Luckily, there are a lot of great business financial calculators out there that will help you sort out all the numbers relating to your business – and what they mean to your bottom line and your business’ future.

Accounting and Taxes

When it comes to the health of any company, the day-to-day monies coming in and going out are important to keep tabs on. There also needs to be a good amount of planning to make sure you know what you should be putting aside for Uncle Sam, so you are not unpleasantly surprised at the end of the year.

Working Capital Needs Calculator – Working capital is the money you need to have in the bank to be able to pay all the bills that come into your accounts payable department. This calculator can show you what is happening with your cash flow and what you need to be bringing in to keep your head above water.

Self-Employment Taxes Calculator – If you are self-employed, there are all sorts of tax and deduction rules that may apply to you. This calculator will help you find out what you will end up paying when it’s all said and done.

Gross Pay Calculator – If you have employees, you need to make sure you are taking the right amount out of their paychecks to cover all tax and federal deductions, as well as any benefits. This calculator will make sure your number crunching is correct.

Debt Management

Keeping tabs on your small business’ debt is important to keep it from getting out of hand. It’s also necessary to know how to get rid of it. These calculators will help sort out your business’ debt profile.

Total Debt Calculator – This calculator will help you figure out just how much your business owes on its accounts.

Accelerated Debt Payoff – Once you know your debt, you need to get rid of it. This calculator will help you come up with a payment plan to get out of debt sooner.

Business Debt Consolidation – At some point, it may be best to consolidate your business debt to pay it all off. This calculator will help you find out if that time has come.

Loans

Every now and then, every small business needs a little financial boost. Most look to commercial loans. These calculators will let you know if you will be able to get a loan, and how much it will cost.

Commercial Loan Calculator – This calculator will help you find out whether or not you are likely to be approved for a business loan.

Enhanced Loan Calculator – Not sure which loan will work best for your business? Use this calculator to change out variables such as loan amount, interest rate and monthly payment to see how your options stack up.

Amortizing Loan Calculator – If you have a monthly payment in mind for your business loan, this calculator will help you find out just how much you will be able to borrow.

When it comes to running a business, crunching numbers is never fun. But these handy calculators can help you get the job done just a little bit easier.

Once of the ways of doing this is by using Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. This is a multi-faceted process where your website is optimized with keywords related to your business, therefore pushing you up the natural search rankings with Google and other search engines. The higher placed you are, the more visible you’ll become to people looking for your type of company. However, unless you’re an SEO expert, you’d normally have to hire a specialist company to run your SEO campaign for you, and this can run into thousands of dollars, which is a lot to pay if you’re a small to medium business. Thankfully, there’s an answer that will allow you to get strong results yourself.

The IBP Internet Business Promoter ($449.95 for the Business Edition) is a key tool for any small business that needs to increase its online presence. Easy to use, and hugely effective, it allows you a number of useful ways to increase your Google ranking and track your performance as well, to ensure that you’re keeping up to date with any changes that Google or other search engines make to the way your website is indexed and ranked.

Currently in its 10th incarnation, some of the key features that the IBP software includes are:

* Search engine submission to all the major search engines as well as thousands of smaller ones
* Keyword analysis, helping you use the most effective keywords for promoting your business and website online
* Top 10 ranking optimization
* Link popularity builder
* Search engine ranking checker

These features and numerous more are similar to the ones that SEO specialists use to help you climb the rankings on Google, and stay there. For a fraction of the price, however, you can now do this yourself, and the good news is that it’s relatively straightforward.

For example, the Top 10 ranking optimizer is an excellent tool that actually trawls the Internet and gets the keywords and descriptions that your competitors are using to attain their high placement with Google. All you do is set up a project for your website, type in the keywords for the audience you’re looking for, and set the program running. It will find the Top 10 websites on Google or your preferred search engine with these keywords, and show you how these companies are using them. You simply take the best ones and implement them on your own site.

Using this software has seen users appear on the first page of Google when searching for their particular niche. And with the tracking as well as performance tools, you can make sure that once you’re on the first page, you’ll stay there. One thing you do need to know, however, is that SEO is not something you do once and forget it. It’s a continual process and will not yield results overnight, or even in a week or two. IBP may get you started, but you can’t just stuff keywords into your site’s text and expect a number one ranking. Your visitors come first – so design and optimize your site for them first, and then for the search engines.

One of the downsides to the IBP software is that is doesn’t really allow for multiple search engine optimization – the changes you make to your website are for the search engine you set the project up with. So, if you optimize for Google, you’ll probably not receive the same results for Yahoo or MSN. But with Google being the dominant search engine anyway, it’s not that big a problem.

The first thing is to determine if you are cut out to be an entrepreneur. In "Is Entrepreneurship for You?" the SBA presents some interesting food for thought. First, the SBA states that you have a slim chance of being successful in this endeavor, and that approximately 50% of small businesses will not succeed during the first five years of operation. In order to avoid being one of these statistics, you need to find out if you have the creativity, planning, stamina, and other skills to be a successful entrepreneur.

The SBA also cites a book by Michael Ames, who lists 8 reasons why a small business goes under: "lack of experience, insufficient capital (money), poor location, poor inventory management, over-investment in fixed assets, poor credit arrangements, personal use of business funds, and unexpected growth." Several of these ideas suggest that you need to have an idea of what you are doing before you jump feet first into doing it. For example, if you have a limited startup budget, invest your funds wisely so that you avoid "over-investment in fixed assets" and pouring money into an unprofitable location.

The second thing is to do a lot of reading in books and on the Internet. Approach the idea of starting your own business with an open mind. Now that you’ve decided to do this, it is important to do it right. Your first stop is the library. Check out some materials on starting a business and unique business ideas. Your next stop is the bookstore. Retailers like Barnes and Noble and Borders can offer you a couple shelves worth of books on new business ideas. Examples include: "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business" by Edward Paulson and "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting Your Own Restaurant" by Howard Cannon and Brian Tarcy.

The next advice that you should keep coming back to is the SBA’s amazing website. Among other features, it offers 25 free online courses. The most relevant course topics for your startup phase are their course offerings under "Starting a Business" and "Business Planning." One great title is "How to Start a Business on a Shoestring Budget" from Trump University. You can find free business advice online, and the SBA is a great place to start.

The final phase of this initial planning is to research the market for your business. If you are doing a mail-order or Internet-based business, you can work from anywhere. If you are starting a doggie daycare or an ice cream shop, you need to research a location where you can attract a steady customer base. Some people find it necessary to relocate before starting a business. Be creative and realistic. Don’t try to open a business where it makes no business sense.

Now that you’ve decided to start on this exciting path, you need to prepare for hard work and a long period before your business receives substantial profits. If starting from scratch is not for you, consider the other option of investing your capital and hard work in buying an existing business from someone else in your community.

However, a good inventory program will do more for you than just keep track of stock. Today’s inventory tracking software has the capability of analyzing sales data so you can watch for any ordering patterns. This comes in handy if you are testing marketing or advertising campaigns. You’ll be able to easily compare sales from before the campaign to after the campaign. Having such detailed sales data will also give you insight as to what products are fast-sellers and which ones are just collecting dust and need to be discontinued.

Being able to see your sales in an easily manageable format makes it easy to see the “cause and effect” factor for things like sales, coupon codes, and advertisements. If put to good use, an inventory management system can both save money (in inventory control) and make money (by seeing what advertising works)!

Inventory management software programs are simple to understand and operate; some programs even allow you to add pictures and descriptions of each item to make them easy to find and recognize. You’ll always know when inventory gets low because the program alerts you when your stock gets below a certain level.

Having an inventory control system in place saves you time, worries and money – and every online retailer should have one. And why not – they’re inexpensive, easy to install and there are so many programs to choose from, you’re bound to find the right one for your company. Most of the software programs offer a free trial (usually 10-30 days) so you can test it out and see if it’s right for your company. And, if it’s not then you can get a full refund.

There are literally hundreds of great inventory software programs on the market and, for small businesses, they’re all fairly similar. However, here are a few recommendations for you to get started in your search:

Small Business Inventory Control
Website: http://www.rytechsoftware.com
Cost: $99 and up
Free Trial: Yes

iMagic Inventory
Website: http://www.imagicinventorysoftware.com
Cost: $199
Free Trial: Yes

AdvancePro
Website: http://www.advanceware.net
Cost: $499 and up
Free Trial: Yes

Typically, the more expensive the program, the more features you get in return. The programs listed above are all for small to medium-sized businesses. For large warehouses, the pricing can easily get up to $25,000 for an inventory control program – so, in comparison, a few hundred dollars for a good program is a steal! The money you pay for a good inventory control program can easily be earned back (and then some) within just a few months. That is, as long as you’re willing to set the program up and use its tools!

Intuit’s QuickBooks is considered the market leader in small-business accounting software with Sage’s Peachtree generally regarded as the runner up. Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting, which has been renamed Microsoft Office Accounting 2007, is a newcomer with a small but very loyal market share. Sage Business Vision is a long-established product and a solid performer for many small to mid-sized businesses.

A Top Seller Does Not Mean It Is Your Top Choice

Looking at a list of top-selling small business accounting programs will not help you make a good choice. A best seller is not necessarily the best for your business. Many small business owners find it difficult to determine which accounting software solution is right for their needs. Usually they go about viewing software demos, listen to what their friends or associates are using, and then try to pick the one that they think will work the best.

A good place to start is by defining your business needs. Do you need invoicing? Accounts receivable tracking? Payables tracking? Payroll capabilities? Consider which of the accounting capabilities you require to meet those needs then compare the different capabilities offered by the different programs. This way you’re comparing all of your options to one standard: your business needs, which you have determined first. The best small business accounting software solution for your business will be the one that meets most or all of your needs.

Business Accounting Software Analysis

Use a simple spreadsheet to perform your own accounting software analysis. List the capabilities that your business needs in the first column. Use the additional columns to rate the capabilities of each of the accounting solutions you’re evaluating against the capabilities you need. A simple yes or no will work or you can place a check mark if they can and leave it blank if they can’t. You can also have a column for cost so you can see if additional cost will result in additional features for your business.
You can determine quite a bit of the accounting software’s capabilities by researching the vendor’s website. It is possible to download demo versions straight from the web, or you can either attend a demo or arrange one through the manufacturer who will be happy to help you find a demo.
Conducting a software analysis with a simple spreadsheet is an effective method of organizing your evaluation process so you can focus on the capabilities that are important in your business, and not get caught up in fancy features you really don’t need.
The following web sites offer information and sales sites for small business accounting software.
www.simple-accounting.biz
www.tgiltd.com
www.EverestSoftwareInc.com