning to the sporting analogy: even the most talented sports stars use coaches because they can easily recognize the full extent of an athletes potential, tap into it and then use their expertise to guide the athlete to winning ways.
In the same way, business coaches have the skills to help entrepreneurs like you realize your full potential.
The business Coaching industry has comprehensive systems and training methods to help you succeed in your business. Before you finally give up on your business think about hiring services of a Business Coach it could save your Business.
Key Reason to Hire a Business Coach
Consumer Rights & Computer Literacy
The subject of computers, Software, data management systems and other related topics bring out mixed and sometimes unpleasant feelings among some small business owners and consumers.
Computer literacy, or the ability to understand computer use for Accounting is a growing concern worldwide, particularly in the current era we are living in. It is clear that a consumer or user who is computer literate has a huge advantage over one who is not.
In recent years and months, millions of people and businesses have lost huge sums of money. For some it may have been due to entrusting their money and business operations to people and organizations without detailed knowledge about a particular accounting system to protect their interest. One such example in mind is the story in the post about the alleged debit card fraud which hit Zambia .For some consumers it may be due to wrong product choice because of unforeseen circumstances such as lack of information .while for others, wrong product choices may be due to dishonest or misleading advertising.
We all as Consumers of products and services have the right to be informed, be given facts needed to make informed decisions and to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and most importantly, we all have the right to choose and select from the range of accounting products and services, offered at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality and service.
But don’t get me wrong, just because you are computer literate does not mean you will not make mistakes when choosing products and services. It only means that you will make few mistakes . Most importantly, you will clearly be able to understand the proper use of the service. Every Accounting system has risks and the solution is to be aware of how to prevent these risks. I earlier outlined some of "The Most Deadly Online Banking Mistakes" you must never make just to help users of various online payment systems understand some measures to take into account.
When you understand things better, your analysis will be in place. As the banking sector and other financial service providers continue to launch new accounting products and services, it is critical for the masses to be computer literate.
With more choices of products and services comes the potential for more confusion and frustrations. The best way to avoid this is to educate yourself and encourage others to actively seek Computer education.
As a matter of fact, all consumers of products and services have the right to education and to acquire knowledge including skills to make informed and confident choices about accounting products and services.
Today’s advice is, If you don’t have the knowledge to make an informed and confident decision about an accounting product or service always consult an Expert.
Making Inter-Branch Transfers Simple
Business growth and expansion requires detailed planning. Honestly, you cannot just wake up the following day and decide you will open a Branch of your business in another location without carefully considering Inter-Branch Accounting issues. In fact, many entrepreneurs find their businesses crumble as a result of unplanned and uncontrolled growth.
It is clearly evident that many businesses today operate through branch networks but the fact that other business entities manage various branches successfully does not imply that managing a branch is that easy. The reality though is that managing remote branches requires a lot of accounting effort to operate effectively.
My focus in this article is to draw your attention to this topic of Inter-Branch Accounting, how it may affect your business if poorly handled and look at a Simple way to account for transfer of inventory and cash items to any branch in your business.
An effective branch accounting system can give you the ability to effectively control the operations of your branch as well as manage Stock movements and control expenses easily.
The outlining principles of Inter-branch Accounting require that you keep proper record of the cost of goods sent to your branch from the main warehouse or Head office and any goods returned back, keep proper record of all stock movements from time to time, keep a record of all expenses including totals of credit sales and amounts collected from customers at the branch you operate and also keep a record of all cash receipts and payments made by the branch before you can finally prepare the accounts of your business as a whole.
You will note that, operating business branches results in various general ledger accounts and a large number of inter-branch transactions which require proper processing and reconciliations. If any of the inter-branch entries are not processed and reconciled properly, they may give rise to financial irregularities which can affect the profitability and growth of your business.
But what is the better way to expand a small business into new potential markets and yet financially manage it effectively?
My answer to this question is this. Though it may be practically impossible to be in two places at the same time, with continued advancement in technology this is eventually “almost becoming possible.”
Automating of an Inter-Branch Accounting System greatly improves the operations of a business. It is therefore just common knowledge that most if not all businesses such as Banks and retail stores which operate branches worldwide continue to make investment in various Accounting Software for Inter-Branch Transfers (IBT) to enhance their Accounting system.
Before you think about opening a new branch of your business, consult an expert for advice on how best you can setup your accounting system to handle Inter-Branch Accounting in a simple way.
Why SME-s Need Standards
If you are a business owner you may be asking your self but why: and what this means to your business.
In this article I wish to highlight the importance of accounting standards and the need to develop a simplified financial reporting framework for SMEs.
Why do we Need Accounting Standards?
You need accounting standards so that financial statements will fairly and consistently describe the financial performance of your business, without the standards, users of financial statements such as commercial banks and other statutory institutions would need to learn the accounting rules of each and every client or company they deal with and comparisons between these companies would be very difficult.
The accounting standards used today conform to the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These principles are called generally accepted for one simple reason. An Authoritative body set the principles and the accounting profession widely accepts these principles as appropriate.
Why Adopt a Simplified Financial Reporting Framework for SMEs?
In 2009 National Budget, the income tax act was amended to provide for all limited companies to include audited financial statements when filing in tax returns.
Any audited financial statements conform to the generally accepted accounting principles this meant that every small to medium business was required to engage a qualified accountant and engage an audit firm to audit their books. This requirement has been strongly argued by a number of stakeholders that it will increase the cost of doing business for SMEs especially start up businesses.
The move by ZICA to engage AMG Global Chartered Accountants to develop and recommend a standard format for financial statements for SMEs will be of great benefit to small business owners.
In addition, adopting a simple format will help small business owners produce financial statements easily with all necessary information requirements using generally accepted accounting principles in a cost effective way.
Starting Up a Small Business
A number of people ask about procedures of Starting Up a new Small Business. The steps of setting up your own Business may be slightly different from one country to another. This outlined registration procedure relates to starting a Business in Zambia but may as well conform to Business opening procedures of other countries.
1. Once you are set on starting up the Business in either Tax and Business consultancy or trading, decide on a name of the Business which should be unique from any existing Business names. Go to the company registration office to check if your proposed Business name is not registered by any other persons. In Zambia, The Patents and Companies Registration Agency PACRA facilitates Business registration.
2. Complete the registration process with pacra full details of the requirements for Starting Up and registering a business can be found on the institutions website.
3. Open a bank account with a registered commercial bank of your choice. The bank will often require copies of the certificate of registration and other details depending on the banks conditions to open your Business account.
4. Register your new business with the revenue collection authorities. In Zambia, The Zambia revenue Authority ZRA is mandated to collect revenue. Go to the direct tax division to obtain corporate tax number.
5. File value-added tax VAT a (consumption-based tax) registration form with the authorities to register as a vat supplier in order to collect the tax from consumers and remit to the authority the out put tax collected in excess of the input tax your Business pays which will lower your cost of Business. Upon successful registration you obtain a VAT registration number.
6. Register with all statutory bodies. Such as the National pensions scheme authority and other social security authorities such as the Workers compensation fund before or immediately after starting a Business.
7. The final step is put in place operations systems and your Business will be set. I would recommend you consult an expert if you can’t handle the process by your self. If you have questions about the process feel free to leave a comment or contact for free guidance.
