What makes a franchised business the better way to go when you decide you want to open your own business? After all isn’t owning a franchise just like working for someone else? This is a very common misunderstanding as most people assume that owning a franchise means that the franchiser retains control over how you run your business and this is not exactly the case. When you buy a franchise, it is your business to run as you see fit, within certain guidelines.

The idea of buying a franchise is that instead of starting off from ground zero with a name that no one recognizes, you open up for business under a will recognized and established name. As a prime example of this think of your local burger shack, how many people are going to go to Joe’s Burger Shack when the doors are first opened? Compare this to the number of people that would go into a McDonalds or a Burger King. Why, because these businesses have already been branded or in simple terms, they have national recognition.

What else does this type of business offer? The only reason any business becomes successful enough to offer others the opportunity to buy a franchise is because it is successful. This means that the owners have invested many years in creating a successful business model. They have developed a business plan that when followed, works very well and is highly profitable. Take a look at McDonalds and what is the one thing that stands out?

Conformity, no matter where you go in the US, you will notice that with a few slight variations all McDonald’s restaurants are the same. They serve the same foods, use the same equipment and follow the same business model. This is what has made them so successful, their customers always know what to expect when they walk in the door. At the same time you do not work for the franchiser and you still retain a certain level of autonomy.

It is after all still your business and you have a right to run it your way as long as you stay within the boundaries of the established guidelines. You will receive many hours of training offered by the franchiser that will help you learn how to run your new business from the ground up. The training is usually designed to take someone who has never run a business and teach them everything they need to know.

This training is ongoing and available for any employees you might hire along the way. Because you are buying into a franchise, you will also receive all the benefits of a national advertising program. This is something that most small business owners could never afford and can make a huge difference in how successful your business will be. National advertising, plenty of training, a proven business model, this is why so many people are investing in franchises today instead of breaking out on their own.

The next question would be, “How do I find the right business franchise for me?” There are a couple of different ways that you can go about finding a franchise. If you already know what franchise you want to own, you can simply contact that company directly. On the other hand if you are not quite sure, then you are going to need to spend some time researching the different franchises that available to see which one peak your interest the most and fall within the realms of your budget.

At the Next Big Franchise, we have gathered together information on dozens of franchises, ranging from up and coming new franchises to national name brands you will recognize. Along with this information we are here to help you make the connection with the franchisor and get started in the rewarding career of owning your own business. We want to help you buy your own franchise and realize your dream of owning your own business and never have to worry about being laid off again.

Related posts:

1. Make use of free Canadian government grants in kick-starting your dream project! Every year, the Canadian government gives out millions of dollars...
2. Your Dream Modern Home Office with Chiasso Did you ever dream of having a home office that...
3. Advantages Of Online Business Over Offline Business After industrial revolution, business world has undergone many fundamental changes...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The answer is simple. While browsing your e-commerce website, visitors are looking for credible information that convinces them about the benefits and value of purchasing your product or service. With the short attention spans and limited time that net-users have, they just move away if they do not find what they are looking for. Of course, you cannot provide all the information at one go, and the visitors might have specific queries for which they need answers to.

Convert them when they are interested. Visitors come to your e-commerce website when they want more information about your services, when they want to compare your services with those of your competitors, or when they want to make a purchase. Whatever be the reason, the key is that they seek INFORMATION. By proactively offering the right information in the right manner, you can see positive change in the conversion rates.

The Solution: 24×7 Virtual Customer Support

How would you like if you visit an e-commerce website, and you get all the support you need, in a friendly manner through representatives of that company? Would it not impress you if you have the option of contacting them through any channel, be it live chat, telephone, or email, and getting complete support while you make your decision of whether to make a purchase or not even in the wee hours of the night?

You can also offer the same superior level of support to your e-commerce website visitors through 24×7 Virtual Customer Support. You do not need to have a complete support team in-house, as it might prove costly and tedious. You can outsource your customer support process and get all the benefits with investment within your budget.

You can hire the services of a suitable partner that can offer all types of support from a single front, with people who understand your product or service and hold-hands with your prospects while they visit your website and make a purchase.

By offering complete ONLINE CHAT SUPPORT, PHONE SUPPORT, EMAIL SUPPORT, and assisting during the purchase process through LIVE ORDER TAKING, you can make your prospects feel comfortable while they select your company for their needs. Interacting with a responsive live person is always better than automated replies. Studies have shown that cross-sell and up-sell rates, and shopping cart amounts increase if visitors can interact with the representatives of the company while they visit their website.

With professional 24×7 customer support you can get the edge your competitors are struggling for and ensure that all genuine visitors get the attention and the service they deserve.

Related posts:

1. Increase business profits with a Strategy Management Consultant. Whether you are planning to launch a new business, expand...
2. Make an Affordable Business Website Just think. May be you are having a small business...
3. Inbound links can increase your website traffic in large numbers There are many ways that you can about promoting your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In today’s business climate, talented leaders around the world are constantly facing choices when it comes to career opportunities. It is likely that your key people will be contacted by your competitors with appealing offers on a regular basis. Do you continuously remind them of what you offer as a talent value proposition?

Turn-over costs

Staff turn-over costs can significantly impact a business, both directly through recruitment costs and more indirectly through cost of conversion, lack of productivity and less motivated staff when capable managers leave.

The solution to minimise these staff churn costs is to build and strengthen your talent value proposition, i.e. everything that talent values when choosing to join or choosing to stay with a specific company.

Build your proposition

Before you start developing or refining your talent value proposition, here is some initial advice:
Know your audience: Before you start formulating key messages, get to know your target group: what do they value when selecting an employer? Who do they consider being your most fierce competitors on the talent market (you will be surprised to see they are not your closest competitors in regular business). Make sure you conduct in-depth interviews with both present and future employees.

Focus on your differentiators: Promote what is really unique and what is seen as advantageous by your current employees, not what you would like to offer in the future. What are the reasons they work for you today? A talent value proposition typically consists of the following areas:

• Compensation and benefits; considered as the base offer that should align with your competitors. However, studies of what executives value in choosing an employer tells that this is not what matters the most.

• Personal development opportunities and in a broad sense the company’s corporate culture and values are what really matter. Executives make their job shift decisions based upon these two areas. They take years to build, thereby being far more difficult to copy.

Spread your brand across all channels: make sure to spread your employer brand across a wide range of channels, from the most obvious ones such as job advertisements, to the channels more often forgotten such as what interviewers tell candidates about the company. A common mistake when working with employer branding is to focus all your efforts on potential new employees, thereby forgetting your current key people.

The talent value proposition should be closely linked to your company brand. This will require a cooperative approach between HR, and your marketing department. An ambitious company will work as professionally with its employer brand as it would with its corporate and consumer brands.

Case Study:How the Swedish Trade Council defines its talent value proposition
“The Swedish Trade Council offers a world of opportunities:

• At the Swedish Trade Council you have a role with purpose… since our contribution to the Swedish trade and industry is significant

• The Swedish Trade Council has varied, stimulated duties to offer you… since our assignments cover many different types of clients and services

• A job in the Swedish Trade Council provides great development opportunities… and will create a good foundation for your future career”

Visit Clive’s interim management

Related posts:

1. How Do You Build Confidence? “Confidence is knowledge of yourself.” Here’s my definition of confidence,...
2. Pringo Helps Build Enterprise Social Networks and B2B Communities Are you looking for a tool that allows you to...
3. How to build a successful online dropshipping business Doing Business as a Drop Shipper, Auction Sales, or E-commerce...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So what are the differences…well:

The Matures are characterised by words like ‘duty, honour, country, dedication, conformity, hard times then prosperity, doing a good job is most important, age equals seniority’.

The Baby Boomers are characterised by words like ‘workaholic, competitive, optimistic, consumers’. Defined by their job, they need personal development. Boomers did not get jobs they got careers; head down, work hard and recognition will come, Boomers are the live to work generation, they are willing to go the extra mile and need to be included in decision making.

Generation X are taught to question authority at a young age, have seen life time employment end; time is a currency equivalent to money; they question the sacrifices made by the Boomers (often their parents) to achieve success, latch key children, independent loners, nomads, not team players. The first of the ‘work to live’ generation and the vanguard of the free agent generation, less loyal and always looking for a bigger deal.

Generation Y are optimistic, individual, group orientated, time equals money, busy short time horizons and like X’ers have been raised as their parents friends! Gen Y will often see work as ‘something they do in between weekends’. Y’s have been described as X-er’s on steroids!
X-ers and Y’s see the world differently, they seek jobs which are of interest, they seek variety. They do not seek jobs where being part of a successful team is an incentive, they want jobs where their individuality is recognised and rewarded.

In terms of time: Matures and Boomers were happy to work longer hours, seeing it as an investment in the future. Whereas time is something that X-ers and Y’s are reluctant to give away.

In terms of teams:

Matures produce quality – they are not about individual recognition;
Boomers – everyone works until all the work is finished – committed to the team;
X-er’s teams are not defined by proximity – each person has a unique role;
Generation Y – what will the team do for me? Loyalty and satisfaction are largely measurements of the emotional connection between people and their work.

Whether the job is good or not or whether they are happy is largely determined by their relationship with their boss. X-er’s and Y’s are loyal to people not companies. X er’s and Y’s rarely quit their job, they quit their leader. X-er’s and Y’s require connectivity with their boss, and an ability to be themselves.

There is a ‘Gen’ tension – Boomers don’t understand the XY drivers and vice versa so, for example, Boomers need to explain what needs to be done in the workplace, right now or in the near future as the X and Y generation have no concept of the mid-term or long-term, only the here and now matters.

Communication

Each generation does not necessarily communicate in the language of the generation they are wanting to address, i.e. employers focus on academic achievement …graduates focus on work/life issues…and two out of three graduates are returning home (unlike the Boomers who could not wait to leave home) in this new age of adult-olescence or KIPPERS…Kids in parents’ pockets spending retirement savings!

In terms of recruiting each generation:

For Matures…focus on company history, company credibility, flexible scheduling, mentoring roles, pleasant workplace;
For Baby Boomers…hard work will pay off, stability to the organisation, teamwork leader position, leadership positions, exposure to senior leadership. Success needs to be visible…plaques and trophies;
For X er’s…short and long term options, ‘seize today’, recognise their knowledge of technology, have a backup plan, live for today, but prepare for tomorrow, peer to peer, walk the talk …esteem is critical, time is equivalent;
For Y’s you must be a unique fit for them, peer to peer is very important, spend time answering their questions, and admire them as individuals. 40% of graduates expect to leave their job in the next two years, 91% of graduates say they are ready for work, 56% of employers say no they are not! Self actualisation is key.

So going forward, for there to be harmony and mutual satisfaction at work, it is really up to the Matures and Boomers to tune into the new generational needs, not simply to pander to them – but to understand their different drivers – and then perhaps impart some of their own different, but sound work ethics, to enable these new generations to be the best that they can be.

Many thanks for the inspiration behind this blog to Stephanie Campbell whose first notes inspired me, Capital Law LLP, Cam Marston, Harvard Business Review, KPMG Report, The Times CNN Money.com and of course Wikipedia.

Read the original post on Clive’s interim management blog.

Related posts:

1. Does American Red Cross CPR Certification Really Help You Save Lives? The answer to this question has to be a resounding...
2. The Impact of Drug Addiction on Corporates Today, a large number of drug addicts are employed. According...
3. Credit Policy’s Impact on Income         Few companies have the luxury of being able...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Ensuring the Integrity of Your Plans and Forecasts by Extending the Compliance Process

In the last few years, statutory reporting and planning have been fiercely competing for the attention of the Finance department. So far, statutory reporting seems to be winning.

The legal and reputation implications of not complying with the ever-growing regulation requirements have left management with no other choice than to assign top priority status to their external accounts.

Providing the required level of control to the reporting of past events has turned to be an exceptionally taxing task, absorbing an incredible amount of time and money. Even taking into consideration the savings that many organisations have realised from a more effective and automated transactional processing, the pressure on Finance and IT resources has been crippling.

Key management reporting activities, such as profitability analysis, planning and decision support have been de-prioritised until external compliance is dealt with; as a result, many organisations are left to cope with a manually intensive, disconnected and often irrelevant budgeting and forecasting process.

Conflicting Objectives and Separate Accountability

Then again, competing for resources is not the only problem. Diverging priorities have also exacerbated the disconnection of the two reporting processes. On the statutory side, the priority has been to provide evidence of fair play and of a tight grip on the internal financial processes. On the planning side, reporting has tried to step up to a more forward looking analysis, trying to unravel any sign hidden behind the data and to provide the business with a flexible tool to model the future behaviour of its profit drivers. The different goals seem to have pulled the Finance team in two competing directions, so far that many organisations have set up separate teams, typically one responsible for actual data and the other for planning and performance data.

While this organisational model seems to tackle the problem of providing sufficient focus, it doesn’t resolve the fact that the user of the two streams of information is the same. With accuracy driving the actual reporting and flexibility driving planning, organisations are struggling to keep it simple and consistent for the confused end-user. Reports are duplicated, analyses overlap and, not surprisingly, generate differing answers. Typically, the Finance actual and planning teams are working in parallel isolation, competing for resources, while heavily depending on each other.

Streamlining reports, eliminating duplications, finding the for-ever-eluding “one version of the truth” has therefore become the mission impossible of the Finance function.

The task is certainly not straightforward. With the increased pressure of reducing the costs of compliance and implicitly that of IT, how can organizations cope with the need of reducing shareholder and market surprises? How can they keep creating documentation on what happened, when and why, while at the same time being able to generate timely and relevant information for everyday business decisions?

Is EPM the answer?

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) has appeared to be the answer. An integrated business and system framework that pulls all analytical and reporting needs in one single process and one single technical platform in order to reduce its cost and to increase its quality. So far, so good.

However, EPM solutions are often forced to work in a tangled, dysfunctional environment where they simply automate the existing practices; the opportunities offered by a fully integrated EPM solution are, therefore, not seized. Many of the existing performance management practices simply aim at reconciling the statutory P&L to the cross-functional nature of decision-making and of organisational accountability.

Once again, technology seems to be ahead of our business practices, offering an advanced, integrated tool to support old fashioned, dysfunctional reporting processes.

The situation is remindful of the large ERP investments in the 90ies, when the new systems were expected to deliver high returns simply by installing and configuring them to the current requirements. A few costly implementations after, we have learnt the benefits of house keeping before refurbishment.

So are compliance and planning the two faces of the same coin? Should they be aligned from the start to reduce reconciliation afterwards? Or is segregation of duties between external compliance and planning an healthy practice which ensures independence of purpose? Are separate internal and external reporting processes an effective way of preventing the temptation to manipulate one in favour of the other?

It is indisputable that the link between past and future in the current financial reporting world is one of reciprocal connivance rather than open honesty. Let’s take, for example, the process of reporting on monthly management results while forecasting year end.

Once the actuals are reported, the year-end forecast often becomes a time-reallocation exercise over the remaining months. Forecasting of debtors, creditors and provisions becomes a tool to make the numbers add up to the intended year end forecast rather than a way to increase visibility in the future financial results. Short terms measures, such as period end sales maximisation, last minute budget cuts and provision releases, are often adopted with the intent of adjusting reality to forecast. 

While actual reporting and forecasting often provide an example of unhealthy dependency, target setting can provide an example of conflict of interest during the planning process. Managers are asked to find innovative ways of enhancing company profitability and to stretch the targets; and they’re asked to link their financial reward and career progression to these stretched targets. Caution and self-preservation can strongly drive the business manager behaviour. Consequently, the negotiation process with the headquarters can become tiring, lengthy and, worse of all, tainted. The road to an open and transparent way of devising growth strategy and predicting results is jammed.

The lack of a visible and integer way of predicting future business behaviour has not come unnoticed to analysts and investors. Organisations have found themselves paying a high price for getting their forecast badly wrong or for failing to provide satisfactory and convincing evidence of the soundness of their projections to the external stakeholders. It has been suggested that missing a revenue forecast or making a re-statement typically costs 10%-20% of market capitalisation (Source: Parson Consulting Group 2004).

The EPM framework has offered a ready tool to bridge the gap between the two sides of  analysis and reporting. However, until recently, the difference in purpose and accountability has prompted organisations to look at the two processes of backward and forward reporting separately. Therefore, when it comes to the financial consolidation and planning processes, organizations have considered their business and technology requirements separately.

For financial consolidation and reporting, in order to streamline reporting cycles and reduce the global costs of compliance, organizations are looking to fulfil requirements such as:

• consolidation flexibility, such as support for multiple reporting standards, US GAAP, UK GAAP, IFRS, IAS and so on
• inter-company eliminations
• minority ownership
• corporate governance
• segment reporting
• multiple currency translation
• audit trails
• standard statutory reporting production (legal, statutory and tax)

From a planning perspective, in order to satisfy both the business (bottom-up planning) and the corporate centre (top-down planning), organizations are looking for:

• multi-level operational planning  to simultaneously enable, for example, corporate budget planning, workforce planning, capital expense planning, revenue planning, marketing campaign planning
• modelling and simulation flexibility, including cost allocation, time series intelligence, spreads and adjustments
• collaborative, event-based planning  triggering ongoing re-forecasting
• driver-based planning and forecasting
• matrix workflow for testing and validating plans across business units
• online and off line analytical capabilities
• multiple data entry facilities such as flat file, ETL, excel, web-based and off-line entry forms
• seamless integration with other analytical and reporting applications, such as balances scorecard, portfolio management, business modelling, Microsoft Office
• flexible reporting production.

EPM Needs an Integrated Business Design

It is undeniable that an EPM framework can help converging these requirements while preserving the integrity of the whole process. However, this is only possible once the initial step of listing and prioritising different needs is completed.

Regardless of the pressure for a short implementation time, organisations should address all the key organisational reporting needs. Only an integrated design can resolve the misalignment of intents at source.

Addressing all reporting needs at once allows the business to optimally work with the IT department to tie all the requirements together while still satisfying all the individual needs of the assorted business users community. IT can then become the place in the organisation where data integrity materialises. From an economical side, the unifying process can bring benefits such as lower cost of ownership, lower cost of deployment and integration, improved user productivity, greater deployment flexibility and flexible licensing. That is why many organizations are now looking at financial consolidation and planning solutions in conjunction with each other and as part of a larger business performance management process and solution.

IT can help the organisation combine the diverse requirements in one common data structure which will significantly reduce duplications, reconciliations, mapping and board discussions around the more correct set of figures. The standardisation tools that the IT department can use to drive conflicting users requirements together are:

Common Metadata

• Integration and synchronization mechanism with metadata sources
• Unique definition of performance indicators used by different functions and processes
• Common language for performance measures

Common Data Integration

• Synchronization with operational sources
• Synchronization across EPM processes

Common System Integration

• Application administration and management
• Security and user provisioning
• Calculation features, e.g. aggregation and inter-company eliminations
• Reporting and analysis tools
• User Interface
• Microsoft Excel interface

Standardising your EPM platform can be a project in itself and does take the time and resources but the return on investment can be proportionally great. As part of the standardization process, Finance and IT will have to build a common system and process platform able to combine the different times, different frequencies and different drivers of both actuals and planning.

So what are the signs that it time to address the misalignment in your statutory and planning reporting? When is a company not making the most out of its EPM investment? When the misalignment between consolidation and planning is more costing the organisation more than the process of fixing it?

Here are some simple qualification criteria for when an organisation needs to urgently address the integration management and statutory.

Is your management structure different from your legal structure?

Laws in certain countries prohibit combining banking and insurance activities within one legal entity because of contagion risk. However, banks and insurers, as well as securities institutions, are allowed to be part of one company, for instance for commercial reasons, provided that certain risk management procedures are in place.

Whatever the reason, the connection between your legal and management structure should be clear and data should roll up seamless from a common source base to the various hierarchies without any need of manual reconciliation or re-keying of data.

Do you need to be able to budget at a different level than your statutory reporting?

The management and budgeting processes are usually driven by a higher level of accountability than external reporting, thus generating the need for a lower level of granularity. From a data structure point of view, this means that more data dimensions are required. Where a financial consolidation system seldom exceeds 12 dimensions (e.g. legal entity, product, geography), a planning solution can need as much as 20 dimensions; in addition to the consolidation dimensions, it will need, for example,  data by employee, project, business unit, function, customer, scenario, version and so on. Many organisations fulfil this requirement through intensive mapping exercises, complex allocations and spreadsheet based calculation and analysis. Data are often requested again to the operational functions, leading to general business dissatisfaction, waste of time and distrust in the ability of the Finance department  to control the flow of data and the generation of information.

A common data structure is the basis to provide all business with a meaningful data view and reliable data values. This can only be achieved if Finance and IT work together in mapping the requirement of the whole organisation, rather than building reports for a single user group at a time.

Does your organization need to provide more forward looking statements?

Your organization might be expanding its operations into new territories, opening new markets or has a general strategy of increasing market share within a 3-5 year time frame. In that case, statements made to shareholders or press releases will have to contain forward looking statements which needs to be supported by bottom up evidence and monitoring process.

Reliable projections can be generated through a proven business model which uses empirical evidence to recognise which variable are controllable and which are not. Organisations also need to demonstrate that decisions are taken by the internal management to influence the controllable profit drivers, that results are monitored, and that actions are adjusted accordingly and that adequate provision has been taken to protect the business against the less controllable events. A strict compliance process need to be applied to any business modelling and forward looking metrics which the company plans to use to drive investors’ profitability. A strong management reporting discipline will prove that the company is committed to compliance and transparency whether reporting internally or externally.

Do you have recurring non-standard end-user requirements, such as offline capability, user-defined business rules, continuous re-forecasting, simulation flexibility, decision justification, which need to be controlled by the end-user without IT involvement?

Only when the business users can see and understand the flow of information from GL to strategic board reporting, it will have sufficient confidence and appropriate tools to control reporting and generate additional information from the raw data. The pre-requisite of advanced planning functionality driven by the user is a robust data structure and a transparent data engine, which guarantees the integrity of the outcome, regardless of the complexity of the calculation or the level of technical knowledge of the end-user.  

Conclusions

In the nest few years, the impact of financial compliance will extend to all performance reporting processes such as profitability analysis, budgeting, business modelling and strategic planning. The new UK legal requirement for the “Business Review”, for example, demands forward looking statements and non-financial key performance measures.

Most organisations have already embedded the rigour of producing controlled and auditable financial statements in their reporting processes, systems and organisational responsibilities. It is now time to extend the reach of such discipline to the non-statutory side of reporting in order to fully harvest the possibilities offered by the EPM technology and to gain “compliance” champion status in the reporting of future performance.

Related posts:

1. Planning and starting an online business You will find that the basics and logic of business...
2. Key to a successful wholesale business – planning and research The most important thing is to be absolutely sure that...
3. Your Guide to Bathroom Planning and Design This bathroom planning guide aims at providing you with bathroom...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Singapore. A local registered address (commercial or residential but no PO Box). At least one local resident director (a Singapore Citizen, a Singaporean Permanent Resident, a person who has been issued an Entrepass, Employment Pass, or Dependent Pass) and unlimited maximum number of directors. Directors must be at least 18 years of age and must not be bankrupt or convicted for any malpractices. Directors must be natural persons. A local resident and qualified company secretary who is a natural person and not a corporate. A minimum of 1 and maximum of 50 shareholders. A director and shareholder can be the same or different person. A shareholder can be an individual or corporate.

Minimum paid up capital of SGD 1.00. No authorized capital required.
Malaysia. A local registered address. At least two local resident directors (a Malaysian Citizen or a Malaysian Permanent Resident, a person who has been issued an Employment Pass) and unlimited maximum number of directors. Directors must be at least 18 years of age and must not be bankrupt or convicted for any malpractices. Directors must be natural persons. A local resident company secretary who is a natural person and not a corporate. The company secretary must either be a member of a professional body prescribed by the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs; or licensed by the Companies Commission of Malaysia. A minimum of two shareholders and maximum of 50 shareholders. A director and shareholder can be the same or different person. A shareholder can be an individual or corporate. A minimum authorised capital of RM 100,000 and paid-up Capital of RM 2.00.

Company registration in Singapore can be completed within 1 day. In Malaysia it takes 7-10 days to incorporate a company. Singapore. Fees for company incorporation with Companies Registrar: SGD 315. Fees for company registration with tax department: None. Malaysia. Fees for company incorporation with Companies Commission varies depending on the amount of authorized capital and can range from SGD 400 to SGD 28,000. Fees for company registration with tax department: None. Singapore. Annual returns along with audited annual accounts must be filed with Companies Registrar within 1 month of the Annual General Meeting. Tax returns along with audited accounts must be filed with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore by 31 October each year.

Malaysia. Annual returns along with audited annual accounts must be filed with the Companies Commission within 1 month of the Annual General Meeting. Note: Exempt private companies (not more than 20 shareholders and shares are not held by another company) need not file audited accounts. However, they are required by law to maintain their audited accounts for inspection by the authorities at any given time. Every company must keep accounting and other records as are necessary to explain the transactions and financial position of the company and to allow a profit and loss account and a balance sheet to be prepared.

Singapore. A company shall appoint an auditor within 3 months from the date of incorporation, unless it is exempted from audit requirements under Section 205B, or 205C, of the Companies Act. Malaysia. Every company must appoint one or more auditors who must be approved auditors in Malaysia. Appointment of auditors must be done before the first Annual General Meeting.

Although it is relatively easy to set up a business in Singapore and Malaysia, there are certain key differentiators between both the jurisdictions for company set up. Singapore is known for its ease of company set up which can be completed within 1 day, as compared to the 7-10 days norm of Malaysia. Moreover, a Singapore company can be registered with a fee of SGD 315. This is significantly low when compared to the registration fee for a Malaysian company which ranges from SGD 400 to SGD 28,000 depending on the company’s authorized capital. Last but not the least; it is easier for foreign investors to satisfy the eligibility criteria for Singapore work passes as compared to the requirements for a valid Malaysian work visa. Thus, Singapore offers a better business environment for company incorporation as compared to Malaysia.

To learn more about setting up a company in Singapore, refer to Singapore Company Setup guide. You can also learn about Singapore’s low tax regime, referring to Singapore Taxation guide.

Related posts:

1. Being Keen on Good Singapore Hotels One you touch down in the beautiful country of Singapore,...
2. Setting up a credit card merchant account and online merchant account for your business It is a fully understood fact that those who have...
3. Setting up a Prepaid Card Business is Easy with Calling Card Billing Software Many entrepreneurs believe that setting up a phone or calling...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Because outsourcing has become available to small business owners and online professionals, you can now expect the same level of scalability, efficiency and cost savings that exists in other well-managed businesses that leverage outsourcing.

According to a report titled “Global Sourcing Trends in 2009” by U.S.-based law firm Morrison and Foerster:  Most outsourcing transactions intend to produce immediate improvements to the bottom line for businesses. While this is a common reason to outsource, with fluctuating economic times like we have been experiencing lately, the flexibility to scale up or scale down (based on the business’s needs) has been the determining factor to outsource.

Smart executives are using outsourcing to build flexibility and scalability into their businesses—and to gain access to a global pool of skills at competitive cost.

The recent economic downturn led many companies, especially those who don’t have existing outsourcing contracts, to consider outsourcing. But companies who already have outsourcing agreements are re-evaluating their outsourcing decisions to find providers that offer more business continuity and integration.

In an environment where Fortune 500 companies have disappeared overnight, a successfully executed outsourcing partnership could make the difference in a company’s ability to ride out these challenging times. The flexibility to bring on needed help and expertise in times of growth – without committing to a project contract or adding people to the payroll, has been an invaluable solution to the small business owner and online professional. In addition to providing scalability, this also allows the owner to focus on core competencies of the business.

Outsourcing provides businesses with instant scalability and service flexibility, as well as reducing overhead costs.  One of the major advantages of outsourcing is that companies can now get the best from new developments without the expense.

In terms of new technologies, new processes and new ways of doing things, you don’t have to invest to do that in-house.  Outsourcing is also particularly beneficial for new businesses, or those looking to expand their operation. This includes those who do not necessarily know what hardware or software they will need.

Outsourcing providers with more experience should be able to advise companies about where to spend their money, so that they do not waste time and resources.

Any hesitation to outsource may be affecting your company’s chances to effectively scale for growth in this highly competitive business environment. As a small business owner or online professional, carefully consider your outsourcing partner when looking to expand your business and make it globally competitive.  When considering a company for outsourcing, make certain that they are equipped to handle the ebb and flow needs of your business when scaling up, and when scaling down!

—

At MyBusinessAssistant.com, we are THE small business outsourcing solution for virtual office assistant services. As happy clients have found, we are NOT just your typical virtual office assistant company.

We are home to the Virtual Business Center (VBC), which provides an integrated approach to your outsourcing needs with greater flexibility, scalability and customized solutions for small business owners and online professionals. We have become the outsourcing industry leaders for: Phone Support, Administrative Assistance, Web Development, IT Support, Accounting Assistance and Marketing Support.

Lean more, and build your own customized Virtual Business Center at: http://www.MyBusinessAssistant.com or contact us at: Media@MyBusinessAssistant.com or 800.993.9622

Related posts:

1. Advantages small businesses have over large companies Good things come in small packages. Here are some of...
2. Web Development Importance in Small Businesses Small businesses are at the short end of the stick...
3. Five Snow Leopard/Mac Compatible Laser Printers for Small Businesses on Budget The release of Mac OS Snow Leopard was hype in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In case of a client-centric enterprise social network, the goal is to increase brand engagement, empower brand evangelists, educate customers, and perform market research. Enterprise social networks provide the opportunity marketing organizations to immediately resolve any problems associated with their product and services and create an exceptional method of customer service and engagement.

Employee-centric enterprise social networks focus on creating collaborative groups for delivery of projects. Team members could post documents, spreadsheet, and other collateral asking other team members to provide comments and improvements. In addition, executives could use this tool to deliver latest training, motivational, and other material to each of their constituents.

Partner-centric enterprise social networks focus on the delivery of the latest information to partners in order to increase sales and improve the relationship between organization and its partners. Partner-centric tools also enable organizations to train partners on latest product and services and to allow partner to share their experiences with the product/service and the client with the organization and each other.

The power of Pringo’s Enterprise social networking tool is that organizations do not have to rip and replace their existing website to implement the community. Pringo integrates social networking tools and features into an existing website. Of course, if there is a need to revamp the existing website and build one from scratch, it could also be done utilizing Pringo software and development tools.

Those who are interested in developing enterprise social networks should consider reaching out to Pringo. This company has worked with many organizations and corporations to create effective B2B communities. Pringo offers three different suites of products that will be able to match the needs of any organization. Pringo’s Express, Empower, and Enterprise packages are all integrable, flexible and scalable.

Pringo’s Express product provides an easy and inexpensive foray in the world of enterprise social networks and B2B Communities since it provides all of the most common features of most social networks. The product is designed for quick entry into the marketed place, but can be very easily upgraded to the next level as usage increases and there is a need for addition of other features.

For small to medium sized organizations seeking B2B communities, we recommend Pringo’s Empower package. Pringo Empower product allows for complete design and integration flexibility as well as additional features that are not provided by Pringo Express.

Pringo’s Enterprise package is the ultimate for B2B communities and enterprise social networks. This product comes with four hundred fully customizable features and supports multiple languages including Chinese and Japanese. Pringo Enterprise can be integrated with internal and external data sources and applications as well as organizational security apparatus. With Pringo Enterprise, you will be able to have an unlimited number of user categories and web pages.

Would you like to run enterprise social networks ? You should check out Pringo. This company has setup many successful b2b communities in the past and will be able to help you setup your own community.

Related posts:

1. How Social Networking Helps Online Business Grow Have you heard that word of mouth advertising can be...
2. Using Social Media To Build Traffic What is Social Media? Social websites are websites where the...
3. Senior Social Networking? Are senior citizens online? The Internet Keeps Brains Active Well...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Time Management: Making Perfect Choices

Following are the ways of managing your time to strike at the optimum:

Choose the right path – Follow an effective path and follow it efficiently. The difference between efficiency and effectiveness should be known. Being effective means choosing right path to get your work done. This will ensure minimum time wastage. On the other hand doing things efficiently will also lessen the amount of time wastage. Strategically doing the things effectively is the right attitude and right way to manage your time.  Prioritize Your Task – Try to minimize your time wastage by prioritizing your task. Furthermore, give more weightage on the most important task, followed by the less important one. You should give a first thought before starting a job and never leave your job undone or half done. You can minimize your work load and increase your efficiency by delegating your task to your office colleagues. Also don’t focus on the tasks that you are not scheduled to do. This will save time and make you work faster.  Doing things in an easiest way – Work out the ways, to minimize on unnecessary conferences, outdoor visits and meetings. Try to incorporate only those data that are essential. Concentrating on irrelevant data will eat out time and space, besides your body juice.  Procrastination – Don’t vacillate in your thoughts. Be attentive in your work as any sign of lethargic attitude on your part will end up in time wastage.   Smart Work & Not Hard Work – I have seen managers who capitalized their degrees just because they worked smart. They learned in real time situations and excelled. And for those poor hard working managers who were intellectual sorts, worked under the smart managers. You know, smart managers know how to manage time in the right way, although, they learn from the hard working managers. It is a contradictory situation… I know!

Time management is a practical utility aspect. It requires change in your attitude and behavior. The moment you change them, you embrace success.

Arunjeet Jaggi is working with naukriguru.com, and has around decade of experience in the area of content, website design, research and analysis. For more information, kindly login to: www.naukriguru.com

Related posts:

1. Change Management – Coping With Change Change Management is one of the most common reasons why...
2. How effective Management contributes in Marketing? Marketing a business is one of the key operations of...
3. What role does human resource management play in a business? The human resource function has gone from the traditional hire...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Change can occur for lots of different reasons, from the challenges of growth that an organisation is facing, changing global markets, changes in strategy, technological change, competitive processes including M&A, customer pressures or shifting markets.

Research shows that organisations are undergoing major change on average every 3 years, whilst smaller changes are occurring almost continually, and there are certainly no signs in the current economic climate that this will alter. Whilst each change is unique, Interim Managers can introduce different models; the two frequently adopted are either Lewin and Beer or Shaw’s model.

But at the end of the day an Interim Manager has seen it all before and can draw on their immense experience, bringing with them sound programme and project management experience. They will understand how to pre-empt stakeholder concerns and possess the leadership skills to effectively communicate, facilitate and coach those resistant to change. Hand-holding those who require it to cope with change, together with all the issues surrounding re-alignment, performance management and motivation. Above all, they will remember that everyone reacts differently to change and has differing fundamental needs that have to be met. Change often involves a loss and people go through a ‘loss curve’ where expectations need to be managed realistically and fears need to be addressed.

Change management will often involve Interim managers playing a leading role in introducing new structures and systems. Above all a seasoned Interim Manager will deliver a Change Programme on time and on budget.

Find out more about change management

Related posts:

1. Time Management: Becoming Efficient Time is described as nature’s greatest invisible “force.” that has...
2. Major IT Project Management Nationwide Life employs interim for new IT project management. ‘The...
3. The Life Audit – Your Chance to Call the Changes For 2009? These past months the world has moved at an unprecendented...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.