Use Correct Exchange Rates to Avoid Loss!

Exchange rates are something you typically pay attention to when processing foreign currency transactions in your accounting package.

In Zambia today, businesses that have never dealt with any currency other than the ZMK Zambian Kwacha
 must contend in one way or another with exchange rates for Euros, Pounds, Rand and US dollar.

In simple terms, if you want to exchange Zambian currency for that of another’s you’ll need the Zambian Kwacha exchange rates. These exchange rates will show you the relative, or ratio of the ZMK to USD and other currencies.

Only a handful of Accounting packages handle multiple currency transactions correctly. Yet, it is one thing to have software solution with multiple currency support, but fluctuating exchange rates can result in excessive unrealized gain or loss if not processed correctly and Accounting for these adjustments can be more difficult than it first appears.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to use your historical exchange rates correctly and avoid excessive unrealized gain or loss on exchange.

From this screen shot, on 18th May 2010, Smith made advance payment of USD 10, 108.96 for the purchase of equipment and the exchange rate on the Bank of Zambia website was ZMK 5050.

On 8th September 2010, received his equipment with an invoice value of USD 10,108.96 but the exchange rate had fluctuated to ZMK 4980. When posting the purchase in his Accounting package, Smith decided to use the new exchange rate of ZMK 4980 leaving an outstanding balance of ZMK 707,627 on the account. Later, he decided to reverse the transaction at the exchange rate of ZMK 5050.

As at 19th November, this account was showing that Smith had made an overpayment of ZMK 707,651 when in fact not.

As you have seen, the effect of fluctuations in exchange rates is either unrealized profit or loss on exchange.

Now, here is how you can use your historical series of your exchange rates to handle these complexities.

When processing a purchase of any prepaid amount, use the same exchange rate used to make the payment. Smith should have posted the purchase using the exchange rate of ZMK 5050.

Secondly, when reversing any wrong entry, always use the same exchange rate. Just like in the given example, Smith processed a purchase of ZMK 51,055,258 at the rate of ZMK 4980 and then reversed it at the rate of ZMK 5050 resulting in a difference on the account.

Undeniably, accounting for fluctuations in exchange rates is much easier using a software package that maintains a historical series of exchange rates and a daily input of exchange rate for each currency in that way you can change between currencies.

The Solution to Multi-Currency Problems

Do you care about multi Currency Accounting problems? If so then perhaps you have asked these questions; Is it possible to keep business accounts in different currencies? Is it necessary to have multi currency accounting software when a company has accounts in more than one currency?

In the work of globalization and outsourcing, business people have a need to conduct their businesses in foreign and multiple currencies. Many African countries have had to adapt to dealing with the Dollar and Euro transactions to facilitate buying and selling activities internationally in addition to local currencies like the Kwacha, Pula and Rand.

Let us now consider the above questions in the light of Pastel Multi Currency Module. Accounting with multiple currencies can be tricky; you need a full tutorial on multiple currency accounting to understand the problems.

Essentially, any amounts referring to different currencies cannot be totaled directly. It is necessary to have a basic currency to refer to and to use for the totals.

The basic point of Accounting is that the totals of the ‘debit’ balances must correspond to the totals of the ‘credit’ balances. To verify that the Account is balanced, there must be a single currency and an exchange value in basic currency for every transaction.

Without the right Accounting Software, Multi-Currency transactions can be a problem and accounting for multi currency transactions can be quite critical.

Here is my suggested solution to this Multicurrency Accounting problem, If you conduct business in various currencies. Buy or download a free multi currency accounting system that allows you to process your customers and supplier transactions in various currencies. For example, Pastel Evolution tracks foreign currency customers and supplier values in both foreign and home currency allowing you to view your balances and transactions in either currency at any given time.

The right Multi-Currency system should be able to keep a history of all exchange rates you have used in the past so that you can as well process transactions at earlier dates using the most accurate exchange rate in order to calculate the correct exchange rate profit and loss.

Further, any worthy multi currency software must facilitate printing of your customer and supplier sales and purchase documents in foreign currency as well as your home currency to avoid inconveniencing your customers who may request reports in a particular currency.

If you have any comments please feel free to leave your comment.

Tax Prep Tips to Avoid ZRA Problems

In this digital age, it’s now possible to prepare and file Tax Returns electronically; however, the physical filing continues to be popular among most Tax authorities including ZRA. Therefore to avoid Tax problems and disputes with ZRA, here are the Tax preparation tips you must keep in mind when preparing your Taxes.

Always use the correct Taxpayer Identification number (TPIN)

Tax payer identification number is a unique thirteen-digit computer generated number allocated to a taxpayer by ZRA. Some Tax filers fill wrong TPIN details and create complications as a result of their carelessness. It might sound simple but make sure you put the right TPIN details on your tax forms.

Avoid the last minute rush 30th September is the deadline.

You might be aware that every person who registers for TPIN is required to register for income tax because the income tax account is the one you use to remit income tax. Don’t wait until the 30th of September; file your ZRA Tax return on time. In fact, you can avoid stress and careless errors that may cause problems with ZRA. Closer to the dead line, ZRA offices are filled with cues of Tax payers waiting to file their returns, timely preparation can reduce the time you spend queuing at ZRA offices. Keep in mind these ZRA due dates

You don’t only have to be a genius to prepare ZRA returns.

ZRA provides detailed instructions on how to complete all official forms on ZRA home page including procedures for making electronic and cheque payments of Tax to ZRA. Therefore, you have an option to either go it alone or use an Accountant. But if the processes seem a little confusing from the start, I would advise hiring a consultant to avoid serious problems with ZRA.

Don’t try Tax avoidance schemes you don’t fully understand.

I know you must have heard of this term “Tax Avoidance”, this is simply tax planning to the extent that the affairs of your business are legally arranged in such a way as to minimize the tax liability. Although tax avoidance is “strictly legal” and with the letter of the law, it is in contrary to the spirit of the law.In short, tax avoidance schemes exploit loopholes in the legislation which every tax authority tries to close as soon as the loophole has been identified.Having a clear understanding of your taxes and how they work can save you time and frustration. Taking expert advice can help prepare you for any tax issues that may arise.

Pay your VAT Taxes to ZRA promptly.

In most countries, businesses are required by law to register for Vat if they deal in taxable goods and services and the turnover exceeds the threshold. Submit correct Vat returns and keep good Tax records to avoid problems with ZRA.

Don’t Invade Taxes.

Why invite trouble from ZRA by engaging in Tax invasion? Unlike tax avoidance, tax invasion is the illegal manipulation of the tax system to avoid paying taxes. It is the intentional disregard of legislation in order to escape paying taxes which include falsifying returns and claiming fictitious expenses. Don’t expose yourself by falsifying returns.

State the correct banking details.

ZRA has in the recent past undergone major changes from manual processes of making payments by cheques and cash to electronic payment mechanisms. You must always detail your correct name or business name, Taxpayer identification number (TPIN), tax type (e.g. Customs Duty, Vat, Asycuda, etc),tax period, tax district/port, tax payer ZRA account and the correct amount of tax being paid.

How to Export Pastel Reports to Excel

Are you very comfortable using Microsoft Excel to analyze and present your Reports? In this tutorial, I want to explain to you step by step how to Export your Reports from Pastel Evolution to either Excel or PDF format for emailing. Excel is an ultimate productivity too and probably still the most commonly used Spreadsheet for a variety of calculations.

Step: 1

Go to the Pastel evolution module to find the report you want to export. For this example I will use an Income Statement report. In your system tree on the left and click on General Ledger.

Step: 2

Click on Income statement icon under general ledger reports. The following screen will appear.

Step: 3

Enter the period you wish to print. You can then select Print or Preview if you want to see the report before printing as shown in the screen shot.

Step: 4

Tick the “Print to file” box as shown in the screen shot then select “Excel File” under the file type and then Click on the circled Box on the right as shown in the screen shot and the following screen will appear.

Step: 5

Create an appropriate file name which you can remember and the file location as well. Alternatively you can even choose to file in your existing folder such as my documents and then Click Save.

Step: 6

Click OK  on the print screen in step 3 and close your Pastel Evolution if you wish.

Step: 7

Open your Microsoft Excel Program Click on File then Open and locate your saved report. You can now add and remove columns as well as add formulas to help you analyze your report. This will save you great time and the hustle of building the report from scratch.

If you found this tutorial helpful please feel free to leave your comment or question.

The Most Deadly Online Banking Mistake!

Online Banking, despite having been around for years is still fairly a very new concept in African Banking and in Zambia particularly. A number of banks have in the recent past introduced internet banking services all over the world.

It is indeed a value added service. With an online bank account one is able to transfer money from their accounts to another account either within the same bank or to another bank from their PC and even manage to check account statements and account balances online.

As an Accountant, this gives you total control over your accounts and saves you a lot of trips and phone calls to the bank.

Naturally, all online banking systems come with a lot of security measures but some people including some Accountants are however still reluctant to use online banking services citing security as a major concern. They are still more comfortable putting a signature on "pieces of paper".

In this article, I want to communicate to you the most deadly mistake you must never make online on web banking account.

There is one very important rule that needs to be strictly followed when using any online accounting application especially online banking. Just like you do with your ATM cards, NEVER give your log on credentials to anyone.

By log on credentials I mean your PIN number or password. even when you receive any unsolicited email purporting to be from your bank asking you to log onto some website for whatsoever reason, call your bank first to verify the authenticity of the email.

This is because some hackers create sites known as phishing sites that look almost the same as your online banking site and would send you an email with a link to their site asking you to log on with your online banking account log on details.

Once you do that, they will take your PIN number or password and use it to log on your accounts. The next time you will find your account empty.

So once again, NEVER give your Online Banking PIN number or password to anyone. You will be making a deadly mistake.

If you found this article helpful please feel free to leave your comment.

How to Keep Good Tax Records

Did you know that you can avoid panic during Tax preparation time when you Keep Good Records through out the year? In this article, I want to look at why Good record keeping is important in your Business and also show you how to Keep Good Tax Records.

Good record keeping is very important for future Tax reference. When your records are properly maintained, you will always be able to file the correct information when you prepare your Tax return.

In addition, your local tax authority such as IRS in America or ZRA may at a later stage select your return for further examinations or in case of disputes with your Tax authority, you will need your documents to prove that the amounts claimed in your return were based on facts.

In most cases, your tax authority will not require you to keep your records in a specific way but generally, these are the most important files you must maintain.

Sales Invoices

Open a file of all your sales invoices. If you use a cash register in your business, then at the end of the day, total up your sales and calculate your total daily sales and the tax due. You will find this information on the audit roll (copy till slip). Attach the audit role to your daily sales report and place on file.

Credit notes and refunds

Open another file for credit notes or cash refunds. For every refund you make, keep clear records on your file. Alternatively, design a form where your customers collecting any refund can sign clearly indicating their name, signature and contact as proof of getting the money. This will show that you are not just creating fictitious credit notes and refunds to reduce your sales.

Purchases

Open file for all your purchases and another file for all your payments supported with proof of payment including any other records and cancelled documents that support any tax deductions made in your return.

Though these records can be managed very well using accounting software, it is not enough to merely post all you documents into the accounting system and neglect the records. While all your posted business information can still be retrieved from your system at any time, the tax authorities would be interested in the source documents which support your figures.

Good record keeping can not only save your business from tax problems with revenue service, but it saves you time and effort when organising and completing your return. If you hire a professional to prepare your return, and your records are very straight, the professional can be done in no

Why Not Get Rid of Email Accounts?

Not too long ago, Business depended so much on Postal Mail, but since the creation of electronic mail, more Email is sent than postal mail. Therefore, are we any where near to get rid of Email Accounts; and Why is Email still so important to Business?

Email is undoubtedly still the most widely used Internet application. A great number of individuals and companies continue to open new email accounts everyday.

My focus in this post is to let you know why businesses won’t get rid of email any time soon and how you can use this important application in your business.

Email is easily delivered to the recipient so they don’t have to work to get it. All they do is sign in their account and check in the inbox at any time and any where. This means that you do not have to abandon your work in order to attend to the email but you can read at your own time.

One email can be sent to several other people. For example you can send the same email to all your family members at once. It is because of this feature that Email is now used for Marketing. You can use Email to communicate your commercial or fundraising messages to your potential and current customers. With Free Marketing Software such as professional 2.0 you can create and send promotional Emails news letters and more within seconds.

Email is free and the most inexpensive form of communication. You can send and receive emails from any part of the world at literally no cost.If you are looking for a cost effective way of communication, email will do it for your business.

I will give you this free tutorial to help you set up a Gmail account if you are still trying to figure out how to create one. To open a free Gmail account, simply follow the following steps.

1. When you get to the log in screen as shown in the image, click on create an Account. This will take you to the second screen.

2. Enter your desired log in name. This is the name you will use as your email address e.g software@gmail.com and click check for availability. If the desired name is available then proceed to the next step. If not try another name.Replace the words in red with your desired name.

3. Choose a password. This is a secret code which you have to use for checking your email account. You should never forget your password.

4. Go to the next field and choose a security question and provide an answer.

5. Read the terms of use and finally click Accept. That’s it your email account will be open and ready to send and receive mails.

You can also open a free email account on Yahoo mail through the same process when you go to Yahoo log In and click on Sign Up to create a new account.

Email has been such a big success even with the continued developments of the web; its features are ahead of most internet applications.

Cost Your Product Like an Auditor to Make Money

A number of Small Business persons fail because they can’t Make any profit and eventually lose Business and Money due to wrong Product Costing.

One of my face book friends sent me a message which read, “I am looking for an Excel Costing Sheet Template. I have a problem calculating my Product Unit Costs. I Import most of my goods from China and incur various expenses at various points. What is the Format I can use to find the Cost of single Units?”

Now, in answering his question, I want to show how you can also use an Excel Costing Sheet Template to Cost your Products correctly like an “Auditor”. From the various expenses incurred, you can be able to come up with the correct Product Unit Costs using this Format.

Before you download this Costing Spread Sheet, I first want you to understand how to use this Template. However, to download, simply click on the link and you will be directed to my Google docs, click on file in the left hand corner and scroll down to download as and choose Excel from the drop down menu. The file will be downloaded and you can save it on your computer and will appear as shown in the image.

1. As you can see, the top area just requires relevant information relating to your purchase and does not contain any formula so you can customise the fields. If your invoices are in another currency other than your home currency such as dollar then you can put the exchange rate in cell B: 11 if no exchange rate is required then put 1.

2. Work out the actual total costs on the invoices paid or to be paid to the supplier and enter it in cell B: 14.

If you use road transport you can change the freight field to transport here include a total of all your air tickets and transport costs in cell B: 18.

If for example a cost such as insurance is not incurred, just delete the figure in the field to leave it blank. Make another total of any duties paid and enter it in cell D: 23. Do not forget to add any other smaller expenses such as lodging and meals.

3. When making money transfers and withdrawals for the same purchase, you incur bank charges so you can choose to make some provisions. For bigger businesses the amounts can be quite big and can require a provision but for a small business you can choose to ignore this by putting 0% in cells C: 25, C: 27 and C: 30. Add any agency fees or any other expenses incurred in cell D: 28 and customise accordingly.

4. The final stage is to list your Products under description, the value and the quantities as shown in area 4 in the image. You can as well put the codes if your products have codes. Please note that the total values or FOB under area 4 in the snapshot should add up to the value in cell B: 14.

In a very practical term, this is what this Costing Sheet will do. If say you are importing from China to Zambia, it will give you the total Cost of your Products in a shop in China and then add any other Small Costs to give you the total Cost of your Products in Zambia and further break the total Cost into Unit Costs. With an accurate Unit Cost, you can then add your margin and decide to keep your price Low or high and Make more Money.

Do You Make These User Access Mistakes?

The Rights to Access certain financial information is often restricted to a few system Users in any Business. However, this is only possible if you Create your system User Permissions correctly.

In this article I want to look at serious Mistakes you must avoid when creating User Rights if at all you do make these Mistakes.

When you just install your new accounting application, avoid using default User Access Permissions. You may give full Access to all system functions such as adding, editing, deleting and Access to all Business data and reports to all Users regardless of their position in your Business.

Here is what you have to do to avoid making a mistake you will later regret.

• Understand the jobs of all the Users clearly in order to determine which modules each user needs to Access. Though other system methodologies require that Users list there requirements, this might not be possible especially with a new system. Other Users may not have the real understanding of the system and how their roll fits in. I suggest you as a Business owner or Accountant you define the rolls.

• Create each User in the system, customize and edit each User’s rights according to their job requirements and level in the organisation.

Now you can even relax knowing that no person will have unauthorised Access to your business figures and risk leaking your information.

Smart Way of Filing Your Income & Vat Tax Return

In an article on Starting a small business, I mentioned that registration for Vat and Income Tax with various Tax authorities is a requirement. In this article the focus is on what you need to know before Filing your first Income Tax and Vat tax Return to any of your Tax authorities.

If you successfully file your tax registration forms with the department of taxes, you are under obligation to submit your sales tax or Vat returns and make payments for any taxes due by specified dates. You are also required to maintain sufficient records and retain them for specified minimum period and allow Tax authorities access to your business premises to examine goods and records at any time.

This is a serious obligation, but there is always a smart way of doing things, these are some of the Tips to avoid Tax return problems with the authorities.

1. Take note of the Accounting date. Most Income tax authorities require that accounts are made by the end of a given specific date. This refers to a date on which the accounts are made up for Income tax purposes for example ZRA requires that accounts be made by 31st March.

2. Avoid late submission of returns and non payment of taxes as it may attract penalties and interest for the days a return is late. Carefully take note of the required closing dates of submitting Tax returns following the end of the charge year to avoid penalties for late submission of Tax Returns.

3. Get information about the correct Income tax and Vat rates including the correct procedures of calculating your Taxes to ensure you pay the correct tax amounts. Get details of any annual Tax adjustments in the national Budget. You can get this information from your tax authority.

Preparing your taxes from scratch with a pile of receipts and sales invoices for the whole period and a blank Tax Form on your table can be a frustrating experience. Ultimately, paying a professional Accountant to prepare your Taxes every time you need to prepare Returns can be expensive especially for a small business. But using Accounting software, you can easily build up your daily transactions on a daily basis and simply print a tax report at the end of the period when you need to prepare your Taxes.

In countries such as the US where you can e-file your federal tax returns, the use of free online tax software saves you time. But In countries where you need to download and print the Tax Forms and then complete the Forms manually, i would recommend you get accounting software.

Create a Personal Budget & Control Your Finances

Budgeting is the foundation of managing your Personal Finances in a better way. If you know how to create a Budget, it is not enough if you can’t stick to it. The use of Free Budget Software can help you plan; make a budget easily, control your Finances and actually save money.

A Budget is a plan and you only create a plan when you have an objective you intend to achieve. A budget is designed to help you live within your means and to help small businesses operate within means to avoid cash flow problems. So before you decide whether you need to make a personal budget or not, ask your self these questions.

Are You Happy With The Way You Are Spending Your Money Now?

Do your own analysis; identify the sources of the money you receive which is your income and how you spend that money.

Do You Have Any Long Term Financial Objectives?

Critically look at your current spending to see if there is any thing you can do now with your money to meet your long term financial objectives.

Are You Living Within Your Means?

If you are always asking for cash advance from your employer or you have unsettled debts and bills, it may just be a sign that you are living beyond your means. The only best way to track your spending is to identify areas that need improvement and spend within your plan to help you achieve any of your long term financial objectives successfully.

Are You Able To Prepare Your Own Budget?

Of course this sounds like a very difficult question to answer, but I will tell you where to start from .If you cant prepare your Budget easily on a peace of paper, do not worry there are a number of free easy -to-use Budget Software which you can use to help you track and understand your monthly expenses. These are among the Free Budget Software I can recommend to you Money strands home budget software and Budget tracker.

Budget Software can help you organise your Personal Finances in a better way if you are determined to achieve that objective when you use one which best meets your needs.

If you have any Comments feel free to leave me a comment alternatively you can also consider subscribing.

What Operating System are you using?

What Operating System are you using? Is it Windows xp, Windows server 2008 or Windows 7? What is an operating system? In this post I will look at these answers and how an operating System used in a small business can affect the choice of additional hardware and software needed to create and improve a computer network or a server.

Computer systems are dynamic, ultimately, as a small business entrepreneur you can not afford to spend your hard earned cash on any of the different hardware and software products which you can not easily integrate with a set of devices and application while your business is growing.

An operating system is the software that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. In short if you went to a computer shop and bought a computer without the operating system, the computer will not function it will be useless until you install an operating system on the computer.

The most popular operating system is Microsoft windows the list includes among others windows xp operating system, windows vista and the latest or newest version of windows operating system being windows 7.

All Operating systems are classified as either single user, single user multitasking or multi-user operating system.

If you install your accounting software on a single user operating system, then only one user has to access the system at a given time. If many of your accounting staff need to access your accounting records at the same time from different networked locations and computers then another operating system such as server 2003 or the most recent version of windows server 2008 should be installed to create your small business server.

It is always important to consult an expert for advice on which operating system is suitable for your business before buying any of your computer hardware and software to determine if it is compatible with your existing system to avoid wasting our resources.

7 Steps For Keeping Positive Cash Flow in hard times.

Any given small business, aspires Keeping Positive Cash Flow all the times. Keeping Positive Cash Flows is very easy to aspire to but very difficult to attain during Hard Times.

Cash Accounting is another critical element of Small Businesses. How cash flow is managed determines the growth and decline of any small business.

It is often said that, “when things get tough, the tough keep going” so what are some of the measures you can put in place to improve cash flow when you have cash flow problems in your business?

These are the 7 steps or strategies recommended by experts to take for keeping Small Business Cash Flow from negative to positive during a credit crunch.

1. Most businesses have Cash Flow problems, so do not allow your customers to use your business to manage their Cash Flow difficulties call your customers for payment as soon as the invoices are due.

2. Most managers and entrepreneurs fail to isolate factors that are critical to the success and eventual growth of any business so cut down on items that drain most of your cash from the business.

3. If your business operations can not adequately generate the much needed Cash to meet the relevant Business expenditure, look for new opportunities to improve your liquidity.

4. For any Business venture to take off sufficient financing has to be provided so in times of Cash Flow difficulties, differ expenses which are not critical to the operations to a later time.

5. Prepare detailed Cash flow forecast for detailed analysis to know exactly when you expect in flow of cash and when you need to pay out. You can use a number of free cash flow forecast tools which you can use alternatively you can hire an expert.

6. Re look at your budget and see which areas need adjustments to cut on costs.

7. Take a quick review of your market find out new entrants as well as those that depart to determine the viability and profitability of the market. Trading in a saturated market requires a lot of work to stay ahead of the competition. Don’t stop marketing, increase your marketing efforts.

It is always advisable to seek services of Cash flow consultants for expert advice on how to improve your cash flow if the situation does not improve.

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.

How to Make Best Use Of Cash Registers

Cash Registers are as important to small retail shops as they are to the big supermarkets. Any Business can make best use of the cash registers for sales accounting.Managing a retail shop can be difficult especially as sales increase. Manually calculating sales and issuing receipts eventually becomes difficult. However, this can easily be managed by the use of a till or cash register.

So what are the benefits of using cash registers in your small business and what are some of the functions a cash register can do? These are some of the questions this post seeks to address.

A cash register is designed to calculate, record sales, store cash and print receipts for customers. This serves time and improves efficiency.

Stealing and pilfering by employees by way of omitting sales from your sales book and pocketing the money is a common practice among cashiers especially when customers don’t ask for receipts. Cash registers enhance fraud protection the use of features such as passwords and physical keys. As a business owner or manager you can easy check through the audit receipts of the cash registers to ensure that your cashiers charged the correct amounts for each transaction.

Total daily sales, tax and other accounting figures can be computed easily.

Most importantly, you can also attach your cash registers to a Computer and other accessories using a point of sale software to create an Electronic point of sale system or EPOS.

Quick Way to Create a Purchase Order

Purchase Order Software Solutions can do more than just creating Purchase orders. But there is also another Quick Way to Create a Purchase Order when buying items for your small Business.

A purchase order is simply a written authorisation document from you to you supplier to ship products at an agreed price. Ultimately you should aim to create professional Purchase orders in a good format.

If you do not have a computer of your own yet, then I would recommend Online Software as the Quick way for you to Create your Purchase Orders. The various Software have pre designed Purchase Order Forms and you simply fill in the information and with a few clicks you can have either your Requisition or Purchase Order ready.

Alternatively, if you have your own computer or a Business Computer, then I will tell you another Simple Way to Create Purchase orders for your Small Business. Here is what you have to do. Simply download this Free Purchase Order Template for Excel which you can easily customise into various Purchase Order Forms.

If you wish to receive standard Purchase Order Format from your customers, then this Purchase Order Worksheet will do it all for you. Simply create a Purchase order template for each customer with all the necessary customer details and send it to your customers and ask you customers to just print and fill in there order requirements.

It would also be best to consider buying an Accounting Software with a Purchase order Module as it will not only give your Business a Quick way to create purchase orders but can easily be integrated with other Accounting Modules. Most importantly, with Purchase order software you can easily maintain and control outstanding orders, processed orders, back orders and print other documents such as Picking slips and delivery notes.

End of The Month & Year Procedures

End of Month and End of Year Procedures can be quite tedious for an Accountant depending on the Accounting Package you use. For many Bookkeepers it may mean working very late to go through a checklist of items, vouchers and entries which need posting and processing before the month end or year end.

However, there is a smart way of avoiding the tedious Month or Year End procedures and this is all you have to do. Simply find an Accounting Software which is date driven such as Sage Pastel Evolution Accounting. A date driven system allows you to post transactions to any periods that are complete. So Pastel also gives you the access and the ability to control user access to complete or closed Accounting periods thereby preventing operators from accessing the closed periods by error. The system stores five years of financial information. This completely serves you the hustle of tedious end of the month closing procedures. There can be no smart way than this.

At the year end, all you have to do is print the relevant reports, back up your company folder, purge accounts items such as general ledger accounts and purge the first year procedure.

This document outlines the simple steps of Sage Pastel Evolution year end procedure.

Year End Procedure - Sage Pastel Evolution