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June 23, 2016

When should you Outsource your Payroll?

outsourcing the running payrollSetting up a small business on your own isn’t an easy task. As a one man band you have to learn how to deal with every business function from marketing to IT. One area of your business where it really pays to outsource is in the finance department and hiring a qualified accountant makes a lot of financial sense for most businesses.

Once your business starts to grow though and you begin taking on employees, the temptation is to move more and more of the businesses functions in-house. Whilst this can make sense in some areas, with payroll it really does pay to outsource.

In this article I want to look at four areas where outsourcing the payroll function can save your business a lot of money and time and prevent difficulties further down the road as you expand your workforce.

Resource Savings

Time is money in business and payroll can be very time consuming. As your business expands so too will the time needed to perform the payroll function in-house. Investing in payroll software can also be expensive and keeping it up to date is another drag on your time and resources. Factor into this the training needed to bring staff up to date with the software and any updates and developments and you can begin to see the constant drain on resources that doing your payroll in-house can be.

Staff Recruitment and Absence

One of the clear benefits of outsourcing payroll functionality to an accountancy firm is the stability and consistency it brings to developing expanding businesses. All businesses are vulnerable to the danger of key talent leaving them for sunnier pastures and retaining staff is a core part of HR strategy, especially in the early days. Outsourcing payroll effectively removes the worry of having to recruit and train a new staff member to perform this vital business function on which every employee depends. For smaller businesses, having a single individual in charge of payroll also comes with inherent risks in terms of unplanned absence. Payroll isn’t something that can be put off, so if your payroll administrator is off sick then someone else will need to fill in for them, diverting their precious time away from their core duties.

Compliance

In accounting, accuracy is paramount. The UK’s laws around payroll are strict and any mistakes due to human error can and often do result in fines. Not only is this an unnecessary and unwelcome cost, it also means your payroll administrator has to go back over their work to identify and rectify the error. Accountancy firms deal with payroll every day and have the systems and oversight procedures in place to avoid these kinds of accounting errors. Not only this but HMRC’s rules and regulations are prone to change, meaning re-training your payroll staff. The Real Time Information for PAYE changes introduced in 2013 for example, now means companies have to send a Full Payment Submission to HMRC before every payday as well as a monthly Employer Payment Summary. This can mean 76 online declarations a year. That’s a lot of man hours.

Flexibility and Scalability

Creating a successful business is harder than it’s ever been. Recent research from the Harvard Business Review suggests that the average dying age of a publically listed company is 31 years (down from 55 in 1970). Small businesses have to grow and adapt rapidly if they are to be successful and that means so too do their workforces. Unlike many other business functions, payroll isn’t just desirable but required. The consequences for not paying your staff or getting this wrong can be devastating, with the risk of serious damage to the internal reputation of your company and some fairly irate employees. Outsourcing payroll means you can scale your business quickly without the burden of having to grow your payroll functionality too. Accountancy firms have the staff and the resources to handle your growing payroll needs. For seasonal businesses who take on a lot of additional staff in certain months, this can be a real lifesaver.

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June 22, 2016

Small Business: Why You Should Consider Outsourcing HR

HR service outsourcing in businessIn this age of a competitive market, it can be very difficult to establish, develop and sustain any business. When it comes to the management of small business, it can be even more difficult. With strict rules and policies, expensive labor, extensive workload, high competition and financial crunch, it can be very hard for any small business to maintain a number of departments in one organization.

Because of this, many small businesses are now considering outsourcing various key functions including human resource management. Some of the benefits of outsourcing HR responsibilities include:

Cost Savings

It can very difficult to find financing and investing for a small business in the first place. Adding a separate department can only increase the total cost. For small businesses that are especially new, outsourcing HR can be very beneficial. It can be very difficult to run a separate department for various human resources functionalities including recruitment, payroll, training and others. For any small business, budget is one of the strongest concerns.

Efficiency

The HR agencies that regularly deal the human resources functionalities of a number of departments are more experienced and skilled at handling employees. Rather than hiring one candidate for human resources, getting a whole team to work for you is a much better option.

Competitive Advantage

As a new business in the market, you will constantly face challenges and competition from other corporate giants. Small businesses have to constantly maintain the best quality systems to outdo other businesses. You will definitely have a competitive advantage over other business if you outsource your HR function.
It can also help in increasing and enhancing the credibility in a given marketplace. With small businesses, one of the biggest issue and struggle is to keep up with the ever changing laws, regulations, organizational policies, government schemes and insurance claims. It can be very hard for a small of team of only few people to manage those things easily.

However, failure to compliance can lead to financial consequences. The outsourcing giants can not only help you in maintaining the payroll, recruitment and training of employee but also help in managing the workforce on a legal level.

Recruit Better Talent

Traditionally, the HR department of an organization is responsible to discover the best talent for the organization. It can be very difficult and requires sufficient experience to find the highly talented candidates for any job. In most of the cases, it takes a lot of time and hard work to find the right candidate. The HR agencies excel at it because this is their main job.

When you outsource your hiring a professional recruitment agency, they will be able to perform the job in a more quick and efficient manner. They exactly know where they will get the most and highly qualified professional for a particular nature of job.

Conclusion

For any business, it can be very hard to establish a clear set of objectives along with maintaining multiple departments. When it comes to small organizations, things can be even harder. The requirements, duties and responsibilities of managing a number of departments can consume employees and higher management, which will result in reduced focus on the primary goal.

Outsourcing human resources department can help in the reduction of administrative tasks and save a lot of time and energy.

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March 5, 2016

Prepaid vs Postpaid in India – Business details

prepaid vs postpaid businessIndia’s popularity among low cost mobile manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus and others is big enough to make the country their highest priority. The main reason for this surge is, among many other things, the fact that Indians prefer prepaid connections more than post paid. While the lucrative recharge offers make prepaid a better option for cost sensitive con-sumers, what this translates to the low cost mobile manufacturers is a market free from telco-subsidised iPhones and other high-end phones.

Indians have too much love for prepaid and it is only going to grow stronger. This is in con-trast to developed markets where unlocked gsm phones barely have a market. In developed countries like UK and US, telcos heavily subsidise high end mobiles to acquire long term subscribers in a bid to recover the amount through the course of the term. These connections typically come with a two year contract, with a monthly rental that help make the business profitable. Most customers in these countries do not seem to mind as long as they get their brand new high end smartphones. This is a long shot in India where even postpaid consumers pay a premium price for flagship devices.

It does raise the question though – are you better off using a prepaid connection or would a postpaid arrangement serve you better? Like any other question like this one, the answer does, to some extent, depend on who you are and what are your needs. Surely, you can not work with a prepaid connection if you work in Sales. However, there is a large group of mobile users who are happy with mobile internet and barely even make calls.

For anyone looking to have more control over their bills and a more clearer understanding of their usage, Prepaid is still the way to go. Convenience wise, however, postpaid remains the choice to make especially now that most telcos offer auto debit of monthly bills. It sure will be interesting to see if Indian telcos will start offering US style contracts here and how that’ll change preference.

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March 1, 2016

The True Cost of Going Far Away for College

costing for educationYour decisions about what college or university to attend will be a decision that affects the rest of your life—literally.

From the close knit, lifelong friendships you’ll develop as a result of living with people to the content and information you’ll learn in your courses, your choice of college will carry with you until your last breath. The choice will shape your career and aide in transforming you into a responsible adult. You need not take it lightly.

A lot of times, when young adults are preparing for high stake tests, planning for graduation and exploring their college options, they get held up deciding whether or not to go to school close to home or to travel far away. There are pluses and minuses on both sides of the decision.

True cost and saving

The biggest plus of staying home and attending college is cost. You’ll save a lot of money if you don’t go away. The cost of room and board can be forgone when you live at home and eat your parents’ food. It may not seem like a big deal when you’re thinking about leaving, but student loan debt, like your choice of college, will also play a part of your life for a long time—not quite until your last breath, but it’ll haunt you until close to that day.

Aside from cost, there’s a lot more that weighs into deciding to travel far away or stay close to home. If you’re considering leaving the state in which you reside, your tuition will be higher than it is for in state residents. Couple that with the travel costs when you want to return home, and you’re racking up bills that will be a part or your budget for a lofty amount of time. That’s when priceline and other online coupon websites come in handy!

In addition to costs, there’ll be periods of time when you long for home, and home will be out of reach. You’ll stumble across nostalgic moments when you want to see an old high school friend, and planning a weekend together will be logistically impossible. You may get sick and yearn for the way mom coddles you with soup and ginger ale. That will not be an option if you’re too far from home.

The price for adventure

Conversely, traveling far away for college brings with it much adventure. You’ll be completely independent when you’re far from home. You’ll be responsible for every aspect of your life—when you eat, when you sleep, where you go out. Traveling away to school strengthens the responsibility skills you need to foster that independence.

Adventure lies around every corner when you travel away to school as well. New and exciting people, places, and things will fill your free time. These experiences will also go a long way in helping you develop into a strong, independent adult.

Conclusion

College is meant to be an experience. You have so many options to think about when you’re choosing a school. You can go away, you can stay home, or you can venture close enough that you can still come home affordably and comfortably.

Nevertheless, the decisions you make regarding what school to attend will be one that will be part of you for the rest of your life. Make sure you take your time and weigh your options so that you choose the best school for you!

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February 12, 2016

Junk Silver Can Be the Start of Coin Collecting

coin collecting ideasCoin collecting is an interesting hobby pursued by many across the world. If you’re a lover of history or rare artifacts than coin collecting is for you and a good start could be with junk silver.

Coin collecting refers to collecting coins ranging over many eras and made of different materials. Each coin tells a story in itself. The imprints on the coin signify an important event or a phase of a ruler. Some people also collect coins mainly to systematically study the evolution of modern day currency. Such systematic coin collecting is referred to as numismatics.

While coin collection is informative and engaging, there’s also a good monetary value attached to it. Many coin collectors also have gold and silver coins. Coins in the past that were silver in color had a component of actual silver in them. For example, dimes produced pre-1965 have 90% @0.07 oz of silver. This silver in today’s market will sell for over $2! Such coins containing silver in them are referred to as junk silver coins since they do not have any real historic value attached to them but provide monetary benefit to the coin bearer. Similarly, there are gold coins as well.

HowTo Begin

Coin collecting is not as difficult as it might appear. There are many places where coins are traded and to begin with, you can just purchase a few of them. You can follow the following steps to kick start your own collection of coins.

Figure out what kind of collection you wish to make – historic? Time series? Artistic?
Based on your interest, start reading up on what kind of coins you want to collect. Not knowing enough can mean that you don’t know the value of the coin even if it’s in front of you.

Look for places that offer coins for sale. Visit coin stores around and look them up on the internet. It is advisable; however, to not buy a coin without seeing it first.
Read up well about the coin, its historic or artistic importance, the era of usage etc. This will help you better understand the value of the coin.

You can also begin with simple roll of dimes and create a collection of all dimes year over year. This is a simple way to begin teaching coin collection to children. It is also a good motivator for beginners.Once you have a few coins, you can begin trading them for a coin you might find more interesting to add to your collection.

There are few tips that can prove very helpful in the coin collection process:

• Have patience – Coin collecting requires looking through many coins to find the one you want
• Set goals – Setting goals keeps you motivated and focused
• Seek help – Don’t shy away from seeking help from a professional or an experienced collector for advice.

Conclusion

Coin collecting is both a hobby and an investment. The value of the coins grows over years and rare coins can be sold any day. Coin collecting can be practiced over very long periods of time and can even be passed on generation after generation – building bonds and creating memories.

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