Are you worried about your employees’ computing habits? As a business owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that all of your employees are taking the necessary precautions in order to protect business, customer and personal data and information. Failing to take precautions when it comes to computer security could have catastrophic results, for example not properly securing customer data could result in a lawsuit or legal action for companies in certain industries. If you offer customer and client confidentiality, it is all the more important that different strategies are implemented in order to promote safe computing. If you’re looking...

There are almost as many types of fraud as there are victims of it. From Medicare and insurance fraud to Ponzi schemes and phishing scams, bilking people out of money through deceitful means is a frightfully common occurrence in our tech-heavy modern world. Billions of dollars are lost every year to fraud, and while the financial toll is substantial, money isn’t the only thing lost when a person, institution, or government is taken for a ride and robbed. From the sense of responsibility and self-blame incurred to the health maladies that can also result, here are five hidden costs of...

Keeping a firm hold on finances is a struggle for many people, regardless of the financial situation in which they find themselves. Throw a wrench into the spokes of that common, everyday struggle — like going to and paying for graduate school — and many people choose to give up financial sense-making entirely. However, abandoning your budget and savings goals doesn’t have to accompany going back to school. You think of it as practice run for someday running your own business after you finish your MBA. If you’d like to keep your long-term financial health in focus while you’re earning...

Many people are tempted to believe that true leaders are born not made, but when it comes to leaders of historical importance, that adage rarely seems true. In many ways, leadership, as President John F. Kennedy noted, is indispensable from learning, which means every entrepreneur, pastor, community organizer, or team captain can improve their leadership skills by learning aspects of quality leadership that they then put into practice. But what are the features of great leadership? What traits should be lived out and repeated? While the qualities associated with excellent leadership are often those that are the most obvious, the...

Small firms are losing out on profit by not having a business plan, according to new research. Companies with a business plan are consistently more profitable than those without one, according to findings from business and finance software provider Exact. The power of planning Small enterprises with a plan are almost 20% more likely to increase profit margins and more than twice as likely to achieve their business goals. Around 70% of small businesses that had a plan in place last year turned a profit, compared to 52% of businesses without a plan, says the research.  Clearly, business plans are...

You have a wonderful website and it’s being going quite well. However, it seems that business has leveled out. You need more products on your website and you want to give your inventory a fresh, new, infusion. You’ve already heard of ecommerce drop shipping and it does seem like a good idea. With drop shipping, you do not have to buy extra items. The vendor will retain his stock but he will provide content, images, description and details that you can upload on your website. All you have to do is promote the products online and get orders. Once the...

Many British consumers would love the privilege of borrowing a personal loan to make important purchases. Some would even like to borrow money to put away in a savings account for the future. Maths is one of the most important components in any financial process. Without using the elements of maths, a person could be under the false presumption that he or she does or does not qualify for assistance. The following is an explanation of how a UK consumer can use simple math to figure the likelihood of receiving a personal loan. Calculating Disposable Income The first step in...

The field of forensic accounting has become more prominent in the public eye due to the increase in high-profile corruption and fraud cases.  To illustrate, the UK-based bank, Barclays, is the fourth largest bank in the world, with operations in over 50 countries; they recently received a wealth of negative publicity concerning its manipulated reporting of interest rates, which go into the calculation of Euribor and Libor rates. It has been suggested that Barclays are not the only bank to have misreported interest rates; there have been numerous other reported cases of banks misreporting, including UBS and The Royal Bank...

  Looking for a job can be a tough and lonely time. How many afternoons have you spent looking those job listings online and sending out cover letters and CVs? Probably too many already. It’s no surprise that in such situation home businesses are flourishing: 23 percent of the country’s businesses are now home-based, according to data from the Federation of Small Businesses. Rather than looking for a job that doesn’t seem to be there, many people have resorted to going it alone. But before taking this step, planning is essential. And this involves all aspects, from a business plan,...