Month: August 2016

Smart Investment Tactics — Investing in Real Estate Investment Companies

    Finance Tips

Basics of investing in real estate

If you have done for yourself in life and consider yourself financially well off and independent, there are quite a few things you can do to ensure that your money keeps growing and does not sit idle. For the relatively wealthy, astute and smart investment is a great way to maximize the potential of wealth and get solid returns on carefully thought out investments. If you are in a situation where you are wondering about a possibly viable investment option where you can put your money to work, considering real estate investment companies might well be a smart choice.



So, what is the real estate investing model like? What exactly do real estate investment firms do? These firms are actively on the lookout for real estate projects. Projects might include high value development projects, or scenarios where a pre-existing property or land can be purchased, knocked down and higher value property can be built in its place. Real estate investment companies scout these projects, and when they see something viable, they call in expert investors to invest in these projects. The investors fund the project and get commensurate returns from out the any revenue that the project might bring in the future.



If you have now understood the basics of investing in real estate, you might also want to know more about the kind of prospects that could possibly be waiting for you down the line if you decide to go down this route. For that, it is necessary to take a look at certain statistical data. Facts indicate that the real estate investment business plan is something of a boom market currently, with almost 40% of high value investors actively planning to increase their holdings in the next calendar year.



Income levels can also be surmised from the fact that over a third of real estate investors have an annual income in excess of $75,000 a year. From these data, it is possible to comprehend the lucrative nature of the real estate investment model, and if you are convinced, you can start looking at real estate investment companies to find the right people to invest with.



One of the few proven smart ways to invest in real estate is to look for a company which adeptly managed dual responsibilities, that of real estate investment fund managers and real estate developers as well. With both responsibilities residing within the same company, a lot of outside and middleman costs can be avoided, and projects can quite easily turn out to be more profitable, which means better returns for investors. Finding such a company might take some research and a little street smartness, but the efforts are likely to be worth it. With the right company to invest in, your money can quite possibly grow at a faster rate than many other traditional investment options and their rates of return.



When you are looking at real estate investment companies to find the right one for your needs, one of the things that you need to do is take a look at the past projects of the companies you are trying to assess. A quick look at the kinds of projects a company has undertaken in the past and the kind of returns they have brought to the table is a sure way to determining which particular company can be the most productive to do business with. Other considerations can also include geographic affinities, as certain parts of the country are more in the middle of the real estate boom than others, and competency in both investment fund management and development.



Finding the right company among the real estate investment companies you consider can provide a serious boost to your investment portfolio. Not only does this provide your portfolio with a level of diversification, but it also opens the doors to the world of real estate investment for you — a thrilling and potential-filled market that you can explore to your heart’s content and enjoy the rewards.


With these considerations, it should be easier for you to take your first steps into the world of investing in real estate with the right real estate investment company.

Are You Looking for a Way to Improve the Accuracy and Speed of Your Company’s Payroll Process

    Finance Tips

Payroll solutions for small business

The summer is winding down and employers around the country are looking for workers to fill the spots of college students who are returning to college. And while filling these open jobs is one task, another task is the variety of services the payroll provider must complete to bring new employee on board. Cutting the last paychecks for summer workers, gathering the necessary tax information from new employees, and sending the trial information for new paychecks for new employees.
For many companies, both large and small, outsourcing to a payroll provider is the best solution for meeting the demands of a new work force starting at the end of a summer staffed by college students. All new employee hires require extra work by payroll providers, but major transitions like those that happen at the end of a summer can create even more work.
Is Your Business Looking for a More Efficient Way to Process Payroll and Employee Benefits?
There was a time when the biggest decisions an employer had to make was how much they were going to an hour and how often they would cut checks. In those much simpler days the checks could be cut and handed out on the same day. Whether the checks came once a month or once a day, the entire process was pretty simple. This is not the case any more.
With complicated tax tables and pretax deductions, the process of payroll for small companies, as well as large companies, can be complicated. And while companies can purchase their own software to determine taxes and other deductions, the accuracy demands that the software is updated every time there is a tax code change.
For many companies, the decision to outsource to a payroll provider is any easy one to make. In fact, more than 85% of certified public accountants recommend that even small businesses employ professional payroll providers. These providers can make quick work of the most complicated payroll services, including overtime pay for exempt employees.
Companies that make the decision to find a payroll outsourcing provider only have a single report to approve and only one invoice to pay. In addition to receiving payroll services, these outsourced companies can also provide offer Human Relations Management, Employment Standards Association (ESA), and Occupational Health and Safety (OHSA) compliance, and government remittances. Complications that can add hours to the tasks that would need to be completed by in house bookkeeping staff.
What Is the Purpose of the Company That You Own?
Do you own a family operated dry cleaning company? Does your business offer home design plans to new home buyers? Maybe your business installs fencing, deck, and other backyard additions. In all of these cases, and the majority of other businesses, payroll is not the main function. Why then should your company continue to spend so much of its time on payroll services?
One of the main reasons that businesses decide to outsource their payroll is so they can instead focus on the primary goal of their business, be it dry cleaning, architecture, fencing, or a variety of other services. In addition to allowing companies to do what they do best, outsourcing payroll tasks limits mistakes that can happen. For instance, business owners who manage their payroll themselves are tasked with responsibilities of totaling hours, performing gross-to-net calculations for each employee, calculating and depositing payroll taxes, and preparing and filing tax returns. All of this, of course, has to be both accurate and timely. Even a small mistake can be complex and expensive. Rather than taking on these risks, some business owners simply hire someone else to complete the payroll tasks.
The end of summer and the beginning of college classes is just one time that businesses and employers find themselves looking for new workers. Other times that require additional, and often temporary, hiring is the holiday season. The large task of submitting all of the necessary tax forms for these new employees can be very time consuming and costly. Rather than having to constantly update the necessary payroll information themselves, many businesses make the decision to hire a payroll provider service, avoiding the risk of costly mistakes.

Top 7 Benefits to Using a Currency Sorter Machine

    Finance Tips

Check cheque

There are countless ways in which advances in technology is improving our lives and at our places of business. In 1980, the first fully electronic cash counter machine was introduced in Great Britain. Currency counter machines can count paper money or batches of coins. These machines are really a combination of a money counter machines with a business scanner.

How Using Cash Counter Machines Can Help Your Business.

  1. It will save you time. When your employees count the money they receive, they do it an average of three times. They also do it a lot slower than money counter machines can do it. Currency counter machines can count a lot of cash in just a few seconds. When you take the longer counting time that is required when people are responsible for counting cash, then you multiply that by three, you can see just how much time is saved by using a cash counting machine.
  2. It will improve the customer service that you provide. When your staff no longer has to deal with counting and recounting the cash that you receive, your employees can spend that time providing your customers with better service. They can also help more people because they are not wasting their time counting and recounting all that cash that your business handles.
  3. Currency counting machines are much more accurate. Even when people count and then recount and repeat that, mistakes are very possible. Anything can distract a person during the counting process and then have to start it all over again, elongating the process and taking up more valuable time that they could spend doing other things. By contrast a currency counter with a business scanner can take a pile of banknotes and collection of coins and count them accurately. They have an accuracy rate of 100%. Many machines can give you a breakdown of what denominations of the bank notes and the coins have been counted. You can set the machine to give only the full amount or a breakdown of all the different denominations that were received.
  4. Currency sorting machines and business scanners can find counterfeit money. Counterfeit currency is huge problem for a lot of businesses, especially businesses that work a lot with customers and clients from different countries. Nations like to switch up their currencies fairly often to prevent counterfeiting. It can be hard to keep your employees up to date on all of the changes that are made to different currencies. The money counter can be programmed to spot bad bank notes and coins instantly. This takes a lot of pressure off your staff and can save you a lot of money. Taking counterfeit money can cost your business a lot.
  5. Cash counting machine are very easy and simple to use. Some companies worry that the technology of the currency counting machine will be too hard to use and that their staff will need a lot of specialized training. This could not be further from the truth. Today’s currency counting machines have automated start and stop systems. Once the notes and coins are inserted into the machine, it will start counting automatically and then when it is complete, the machine stops and displays the final amount. Many currency machines have large and easy to read LED displays to show the amount of money. These machines could not be easier.
  6. These machines can tell you whey they are broken. Today’s currency counter machines have software that can alert you when there is a problem with the machine or the software it used. This can make it easier to trust the machine’s accuracy.
  7. Cash counting machies are convenient. You can get a portable cash counter if you need that. This can be useful if you need to take in money at a location away from your main business address. They come with back up power sources so that they can continue to work when you experience a power failure.

Any business that handles a lot of cash, whether it is one currency or money from multiple countries, can benefit from using a currency counter with a business scanner. They save time, money and will improve your bottom line.

If Your Business Handles Paper Cash and Coins, You Need a Currency Counting Machine

    Finance Tips

Cash management system software

If your business handles cash and coins and you do it by hand, you know how much work that is. Many businesses use currency sorting machines to handle paper money and coins. These machines have been in use since 1980 when they were first introduced in Great Britain. The cash and coin sorter and counter machines can be very useful for a number of reasons.

  • Using these machines prevents counterfeited money from being used at your business. If you have a lot of people coming from different parts of the globe, it can be hard to rely on staff to catch counterfeited money as it passes through. To cut down on counterfeiting, countries change up their currency all of the time. Even the most dedicated employees may have a hard time keeping up with all of the changes. Currency counter machines can detect counterfeit currency much easier and can be programmed for a number of different currencies. This will take the pressure off of your staff and cut down on your losses due to fake money getting into your system.
  • A cash and coin sorter and counter will save you time. When your employees are responsible for counting all of the paper money and coins, it takes a long time. Part of this is because it just takes longer for a human to count currency than a machine. Much of the delay is caused because people will double and triple check their work. No one wants to make a mistake so they count cash money and coins at least three times The longer process is multiplied by three and time they could spend helping your other customers is lost to this time consuming process. The cash and coin sorter and counter machine will count everything, then display the final amount on a large and easy to read LED screen. By using a machine to count the paper money and coins, your employees will no longer have to stay late and that will reduce your labor costs. This is just another benefit to using these machines.
  • Currency sorter machines are more accurate. When you have a cash and coin sorter and counter, it will be far more accurate that your staff at counting paper money and coins . When you are counting large amounts of cash and coins, it is entirely too easy to make a mistake. This is why people redo their work so many times. The machine can do it all very quickly and with a degree of accuracy that people cannot match. You get your cash and coins counted right the first time. There is no need to recount. Remember that mistakes caused by human error can end up being very costly for your business. They end up hurting your bottom line. Having a machine do your counting and sorting will increase your profit margin.
  • Your employees’ hands will stay cleaner. You have no idea where all that cash and those coins have been but you can see how dirty they make your employees hands. Coins are especially dirty. Anyone who has ever played the slots at a casino can tell you how dirty the coins get. We live in a time when infectious diseases are everywhere. From the Zika virus to a host of others, you can protect your employees from dangerous pathogens and just keep them cleaner by using a cash and coin sorter and counter. They will thank you for it later for sure.
  • Theft from employees will be reduced. No one likes to think that their employees are stealing from them but it happens all too often. This can potentially be a big cause of any loses your business suffers and anything you can do to cut down on it will have a positive impact on your bottom line. Using an electric cash counter makes it a lot harder for your staff to steal cash because they are no longer counting it. It is pretty easy to steal cash when you are counting it.

Investing in a currency counter is a good way to cut your loses from theft and counterfeiting and improve your company’s bottom line.

The Challenges of Conducting a Business Valuation for a Bank

    Finance Tips

Small business valuation software

Conducting a business valuation for a bank can be particularly difficult. The financial statements of banks are unique and unlike those of other industries. As such, determining the company valuation of a bank takes an unique approach.

The financial statements provide many key inputs to the business valuation process. The two most important statements needed are the income statement and balance sheet. Banks use mark-to-market accounting whereby assets and liabilities are carried at their fair market value. The result of this is that what would be unrealized gains and losses in another industry are actually realized on a bank’s financial statements.

Another key difference between the balance sheets of banks and operating companies is that banks do not distinguish between short and long-term assets and liabilities. Most of a bank’s assets are cash and cash equivalents, including cash kept on-hand in the company vault, deposits held at other banks, and any Fed Funds sold. Other assets may be investments securities or loans. Liabilities, on the other hand, are primarily deposits but may also include any Fed Funds the bank purchased.

A bank’s balance sheet can be particularly confusing because unlike in other industries where cash is the byproduct of selling products or services, for a bank, cash is both the raw material used to generate revenue and the final product. As such, bank balance sheets don’t have items such as inventory, trade receivables or property, plant and equipment. Instead, banks’ balance sheets have items such as loan losses, investments, and trading portfolio.

One method of conducting a business valuation is from the business’s earning power and risk assessment. To determine a bank’s risk assessment, the best place to start is the balance sheet where you can evaluate the loan-to-deposit and loan-to-asset ratios. A high value on either of these ratios signals a bank with higher liquidity risk. A bank with low loan-to-deposit or asset ratios, on the other hand, poses a lower liquidity and credit risk. Keep in mind when using these ratios as a business valuation tool, however, that with lower risk comes lower potential reward. A bank with low loan-to-deposit or asset ratios also has a lower earning power.

Another place to assess risk on the balance sheet is through the bank’s capital. Capital is essentially the “cushion” that will help banks absorb any losses or expand its assets. Banks must abide by certain regulations in terms of the minimum size of this cushion.

In addition to evaluating a business’s earning power and risk assessment, there are two other primary means of business valuation: through a comparison to similar businesses or based on the business in question’s assets. The former is known as the market Approach to business valuation while the latter is simply the asset approach.

Under the market approach, you will need to determine the best banks for comparison. This can be a deceptively hard task. The U.S. has 5,338 commercial banks. These range from large financial institutions to smaller community banks. The best competitor to use as a company valuation tool will depend on a number of factors such as:

  • The size of the bank
  • The location of the bank
  • The bank’s profitability
  • The bank’s loan composition
  • The bank’s growth

After applying these criteria, you will ideally have a small pool of banks with similar asset levels and return on equity rations who operate in the same region as your bank and have similar financial statements.

If you opt to use the asset approach to bank business valuation, it’s important to understand how bank’s assets differ from operating companies. As mentioned above, a bank’s assets include cash kept on-hand in the company vault, deposits held at other banks, and any Fed Funds sold. Loans are the primary asset for most banks because they earn more interest than most securities the bank owns and thus provide a better source of revenue. Bank assets also include tangible items which can be sold for cash such as buildings owned by the bank.

Regardless of the business valuation tools you apply, it’s important to start with a solid understanding of the banking industry and how banks differ from operating companies. The unique way in which banks measure their business on their financial statements requires unique business valuation services and methods.