Benefits of Payroll Software for Small Businesses

Peyo Peev, for Business to Community writes:    Payroll software provides a great number of benefits to its users. It is especially useful to small businesses. Payroll software helps businesses maintain pay records and track tax deductions by directly importing data from time-sheets. It assists in processing payroll quickly and efficiently. This way, small businesses can easily handle their finances including operating costs and staff budgets efficiently. In addition to this, you can also increase the morale of your staff by eliminating payment delays and human errors in the payroll process.

Payroll software packages are either third party or proprietary programs that are connected to a network along with accounting software. The software can be tweaked to suit your needs. Here are some of the benefits of using a payroll software.

Simple Procedures

The biggest advantage of  a payroll software is that is brings order to the chaos that is called as payroll processing. You can easily update all the details about your staff and create a database where you can categorize them according to their pay. For small businesses, hiring a professional HR personnel can be difficult and in such cases, a payroll software can be used to keep track of activities such as staffing history, outgoing payment and so on.

Calculate deductions easily

One of the most challenging aspects of payroll is calculating complex tax or any other deductions. Calculating tax deductions is also a place where a maximum number of errors take place. Any mistake in calculating tax deductions can also lead to penalties and fines later. But once a payroll software package has been set up, you can simply update to the database all the deductions from an employee’s payroll. A payroll software usually comes preloaded with all the tax rules and regulations pre-loaded making your job easy and simple as all you need to do is enter the values.

Make accurate forecasts

Another aspect that often leads to problems when not done properly is budget forecasts. The effect simply gets compounded in the case of small businesses. But a payroll software can help you manage forecasts and in some cases even generate forecasts for the next quarters. The information derived from the software can later be used to make better business decisions and help your company grow.

Track employee information

In a small business, keeping track of employee information can be a tough task. But when you use software to store information such as performance review data, feedback reports and other information, you will be able to access it instantaneously. It can also help you keep track of certain deductions due to absence, sickness and so on. In many cases you can even automate the process.

Build a better reputation

Small businesses often suffer from lack of professionalism. One of the biggest challenges that they face is employee retention. A slight delay in giving the paycheck or a fumble with the tax deductions can lead to lowered employee morale. Many may even seek for employment elsewhere in a more established company if they feel that there are not being treated professionally. The problem simply aggravates when you expand. By using a payroll software, you can eliminate almost all of these pitfalls and your small business can function efficiently and professionally right from day one leading to a good reputation in the industry.

New laws will affect 2013 tax filing

Rick Bloom for HometownLife.com writes: Most people believe that since they've filed 2012 tax returns, they don't have to think about taxes for another year. Unfortunately, that is not the case. To be efficient and to make the tax laws work for you, you do have to think about taxes 12 months a year. It is important to have an understanding of our tax laws. This year, several new tax laws will impact many filers. Some of the changes are due to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was signed into law this year as a compromise to the fiscal cliff issues. Other new tax laws go into effect because of Obamacare. Following is a sampling of some tax law changes.

Health care act

This year, because of Obamacare, a new 3.8-percent Medicare investment tax will be imposed on investment income regarding such things as interest, dividends and capital gains. This new tax is not for everyone, but does impact single taxpayers with adjusted gross income that exceeds $200,000 and for married couples with adjusted gross income that exceeds $250,000. This tax is in addition to the new Medicare tax on earned income. Earned income is income from your wages. This new Medicare payroll tax is 0.9 percent and it applies to the same taxpayers as the new Medicare investment tax.

Another change this year in the tax law deals with the medical expense deduction. In the past, there was a 7.5-percent income threshold for deducting non-reimbursed medical expenses. This year that number is increasing to 10 percent. It applies to all taxpayers up to age 65. Taxpayers older than 65 can continue to use the 7.5-percent number until 2017. The result of this change is that less people will be a able to deduct medical expenses on their tax returns.

Talking about deductions, one nice thing the IRS did for 2013 is reduce the record keeping requirement for home office deductions. If you qualify for a home office deduction, you can use a new optional deduction which is calculated at $5 a square foot and is capped at $1,500 a year. This relieves taxpayers of burdensome record keeping.

High-income taxpayers

The year 2013 will also bring other increases for high-income taxpayers. The ordinary income tax bracket is raised to 39.6 percent for those single with taxable income over $400,000 or married with income over $450,000. In addition, when you reach those thresholds, your capital gain rate will rise from 15 percent to 20 percent.

Also in 2013, certain tax breaks were renewed, such as the qualified tuition deduction and the ability to contribute up to $100,000 of your minimum required distribution directly from your IRA to a charity.

I believe the goal is to have more money in your pocket. Therefore, don't do anything for tax reasons alone, do things that make good economic sense.

You don't have to be an expert on tax laws. However, being informed about taxes will help you be more efficient and ultimately means more money in your pocket — exactly where it belongs.

Good luck!

What If I Made a Mistake on My Taxes?

Catherine Hawley for the HuffPo writes: We can all be relieved that tax season is over. However, what if it dawns on you that you made a mistake? Don't panic just yet. I asked Meredith Johnson, CPA, CFP of Burr Pilger Mayer for her input, and below is a summary of her expert advice.

According to Meredith, "There are a number of reasons why a return might need to be corrected. Perhaps you received a corrected 1099 or W-2. Maybe you didn't realize that you were eligible for education credits, or you simply made a math error. The important thing is that you contact the IRS before they contact you, especially if the correction means that you will owe additional tax." 

To correct the error, you need to file an amended return, called a 1040X. The first page looks like a table, where you indicate the following: 1. amounts shown on your original return 2. the amount of the change and 3. the correct amount. The second page has a place for you to write a brief summary regarding why you are amending the return. Then you'll attach a corrected return, with "Amended" written at the top, to the back of the 1040X. If the change results in additional tax due, enclose a check or money order for the amount you have calculated that you owe. Be sure you send it trackable...just in case.

Turbotax also addresses the process of correcting a mistake and amending your tax return. They emphasize that you don't have to redo the entire return. They go on to say that you, "Just show the necessary changes and adjust your tax liability accordingly." Also, you cannot file the amendment electronically.

Once you file it you'll have to be patient. It takes 8-12 weeks for a 1040X to be processed. This year the IRS offers a new online tool called, "Where's my Amended Return." It allows you to check on the processing status. So, even though you can't file electronically you can track it online.

Be sure to put some checks and balances in place, so that if this mistake was avoidable you don't repeat it again next year. This might include: establishing a more effective organizational system for your tax information, like an accordion folder for receipt categories or using a program like Quickbooks. Also, calendar a tax planning meeting in October so you're considering tax legislation and making decisions well before the year-end deadline. As I've mentioned before, everyone's tax situation is different. If you think this information might apply to you don't hesitate to reach out to a qualified tax professional for help. Taxes can be complex and filing your taxes correctly will put you in better financial standing and help you SaveUp!

How To Reduce (Or Eliminate) Taxes On Annaly's Dividends

Doug Carey for Seeking Alpha writes: Many investors who are fans of mortgage REITs are pointing to the possibility of a near-perfect scenario: The Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities (which would mean higher yields on mortgage-backed securities) but keeps short-term rates extremely low. This would be the sweet spot for mortgage REITs because they would be able to continue to borrow money cheaply, but can then invest in higher yielding mortgage-backed securities. In other words, their spread would increase and thus their profitability.

Even though many mortgage REITs pay a nice dividend, investors are sometimes surprised by the hefty tax bill. REITs are taxed at ordinary income tax rates if they are in taxable accounts, which takes a big bite out of the total return for many. But there is a way to get around this tax bill if an investor has capital losses he can use. I call this strategy dividends to capital gains conversion.

The idea is this: By taking dividends in the form of capital gains, and then offsetting those gains with capital losses you may have, you can pay an effective tax rate of 0%. Compare this to paying either the 15% rate for qualified dividends (for most people) or your top marginal income tax rate on REIT investments.

So how does one go about converting dividends to capital gains? It takes some monitoring, but it could very well be worth your time. First let's define the ex-dividend date for a stock:

The ex-dividend date is the day on which all shares bought and sold no longer come attached with the right to be paid the most recently declared dividend. This is an important date for any company that has many stockholders, including those who trade on exchanges, as it makes reconciliation of who is to be paid the dividend easier. It is just as important for investors, however, since you must own a stock before the ex-dividend date in order to receive the next scheduled dividend.

If an investor buys the stock on the ex-dividend date or after, he is not entitled to the next dividend. This also means that if an investor sells the day before the ex-dividend date, he is not entitled to the next dividend.

Given this, an investor can buy a stock the day of the ex-dividend date and sell the day before the next ex-dividend date, and be assured that he will never receive a dividend. Some might be saying what a horrible deal! But Mr. Market is no dummy. Those who buy on the ex-dividend date and sell the day before the next one will benefit from the stock price climbing by the amount of the dividend during this time. If you ever notice why a stock's price drops the of the ex-dividend date, this is because those buying it on that day will not receive the next dividend. In fact, the price drops by the amount of the next dividend. Conversely, the stock price will begin climbing the day after the ex-dividend date and will eventually rise by the amount of the dividend. Of course, the price will fluctuate due to other variables, but the amount of the next dividend is always embedded in the price.

Hopefully this all makes sense because for stocks with high dividend yields, as this strategy could provide a huge gain for investors. Let's take a look at how this strategy might be used with Annaly Capital (NLY), which has a dividend yield today of 11.5%.

Every quarter if I buy NLY on the ex-dividend date and then sell it the day before the next ex-dividend date I pay no taxes whatsoever on this dividend, yet receive all of the dividend yield in the form of capital gains. I avoid taxes by offsetting the gains with capital losses. This is a huge benefit to me because NLY is a REIT and investors must pay the full income tax rate on any dividends that are paid.

Let's look at an example using NLY where an investor buys 5,000 shares. The combined marginal federal and state tax rate for the investor is 33%. The investor is able to offset all capital gains with capital losses and pays $8 per trade. I ran the following using our publicly available calculator called Minimize Taxes by Trading Dividends for Capital Gains and readers are free to run their own scenarios as well.

I will have accumulated nearly $63,000 more over 10 years using this strategy. That is a cumulative return that is 80% higher than if I just collected the dividend. I can also adjust the amount of the capital gains that I can offset. Let's say I can offset 50% of the gains with capital losses. It is still worth it because this strategy delivers a 49% higher return than not using the capital gains conversion strategy.

Other REITs where this strategy would work well are American Capital Agency Corp. (AGNC), New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT), Dynex Capital (DX), Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp (ANH), and Hatteras Financial (HTS).

Ticker	Dividend Yield
AGNC	15.7%
NYMT	15.0%
DX	11.2%
ANH	9.9%
HTS	10.3%

Because of the monitoring involved and the trading costs, this idea is best suited for those stocks with relatively high dividends. In the example above, if the dividend yield were below 2%, this strategy does not pay off any more. But for REITs and other high yielding stocks, especially those where dividends are taxed at your income tax rate, this strategy will be a sure-fire winner.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in NLY, AGNC over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

3 Simple Investment Strategies That Deliver Long-Term Riches

Dan Caplinger for TheFool.com writes: In trying to make their money work harder for them, investors often fall for questionable investment strategies that promise to help you get rich quick but usually deliver huge losses. But the smartest ways to reach your money goals don't require you to deal with arcane, hard-to-understand financial products. By following these three simple investment strategies, you can get the long-term results you want without the risk you'll find with more aggressive and dubious alternatives.

1. Dollar-cost averaging.
Few investors have huge pots of money to invest all at once, but most people are able to set aside at least a modest amount of money every month. Dollar-cost averaging involves taking that money and investing it in a mix of low-cost index mutual funds or ETFs. The exact mix depends on your tolerance for risk, your time horizon, and the amount you have to save, but by putting aside the same amount month in and month out, you'll build a habit of saving and investing.

The benefit of dollar-cost averaging is that when shares are cheaper, you'll buy more of them with the same fixed amount. Meanwhile, when prices rise, you end up with fewer shares, and so on average you'll buy more when an investment is cheap than when it's expensive. Buying low is a key tenet of investing, and dollar-cost averaging lets you take full advantage of it.

2. Using tax-favored accounts.
The biggest challenge in investing is making sure that you keep as much of your earnings as you can. Unfortunately, taxes can sap a huge portion of your investing profits, making it essential for your investment strategy to include ways of keeping the tax man at bay.  IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans like 401(k)s are a great tool for savers to use in implementing a smart strategy for investing. By putting stocks and other growth assets in an IRA or 401(k), you can shelter their income from tax as long as the money stays within the account. Some retirement accounts force you to pay tax on the amount you withdraw, but Roth IRAs actually let you take that income tax-free. Using tax-favored accounts to hold your investments isn't complicated, but it'll save you plenty at tax time.

3. Choosing dividend stocks for growth and income.
Investors struggle with finding the right balance between investments that will grow and investments that will provide solid income. But dividend stocks offer the best of both worlds, paying reliable dividend income but also retaining the growth potential of some of the most successful companies in the world.

Investing in dividend stocks is easy. Exchange-traded funds Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) , iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend (NYSEMKT: DVY  ) , and SPDR S&P Dividend (NYSEMKT: SDY  ) give you low-cost access to dozens or even hundreds of dividend-paying stocks, all within a single investment vehicle. If you prefer, you can also buy individual stocks, either through a broker or through direct investment plans. Blue-chip companies General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) are just two of the hundreds of stocks that offer shares through direct plans and allow you to reinvest dividends automatically in additional shares at no fee.

It's not hard
If these investment strategies seem simple, it's because they are simple. Whoever said that investing has to be complicated was dead wrong. These suggestions won't work as quickly as high-risk alternatives, but they will work in the long run, and the results you'll get will be worth the wait.

GE pays a solid dividend yield, having recovered from the recent financial crisis. Learn more about whether General Electric is the right dividend stock for you in our premium report on the conglomerate, in which our industrials analyst breaks down GE's multiple businesses. You'll find reasons to buy or sell GE today. 

Do Tax Breaks for Senior Citizens Pay for Themselves? / Cash-strapped states are questioning the tax exemptions they offer the elderly.

Penelope Lemov for Governing writes:  hat's a senior citizen's worth? As it turns out, quite a bit. In econo-speak, a senior citizen with retirement income has a multiplier in the economy of 3.1, says Farrokh Hormozi, a professor of economics at Pace University in New York City. (For comparison, the average consumer has a multiplier of 1.7 to 1.8.) That means senior citizens are spending more than other consumers at restaurants, in stores and on services. In addition, senior citizens don't generally require many government services. After all, they don't have small children who need to be educated and they don't tend to commit very many crimes.
 
Historically, the economic benefit of a financially independent senior citizen has not gone unnoticed by governors and state legislatures. Over the course of the past three decades and continuing today, states have "recruited" retirees to their state or provided incentives to keep them in place. Twelve states, for example, offer a modest tax exemption for pension income, according to Karen Smith Conway and Jonathan Rork, economists at the University of New Hampshire. They also found that three states exempt income of $70,000 or more and five exempt all pension income from tax.

But now the calculus has changed. "Some states are starting to realize that what looked like an attractive little tax break," Conway says, "will be a huge tax loss as the population ages."

In a recent report by Kentucky's Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform, for instance, researchers found that the state could bring in $485 million a year by reducing exemptions on pension income. Michigan was alarmed enough at its revenue losses from pension exemptions that it rolled back some of them. And Georgia, which has been particularly generous to seniors, opted to freeze increases in exemptions that were set to take effect. While this is clearly a growing issue, it's also a "third rail" issue, according to John Allan James, executive director of Pace University's Global Government Center. "If you start adding anything to the list of taxable items for the elderly, the AARP would be down on you like a blanket."
Third rail or not, Conway and Rork, have sifted through academic, demographic and empirical evidence to figure out whether the pension tax break is an effective recruitment tool and whether it has produced the results governors and legislators anticipated it would.
In an interview with Conway last week, I asked her about her findings. Here's an edited transcript of our conversation.

How effective have recruitment efforts been?
Our research has found that the tax exemption is not effective as a recruiting [tool]. People are not responsive to these policies. It's politically palatable as a tax cut -- the elderly are a politically active group, so there's nice political cover -- but my co-author and I have found that interstate migration is rare, less than 1 percent moves across state lines a year. If you look at where people are moving and what the tax policies are in those places, it can look like policies are causing the move. New York to Florida is the top flow. Florida has no income tax and lower tax burdens. But it also has warm weather and a coast line. My co-author and I have tried to look at whether people are responding to the tax policies -- that is, if the policy changes, does it lead to a change in movement? When we do that, we don't find much movement. A study by Cristobal Young and Charles Varner looked at the millionaire tax in New Jersey [which raised its income tax rate on top earners to one of the highest tax rates in the country]. Did it drive people from New Jersey? The authors found the response was fairly modest.

Academic research doesn't support tax exemptions' effectiveness in recruiting. It's become more widely known that there's not empirical support for it, so it will be interesting to see if states continue to use it as a justification [for tax breaks]. When Maine increased its pension exemption last year, Gov. [Paul] LePage said, in effect, that "we keep people in Maine by doing this." Last year, fewer than 1 percent of seniors moved from state to state after age 65 for any reason. Very few appear to do so to reduce their taxes.

Does the tax exemption pay for itself?
We've found no evidence that it does, even if people do respond to the tax break. There's a new, unpublished paper that looks at Switzerland. There have been a lot of changes in estate taxes. The study, [a not-yet published paper by Marius Brulhart of the University of Lausanne], finds that all the way to 2009 a favorable change in the estate tax caused a few people to move but it didn't pay for lost revenue.

What other factors account for the recruitment phenomenon?
Part of why the elderly have appeared to be an attractive group is the nature of the way support for them is funded. The federal government takes care of the lion's share of their needs with Social Security and Medicare. If states had to pay Social Security and Medicare, there might be a gate at the border [and] they might be carding people over 65. But seriously, states have tried to recruit higher-income elderly who won't burden their Medicaid programs.

Bill.com wants to help businesses cut out the checkbooks / Bill.com Is the Only Company Helping SMBs Change Their Check Payments to ACH (ePayments) by Automating the End-to-End Cash Flow Management Process

Christina Farr for VentureBeat.com writes: American consumers are increasingly making payments electronically while their checkbooks gather dust. So why are businesses so behind their customers?

A startup called Bill.com is the brainchild of former Intuit employee René Lacerte. The company has developed a cloud-based system to make it safe for businesses to adopt electronic payments. The company is announcing today that it has converted more than 40 percent of its customers from checks to Automated Clearing House (ACH), the electronic network for financial transactions in the U.S.

About 80 percent of American companies still rely on paper invoices and checks or manual reconciliation, according to a 2012 survey by The Accounts Payable Network. Why?

The ACH has been around for decades, but businesses haven’t utilized it due to its complexity. Bill.com has been working to automate the process for small businesses so they can advantage of ACH and cut down on processing costs.

The company claims its average customer has saved 106 hours and $1,392.10 per month. And it’s not just helping customers pay bills — Bill.com also helps customers process online invoices and manage sensitive financial documents. It also integrates with existing accounting software to analyze relevant data and provide a “cash forecast.”

“Scott Cook [Intuit's founder] used to say that the enemy is the paper and pencil — people doing this the old fashioned way,” said Lacerte, Bill.com’s CEO and founder in an interview.

Lacerte hopes the early adoption by SMBs is a sign of the company’s growth potential. Today, the company has 175,000 customers in its network, but it won’t disclose how many of them are paid. Bill.com makes its money by charging $.0.49 for each transaction.   Aside from paper mechanisms, Bill.com’s big competitors include accounting software systems like NetSuite.

Bill.com raised $15 million for its previous financing round. At that time, August Capital’s David Hornik made the bold claim that the company “moves more money than Square each month.”

Bill.com's Fast-Growing Business Payments Network Is Converting More Than 40 Percent of Customer Payments to ACH    /    Bill.com Is the Only Company Helping SMBs Change Their Check Payments to ACH by Automating the End-to-End Cash Flow Management Process

Bill.com, the leader in integrated bill payment, invoicing and cash flow management solutions for businesses, today announced that it is converting more than 40 percent of customer payments from check to ACH, meaning Bill.com is the only company making ACH -- commonly known as ePayments -- adoption a reality for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). Bill.com is achieving this feat by going beyond single ACH transactions and automating the end-to-end cash flow management process, connecting people, documents, payments and accounting systems.

Today, more than 80% of transactions between U.S. small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) involve paper invoices, paper checks, or manual reconciliation, resulting in costly inefficiencies and errors. Bill.com is turning this paradigm on its ear. Bill.com is the first platform to digitize the whole process, integrating electronic payments seamlessly with accounting software and digital documents. 

Typically, only large companies have the staff, resources, and knowledge needed to use and integrate treasury management services such as ACH and Positive Pay. Bill.com makes those services accessible to companies of all sizes, as small as $100K in revenue to more than $100M, via its cloud-based AP, AR and cash flow management solution. This is critical because, for SMBs, it is not just about processing ACH transactions, it is about setting up an entire cash flow management solution. By transcending transaction processing to ACH-based process revolution, Bill.com is using ACH to redefine how SMBs work and is spurring on a new generation of "No Check" CEOs, a cadre of business and financial leaders using game-changing technology to replace time-consuming paper processes with fast, efficient cloud-based systems everywhere in their businesses.
Bill.com's ACH growth is fueled by the following unique offerings:

• Only Bill.com maintains a vendor and customer portal that is secure and maintained directly by the vendor/customer, ensuring privacy and security.
• Bill.com alone creates collaboration opportunities for customers to interact with their customers and vendors.
• Bill.com does this all for $.49 a transaction. This is by far less expensive than printing, mailing and/or receiving checks, finally ringing the death toll for paper checks.
  

"Our incredible network growth marks the advent of the ACH revolution," said René Lacerte, founder and CEO of Bill.com. "Consumers have already adopted ePayments, but businesses have lagged. Now, just as we freed financial professionals from error-prone, tedious manual accounting processes, we are removing the shackles of paper checks. Bill.com is democratizing treasury services and making ACH the payment method not of the future, but of now."

Bill.com delivers a complete web-based financial solution for businesses and accountants that provides the tools, information, and collaboration required to better manage their financial tasks and optimize cash flow. Bill.com's game-changing technology allows users to access online bill payments, e-invoicing, document management, and automated workflow through one easy system. In addition to seamlessly integrating with businesses' existing accounting software programs, Bill.com provides financial leaders with a comprehensive view of their cash forecast -- making it the only solution that connects a user's banks, bookkeeping, and business.

What's Better than a File Cabinet? An eFileCabinet, Of Course!

Jamie Epstein  for TechZone360 writes:  Founded in 2001 and based just south of Salt Lake City, eFileCabinet has a pretty interesting story behind its initial debut.  Back in 2001, the mastermind who developed the company was and still is a practicing CPA who was getting tired of watching his fellow high-priced CPAs walk back and forth in front of his office pushing paper. He thought that there had to be a better way of being able to quickly access data. After doing a little digging, he quickly realized that while some programs did exist that could scan files electronically and then store them either on a hard drive or in the cloud, they were very expensive and cost-prohibitive. Thus, he decided to bring together a couple of programmers and put together a rudimentary program which started scanning the files and then storing them. 

After seeing his levels of both productivity and efficiency skyrocket, others in his space started asking for a copy of the solution. In spite of the fact that its founder didn’t set out to run a company and was simply just looking to fill a need, the business now has more than 70,000 users -- mostly based in the U.S. -- that leverage its three main products.
 
Currently, its target audience is mostly small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to go paperless in order to become more efficient. Originally starting out in such verticals as accounting, financial services and insurance, eFileCabinet is now selling its suite to just about anybody who has a file cabinet and is looking to manage their data electronically. 

With both the original solution and its SaaS-based sister version that can access key information in the cloud via an array of mobile devices, there is still a segment of the country that is just not comfortable putting all of their confidential data in the cloud. Luckily for those users, eFileCabinet powers both on-premises and cloud models. And if a client does ultimately decide to move to the cloud, the company has a migration path in place for those folks as well.
According to Matt Peterson, eFileCabinet president and CEO, the main benefits a company can see when leveraging eFileCabinet are time, space and money.  Peterson said, “People ask all the time who our competitors are, and we don’t really have any direct ones because we took a different spin on our offering than most. Our solution is much more than just sharing files—it’s about managing and archiving them with a sharing component. It acts as a central repository and can be seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Outlook.” 

Further, expenses related to continuously having to buy tons of paper for any firm are reduced significantly and the time it takes to find an important file in a pinch is also cut down.
With users keeping eFileCabinet opened all day on their computer, “We look at that holistic approach as in your entire business is based on data and information, and our goal is to help you to capture and manage your data and then share it without any associated complexity,” Peterson added.

Looking ahead, eFileCabinet predicts that desktop document management systems are headed to the cloud.  “We are starting to get a lot of inquiries in regards to people wishing to go paperless and simply manage their documents. Our solution does just that and more; it allows them to be fully mobile,” Peterson said. “For example, we have a lot of accountants within our customer base and say they get a call from one of their clients who is at a car dealership wishing to purchase a vehicle and first must present the dealer with verification of income. Since in most cases this individual won’t have the documentation needed to drive off in their new set of wheels, the accountant can then tell them how to access it since it is already stored in a shared drawer in the cloud. This 24/7 accessibility is particularly appealing to SMBs who are never off a clock and have clients who demand a continuous stream of information.”
While the company currently has applications on both iOS and Android platforms, it could soon be unveiling a product that can be utilized by Windows Mobile devices. So be sure to keep on a close eye on eFileCabinet.

How to Create a Mobile Office for Your Small Business

Megan Totka for smallbiztrends.com writes: Technology is a wonderful thing. Now that just about every imaginable gadget is portable and affordable, your small business doesn’t have to be confined to a rented office or your dining room table. You can create a mobile office and take your work anywhere, with room to spare with the use of mobile broadband in your small business.
There are plenty of advantages to having a fully mobile office. Just a few of them include:

• Cost savings (i.e. the overhead for a fixed office).
• Increased productivity — no more wasted downtime.
• New promotional opportunities, since you can network in person.
• Streamlined business processes, with everything in one place.

So how do you create the perfect mobile office? Below are the basic considerations for finding the right mix of technology to serve your small business on the go.

How to Create a Mobile Office for Your Small Business

Command Central: Laptop or Tablet?

Smartphones have come a long way in a short time, with bigger screens and more capabilities, but they’re still not enough to power your mobile office alone. You’ll need either a laptop or a tablet PC.
The right choice depends on your business and your daily activities. If you do a lot of typing and document creation, it’s best to go with a laptop. Otherwise, you may be able to work with a smaller, lighter tablet. A tablet is also a good choice because it frees up your business by allowing you to do things your laptop can’t, such as using apps for paying and receiving invoices.
Of course, you’ll still need a primary machine for storage, backups and heavy projects, but choosing the right mobile computer means you won’t have to spend most of your working time chained to a desk.

Staying Connected When Hot Spots Get Cold

There are more WiFi hot spots than ever but they never seem to be around when you need them. Additionally, public Internet access is never secure. For your mobile office, you’ll need a reliable, private connection for your laptop or tablet.
If you don’t spend much time online, you can use prepaid wireless Internet cards that run on 3G or 4G mobile networks. For businesses that require heavy Internet use, there are long-term solutions like high-speed mobile access cards with data plans similar to smartphones. You can also get a MiFi, a compact wireless router that acts as a portable, personal hot spot.

Building Your Virtual File Cabinets

Going mobile means a mostly paperless office, so you’ll need a place to store your virtual files — preferably with anywhere access, so you can share files between your primary machine, command center and smartphone.
There are plenty of cloud storage solutions to help with that. Some are straightforward virtual hard drives, like Box.com and Dropbox. Others come bundled with cloud software you’re likely to use anyway, such as Microsoft’s Office 365 and Intuit’s Online Plus programs,  QuickBooks and Payroll.

Extras: Peripherals and Apps You Might Need

Depending on your business functions, you may need a portable printer, scanner or other peripheral hardware for your mobile office. Whatever you bring along, don’t forget to keep power cords and chargers on hand, and you should also invest in a travel-sized surge protector to protect your equipment.
What apps will you need? In addition to the software you use for your business, you might consider:

• A payment processor like Intuit’s GoPayment or PayPal’s smartphone card swipe device (free for business use).
• A voice recorder app for capturing thoughts and notes when you can’t use your laptop or tablet.
• GPS capabilities for navigating unfamiliar territory.
• A voice and video connection platform like Skype for virtual conference calls.

As a small business owner, you may have dreamed about working from the beach. Technology has made that possible and now you can have a truly mobile office that goes with you anywhere. With a little planning, you’ll be ready to take your show on the road.

Here’s to Xero partners around the world

Johnny MacAvoy for Xero writes: While our main focus is in four key markets – New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and United States – the rest of the Xero world covers well over 100 countries. We’re happy to report that this “Global” region is going gangbusters.

We have over 150 accounting partners (many of whom are shown in the map above) who are ready to help out business owners outside our four main regions. It’s important to have Xero Partners in-country so that local businesses have trusted advisors to turn to with their accounting and tax affairs, advisors that use Xero as their core accounting platform.

Some regions are showing notably strong organic growth; namely Canada, Singapore and South Africa, where we recently welcomed our first Global Gold Partner – Colin Timmis from Real Time Accounting. We also have Partners in other beautiful locations like Seychelles, Curacao and the Maldives – all places that in the name of equal and fair partner treatment may require Xero staff visits in the near future…

But I digress. Xero Global is being ramped up and kicks off this financial year in a great position with heaps of new partners on board and our core operations such as training and marketing in place and ready for action.

The flexibility to choose your own currency and create your own tax rates lies at the heart of our ability to grow outside of our main regions. This is in tandem with making sure most of our features are regionally agnostic. We continue to extend our reach to wider audiences, over greater distances and no one gets left behind.

We have Add-On Partners who also serve global customers, for those unique organisations that need a little bit of salt in their software setup. Whether it be CRM integration, advanced inventory or project management, we can help out by working alongside the applications they love to use. We’re constantly looking to make the business environment in our global regions more and more comfortable for partners and users alike. For instance, our recent integration with Checkeeper has enabled our global users access to cheque/check-printing functionality.
We’re also really interested in working with local payroll providers and want to fill this key gap; Singapore cloud payroll solutions, this one’s going out to you. There’s a real opportunity for local software providers to integrate with us to support our Xero users in areas like payroll and to piggyback each other’s regional growth.

Direct bank feeds, a feature we’ve all come to love and expect are not common practice in many countries. Through our Yodlee integration, we’ve been able to connect with over 300 global financial institutions, with plenty more in beta, to deliver bank statements directly to your Xero account and automate the way you handle your data. Where there is demand, we’ll look to make the connection. We’re always looking to support the main banks in a country growing in popularity so it’s worth getting in touch so we can add your bank to the list.

We’re seeing a lot of interest from outsourced accounting offices in regions like Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan and India. They are also engaging with our current partner channel and offering low-cost, outsourced solutions to them. This is a great example of how remote collaboration is simplified by leveraging the benefits that cloud solutions bring.

We now face the task of growing out our globally-targeted team and placing them strategically in our offices around the world so that we can cover the full range of time zones. I still find it amazing that we can reach the world with a few early mornings/late nights on Skype, all from New Zealand.

On this note, I’m happy to announce that we’ve recently welcomed our new Global Direct Account Manager Stephen Burgess, who resides in our UK office. He’ll be like our Xero missionary, spreading the good news to the masses.\

Xero and SurePayroll Join Forces Offering Cloud-Based Accounting & Payroll

Xero, the global leader in online accounting software, and SurePayroll, a leader in online payroll, announce the integration of beautiful accounting software with the award-winning online payroll solution. Through this partnership, small businesses and accounting professionals can easily manage their payroll and finances in the cloud -- removing the need for double data entry while providing Xero customers access to additional solutions like 401(k) plans, health insurance, workers compensation, employee screening and more.

A recent Zogby survey of accountants overwhelmingly found (54 percent) the biggest mistake small business owners make is not keeping their financial records up-to-date. Through the Xero and SurePayroll integration, small businesses can access and maintain their financials in real-time, with added capability of pulling payroll any time, anywhere and on any device. Whether behind a desk, on the road, or on the couch, the combination of cloud-based accounting with cloud-based payroll provides small businesses the most comprehensive and current view of their financials.

"The ability to make smart financial decisions is key for small business owners, but in order to do this they must have the right information," said Jamie Sutherland, Xero president of U.S. operations. "Our integration with SurePayroll empowers accountants and small business owners with a robust online solution that puts critical data at their fingertips and ultimately helps them better run their business."

"SurePayroll truly pioneered online payroll for small business which is just one of the reasons we appreciate Xero's disruptive spirit as they seek new ways to better service accountants and their clients," said Rick Gunther, senior vice president, SurePayroll. "Additionally their end-to-end system offers a host of solutions to help increase efficiency for small business. With the integration available today to our clients, we look forward to growing this partnership together from this point forward."

About the Survey Zogby Analytics was commissioned by Xero Limited to conduct an online survey of 400 accountants in the U.S. The survey was conducted from February 14 through February 21, 2013. Based on a confidence interval of 95 percent, the margin of error for 400 is +/- 5.0 percentage points. This means that all other things being equal, the identical survey repeated will have results within the margin of error 95 times out of 100.