Year End Accounting: Read these tips before you close your 2012 books!

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Prashant

The good news is that the world didn’t end on 12/21 as the Mayans had predicted. The bad news is: you still need to work on your accounting and taxes for 2012. Here are some tips in the form of a checklist so you can avoid overpaying or underpaying the taxman. It’s important you do this before you close your books for 2012. Happy 2013!

Reconcile your bank accounts

If you have been manually entering the bank transactions, it is imperative that you reconcile the bank balances with the actual bank statements. Look for the usual culprits like cancelled or uncleared checks. Give this a skip if you have setup a feed for online banking and have forgotten how to enter the bank transactions.

Complete your invoicing

Send the invoices for all the services you have rendered; products that you have sold and for any task that remains unbilled.

Record all your supplier bills

Ensure that you haven’t missed entering any supplier bills.

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Just in: Zoho CRM Web Forms and Button Element for Zoho Sites

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Preethi.varma

Website is the face of every business while CRM is the backbone. As a measure to link them both, we now have Zoho CRM web forms integrated with Zoho Sites.

All the customization is done in one place where the data is stored. With such integrated Website-CRM system, you will have streamlined and up-to-date information of Contacts, Cases and Leads at your disposal. You will be better prepared to make decisions for successful negotiations with customers. Here’s all the help you need.

Another significant feature that we are announcing today is the button element. The button element enables you to create call-to-action buttons that link to any other page, thereby making the links prominent.

Try them right away!…

The Incredibly-Shrinking Google Apps Free Edition Is Gone; Zoho Committed To Helping Small Businesses

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Rodrigo Vaca

Google just yesterday announced it is giving the axe to the free edition of Google Apps (i.e. the Standard Edition). So from now on Google Apps only has a single version: the paid one. This is not exactly news to those of us who do business in this space. Google Apps free edition has gone from “unlimited users” to 100, to 50, to 10 and now, well.. to 0.

This is bad news for small businesses who are just getting started and who would rather use their limited amount of funds somewhere else. Although, software services are not expensive these days (for the most part), every single dollar counts when you’re getting started.

That’s the reason why we at Zoho remain committed to helping the small guys – new businesses just launching, the ones who are not able to commit just yet. That’s also reflected in our pricing structure – we’ve never required a yearly contract for any of our services.…

Create happiness, not satisfaction

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Prashanth V K

One of my routine activities every week is to spend some time talking to folks from the Sales and Support teams. This gives me a good first-hand account of how we’re doing in the market. We also discuss interesting questions that customers asked and anything interesting that the team just learned from the previous week.

Last week, the Support team had to work extremely hard, because of the service outage. We discussed a lot of things about what went right and what can go better next time. On my way out, I just popped a quick question at the team: “What’s the one thing you guys did that you’re really proud of?”

An answer came right back at me, and quite resoundingly at that. They all said “We aim for customer happiness, not customer satisfaction”. We exchanged pleasantries and walked back to our desks.

But, that line has possessed me all of this week. There’s a seemingly subtle, but actually significant, difference between happiness and satisfaction.…

Passing A Tax Audit With Speed

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Reshma Roy

This is a guest post by Craig Keolanui of SmBizWinningTips

Are you facing an unexpected audit from either the state or Feds? If so, you might be seized with panic, worry or doubt. A tax audit is never easy, but keeping things highly organized and following instructions is the key to getting through the process with speed and confidence.

Reframe it as a presentation to an investor or client for your services and much of that consternation and doubt will pass and so will the time it takes for the audit.

You will receive a list of information required. Follow it carefully.
Be prepared to reveal two-three years of data, but follow the specific details in the notice you receive as it can be the difference between passing and failing.

Offering to provide more information than requested may actually make things worse and add time or further scrutiny to the audit.…

Clear the clog: Get your project flowing again with quick decisions

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Sarah

This is a guest post by Shabana Shiliwala, who owns The Financial Sort, a financial planning company based in Austin, Texas.

Is your project not flowing smoothly? If you’re plagued with missed deadlines, overspending or incomplete tasks, it’s time to find out what’s clogging the pipes. A clue is that these blunders are often related to each other. For example, when overlooked tasks are discovered, going into emergency mode to complete them can require employees to work overtime, which pushes the project over budget. So if these problems are related, there must be a single culprit behind them. The usual suspect? Decisions aren’t being made efficiently. Find out what’s preventing the right people from making the decisions that will get your project flowing again.

Meetings. Think about how long it takes to organize a meeting, maneuver schedules so that all the major players can attend, keep it focused and obtain a consensus by the time it’s finished.…

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