2015

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Top cash flow forecasting mistakes

Abrigo

'By Bakley Smith, CFA Strong businesses have a solid handle on their financial reality, and the cash flow statement is an excellent, if not the best, measure of a company’s ability to generate cash in excess of cash invested. Over a sufficiently long period of time, all businesses have to generate positive cash flow or they will go out of business. Forecasting the statement of cash flows is a valuable exercise for a business for several reasons.

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The 37 Best Resources for Small Business News

Fundera

The Internet is one giant soup pot of information, where everything is all just swirled together. This can make it extremely difficult to pick out the valuable news from the inane chatter or sales pitches. As a small business owner, you don’t have time to sift through tons of websites, Twitter feeds, Facebook groups, and blogs to find out what you need to know.

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Bacs TLS and SHA-2 Security Updates

GoCardless

The deadline is getting ever closer. you'll need to upgrade unless your software supports the new security standard.

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4 Things To Do Before Commercial Real Estate Rates Rise

Prime Commercial Lending

Our economy has made a huge recovery since the crash of 2008. People are investing in real estate on both a personal and commercial scale, which also means that people are taking out short-term loans to help finance those investments. The effect of all of this is that while all of this property investment puts money into the economy, having so many people and corporations taking out short-term financing is going to cause commercial real estate rates to rise by the end of this year.

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The 35 Small Business Blogs Giving Stellar Advice to Entrepreneurs

Fundera

Have you ever needed some advice or an answer to a very specific question? Every small business owner, at one point or another, has been in a quandary. We’ve all wondered if the decision we’re about to make is the correct one, or if we need to do more research before proceeding. Before, it’d been difficult to get multiple opinions in a short amount of time—you either had to call or email trusted associates and friends to get their thoughts.

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Business valuation solutions: To build or to buy?

Abrigo

'By Brad Spence, Director of Sageworks Valuation Solution. It’s a classic conundrum – to build versus to buy. Make dinner at home versus take-out. While there are certainly people constructing their own coffee table – measuring, cutting, sanding and staining – most will drop a bill or two on a vintage-looking wood piece to prop up our feet after a long day.

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Paving the Way for America’s Small Businesses, One Lesson at a Time

Fundera

In February 2014, we launched Fundera with the goal of making it dead simple for small business owners to secure the capital they need to grow. After helping over 1,200 small business owners access north of $60 million in credit, we believe we’re onto something very special. Today we are excited to announce that Fundera has raised an $11.5 million Series B.

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27 Quotes About Success to Inspire You Today

Fundera

A few quotes about success may be all you need to get motivated, take the initiative, and start down the path to reaching your small business goals. Remember this: many people before you have tried and failed. While some give up after a setback, others continue forward. They realize that hard work and dedication will pay off in the long run. When you read a quote from somebody famous, somebody with a lot of money, it is easy to toss aside what he or she is saying.

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How to Find the “Best-Fit” QuickBooks ProAdvisor for Your Business

Fundera

Your QuickBooks Soulmate is Out There. . Since launching your business, you’ve been keeping track of your accounting with a spreadsheet (yay you!) and business is booming. (Who doesn’t like laundry detergent with glitter in it?). Got this one here. . But things are starting to really take off – you’re not just selling this stuff to your 14-year-old sister and her friends now.

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Optimizing valuation engagements to aid business development

Abrigo

'Bringing in new clients is a top priority for forensic and valuation accountants, with 87 percent calling the task somewhat or extremely important, according to a recent AICPA study. The emphasis on business development is understandable. Valuation work lacks as much repeat business (unless it’s tied to a recurring engagement like employee stock ownership plans) as tax preparation and other traditional accounting services, according to the Journal of Accountancy ’s review of the stu

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The Economics of Running a Winery

Fundera

Dreams of owning a winery is definitely a romantic, artisan kind: buy a vineyard, grow some grapes, make some wine, sell your wine, maybe make a fortune, and all the while proudly savoring the wine that you made. Unfortunately, the wine-making business is a tough one and these dreams are rarely a reality. If there was an industry that really tests you, owning a winery might top the list.

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How to get referrals and grow your firm

Abrigo

'By Natasha Closs, Director of ProfitCents Consulting & Advisory Services. An ongoing challenge for accountants and other financial services professionals is attracting new clients. In fact, bringing in new clients is at or near the top of the list of challenges facing accounting firms of all sizes, and it’s a top priority among specialists, such as forensic and valuation accountants, as well.

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Using a Business Credit Card in Place of a Small Business Loan

Fundera

Throughout the course of a small business’s life, there will almost always come a moment when the owner is plagued with answering a very, very difficult question: “Should I get a small business loan?”. This question can come about for a number of reasons, whether the business owner has hit a cash crunch, needs capital to pursue a specific business opportunity, they’re looking to expand, etc.

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How this Serial Entrepreneur Recovered from a Bad-News Loan Broker

Fundera

Editor’s Note: The business name has been omitted from the piece to avoid confusion with Mr. Krabill’s franchisees. Kevin Krabill is the definition of serial entrepreneur. He has spent the last 30 years starting and running different businesses, taking only a 5-year break to work at accounting powerhouse Ernst & Young. What keeps him going? Entrepreneurship is in his blood.

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How This Juice Business Went From Zero Sales to $2M in 2 Years

Fundera

In 2013, Raw Generation had to shut down its website because sales were too low. “It didn’t really make a difference because we were [making] no money anyway,” says Jess Geier who started the company in 2012 with her dad, Bill Geier. About one month after shutting down, Raw Generation re-launched as a provider of detoxifying juice cleanses rather than a seller of nutritional juices—and teamed up with daily deal sites to see what the online discount craze was all about.

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Must Love Dogs: How this Business Owner’s Love for Animals Led to a Booming Business

Fundera

At Fundera, there are many reasons we have the utmost respect for small business owners. Whether it’s the extra hours worked to get the job done, their ability to wear just about any “hat,” or the fact that they are America’s job creators—the list goes on. But the number one reason we love small business owners, and choose to support them every day through our own business, is their passion.

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The 15 Best Sources for Quick Restaurant Loans

Fundera

Restaurant owners have always had trouble getting financing… But the times, they are a-changing. Whether you’re a seasoned seasoning veteran or just getting ready to fire up the grill, we’ve got some good news: there are more restaurant loans available for you today than ever before. A restaurant owner’s financial bread-and-butter options are generally equipment loans , working capital loans , and commercial mortgage loans (for purchasing buildings).

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How This New Medical Code is About to Really Affect Your Small Business

Fundera

In recent weeks, health practitioners all over the country have been carefully—and anxiously— watching to see how small, private medical practices will bear the massive weight of a federally mandated medical code overhaul. The new medical classification system, ICD-10 , was implemented on October 1st, and increased the number of diagnostic and procedure codes eightfold from 17,000 to 140,000.

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The GrubHub Effect: How a Food Delivery Service Alters the Way Restaurants Operate

Fundera

Opening and running a restaurant is New York is like a race against time, money, and location. Time because you’re serving busy, hungry city dwellers, money because it costs a hefty sum to operate any New York City business, and location because who knows when the city will decide to install a scaffold above your building and hide your establishment from hungry passersby.

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Kabbage Vs. OnDeck: Which is Best for Your Small Business?

Fundera

If you’re a small business owner trying to secure a small business loan , the good news is you have more options available to you than ever before. In fact, sometimes you might feel as if you have so many choices, it’s hard to determine the best source of financing. In this article, I’ll try to help out by taking a closer look at two very popular alternative financing sources, Kabbage and OnDeck, and when it comes to Kabbage vs.

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Why You Need Corporate Bylaws (and How They Can Affect Your SBA Loan Application)

Fundera

What Are Corporate Bylaws? What are corporate bylaws, and why does your business need them? The term “corporate bylaws” may sound like legal rigmarole that applies only to giant, multinational corporations—and not to your small business. In reality, however, any business that chooses the legal form of a corporation must create corporate bylaws. Corporate bylaws are a legal document that explains how your business is organized and how it will be operated.

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Working Capital Loans: How to Find the Lowest-Cost Option Available to Your Business

Fundera

Working capital is the lifeblood of a business. Without it, invoices languish, inventory goes undelivered, employees go unpaid, and business stagnates. Keeping your working capital out of the red is critical to success. For small businesses, though, just one supersized order can upset the delicate working capital balance, and often business owners are forced to leave money on the table.

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Can You Really Afford That Loan? Use This Tool to Decide

Fundera

Download the Loan Affordability Tool. The idea of a small business loan is always enticing. Whether to relieve pain felt from a recent cash crunch or to expand your booming business, more working capital is what every business owner wants. No matter the need, the question you should ask after deciding that yes, you do a want a loan, is whether or not your business can even afford it.

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Effective and efficient business valuation report writing

Abrigo

'Business valuation services are among the highest-growing niche services among Top 100 accounting firms, according to Accounting Today. One aspect of providing this service, however, is notoriously time-consuming and frustrating: Writing business valuation reports. At the same time, it’s crucial that you produce a quality report, according to Rod Burkert, who teaches a course on business valuation report writing and who is founder of Burkert Valuation Advisors LLC.

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9 Low-Cost Ways to Show Customers You Care

Fundera

To show customers you really care, you don’t need to dole out unreasonable discounts or charter a thank you cruise. Instead, zero in on creating an unmistakably great product, service, or experience that hits the exact mark for your target audience. Then fire up your creative side and add in a personal flair for low-cost ways to make customers smile in the moment—and stay happy in the long run.

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Why One Small Business Hero Puts Community First

Fundera

The Blue Coffee Pot: Presented by Small Business Revolution from The Small Business Revolution on Vimeo. Great small business owners treasure first-hand knowledge of their community’s needs. But few value community quite like JoDonna Hall Ward. JoDonna grew up in Navajo Country in the small town of Kayenta, Arizona. After her mother’s passing, JoDonna moved back home to keep alive her mother’s legacy: three small businesses in the heart of town, including a gas station, a laundromat, and a

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New eGuide — Ask the Underwriter: 10 Words of Advice from the People Making Loan Decisions

Fundera

Applying for a small business loan can be a daunting experience. What are your chances of getting approved? How long will it take you to complete the application? How long until you hear back? It can often seem like you’re entering uncharted waters, even if you have gone through the process before. Our goal at Fundera is to change this. We want to bring more transparency to the entire small business loan process, from beginning to the end.

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The Pitfalls of Online Lending and the Importance of Media Exposure

Fundera

On Monday Michael Corkery penned a piece in the New York Times that shed a much-needed light on the pitfalls of online lending for the unwary borrower. A powerful piece, the article primarily opines on the dangers of automatic withdrawals from bank accounts, or as the online lending industry likes to call it, “ACH.” To put it simply, this means the loans are being paid back daily, weekly, or monthly by an automatic draft out of a borrower’s bank account.

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Use Business Intelligence to Better Manage Your Cash Flow

Fundera

Bloated inventory is always going to be a threat to business cash flow. Any increase in inventory is a sign that your business has purchased more goods than it’s sold. But, if you increase your inventory, you better make sure you have the cash inflow to offset the cash outflow you’ve just incurred, or risk a negative impact on your cash balance. To lessen the problem and free up cash flow, small businesses need controls in place, and inventory needs must be prioritized.

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6 Ways to Improve Cash Flow During the Holidays

Fundera

For a lot of retail and restaurant businesses, the holidays can be the busiest time of the year. But for other small businesses, the holiday season can herald in one of the most difficult times of the year. Many shut down production completely, and even close their doors during the peak of the December holidays. While this may conserve some cash, wages still need to be paid and fixed costs need to be taken care of.