Monthly Archives: March 2016

Sleep Hygiene & Stress Management Tips

We all love a good night’s sleep, but did you know that most Americans aren’t getting enough sleep? In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls insufficient sleep in the U.S. a “public health problem.”

Unfortunately, stress is often the culprit of poor sleep, and can affect concentration, memory, driving and work performance.

How Much Sleep Do We Need? And How Much Sleep Are We Getting?

How much sleep we need varies between individuals but generally changes as we age. The National Institutes of Health suggests that school-age children need at least 10 hours of sleep daily, teens need 9-10 hours, and adults need 7-8 hours. According to data from the National Health Interview Survey, nearly 30% of adults reported an average of ≤6 hours of sleep per day in 2005-2007. In 2009, only 31% of high school students reported getting at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night.

Sleep Hygiene Tips

The promotion of good sleep habits and regular sleep is known as sleep hygiene. The following sleep hygiene tips can be used to improve sleep.

• Go to bed at the same time each night and rise at the same time each morning.
• Avoid large meals before bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.
• Avoid nicotine.

(Sleep Hygiene Tips adapted from the National Sleep Foundation)

Because March is Sleep Awareness Month, if stress and a lack of sleep are affecting your life, please contact a medical professional.

10 Signs Your Business Is Ready For Online Accounting Services

Ever wonder how a company ultimately decides which services solution is appropriate for their business? Some choose to keep services housed internally, managing from within and scaling under a complex internal structure. Others choose to augment their organization with freelancers and part-time contractors to support niche areas or expanded requirements. And finally others choose to outsource fractional services, including everything from their marketing to their entire accounting department. To an outsider, a company’s reasoning or decision making for a particular choice may seem opaque or arbitrary–but to the individual company, signs that you’re ready to use online accounting services are often clear and distinct.

Keep in mind that not all reasons will apply to all companies but if the overwhelming majority of signs indicate you’re ready to take the next step, consider that you just might be a company primed for outsourcing.

1. Not All Of Your Employees Work In The Same Place

Maybe you offer flex-time, telecommuting or work-from-home options to your employees. Perhaps you have multiple locations or branches with a multitude of different work structures. If your company is already setup to engage with employees in various situations, outsourced help will fit in just fine.

2. You Have A Specific, Easy-To-Define Need To Fill

Certain departments, services or areas of expertise are easier to navigate than others, which typically also means easier to delegate tasks or subcontract support. Marketing, accounting and IT are three of the areas where companies often look to outside support because of the tangible nature of the services.

3. Your Systems Are Cloud-Based (Or You Want Them To Be)

If your accounting data, programs or processes are already cloud-based, including online accounting services to manage your accounting is an easy transition. (Seriously, it practically manages itself).

4. You Know The Difference Between Outsourcing and Offshoring

Today’s outsourcing and online services are homegrown with an expert touch. This is not yesterday’s offshoring data entry to another country for a cheap hourly rate. This is hiring the best of breed by removing geographical limitations and leveraging the power of a seasoned expert services provider.

5. Your Business Is Moving Into The Next Level

Remembering fondly the days of reconciling accounts on Sunday night with shoeboxes of receipts? Of course you aren’t! But now your business has grown and you have neither the time nor the resources to keep up with your own bookkeeping. Especially if you’re running into inventory issues, foreign currency, departmental tracking, government contracting and DCAA compliance or job costing, you need more advanced support.

6. You Have Been Burned By Bookkeepers

Not all bookkeepers are created equal. From lack of attention to detail to deliberate fraud, many companies have experienced more than their share of bookkeeping horrors. You might be ready for online accounting services if you have simply had enough with testing out new bookkeepers over and over.

7. You Prefer Monthly Fixed Fees

Looking for predictable costs and clear deliverables? Online accounting services offer fixed monthly fees with a detailed service offering. This means you get exactly what you expect when you expect it–no questions or surprises!

8. You Believe Company Politics Has No Place In Your Books

Let’s face it–office politics are nearly unavoidable. Personalities, egos and tenure can all factor into a day’s work (or lack thereof). Online accounting services take the attitude out and ensure that the only thing you get are results and data. Unless of course you are a virtual company without an office (and therefore no office politics), in which case see #1!

9. Security Is A Priority For You

With all the headlines about financial data security and breaches, you would be in the minority if you weren’t concerned about security. However, one area of security that is often overlooked is simply the security and privacy of information within the workplace. With online accounting services, internal employees aren’t in direct contact with the company’s finances. They aren’t going home to discuss the company’s profit or the owner’s financial picture–a storyline we hear far too often from companies with internal departments.

10. You Are Scaling–Big Time!

Watching your company flourish is exciting–until you realize you’re outpacing your abilities to manage it all. One of the easiest ways to ensure you stay on top of it is by leveraging the scalability of an online service that can expand service and add personnel without any effort on your part. This way you can keep doing what you do best (growing!)