After a long night at the AccountancyAge Awards 2007, I’m very happy to announce that Goodman-Jones have won the prestigious award for “Best use of Internet: Practice” again, for the second year running. It has to be said it was a close race with the other two contenders for the title. It was nice to meet Phil Woodgate and some of his colleagues again.

My conversations of the evening have been focused around my changing attitude toward the accounting profession, and I was quite surprised to find that most of my conversation partners agreed with me on my assessment of the “backward looking profession” and it’s damaging effect on very small business, which has been a constant source of concern for me in the past few years. Hence WinWeb’s complete change in it’s way to market. I had no idea that my views on this are so well known in the profession - with obvious little effect, of cause - which kind of proves my point.

The attraction of the evening was Boris Johnson - hopefully our new mayor for London, I certainly wish him every success - with his as usual very “eloquently” put points about the state London is in. Having had the pleasure to hear him speak, make his points, there is no question in my mind, that he is the right man for the job. Some of you might say, “that is not difficult, after what Ken Livingstone has done in the past years”! While that is true, I feel we would get back to some sensible ideas, like our London buses, what was wrong with the route master busses(?), or why is Ken spending Londoners money on a space program?

Although, Boris was not that dismissive about the space program, since it included the possibility of shooting Ken into space, clearly one of the more “realistic” policies Boris would follow, if voted into office! IMO, his manifesto is getting better and better. That is of cause if we are talking about a one-way ticket to ride, Boris?

I for one, would prefer to live in London, where we can get up in the morning with a smile on our faces, about a serious point made the “Boris Way”, rather than being embarrassed and upset by an intolerable and arrogant Mayor, who clearly does not understand even the basics of the problems we face in the future, a trait he shares with many in his party, especially when it comes to micro- and small business issues.

All in, I enjoyed last evening immensely and thank AccountancyAge for putting up a great show. ST.

WinWeb is to sponsor the Accountancy Age Award 2007 in the category: Best use of Internet in Practice for the second year. The event is held as last year at the Battersea Park Arena, Battersea, London, in the evening on November 14th, 2007.

This award is the most appropriate award for us to sponsor, since - incredibly - we are still the only online accounting software provider, with an ICAEW approval. It is two years since we first received our accreditation. It is surprising to me that not more accreditations have been made so far, the world is moving online. In accountancy the world is probably turning a bit slower, that makes these awards even more important.

Last year our friends at Goodman-Jones won the price, it will be interesting to see who will win it this year, especially as Goodman Jones is shortlisted again:

• BRAL
• Goodman Jones
• Morris Owen

I wish all the shortlisted candidates good luck and thank those who are not on the list for their great attempts to win the award and hope they will try again next year.

Yours truly will be presenting the award and I look forward to meeting one or two of you at the event. Should be a great night. ST.

This question is hard to answer, because there are no simple answers here and the outcome of this situation could easily be fatal to the business and if you are personally guaranteeing this money - and you probably are - this could potentially be very serious for your personal life too.

The things that you need to do, in my opinion are:

• Find out why? If the reason given are not satisfactory, you will need to get legal advice.
• Try and extent the deadline? If that is possible reduce the overdraft as soon as you can, or negotiate a stepped reduction of the O/D limit, ie. by month or week.
• Try and change bank, ASAP.

People often believe it is somehow always their fault, if the bank changes their attitude towards them, that is not always the case. Banks will always try and make you believe it is, but in reality they my have new internal guidelines for handing out money - banks can get into “cash-flow” problems too. So - don’t automatically assume it is always your fault.

Banks may have the right to recall a loan or overdraft, but I’m not sure if they have the right to damage your business by doing so - especially if the reason for the recall is not your doing. So if it comes to the crunch, get legal advice. This is one of the reasons why I hate these, IMO, often legal but still unreasonable arrangements between banks and clients.

Many years ago someone made the the loan, O/D - umbrella analogy and it goes like this:

When the sun is shining your bank gives you an umbrella;
when it is raining, they need the umbrella themselves.

It is best if you do everything possible to not need banks in the first place, by bootstrapping, outsourcing, planning your business and keeping your fixed costs as low as possible.

Remember sometimes, attack is the best defense even with banks, they may need their money, but they do not need bad publicity either. ST.

Choosing an accountant/CPA is probably one of the most important decisions to get right, because you are unlikely to have an accountant’s grasp of

• taxation
• company law
• dealing with the tax authorities
• wide range of knowledge about small business.

You need to make sure you find an accountant/CPA who concentrates on small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants before you make any appointments.

Another aspect is size, make sure you are not “one among millions” sort of speak, smaller accountants practices are often more in tune with your small business needs, because they are a small business too.

Here are some questions I would be asking when starting out with a new business venture:

• Should I start my business as a sole-trader, partnership or limited liability company?
• Can you help me to find and raise finance? (Read about bootstrapping first!)
• Will you help me with setting up my cash-flow forecast?
• When do I need to register for VAT (UK), GST (Australia) or when do I need to charge sales tax (US)?
• Am I ready to start trading, or should I wait?
• Do I need to choose my financial year and trading year end date?
• Are you going to do my bookkeeping and accounting work?
• Will you work online with me, so we both can be up-to-date with my business progress?
• Will you deal with my employment issues, pensions, annuities and insurances for me?
• Will you help me to understand more and more of these issues myself, and will you be available for advice if and when I need it?

There are many more issues to consider and they depend on your business, that is where your accountant will help you too. If you find the accountant is dealing with other businesses like yours you are in good hands, they can give you better and more realistic planning guidelines about your business venture.

The most important question is the one you need to ask yourself, “do I trust this person and can I work with him/her long term?” If you feel intimidated, or misunderstood, get up and walk. An accountant should be your advisor, he/she should never be your boss, what I mean is you need to make the final decisions, not your accountant. No matter what advice you get anywhere, you are always responsible.

Most of all your accountant should be a trusted advisor, trust me you will need his/her advice on a regular basis! ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

A sole trader is totally responsible for the small business in every aspect. You take all the profits and benefits from the small business, at the same time you are totally liable for any debts incurred in your small business, not being paid by your customers is not a defense. This liability includes all your personal belongings, your house and all it’s contents, talk to your partner about this, it will effect him/her too.

Being a sole-trader does not mean you work alone, some sole-traders employ other people. Again you would be totally liable for paying wages, insurance, etc.

Many small businesses start out as sole-traders and then change in a different for like a LLC (US) or Limited Company (UK). Maybe a trip to an accountant, for a free (always think bootstrapping) consultation would be in order, these guys can tell you all the in’s and out’s of your choice. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

Running a small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants from home, is one of the most cost-effective ways to start a business, so here are some costs I can foresee:

1. Office Set-Up. You may have a desk and computer and internet already, the kitchen table can often be used for your production work, depending what you do, it may be the garage. If you do not have desk, computer, buy some second hand stuff, look in the local paper, ebay or other auction sites, to find what you need cheap. I estimate $1,000 / £500 for that one off, if you don’t have the office equipment.
2. Telephone & Fax. Get a second telephone line, get your faxes via email and get someone to answer your telephone. Use a virtual assitant, I hate small businesses who do not answer their telephones, it’s one of the biggest business turn-off’s. Estimated set-up cost $100 / £ 50, monthly cost about $60 / £ 30 per month.
3. Online Presence and E-Commerce. I am a little biased here - use our OnlineOffice and get your web-site - for customer information, e-shop - for selling online, online blog - for marketing and PR, online file-store - to keep you data safe, accounting software - to work with your accountant online in real time, and be able to outsource and work with virtual assistants, to save time, money and make yourself look professional. This all includes free 24/7 live support. Per month $20 / £10.
4. Accountant and Bookkeeper. Important, to get an accountant as early as possible, to plan your cash-flow talk about special rules that apply for taxation, insurance and other red-tape. One of you most important business partners if you get your choice right. Estimate on average $100 / £50 per month, the initial consultation should be free.
5. Bootstrapping. Do not spend any money on flyers and other printed material, don’t spend any money on any marketing until you can afford it and you know you will get a result - because it’s all free on the internet.

So you are looking at a professionally run home-office with telephone and accountant back-up for a total set-up cost of around $ 1,100 / £550 and a monthly average cost of $180 / £90. You may need some insurance, depending where and what you do?

This is the cost for running your small business from home, your accountant can talk to you about tax-breakes for working from home too. ST

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and this is not business advice, since I only know very little about your business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I thank you for your effort.

I always remember my discussions with the “Marketing Experts” a few years back, when I proposed to give the accounting software we just had developed and accredited, away for free. These guys nearly had a heart-attack.

Today is the first day we offer our free US version of this software, and all signs are that it still is the right decision. It helped us in the Uk to get over 200.000 users and the same trend is already visible for the US after not even one day. Lots of questions and a certain amount of disbelief, but we have a good number of sign-ups.

It is true to say that we had US clients for a few years know, but the set-up work required was considerable. So I guess some people have been waiting for this release.

So enjoy your Free Accounting Software. No Strings Attached. ST.

I’m getting questions about AccountsOffice, following my earlier announcement of today.

The problem we see is that too many see us as an accounting software vendor, we are not. While we offer accounting software, still the only accredited online accounting software in the UK by the ICAEW, we are not only about accounting software.

We want to provide our Small Business Infrastructure, centered around our OnlineOffice product. It is our believe that small business needs more than just accounting software, or any other software for that matter, it needs a complete infrastructure, with software, 24/7 service, small business advice and collaboration, combined with world leading small business service solutions.

So we took the decision to offer only OnlineOffice, with AccountsOffice and CashBook becoming modules within OnlineOffice. This will show the power of integration to small business, yielding enormous benefits, which made us into the leader in this field.

It will help us all to focus better on WinWeb’s core business and goals. It is by no means an erosion of our pledge to keep our accounting software free of charge for single users. After the free 30 day trail period for OnlineOffice, any user can decline to pay for the full product, which will leave him/her with the fully functional accounting software (single user) and LiveNet, free of charge forever, no strings attached.

I hope that answers any questions, otherwise feel free to contact me or our 24/7 support. ST.

I get regular questions about what we really mean by WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure?

On-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ centers around the idea that business start-ups and growing small businesses need help with numerous administrative tasks that are not core to the business success - such as bookkeeping, it services, internet services, call handling and other such services.

These services - if performed by the business owner - cause a great deal of time wasting - while the fixed cost of a business is still accumulating. This is in our minds a fatally floored business model and can easily be remedied with our infrastructure approach.

We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor.

Based on these facts, we have devised a six point on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept, which consist of:

1. WinWeb On-Demand Software Solutions - Anywhere At Anytime.

AccountsOffice and OnlineOffice are our two software offerings, which are based on the SaaS - Software as a Services model, to allow for the following key business benefits:

• tight inclusion of business advisors from the start,
• cultivating outsourcing techniques at the outset, i.e. virtual assistants,
• no IT knowledge needed and hassle free operation,
• real-time multi-user access from anywhere, increasing mobility.

2. WinWeb 24/7 Live Support - We Are Here For You Always.

Providing customer care and support only during business hours is not acceptable to our clients. Experience has shown us that most admin work gets done by small business before nine in the morning or after five in the evening. This practice is essential if the business is to survive it’s early years.

This is why we have provided our much acclaimed customer support for 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the outset. Saving our clients wasted time and money - while setting new standards in customer support. No manuals need to be read - all problems can be solved in real-time online.

3. WinWeb Live - Networking Community for Small Business Only.

To foster collaboration and outsourcing we have expanded our WinWeb Live™ offering to allow for small business community networking - thus enabling the business owner to make decisions about his / her current needs, with the following benefits:

• timeshare virtual assistants for professional results,
• offer contracts of work to contractors on a case-by-case basis,
• promote the business to a large audience or even locally,
• find new work and contracts online

4. Business Advice

Our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ enables business advisors, accountants, bookkeepers and other advisors to have a “Up Close and Personal” relationship with the small business owner, providing key elements for the success of a small business:

• timely and up-to-date advice from anywhere at anytime,
• more efficient advisor function due to SaaS technology, less travel,
• easily expandable advisor network.

5. Solution Partners

Third parties provide external services to complement our services, such as parcel service, office supply services, printing services. These and other services are provided on a bulk buy arrangements by leading businesses in their respective sectors - to provide the most reliable and up-to date service possible - with the effect of enhancing the professional appearance of our clients.

6. ClimateByte™ Technology - For A Cleaner Future.

Our clients are among the biggest demographics concerned with climate change and carbon footprint neutrality. It is a fact that employing remote working and collaboration techniques drastically reduces the damaging business side affects on our environment. We enable our clients to be more eco-friendly and aware, by providing them with our green technology - an ongoing development commitment of WinWeb.

WinWeb welcomes any suggestion that will further enhance our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept - especially the development of even more eco-friendly business processes - to serve our small business and business start-up client-base.

More than one million Australians generate their income from running a business from home - and the number is steadily growing. While this is a small number for European or US markets, in Australia it represents two-thirds of all small business.

In recent discussions with Australia’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, they admitted that they know very little about the needs and activities of home based businesses. Among he questions they ask are:

• Why do people start home based business?
• What impacts on their ability to grow or remain in business?
• Are home based businesses viable away from home?
• Which industries have home based business components?
• What skill level do home based business entrepreneurs have?

The question I asked why they don’t ask the small accountants all these questions about home based business. The accountants service most of them. They had not thought about that at all? Why not? Why are the accountants being ignored?

The number of home-based businesses is going to grow, accountants are a vital part of the success equation of this trend. I feel accountants have to be more proactive in letting small business know, that they are more then the people who work out the tax for small business. Just saying it is not enough!

Tags: Accountants, Australia, Business Development, Business Infrastructure, Business Start Up, Client Relations, Entrepreneur, Home Business, Homesourcing, Micro Business, Outsourcing, SaaS, SBI, Selfemployed, Small Business, Small Business Infrastructure, smb, sme, sme-blog, SOHO, WinWeb