How Cash Counting Machines Improve Efficiency and Security

April 5, 2017 Finance Tips

For businesses that handle large amounts of cash, cash counting and cash recycling machines offer a number of advantages. Coins counting machines and other automated money handling processes help businesses to improve efficiencies and security, reduce losses, and to streamline the overall cash flow. Dealing with a large volume of cash, coin or cheques is easier when processes are automated.

Currency counter machines for businesses
Coins counting machines and currency sorters can count large stacks of notes or loose coins quickly and accurately. Currency counting machines have been around since the 1980s and were first used in the U.K. For business owners, controllers, accountants, CFOs, and COOs, they offer solutions for asset protection, loss prevention, security and other cash management needs.

Improve efficiencies
Counting large amounts of cash and coins can be slow and time consuming. When counting notes and coins by hand, the process must be repeated several times to avoid error. Even so, the possibility of mistakes remains.
With coins counting machines and currency machines, counting cash becomes quick and 100% accurate. It frees up staff for other tasks, especially customer oriented ones. Money counter machines can even reduce labor costs as staff time that was spent on counting cash and notes by hand is now use more productively.
Greater security
Coins counting machines and currency sorting machines not only remove the possibility of human error, they also put an end to losses and employee theft. All businesses that handle large amounts of cash face the problem of regular losses due to theft. Automated cash handling removes this problem at the source.
Automated cash counting machines can also improve security by reducing the frequency of armored car pick ups. Overall, better and automated cash handling improves both efficiency and security.
Detect counterfeits
Coins counter machines also function as counterfeit detector machines and can help identify and eliminate fakes. Counterfeit coins and notes have been a problem throughout history. In the nineteenth century, when banks issued their own currency, it was a serious problem. The secret service was actually founded in 1865 with the primary task of detecting counterfeit currency.
Currency counter machines can detect fake notes and bills and separate them, minimizing losses.

For businesses that handle large amounts of cash on a regular basis, currency sorter machines and coins counter machines offer multiple advantages. Greater security, accuracy and efficiency help to streamline the cash flow and improve opportunities for customer facing interactions.

When It Comes Time To Sell Your Business, Get a Professional Valuation

March 31, 2017 Finance Tips

If you own your own business, you will likely need to consider selling it at some point. You will retire at some point, and you could need to sell before then because of financial hardship, illness or another reason. Even if you are just selling the business to an employee or a relative, you need to know what it is worth so you can be fairly compensated. To get an accurate business valuation, you may need to avail yourself of business valuation services.

What your business is truly worth may be more or less than what you believe it to be. If you have an inflated opinion of your business valuation, you may set the price way too high and not be able to sell it. If you think your business is worth less than what it really is, then you could wind up leaving money on the table. Neither of these situations is ideal, and they can be avoided by using the expertise of business evaluation services to get small business valuations.

When looking to value your business, a valuation professional is likely to take one of three approaches. He or she might use comparable sales of other businesses, take the value of the assets or look at the potential for future sales and weigh it against the risks. In some situations, your valuation professional may use a combination of two or more of the factors to come up with a price. What type of business you have can influence what method to use as well. For example, for an online service business, it would make much more sense to use a valuation income approach to look at prospects for sales. On the other hand, a manufacturing business with lots of expensive machinery may be better off being valued based on its assets.

At a minimum, you can expect to need to show your valuation expert about three to five years worth of balance sheets and income statements. You might also be asked for client lists, an inventory of intellectual property and other documentation that might show the worth of intangible assets.

Keep in mind that selling your business is more of an art than it is a science. Even if you have a firm grasp on assets and sales, it still comes down to whether you can find an interested buyer, and you may have to decide whether you want to get your business sold for less than you expected or hold out for a certain price while facing the risk of not selling your business at all. For more information see this.

Reasons You Might Need an Accurate Company Valuation

March 28, 2017 Finance Tips

When you are self employed, it can be difficult to accurately establish the value of your business. It is much different than working at a salaried position, where you are provided with detailed W2s. When you are the business owner, you cannot simply take into account the total income of the business. You have to also account for things like costs, rent and utilities, product development, marketing, employee wages and benefits, and even expected losses. However, it is important to have an accurate company valuation for many reasons.

To obtain lending

If your business requires additional capital for expenses or to expand the business, you will have to apply for a loan. When you apply for a small business loan, the bank requires specific information about the business, including its business valuation appraisal. If you are unsure about calculating the worth of my business, you may not have the necessary information to obtain a loan and may need to create an evaluation.

Business valuation is largely an economic analysis exercise. Not surprisingly, the company financial information provides key inputs into the process. The two main financial statements you need for business valuation are the income statement and the balance sheet. To do a proper job of valuing a small business, you should have 3 to 5 years of historic income statements and balance sheets available. These small business valuation resources may be especially helpful if you are wondering the best process for calculating the worth of my business.

To sell the business

Perhaps you are ready to move onto other business ventures or you want to retire. Either way, you will need an accurate business valuation of your company to sell it. Buyers will not even consider buying your business if you have never been involved in calculating the worth of my business. The business valuation with the intent to sell may be a little different than the valuation used to obtain lending.

It may seem surprising at first that the valuation results are influenced by your need for business valuation, but business value is not absolute. It is a process of measuring business worth, which depends on two key elements, how you measure business value and under what circumstances. In formal terms, these elements are known as the standard of value and the premise of value. Simply put, your reason for sale will factor into calculating my business worth. If you are selling because you no longer have time to run the business, yet it is profitable, you are likely to receive more. However, if you are losing money and cannot afford to keep the afloat, this will also be taken into consideration.

Insurance purposes

You may also be tasked with calculating the worth of my business for insurance purposes. Your insurance policy needs to align with the type of business you do and the amount of customers you service. Small business valuations can help an insurance provider understand your insurance needs. Small businesses involved in more dangerous of working conditions, such as construction companies or electrical workers may require higher amounts of insurance. The business valuation gives them a better idea of the needs of the company.

To go public

Gaining IPO status is a goal among many medium sized businesses. When you trade publically, you are opening up your business to endless growth opportunities. There is a lengthy and complex process involved with going public. One of the most important steps is calculating and publishing the true value and evaluation of the business. You can determine the value of your business using these three approaches, by comparison to recent sales of similar businesses, based on the business? earning power and risk assessment, and based on the company?s assets. All of these factors are likely to be taken into account when attempting to go public.

There are many reasons that you may need to calculate an accurate business valuation. A few of the most common reasons include obtaining lending, purchasing an insurance policy on the business, selling the company, or going public in the IPO market. Ensure that you have the necessary documents and that you are using the right method of valuation for your business.

Benefits Of Coin Sorter Counters

November 30, 2016 Finance Tips

How does your business tally up cash sales? Do employees count money by hand? If so, perhaps you haven?t considered the advantages of using a currency sorting machine or coin sorter counter. A currency counter is simply a machine that counts money for you, allowing businesses to maintain perfect accuracy and save valuable time.

Accuracy
Counting money by hand gets tedious, and the chance of human error is high. Cash counters don?t make mistakes.

Saving Time
Counting notes and coins by hand takes longer than a machine, and due to the high probability of error, usually has to be recounted two to three times to ensure accuracy. A good coin sorter counter can count an average of 200 coins every minute, and paper currency goes even faster.

Security
A currency counter can be used as a machine to detect counterfeit money. Although fighting currency fraud has been an issue for over one hundred years, contemporary money counter machines use technology like infrared spectrum analysis, metallic alloy detection, and other methods to detect counterfeits.

Cleanliness
It?s been said that a dollar is dirtier than a toilet; studies show that multiple viruses and bacteria live on paper money and coins, and can live from 2 to 15 days. As money changes hands, those germs get passed around too. Using a coin sorter counter or other money counting machine can prevent the spread of sickness amongst employees.

Once convinced that a currency counter is beneficial, there are a few comparative aspects to consider before purchasing one.

Hopper Size
Coin sorter counters come in different sizes; the size of the hopper determines how many coins it can process at one time. Obviously, smaller businesses with lower cash volume will be able to use a smaller machine.

Counting Speed
Coin sorter counters work at different speeds. When researching, compare the coins per minute; the average machine can handle about 200 coins per minute, although some are faster.

Coin Wrapping
Look for a machine that wraps the coins after sorting and counting them. It is a frustrating and time-consuming task to have to do by hand, and new mistakes can occur.

Value Counting And Recording
Some coin sorter counters and currency counting machines simply sort the money into denominations and count the bills or coins within each category. A better machine will do the math for you, displaying the value of the processed money, and recording the total. Some even provide a printed copy for easier record keeping and cash management accounting.

Coin sorter counters are inexpensive and offer many benefits that will quickly become essential to your business.

Real Estate Notes for Commercial and Residential Properties

November 21, 2016 Finance Tips

Location, location, location. Anyone with any experience at all in real estate knows that this is what the market boils down to. Those looking for a new property to buy or rent are considering many different factors, but location is often the one that carries the most weight. A couple looking to buy their first home will likely be willing, albeit probably not happily, to forgo the large bedroom balcony that caught their eye if the home is located 50 miles from the nearest school. But knowing that location is such a large factor, realtors also have a lot of factors to consider, especially when dealing with commercial real estate.

The big business of real estate
Commercial real estate companies deal with several different businesses and types of properties. Typically these commercial buildings are divided into two subgroups, those that are valued over $2.5 million, and those that sell for less than that amount. Though the concept of commercial business often conjures up an image of large buildings where major corporations hustle and bustle about, around 70% of commercial buildings are relatively small in size, usually totaling no more than 10,000 square feet. These buildings are often home to retail spaces, smaller offices, and strip malls and small shopping centers, in comparison to their larger counterparts like warehouses and multi-level and multi-corporation offices.

Comparing residential and commercial real estate
A good realtor knows that both commercial and residential real estate are completely subjective to their prospective buyers, but realtors looking to sell residential properties are going to be paying attention to different aspects than those attempting to sell the perfect commercial space. The right residential property will obviously have more ideal features that make living more comfortable. A good kitchen, functional bathrooms, the right number of bedrooms, maybe a big yard, and any specific areas or rooms that are particular to the lifestyles of those doing the home shopping. Conversely, the right commercial buildings and spaces need to have the appropriate layout for the job at hand, and depending on the nature of the business, specific spaces designated for activities other than simple office space.

Real estate notes for the right property
Oftentimes, in both residential and commercial real estate buying situations, it is necessary to make use of real estate notes. Real estate notes indicate the agreement between the borrower and the lender in regards to the mortgage transaction. These real estate notes differ from the actual mortgage agreement in that they do not necessarily lay out the terms of the agreement, rather they detail the acknowledgement and promise of the lender to pay back the borrowed sum. Real estate is valuable, especially in the right location, and there are very few individuals or even companies that can buy a property outright without the help of a loan.

The success of businesses with the right storefront
The economic struggles of 2008 left lasting effects, but things have steadily improved. Across the United States, the values of commercial real estate properties have seen a significant improvements since then, as much as 42%, in fact. And there continues to be a demand for the right commercial space, particularly for those businesses that generate significant customer traffic from the ideally prominent and visible storefront. A business looking for a retail store for rent will want it to be in the right location, where the right amount of potential customers will be able to identify and easily access it. These storefronts for rent will allow for prominent and notable signage, ideally with convenient parking and sidewalk accessibility as well.

But of all the commercial real estate sectors, or CRE sectors, the most dominant are multi tenant buildings and industrial spaces such as factories and warehouses. The apartment sector in the United States was averaging 125,000 rental units just four years after the recession, up a significant amount from the mere 45,000 that was the yearly average before that. The percentage of apartment vacancies across the country is as low as 4.8%, and the demand for commercial real estate as far as the industrial spaces are concerned has also risen quite higher than before the economic dip. It appears that things will continue to improve as we gain time and distance from the recession.

Hard Money Loans What You Need to Know

November 8, 2016 Finance Tips

Have you heard of house flipping? It is a term that has become more popular in part because of T.V. episodes that show exactly what it entails, albeit with better editing than real life. Commercial real estate investing is not as easy as these shows make it seem. What enables people to do so with some success is most often due to having investment property mortgage lenders backing them. In other words, someone else foots the bill. You shouldn’t be discouraged. To find out more about commercial real estate investing basics, read below.

What Are Some Reasons to Invest in Commercial Real Estate?

There are a few reasons real estate is seen as a good investment.

Are you ready to seek out investment property mortgage lenders? You should know about the funding process first.

So, How Do You Get the Money to Buy Some Land?

As stated in Gone With the Wind, “Land is the only thing worth working for,…because it’s the only thing that lasts.” It seems not many would disagree, as owners of lots of land are generally regarded as very wealthy. Do you have to have money to make money, as the old adage goes? Not always, if you know the right people.

The typical business loan offered by banks has a few requirements: the borrower must have been in the business for at least two years, have great personal and business credit, be cash flow positive, and pull in at least $250,000 annually in revenue. There are plenty of people who fit that requirement, and double that who do not but would still like to buy, renovate, and sell a house for profit. Investment property mortgage lenders, or hard money lenders, can step in.

What is a Hard Money Loan, and Is It Even Legal?

There is nothing wrong with seeking a hard money loan, it is simply that most people would rather deal with a public lender, rather than a private one. The lender is putting up their own money for the house to be fixed up. Renovation lending, as it is sometimes called, follows the simple process of buying a cheap, somewhat run down house, and through renovation dramatically raising the value. These hard money loans are well protected, as the equity on the house must be somewhere between 30 to 50%.

Is real estate investing something that interests you? It is not outside the realm of possibility. Hard money loans are not for everyone. But they do make it much easier for many people to get into house flipping. Who doesn’t want to start making more money, that much faster?

3 Reasons to Outsource Your Employee Payroll

November 7, 2016 Finance Tips

If you own a business and have employees, you know that you have to pay them. Many small and medium sized businesses outsource their employee payroll to save time and energy. Here are some benefits to using outsourced payroll services companies:

1. It lets your focus on what you do best.

Doing employee payroll takes a lot of time. While it is something all businesses have to manage, it is also very time and labor intensive a lot of the time. Any mistakes that are made when handling employee payroll can be very costly and painful. There are a bevy of rules and regulations that companies have to comply with.

This is entire process is complicated all the more when companies so business in more than one country. American companies that want to do business in Canada often run into trouble with this. Payroll in Canada is a lot different from payroll rules in the United States. Payroll services have to be very detail oriented. There are a lot of regulations regarding how taxes are recorded and paid.

Understanding the labor laws is also an important part of the employee payroll process. The tax portion of the employee payroll process is complicated but so are the laws governing how long employees can work, what kind of overtime they should get and so forth.

All of this takes a lot of time and energy. That is time that you could be working to build your business and improve your bottom line. Unless you are payroll outsourcing provider, employee payroll is not what you are best at doing. When you hire an outsourced employee payroll company, they can handle all of the minutiae of this and you can focus on your business.

2. Payroll services providers have the right technology and experience.

Companies across the United States have literally tens of thousands of federal, state and local rules and regulations. There are thousands of different state and local jurisdictions across the country that have their own rules for how taxes are collected. These laws are very complicated. Issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act add to the complexity of the employee payroll process.

Companies that handle employee payroll services are experienced at dealing with these kinds of issues. They know how to manage employee data and to manage tax payments and all of the other things that payroll services companies need to do. You may not have the expertise in this area but they do.

Payroll management companies also have the most up to date technology to help them with the task of keeping up with all of the rules and regulations that you need to comply with to do business in the United States and elsewhere. They can compile reports to show their compliance with the Affordable Care Act and other labor laws. Gone are the days where there are a few simple forms that need to be updated. The process of managing employee payroll is only getting more complicated by the day. The software needed to show compliance is always changing. Payroll providers keep up with it so that you do not have to.

3. Outsourcing employee payroll can save you money and reduce your risk.

Companies that outsource their employee payroll have been known to save about 4% on payroll. When you add to that the time you are saving and the time you are able to put into your business and do not have to spend working on payroll, you see a bigger savings in letting professional payroll services.

There are also very harsh penalties for mistakes that companies make while handling employee payroll. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that at least 40% of all small businesses have to pay penalties for filings that are late or wrong. The average penalty is $845 per problem. This can add up.

By contrast, working with an outsource payroll company, you can get an affordable service plan that saves you from these penalties and can keep you in compliance. At the end of the day, you really do save money when you outsource your employee payroll.

Handling employee payroll is something that every company has to do. It does not have to be painful, however. By outsourcing payroll, you save time and money.

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5 Tips to Get Financing for Commercial Real Estate Investing

November 7, 2016 Finance Tips

Are you looking to get into commercial real estate investing? There are a lot of opportunities in commercial property investing if you work at it. If you are looking to find investment mortgage lenders to help finance your plans, here are some tips to help you get what you need.

You need a much bigger down payment. If you own your own home, you know that when you buy property, you have to put some of it down up front. If you want to secure financing from traditional investment mortgage lenders, you are going to have access to enough capital to make a much larger down payment than what you have to put up for a residential property. Most investment mortgage lenders require people come up with at least 20% to be able to get a traditional loan. If there is any way that you can come up with an amount closer to or more than 25%, you will put yourself in a position to get a much better deal on your loan.
Run your own credit report. Before you try to get a loan from investment mortgage lenders for your commercial real estate investing plans, you need to look at your finances and credit score with as objective an eye as you can. If you can improve your credit score and become more of a good credit risk you will appeal more to real estate investment lenders. The lower your credit score, the more expensive your loan terms will be. You will pay more in interest and more in fees.
Try credit unions and community banks before you try bigger financial institutions. If you find that you are not able to come up with the 20% that most mainstream investment mortgage lenders require for your loan, you may want to talk to the local credit unions and community banks for help. Their goal is often to help local people get loans for business plans that help the community. If you have an idea for a new business or to get into commercial real estate investing and can show how this will benefit the community, you have a better chance of getting some help from these financial institutions. They also have a lot more leeway and may be more able to say yes to you when you go to them looking for a loan.
Will the owner of the property help with your financing? When people are turned down by investment mortgage lenders, you may want to look into to options for owner financing. It used to be that one of the commercial real estate investing basics that people selling real estate were very wary of buyers who looked out for owner financing. This is becoming more and more acceptable. Before you head down this road, you need to develop a strategy. You need to have an amount you need a loan for and to work through the terms you would accept. You need to be able to make a great pitch and have all of your i’s dotted and t’s crossed before you approach anyone about owner financing.
Be creative. If you have found a really good property that you think you can really do something with and make some money on, you may need to get a little creative in how you come up with your down payment. People have looked to all sorts of alternative financing sources for their down payment arrangements. These have included credit cards, equity lines of credit, life insurance policies and more. At the end of the day, you need to research all of your other options and hunt down all other lines of inquiry, so to speak, before you opt for these very, very risky options. If you really think you are going to succeed, it may be worth it but you should do what you can to not have to get your financing that way.

Commercial real estate investing can be very lucrative. Commercial real estate is a lot different from residential real estate so you will need to do all of your homework before you take the plunge.

Starting A New Business? Start With Financing

November 4, 2016 Finance Tips

Are you the owner of a business who is searching for more information about financing? Maybe you run a child care business and are looking for new financial software to use, or perhaps you are the owner of an auto body shop and need financing to expand your space. Whatever your situation may be, the good news is that you have options. It is good to go into your financing search with a little information, and much of the information you find will be based on the type of business you run. Below are three specific examples of how various businesses find financing options:

1. Restaurant Industry Financing – Whether you have been in the restaurant business for years, or are just getting started it is likely that you have had to consider financing in some form. Whether your restaurant was financed purely by business loans from local banks, private investors, or other means, you had to ask for help somewhere and that is okay. Some of the most respected business men and women in this country today had to do the same thing. Starting a restaurant is difficult because not only do you have to set yourself apart from other places cooking similar cuisines, but you have to make sure you are using quality ingredients and using state of the art equipment. Those things, of course, cost money, and that is why restaurant financing is often times so complex.

2. Automotive Industry Financing – There are tons of ways to insert yourself into the automotive industry. Some people have small repair shops, others strictly sell parts, and others only deal in new or used vehicle sales. Even though each of those businesses is extremely different, they all have one thing in common: the need for initial financing. Small repair shops have to purchase machinery, parts shops have to stock their initial inventory, and new and used automotive dealers must have the vehicles on site for their customers to purchase starting on day 1.

3. Child Care Industry Financing – The child care industry is a growing one. In fact, many parents spend weeks sifting through the recommendations and reviews of local child care facilities before making their final decision. Of course, these parents are looking less at child care industry financing, and more at the credentials of who will be taking care of their children. Nevertheless, child care industry financing is extremely important to business owners to make sure that they can afford things like classroom materials, playground equipment, insurance, and even small items like decor that make the children feel excited to be there.

Whether you are a thriving chef ready to open your fifth or sixth restaurant, an auto salesman that is ready to break out on your own, or the owner of a successful child care business who wants to take your business one step further: financing can help, and it is available to you!

Making Wise Investments in Commercial Real Estate

November 3, 2016 Finance Tips

Are you a first-time home flipper looking for renovation financing? Or have you been investing in real estate and flipping houses for several years? If either of these situations apply, then you’re probably aware that in 2014 alone, 327,069 homes were repossessed. Many of these homes may be in poor condition, so the need for renovation lending is apparent.

While there are a number of reasons to invest in commercial real estate, expanding your business and investment portfolio may be at the top of your list. If you have already been making real estate investments for quite some time, and are looking for real estate investment lenders for a new or ongoing series of projects, you may be interested in knowing more about hard money rehab loans.

First of all, the interest rates are higher with hard money rehab loans. They do, however, have lower loan- to-value ratios. A hard money loan’s interest rate might range from 15%-to-18% or more.

Secondly, there are faster turnaround times with a hard money deal. These may only take one-to-two weeks in order to process.

Thirdly, the payment period is also shorter for a private loan. When comparing these loans with traditional bank loans, private loans extend for up to five years, while a traditional bank loan payment period is from one year up to 20 years.

If you were previously considering a standard bank loan, then you are probably aware that there are several stipulations for this type of loan:

You need to have been in business for two or more years.

You need to have a minimum of $250,000 in annual revenue or income.

You need to have good personal and business credit.

You need to have a consistent cash flow.

When you apply for secured short term loans, one of the operative terms is “secured.” If you are interested in obtaining a hard money loan, most of them need to be secured by an existing property you own. More specifically, the property you put up to secure your loan will need to have approximately 30%-to-50%.

When you are looking for hard money mortgage lenders, remember to consider the benefits of these types of loans over traditional bank loans.