Help for Small Firms
- Business expenses—how to reduce expenses; a checklist.
- Business plans—useful for new or growing businesses. Be sure to click on “Writing the plan” and “Using the plan” in the lefthand column.
- Business records retention—to see how long to keep different kinds of business records.
- Business scams—current ones, how to guard against.
- Business start-ups—checklists for new businesses.
- Business start-ups—selecting the right entity (sole proprietorship, S corp, LLC, etc.).
- Business structure—comparisons (sole proprietorship v. S corp v. LLC, etc.).
- Credit and Collections—the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, section by section.
- Domain names—find out what names are available before you try to register a name.
- Fax worldwide via e-mail—free trial on faxing from any place in the world to any place in the world.
- Home-business scams—current ones, how to guard against.
- Management—online integrated library for personal, professional and organizational development with approximately 650 topics.
- Social Security Statement—request a personal statement online.
- Strategic Planning Process—basics.
- Taxpayer Advocate Service.
- Trade magazines by industry—free.
- Wages—by geographical area and occupation.
Tools and Templates
- Balance sheet template—for a sole proprietorship can be modified for corporation or partnership. Change account titles or format as needed. Spreadsheet calculates subtotals and totals for specified period.
- Business plan templates—from Microsoft Office.
- Cash flow budget template—worksheet for 6-month cash budget includes most inflows outflows. Modified as needed.
- Customer account statement template—track charges and payments on customer's account, send at month end to remind of balance due.
- Daily cash sheet template—plug in daily amounts and spot discrepancies (from theft, misrecorded credit-card purchases, etc.).
- Income statement template—for a sole proprietorship can be modified for corporation or partnership. Change account titles or format as needed. Spreadsheet calculates subtotals, totals and net income for specified period.
- Loan application and bank review form template—shows what the bank will ask for and how it will use your data to make a decision on your loan.
- Monthly bank reconciliation template—plug in bank balance, deposits in transit, etc. and ledger Cash balance for instant totals that show if the amounts reconcile.
- Personal bank statement template—when owner's financial position is required. Spreadsheet asks for the typical information (personal assets, liabilities, sources of income, etc.). Fill it out, get a snapshot of how you look.