The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has been very active in delivering useful information to citizens and businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. One topic, in particular, was too relevant not to share with our partners and other small to medium-sized business owners in the state. Small Business Disaster Relief Loans are now an option for many businesses in North Carolina as a result of the public health crisis.
These low-interest, working capital loans are available to those in affected disaster areas.
If you want to know more about the Small Business Disaster Relief Loans, whether you qualify, and how you can apply for these funds, please watch the full action call – HERE.
North Carolina Small Business Disaster Relief Loans FAQ
WHAT ARE SBA ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOANS?
Low-interest working capital loans of $2 million or less for small businesses and certain nonprofits.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
Any small business impacted by COVID-19. Business owners should apply even if they don’t have the best credit or if they can’t prove they’ve exhausted all other means. Additionally, the SBA does not deny disaster loans solely on a business’s inability to provide collateral. If you are denied, you can reapply in 60 days.
Exclusions for the loans include religious and charitable organizations; farmers and ranchers, who are eligible for USDA loans; and small businesses that derive more than 1/3 of their revenue from gambling.
HOW CAN I USE THE MONEY?
The purpose of economic injury disaster loans is to restore businesses to their pre-crisis state. The money can be used to pay for necessary business expenses like payroll, mortgage or rent payments, and inventory. It can’t be used to expand your business or consolidate past debts.
WHEN AND HOW DO I APPLY?
Apply as soon as possible to get the maximum amount of funding. You will submit your application online, but the SBA recommends looking through the paper application first so you’ll know what you need.
All businesses will need to provide:
Tax Information Authorization (IRS Form 4506T) for the applicant, principals, and affiliates.
Complete copies of the most recent federal income tax return.
Schedule of Liabilities (SBA Form 2202).
Personal Financial Statement (SBA Form 413).
Some businesses will need to provide:
Complete copy, including all schedules, of the most recent federal income tax return for principals, general partners, or managing members and affiliates.
If the most recent federal income tax return has not been filed, a year-end profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet for that tax year.
A current year-to-date profit-and-loss statement.
Additional Filing Requirements (SBA Form 1368) providing monthly sales figures.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
I’m Samuel Kniseley Ballesteros, and I’m an EOS Implementer™. You may already be familiar with EOS® or the book, Traction, by Gino Wickman, founder of EOS Worldwide. If you’ve never heard of EOS®, it stands for the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, and this short video clip tells The EOS® Story.
The EOS® Method
I help business owners who are overwhelmed with the 136 issues they’re wrestling with simultaneously. It’s all about getting a grip on their business and getting what they want from the business. I do that by providing a complete system with really simple tools. These tools help you do three things we call Vision, Traction®, and Healthy.
Vision from the standpoint of first getting your leaders 100% on the same page with where your organization is going and how it is going to get there.
Traction® from the standpoint of helping your leaders become more disciplined and accountable, executing well to achieve every part of your Vision,
Healthy means helping your leaders to become a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team because leaders often don’t function well as a team.
From there, as goes your leadership team, the rest of your organization follows. We get to the point where your entire organization is crystal clear on your Vision, all much more disciplined and accountable in executing your Vision. The result is gaining consistent Traction® and advancing as a healthy, functional, and cohesive team.
I love to meet business owners to hear their stories and what they are trying to accomplish with their businesses. I also enjoy giving away some of my time (no charge) to get to know them and their leadership team. This includes teaching them the EOS® tools and proven process. After that, I want them to feel comfortable calling me anytime with questions. They need to know that I won’t ever push them to start implementing EOS. I’m a teacher, facilitator, and coach, not a sales guy.
About Samuel
In his 20s, Samuel began leading the International Division for North America’s top architectural metals company. His Cuban heritage gave him the language skills to conduct business with customers in Latin America. Samuel was part of the team that set and realized strategic goals. During that time, the company grew from almost $30 Million to over $100 Million within 10 short years.
The skillset Samuel learned there led him to an opportunity to start his firm. With that opportunity, he focused on helping companies improve their profitability.
Samuel’s firm picked up a client that helps CPAs become forward-thinking advisors. He worked directly with their team to refine a tool that helps CPAs measure a company’s business potential. The tool ultimately identified opportunities to increase value by improving the key components of the business.
After joining Stewardship Legacy Coaching to lead the Business Coaching Solutions Division, Samuel was introduced to the wonderful world of EOS®, and he was immediately attracted to the simplicity and practicality of EOS® to help entrepreneurs and their leadership teams make their vision clear, simple, and achievable.
Now, as an EOS Implementer™, Samuel is excited about helping business owners thrive as they achieve what is best for their families and their companies.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
As the East Coast prepares for Hurricane Dorian, the Encompass Solutions team wants to share critical resources to those in the path of the coming storm. If you are evacuating, please take advantage of the many resources below our friends at I.T. Works Recruitment have been kind enough to share.
The list of resources has been set-up specifically in preparation for this pending storm on our coast (as a way to help you in any way possible). We will also be posting this list to our social media channels for our followers. Please feel free to forward this list along to anyone you know that could benefit from having this information.
All of our staff across the United States wish you safety and safe travels as we all prepare for this storm.
Learning that you now have to collect and remit sales tax to a lot more states because of economic nexus can stress a business financially. Streamlined Sales Tax (SST), basically free sales tax services, makes this process simpler and cost-effective. As a result, you can file returns in 24 states for free if you qualify. Our partner Avalara is certified by SST and can also save you time and money by automating all your sales tax compliance-related activities. Curious if Avalara SST could be a cost-saving compliance option for you? Find out if you qualify.
Free Sales Tax Services
Do you find that it’s taking much longer to look up tax rates now that you must register and file in more states? That seems to be the norm now that remote sales are taxable. The Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) Agreement can help with the heavy lifting by providing free sales tax services. These free sales tax automation services including registration, rate calculation, remittance and returns filing in 24 states if you qualify. The states incur all costs. That means you pay no fees. This is your chance to automate tax compliance and get the states to pay for it! This state-subsidized program helps companies manage multi-state tax compliance. Did we mention that it’s free?
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. We provide full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems. For businesses addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
Tax compliance is a challenging undertaking for a business of any size. Regulations are changing constantly at local, state, and federal levels. Business relationships with suppliers and customers undergo similar changes regularly. All of this ties into how tax liability is organized, calculated, and addressed. Streamlined sales tax can deliver the answers your business needs with ease.
Now, what would you say to an offer that included all of these services and more, for free? Kind of a no-brainer, right? Well, if your company does business in one of the 24 member states, you can take advantage of this special program, free of charge. Click here to get started.
Take advantage of free:
State registrations
Tax calculations
Tax returns preparation, filing, and remittance
Audit assistance.
Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement Details
Here’s how you can apply at no cost to your business. The Agreement enables participating states to simplify and modernize sales tax administration, to substantially reduce the tax compliance burden. As one of only a few certified SST service providers, our partners at Avalara perform the above tasks. The states pay Avalara for the services and qualifying businesses get them for free.
Contact Encompass Solutions, Inc. using the link below to start the qualification process.
The effort that became the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board began in March 2000. The goal of this effort is to find solutions for the complex in-state sales tax systems that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court holding (Bellas Hess v. Illinois and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota) that a state may not require a seller that does not have a physical presence in the state to collect tax on sales into the state. The Court ruled that the existing system was too complicated to impose on a business that did not have a physical presence in the state. The Court said Congress has the authority to allow states to require remote sellers to collect tax.
The result of this work is the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. This Agreement simplifies and modernizes sales and uses tax administration to substantially reduce the burden of tax compliance. The Agreement focuses on improving sales and uses tax administration systems for all sellers and all types of commerce through all of the following:
State-level administration of sales and use tax collections.
Uniformity in the state and local tax bases.
Uniformity of major tax base definitions.
A central, electronic registration system for all member states.
Simplification of state and local tax rates.
Uniform sourcing rules for all taxable transactions.
Simplified administration of exemptions.
Simplified tax returns.
Simplification of tax remittances.
Protection of consumer privacy.
Today twenty-four states have adopted the simplification measures in the Agreement (representing over 31 percent of the population) and more states are moving to adopt the simplification measures.
Experts in all things revolving around tax compliance, Avalara makes tax compliance easy and efficient. This enables you to do what you do best, without constantly worrying about rate changes or filing deadlines.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider, and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
When it comes to gauging corporate performance, the less time spent on non-revenue generating processes, the better. Unfortunately, the budgeting process is essential to proper performance and forecasting. That means mistakes can’t be afforded. Not only do you want to reduce the time and errors associated with manual budgeting in spreadsheets, but building an efficient process around your budgeting activities is of critical importance. Get rid of rigorous workflow processes and meet the growing needs for data security, data accuracy, and cross-functional integration of data, and remain nimble in the face of rapid change with these strategies. Budgeting Process Improvement can be achieved with ease, simply follow the steps outlined below.
1. Define The Budgeting Process
While budgeting is primarily a financial process, it affects just about every department of a business. defining the process ensures that it is managed efficiently, frees up time, and provides financial professionals the ability to conduct meaningful analyses, improve forecasting, and respond quickly to changing needs. only after the budgeting process is defined can you begin with budgeting process improvement.
2. Identify The Infrastructure That Supports Your Budgeting Process
Understand the infrastructure that supports your process. Employees, financial and project management skills, processes, and technology are what make your process run efficiently and ensure the steps required for execution are adhered to across the board.
3. Define Your Budget
A budget is a detailed account of your ability to conduct business processes based on available resources. An effective budget will provide enough detail to make sound decisions in both short-term and long-term scenarios. Defining the parameters of your budget will enable informed business decisions related to spending.
4. Define Relevant Performance Metrics For Your Budget
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will help you stay focused on the goals you have set for your company. Be sure to set these KPIs at the onset of your budgeting, the resulting budget, and related processes to determine the financial health of your organization as it relates to revenue growth, earnings growth, debt reduction, and EBITDA margin.
5. Enable And Encourage Collaboration
Siloed systems and departments are characteristic of poorly organized businesses. By enabling and actively encouraging collaboration among your staff, budget-related issues can be addressed and resolved much more quickly, while new standards for your organization can be detailed, understood, adopted, and monitored more effectively.
6. Plan For Changing Conditions
The only constant changes, so plan accordingly. Businesses that are already in or want to be in a position of industry leadership need their budgeting and planning processes to be in line with this philosophy. Planning scenarios, maintaining an understanding of the latest trends, and implementing best practices all contribute to an organization’s overall financial health as a byproduct of budgeting process improvement.
Adopting software solutions designed to increase the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of budgeting processes yields measurable time savings for finance professionals. Industry analysts Aberdeen Group recently identified how Best-in-Class organizations use software automation solutions to increase the efficiency of budgeting and achieve tangible benefits. Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software is designed to help such organizations automate budgeting and planning processes.
Budgeting Action Items And Next Steps
Interested in learning more about what you can do to reduce the time committed to your company budgeting efforts? Want more insights and concrete data regarding your performance in the marketplace? Download the free whitepaper for these details, action items, and more. Otherwise, you can reach out to us directly using the link below for more information or a demonstration of how Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Software can improve operations for your organization.
Prophix develops innovative software that automates critical financial processes such as budgeting, planning, consolidation, and reporting—improving a company’s profitability and minimizing its risks. Thousands of forward-looking organizations in more than 90 countries use software from Prophix to gain increased visibility and insight into their business performance.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider, and Epicor Platinum Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Looking for a way to leverage the power of your ERP to deliver higher-quality customer experiences? Encompass Solutions and Bezlio can make that connection through Epicor ERP and a Self-Service Customer Portal. To speak directly with an expert about how you can get started creating a more dynamic and customer-oriented experience, contact us using the link below.
What Is A Self-Service Customer Portal?
Think of these portals as gateways to sharing what content and data you want with a customer, so that they can interact with it on their own time and on their terms to carry out actions. The applications aren’t limited to customers, either. Self-Service Customer Portals can also be created for supply partners and vendors you work with and function in much the same way.
The information shared can include real-time order status updates, invoice history, and much more. by and large, the biggest benefit is found in the fact that, once an initial build-out is completed, connecting the customer with the information they are looking for requires no additional effort on your end.
The Self-Service Customer portal delivers the customer’s unique data, stored within your ERP, to enhance the relationship you share, deliver mission-critical updates when necessary, and drive loyalty for your brand.
Still not convinced your business needs a self-service customer portal? Here are four reasons why you can’t afford to not have one for your customers.
1. There’s No Reason Not to Build A Self-Service Customer Portal
While we’re sure you can see the benefits a self-service customer portal provides, you may be wondering about the back end. We’re talking about security. It’s a topic that occupies the waking nightmares and sweaty fever dreams of many IT professionals and business owners alike. The Bezlio/Epicor integration that will deliver your self-service customer portal utilizes a unique token-based security process. This process protects all of your enterprise data to the most granular levels, around the clock.
Any information you have designated a customer can access, via a security token from your system administrator, is routed securely behind your firewall. This token is required at several points to ensure that data request comes from the person or persons granted permission for that access. Following verification, a secure channel is opened via Bezlio’s cloud API to link the front-end user and the data they are cleared to access. No data is ever stored on the device, be it desktop or mobile, during or after the information is accessed.
At this point in the security conversation, it should be clear that your sensitive data is safe at all times, which means you can share securely and with peace of mind knowing no one without access will be able to view your enterprise data. Are your customers frequently requesting order and inventory information to view or check? Investing in a self-service customer portal will give them access to the information they need without having to involve your staff in the process. The ERP and self-service customer portal take care of it all for you.
2. Self-Service Customer Portal Permissions Deliver Only What Customers Need
Your Bezlio-developed self-service customer portal is completely customizable, capable of delivering all the information your customers need and nothing they don’t. That’s right, you have all the control when building out your self-service customer portal. There’s no compromising your data policies as you may experience with an off-the-shelf package.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a self-service customer portal, you may be wondering what information should be shared and what should not.
Some common data examples include order histories, tracking details, shipment information, inventory and parts look-up, order entry, and more. Due to the customizable nature of Bezlio, you can share as little or as much as you like, provided that the information you are sharing is relevant to your customers. Dashboards, search functionality, and many other information tools can all be leveraged when setting up your self-service customer portal.
3. A Self-Service Customer Portal Will Free Your Team
A self-service customer portal pays for itself two-fold. First, it delivers relevant information your customers are looking for via a system that is open to them and secure 24/7. Second, provided you have a platform that facilitates read/write functionality, your customers are granted the ability to modify their data and handle administrative tasks within the scope of their relationship with your business. This relieves your team of certain admin duties, like placing orders, providing status updates, and reviewing inventory levels.
In providing your customers with the ability to control certain aspects of their information within your ERP system, customer data quality and accuracy are improved. Whatsmore beneficial is the fact that your team no longer needs to manage that data. As a result, your organization runs more effectively. Customer satisfaction improves alongside these organizational efficiencies.
4. A Self-Service Customer Portal Increases Customer Satisfaction And Business Performance
Customers don’t like having to wait. Few have the time it takes to reach out and get updates on orders, invoices, inventory, or service requests. Why not give them the ability to view, update, and interact with their data when they want it, where they want it?
You’ll find that customers who are empowered to make changes and submit requests or data queries on their own time are far more satisfied with their partner relationships. The result is higher customer satisfaction and improved business performance. This is apparent with the increased volume and frequency of order placement from customers who can leverage a self-service customer portal. Handing off the viewing of the status of their repair or service requests in real-time frees your customer service team to tackle more demanding tasks, which saves you time and resources.
when combined, these benefits pave the way for quality data within your organization’s system. So, when the time comes to evaluate employee and business performance, your company leadership has the benefit of more accurate information upon which to base their decisions.
See The Benefits Of A Self-Service Customer Portal For Yourself
There are many reasons for building a self-service customer portal, and at Bezlio, the development platform has been used to create some amazing examples. If you think your organization could benefit from a self-service customer portal, we’d love to show you how this low-code development platform can help you build your own quickly, easily, and at a fraction of the cost of many other software solutions.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider, Suite Success Partner, and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
November is usually the month when businesses big and small are mobilizing in their effort to tie up loose ends and prepare for the new year with a business year-end checklist. Q4 is crunch time for year-end activities and the more room you leave your business to tackle those to-do’s before year-end, the better. Finish up this year and begin the next in good standing by getting a handle on more than just taxes for the fiscal year.
While financials are just the beginning of a proper end-of-year agenda; Inventory counts, marketing strategies, expansion plans, and IT evaluations are essential topics to visit in your business year-end checklist.
Looking for a helping hand during your year-end evaluation?
Don’t have time to read through the what’s and the why’s?
You can download the simplified Encompass Solutions business year-end checklist in PDF format, Here.
Financial Year-End Checklist
Admittedly, financials will likely be where you spend the bulk of your efforts come time to attend to your business year-end checklist. If you’ve been keeping meticulous records, you’ll likely be in a good spot and reporting won’t be as painful as it might be if the opposite were true. If you haven’t been keeping good records or any at all, this is likely your least favorite time of year. The best time to adopt good recordkeeping and accounting practices was last year, and the second-best time right now. So, try to identify where you’ve been slacking and invest in getting those processes up to snuff.
Running Standard Reports
It’s important to understand where your business is financially about previous years. You can access this information by reviewing past reports. Dig up those spreadsheets or reports in your accounting software. If you’re using an ERP solution like Epicor or NetSuite, you’re already in a good way, as these tools make financial reporting and analysis that much easier for a business. A typical financial report will consist of:
A Profit And Loss Statement – shows a company’s revenues and expenses during a given period.
A Balance Sheet – shows the assets, liabilities, and capital of a business at a particular point in time, detailing income and expenses relative to the preceding period.
A Cash Flow Statement – shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents with a drill-down into operating, investing, and financing activities.
Looking at your profits for the year is another easy way to gauge performance.
Cash Flow Analysis
Let’s break down your cash flow statement into the three components you’ll want to analyze as part of your business year-end checklist. Understanding how your money was spent throughout the year is essential for proper analysis, and the Cash Flow Statement helps you do just that. There are three components you’re going to want to look at:
Operating activities – This includes your business’ revenue and expenses
Investing activities – This includes any assets purchased or sold throughout the year
Financial activities – This includes any loans and repayments
Reconciliation Of Accounts Receivable
If you’re an active business, chances are you have invoices that remain unpaid or clients who owe you money for goods and services performed. Do your best to rein in these accounts and get those outstanding debts settled as part of your business year-end checklist. Don’t play catch-up. Get started next year with a clean slate and position your business for success.
Reconciling of accounts receivable (AR) requires a business to match their total outstanding customer billings to the AR total stated in its general ledger. There are two information sources from which this data is derived. They are:
General Ledger – the main accounting record of a company or organization.
Receivables Detail – the outstanding invoices a company has or the money clients owe the company.
These details should match, though inconsistencies may be apparent. There are a few reasons this may be the case, such as:
A general ledger journal entry was recorded but initially bypassed the subsidiary sales ledger.
A billing instance was posted to an incorrect account.
The general ledger balance and aged receivables report were run with misaligned dates.
Reconciliation is an important step in the financial year-end checklist because financial statements need to be issued without material inaccuracies. Any inconsistencies need to be identified and reconciled before a business’ third-party auditors examine those financial statements. Failure to do so could lead to a large-scale audit, a significant business disruption, and even charges of fraud from financial authorities.
Verify Vendor Information
During your business year-end checklist is the time to look at the vendors in your system. If you used any vendors this year, chances are you did, then you’ll have to collect W-9 forms for some of them. These are essentially a breadcrumb for the IRS to track your expenses and your vendors’. If you spent $600 or more on a vendor’s services, you’ll need to issue and complete a 1099 form. This form needs to be sent to the IRS by January 31.
Take the opportunity to verify the accuracy of the contact information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and contact names. If outdated or inaccurate information is present, correct or removes those entries. Have time to make a few calls? Now would be a good point to evaluate whether it is worth reconnecting, setting up meetings, and drafting new contracts.
Address Payroll And Benefits
Every business must ensure payroll and benefit requirements are met at the end of the fiscal year as part of their business year-end checklist. The undertaking is no small effort and some of its tasks will carry on into the new year.
Initially, a business will need to verify all employee data, such as legal names, SSNs, and current addresses. This information should already be available to your accounting department when it comes time to issue W-2s. Failure to include all the correct data can lead to penalties.
A complete record of each employee’s payment throughout the year should be compiled, including paychecks, commissions, bonuses, and anything running peripheral to standard payroll activity. This includes any handwritten checks, be they cleared or voided. Double-check each employee’s benefits and deductions for consistency.
Audit all time off including sick days, vacation, or otherwise approved out-of-office time. What was used and what remains? Does your business allow vacation rollover or require employees to “use it or lose it”? Notify employees of their remaining balances if one exists and how they can use them based on your company policy.
You’ll have to buy W-2 and W-3 forms as part of the financial end-of-year checklist. These forms can be purchased directly from the IRS or any authorized provider. The W-2 forms will need to be distributed to employees and both federal and state governments at the beginning of the new year. The W-3 forms will be sent to state and federal governments as a summary of all W-2 forms.
New labor law posters for your locality will need to be posted by federal and state laws. This can also include the necessity for other legal documents to be posted, such as the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. You can find out exactly what your company needs to post by contacting the U.S. Department of Labor poster advisor. State and local laws may have additional requirements, too.
Check federal, state, and local tax rates, which are updated on an annual basis. These rates include:
Federal income tax
Federal unemployment tax (FUTA tax)
FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes)
State income tax
State unemployment tax (SUTA tax)
Local income tax
Each year your employees are to evaluate their withholding allowances for federal and state tax systems. For federal withholdings, the W-4 form is used. An additional withholding allowances form may be used in the case of state income tax withholdings.
Determine your next year’s deposit schedule for federal income tax and FICA taxes before the new year begins. These taxes are paid on either a monthly or weekly basis. This schedule is based on a lookback period, a designated period that is used to measure how much you previously paid in taxes. This deposit schedule is fluid and can change with each new year, therefore it is important to determine before the beginning of the new year.
Your financial year-end checklist doesn’t finish when the year ends. Several tasks carry on into the new year. These include:
Updating payroll to reflect any new wage rates, withholding allowances, and other deductions.
Employee Form W-2 distribution (Must be filed by January 31).
Social Security Administration filings for all employees’ Form W-2. (Must be filed by January 31) Filing of Form W-3, the transmittal form. (Must be filed by January 31)
Filing FUTA taxes on Form 940. This includes your company’s Q4 FUTA taxes from the previous year. (Must be filed by January 31)
You must also file your federal income taxes and FICA taxes in the new year, Forms 941 & 944. (Must be filed by January 31)
Information Technology (IT) Year-End Checklist
An often-overlooked component of the small and mid-sized business year-end checklist, your hardware and software should be evaluated every year. This not only ensures the integrity of your business systems, but also the security of your business and customer data. Here are a few things you can do to ensure you’ve taken the right steps towards ensuring your IT infrastructure is ready to carry your business into the new year.
Back-Up Your Data
First and foremost, you should be backing up your data regularly. If you aren’t, there is no better time to begin this essential practice than right now. Get into good data-keeping habits and back up all your business’ critical information. Keep in mind if you don’t, you could be one outage away from ruin. All your files, including accounting, client files, creative collateral, and emails should be backed-up and secured. You should consider requiring your employees to do the same. Providing external hard drives for business use or access to a cloud-based system like DropBox or OneDrive will help ensure that important data is kept safe.
It’s not enough to keep your essential files updated, they need to be available if something should happen to your critical infrastructure. This will ensure you can continue to operate on good data while systems are being rebuilt. The best way to approach this is to keep a combination of digital copies of your critical files. Don’t settle for just one copy in a cloud-based filesharing site like Dropbox or leave your reports in the system that ran them. When it comes to backups, a ratio of 2:1 is ideal. That is, keep two digital copies of your files and store them in two separate places. Then, make an additional copy and store it on an external device, not connected to your business systems, and preferably in an external place.
Evaluate For Hardware And Software Upgrades
When was the last time you upgraded these two critical components of your business? You might not need to stay current with every new release of the latest tech or software versions, but keeping in tandem with the latest of each will go a long way. Ensure that you are abreast of the latest in data and systems security by utilizing modern equipment and software. Waiting too long to upgrade, what is referred to as being version locked, can spell disaster for you down the road.
Evaluate Filing And Naming Systems
Evaluate your system for naming files. This may seem like a small detail but using a unified system of data storage and look-up conventions can keep important files from being lost in the library of information your business retains. Create a set logic for filenames according to each type of file you store in your systems. For instance, when filing receipts, you can designate a convention like “Name/Company-Date-InvoiceNumber”. This is an especially important undertaking if your business operates at multiple sites and shares servers that are accessed by multiple employees. Being as clear and consistent as possible will ensure nothing slips through the cracks and your internal auditing processes go off without a hitch.
General Business Year-End Checklist
There are plenty of undertakings that fall into the category of general business, each of which can be as critical to your success as financial year-end checklist components by which every business has to abide.
Complete A Physical Inventory
Not every business will need to complete a physical inventory as part of their business year-end checklist. However, retailers, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics companies certainly all need to complete a full-scale physical inventory at least once a year. This will provide accurate visibility into current stock, its value, cycle rates, capital currently tied up in inventory, as well as a host of other important metrics. These counts will also need to match your year-end balance sheet. This is one year-end checklist item that doesn’t have to be a bore. You can get the whole company involved, from the back office to those who are on the warehouse floor every day. Play music, order lunch, and get everyone working together towards a common goal. The task will go much faster this way and will allow your teams to build relationships.
Consider that this may be the best time for your organization to implement a cycle counting system for more efficient inventory tracking and control.
Examine Growth Trends And Plan For Hiring
As you enter a new year of operation, one thing you’ll want to take a close look at is growth. If you’re on an upward trend you will want to consider your staffing needs. Now is the time to determine if you’ll be hiring next year and for what positions. Be sure to budget appropriately and begin looking at your criteria for positions sooner, rather than later. Now is also a good time to evaluate and improve upon your processes for hiring, onboarding, training, and retaining employees. You want to capture the best candidates out there looking for new opportunities and keep the reliable talent you have in-house as you move into the new year.
Account For Accomplishments
Too often during the year-end checklist process, businesses get caught up in what’s gone wrong and where mistakes were made. It’s important not just for perspective, but for morale as well, to recognize and announce what you have accomplished over the last year. Your employees will appreciate knowing that their hard work has not gone unnoticed and the recognition they receive will invigorate them going into the new year.
Gather Feedback, Examine Goals, and Set New Ones
There are many components of a business that can lend insight into how processes and efforts can be improved. Using your financial statements, customer feedback, and employee input, you can evaluate how well you did in achieving your previous year’s goals. Didn’t have any clear goals last year? Now is the time to give the company a clear direction and work towards clear results. Use what you learned last year to set new, achievable goals in the year to come. This isn’t just for the profitability of the company. Consider what goals should be set for employees and how the organization addresses their needs, too.
Evaluate Your Website
Your company website is essentially your online storefront. It’s a way for you to introduce your company to prospects and provide a gateway for established customers to learn what you’ve been up to. Does your website address those groups and provide the information they come looking for? Now is the time to make sure the answer to both those questions is a resounding yes.
Check your links. Not just frontpage links, every link. Broken links not only keep your website visitors from finding the information they are looking for, but they are also punished by search engines when it comes to listing your web pages in search results pages.
Testing your contact us form, calling your support phone number, and ensuring the email addresses on your webpage are delivered to the appropriate inbox are all essential webpage testing you should complete before the year is over.
Reporting and search engine optimization may seem a bit advanced if your company doesn’t have a dedicated resource for these endeavors. However, with some basic knowledge, you can optimize your website and gain visibility into how effective your efforts are based on traffic and keyword reporting.
Sales And Marketing Plan
Chances are you came into this year with sales and marketing goals in mind. How well did you succeed in achieving them? Take a close look at your sales process and identify where you can make adjustments for better success in the new year with this business year-end checklist. Some key metrics to consider include:
Sales cycle time – from first contact to signed contract
Prequalifying processes for prospects
Upselling rates
Customer lifecycle and retention rates
Rates of lapsing or lapsed customers whom you haven’t heard from in a while
Marketing should support sales and the way you approach marketing will have a direct effect on your results in sales. Marketing is one component of a business that can easily get out of hand in terms of budget. Be sure that your efforts result in profitable sales, otherwise, your marketing is essentially cannibalizing your business.
Evaluating Business Processes
Every business is unique, but every business fails or succeeds in implementing sound business processes. This can include everything from the assembly of manufactured goods to invoicing. Take a look at your most highly accomplished competitor; how are they cutting waste and optimizing processes to maximize profitability? Identifying where you can make processes more efficient will deliver quantifiable results to employees, customers, and stakeholders in a big way. This business year-end checklist is just one of the many tools to help ensure your process improvement efforts are successful.
Budgeting
Now that you’ve looked at your accounting requirements, hiring needs, technological infrastructure, marketing efforts, and process improvement as part of your business year-end checklist, you’ll have to decide the number of resources each of the components of your business will receive in the new year. This doesn’t need to be a concrete figure, but you need some idea of where the money and talent are going to ensure success. After all, the business that fails to plan, plans to fail.
You can download the complete Encompass Solutions business year-end checklist in PDF format, Here.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
When it comes to factory operations, being reactive only addresses issues after they’ve become problems. If you want to stop issues dead in their tracks before they have an opportunity to snowball into problems, being proactive is the only way to go. Leveraging cutting-edge ERP solutions can give you the insight you need to see hiccups long before they interfere with operations. ERP solutions excel at feeding your trained eyes the data they need to identify anomalies on the fly. Streamline operations and refine your processes with a predictive approach that reduces downtime and boosts your bottom line. Control downtime events, get real-time condition monitoring, and more when leveraging the modern tools available to manufacturers.
Getting Control of Downtime Events
If you’re not leveraging the latest in predictive maintenance practices, you are already behind the pack. Factory floors have flourished with better visibility into how machines perform and more control over downtime events. The latter is an especially significant component of predictive maintenance. Even in the best scenario, poor maintenance practices cost manufacturers significantly in terms of energy, revenue, and component costs. We can’t forget to factor in customer satisfaction, which takes a hit when orders are not delivered on time.
By adopting a whether-or-not approach to maintenance, one that uses time and/or operation count to indicate when maintenance is completed, manufacturing ensures that downtime is determined as they say it is.
Condition Monitoring with ERP
Condition monitoring is an approach to equipment upkeep that is simplified by modern technology and maintenance practices. These practices can be carried out periodically, during scheduled downtime events, or continuously, while machines remain in operation. The efforts are effective in combatting sudden downtime events and equipment failures, which can potentially cost manufacturers millions. Not to mention the resulting reduced confidence consumers have in the ability to keep up with demand.
ERP solutions are one tool you can use to capitalize on condition monitoring and control your maintenance cycles. This will bring downtime events to a minimum and maintain your position as a dependable manufacturer. Customizations and integrations like Epicor ERP’s Mattec MES offer real-time insights into machine performance along with a host of other beneficial tools that include, but are not limited to:
Real-Time Production Visibility
Increased Schedule Adherence
Improved Process Efficiency And Quality
Labor And Material Forecasting
Increased Production Capacity
Increased Safety And Productivity
Everything from vibration, voltage, temperature and other performance indicators feed into sensing tools attached to machines. By utilizing this modern sensing technology in ERP environments, manufacturers can predict maintenance events, rather than react to them. This much you know by now. However, have you thought of the human component and how these practices benefit your workforce day-to-day? These innovative tools have proven their efficacy in reducing the instances of incidents, accidents, and breakdowns significantly, which saves far more money than it costs.
Beyond that, your systems can even be configured to evaluate your materials on hand and make the necessary arrangements to ensure you are not caught between a rock and a hard place.
These intelligent and connected devices assist in setting data points that indicate when a part is reaching end-of-life. Automated systems can be directed to order replacement parts if none are on-site and schedule the replacement or repair in such a way that minimizes production downtime.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider, and Epicor Platinum Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
In the last few years, automation has scaled with technological innovation exceptionally well. Manufacturing industries and consumers both are reaping the benefits every day. Hardware, like industrial robots, and enterprise software, like NetSuite and Epicor ERP, are working together more efficiently than ever before to refine processes for manufacturers and deliver high-quality products to consumers. However, while production process efficiencies are making great strides, profitability control doesn’t receive the attention it should be getting. Expenditures and inefficient resource use are two of the most impactful factors for a business to consider.
Manufacturing Profitability Control
According to Federal Reserve data, Manufacturing in the US has risen for the second consecutive month. Factory production of machinery, vehicles, computers, and electronics all signaled a healthy ecosystem going into the second half of 2018. Some industrial production highlights include an increase in factory output of 0.3% and a total industrial production increase of 0.1%. Factory production was 2.8% higher than the same time last year, as well.
Production has increased because of investment, innovation, and the incorporation of new technologies into operations. While modern tools have been leveraged to improve manufacturing productivity, maintenance practices, safety, and worker wellness are feeling the pressure that comes with the demand for increased throughput. Efforts to improve real-time monitoring, control, and maintenance improve safety and equipment reliability. This helps to take a lot off the plate of factory technicians and operators who bear the stress of stakeholders’ demands.
While automation, equipment, and personnel inch closer to harmony every day, efforts in profitability control can be expanded significantly.
Manufacturing Change Management
Dr. Peter Martin, Vice President and Edison fellow at Schneider Electric, uses the relationship between manufacturers and utility providers as an apt example to illustrate the speed at which change has been adopted directly into operations but forgotten in other areas of the manufacturing process. It is in these areas and relationships that further profitability can be explored.
“Some 20 years ago, you’d negotiate an agreement with your electrical utility supplier to fix the price for, say, a year in advance. Today, with open power grids, the price might change every five to twenty minutes. The cost of other inputs such as natural gas and raw materials can vary just as quickly,” he states. “This variation is equally evident at the consumer end. Thanks to Google and Amazon, the price of a product can change between morning and evening.”
Following a thorough round of interviews with more than 1,000 executives, Dr. Martin and his team agree the pain is being felt across the manufacturing landscape and changes can be made to combat the problem, stating, “We realized that by using sensors in a plant we could model real-time accounting at each cost and value point in the process, and these measurements would allow us to provide profitability control, pulled together with efficiency, safety, and reliability.”
Manufacturing Visibility
In another example of the factors that affect manufacturing operations’ profitability, Dr. Martin explains “Here you have ore and electricity entering the crushing circuit, and ground materials coming out. Three factors affect profitability – energy and material costs at the time consumed, and the value of the final product at the time it is produced,” he adds “You need to calculate these three variables and put them into the control system. The traditional control algorithm will, say, open a valve or manage the speed. But with real-time accounting, an algorithm will calculate the production value at each stage for each particular period and put that value into a historian for storage and future analysis. As a result, you have a day-long list of values at every point where cost is incurred.”
Think of this visibility and data management approach as a stock ticker for the value of a given stock throughout the trading day. Manufacturers already taking advantage of automation on the factory floor or in business processes, with the help of ERP systems, can further supplement their operations with profitability control.
Using these costs and fluctuations throughout the day, managers can more accurately forecast, budget, and negotiate with real-time accounting tools. The focus shifts from a month-to-month approach to analysis that’s long outdated in favor of a second-to-second one. This provides superior control in terms of a manufacturing operation’s profitability and automation efforts already in place.
Profitability Control With ERP
Beyond offering invaluable insight into expenditures of capital and resources, ERP solutions bring a lot to the table.
One of the biggest game changers for discrete manufacturers and process manufacturers is the ability to reduce waste significantly. The waste of time, money, materials, and labor can all be addressed with better visibility of demand and quicker communication. This ensures that the right amount of products are being produced to fill orders and changes are taken into account. Error reduction fits hand-in-hand with unnecessary waste. Identifying process and material issues can reduce the cost of scrap or reworking orders, which controls costs and increases profitability.
Communication throughout the ERP system is fast and efficient, as well. This ensures the right information is on hand and users have access to the information they need. As a result, time wasted in tracking down order details, erroneous data, and miscommunications are less likely to occur. When the entire organization is on the same system and working cooperatively, better productivity is the result. Consistency and reliability ensure higher customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, which further increases profits over time as the business grows.
Improving productivity and controlling costs should be among the highest priorities for a business. With ERP solutions, important delivery in full and on time (DIFOT) metrics inform your organization of delivery performance in a supply chain. It also measures how often your customers get what they want at the time they want it. Stronger performance impacts your bottom line and ERP can help streamline all the processes involved.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm and Epicor Platinum Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
