Pursue your dreams of becoming self-employed

Do you have what it takes to be a franchise owner? A clothing retailer? A registered business operator? According to statistics, 50% of various registered businesses in the Philippines fail within 2 years of operation due to lack of sufficient knowledge in the nitty-gritty details of business operations such as reportorial requirements, financial reports and business feasibility. Whatever business venture it is you have in mind, we can help you figure out if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur!

Attend our Entrepreneurship Seminar for FREE* this July 6, 2010 and have a long-lasting relationship with your business ideas and become your own boss! For more details and convenient, online registration, click here. Limited slots only, register now.

*Entrepreneurship training fee waived –all you have to take care of is a Php500.00 fee for a.m./p.m. snacks, lunch and training kit.

What’s (possibly) in store for entrepreneurship in the new administration

Despite the backlash that outgoing President Macapagal-Arroyo has been receiving from all sides regarding several graft and corruption cases pinned to her name, she was hailed as the “entrepreneur champion” during the 20th Negosyo Seminar. The Negosyo Seminar (NegoSem), was held last June 17 in Ms. Arroyo’s hometown in Lubao, Pampanga. Presidential consultant for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder.Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion III, was the one who awarded Ms. Arroyo during the event.

In another event related event held in Pampanga also, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. cited that the financial reforms implemented under Ms. Arroyo’s watch “enabled the Philippine financial system to remain resilient amidst the global financial storm.” BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. also said that the country’s microfinance initiatives have been positively noted by international organizations, according to one of their reports.

However badly tarnished the outgoing president’s image might be, these initiatives have encouraged and allowed for small to medium businesses to flourish under her term. However, can the new administration keep entrepreneurs in high spirits as well? In Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Francis Chua’s first draft of a 100-day economic agenda for the new administration, he states that more reforms are “needed to improve the country’s business and investment climate”, including finding ways to reduce the cost of doing business and job creation.

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Thinking of putting up a business but unsure of what’s REALLY at stake? In today’s fickle economy, it is vital to get one’s bearings right in the process of breathing life into business ideas. Sign up for our FREE* Entrepreneurship Seminar on July 6, 2010 (Tuesday) and get everything you need to back up your entrepreneurial dreams! In this workshop, you will assess:

• The Entrepreneurial Personality and Mindset
• The Regulatory Considerations When Starting a Business
• The Business Plan
• Accounting for your Business
• Action Planning

For more details or to reserve a slot now, click here!

*Training fee waived –all you need to take care of is Php500 for lunch and training kit.

EAA 3rd Year Anniversary Seminar Offers

We would like to celebrate our 3^rd Year Anniversary this month by launching our all-new PACKAGED PROGRAMS!

We would like to take this opportunity to show our gratitude and give back by offering 2-3 bundled seminars which are aimed towards a ladderized form of higher learning particularly in the fields of accounting and finance for continuous organizational and individual career development.

With accounting as a vital, indispensable part of sustaining and managing businesses and organizations of all types and sizes –small to medium enterprises, corporations, profit and non-profit groups – Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy recognizes and puts emphasis on the need for practical business solutions in order to keep up with today’s volatile economy. Our programs are directed straight towards this thrust, hence the formulation of constantly updated programs that are abreast with the latest accounting and finance trends. We stand to deliver real solutions to real issues with our highly interactive seminars that put textbook theories into practice.

We, at Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy, are inviting you to check out our new offers which are guaranteed to be a worthy investment of your time. Click here to visit our website to see our regular offers and our Program Packages to see how you can save as much as Php6, 300!

Turning Trash to Cash (and saving the planet while you’re at it)

When people think of recycled materials sold as consumer products, reactions can range from enthusiastic raves to skeptical scoffs. While others might be quick to love the idea of using recyclables, others might be a little more doubtful of the quality and real usefulness of some of these products. But slowly yet surely, the “go green” way of thinking is finding its way towards a wider market in the world of entrepreneurship. More and more environment-friendly products can be found within reach of consumers.

Ever heard of bags made from juice boxes or doy packs? A group of women from Baguio city look at these discarded fruit drink packs and see a profitable and creative way to get rid of the city’s junk. They even weave wallets out of snack wrappers and make sofa cushions out of used newspapers. The idea was introduced to them by the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation Inc (JVOFI) and some environment advocates, at the start of the new millennium. More than just cute decorative pieces, these items actually sell well in Europe, according to Soledad Valencia, head of the Dinnadan Ethnic Handicrafts of Barangay Dontogan in Baguio. The contract is worth up to P200,000 of recycled décor, Valencia said. The most valued products are wallets and bags that show which kind of trash it is recycled from, she added.

Aside from these novelty items, there are actually wearable recycled materials which can be located in the malls. Ocean Minded, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-quality leather and EVA-based sandals primarily targeted at the beach, adventure and action sports markets, just launched its first franchise at the Mega Atrium in SM Megamall last year. This California-based brand, founded in 1996, utilizes recycled and sustainable materials in its products, whenever possible such as recycled plastic bottles, car tires, hemp, organic cotton, metal-free Leather and/or suede, water-based glue and handmade stitches. Aside from selling these unique items, Ocean Minded also promotes the advocacy of environmental awareness, actively leading community beach clean-ups and educating consumers on environmental issues.

Another unique business enterprise goes even further by not only selling earth-friendly products, but products that are made with socially–conscious principles. Chit Juan, Jeannie Javelosa and Reena Francisco, the women behind ECHOstore in Serendra at The Fort in Taguig City, call their target market the “Generation G,” which would encompass all ages, genders and social classes. Their social advocacy promotes consumers to buy products with these “G concepts” –Green, Good, Generous and Grateful. Partnered with groups such as marginalized cultural communities, creative industry practitioners, women groups and foundations, their products range from home decor, fashion accessories, beauty and nutritional products and food products. The store also serves as a venue for events and seminars for like-minded people to share and develop their ideas. In short, ECHOstore is a “for profit venture with a social cause.”

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Do YOU have a creative business idea but don’t know how and where to start? Attend our FREE Entrepreneurship Seminar and be informed of all the requirements and nitty-gritty details you need to know before you hop onto the business wagon. Interested? Click here to sign up, attend to be inspired!

Philippine BPO industry endangered by 2010 election results?

While we mentioned the good news regarding the expansion of the BPO industry other areas such as IT and finance in earlier posts, there is another factor to be taken in consideration: Will the BPO industry retain its luster in the new administration to come after the results of the 2010 elections take effect? This question was raised by local journalists last month, shortly after outgoing Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed the success of the US$7.2 billion local BPO industry which flourished under her term.

Gillian Joyce Virata, executive director for information and research at the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), said she hasn’t met with many positive reactions when it comes to getting support for the expansion of the country’s ICT sector, which comprises of the development of a cyber corridor that will expand technology knowledge centers to 10 other cities outside of Manila and Cebu City, which are currently the hotbed of ICT and BPO activities.

“We’ve approached some people but they appear not to be very receptive. However, we continue to be hopeful,” Virata said during a press conference at the 10th e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. She said there remain tremendous potential for the country’s back office IT operations that are pushing business data processing, database management, finance, logistics, human resources and insurance management apart from contact centre operations. In fact, BPO services are crossing over to unlikely places, such as medical transcription services for U.S.-based hospitals, editing and content development services and financial planning firms, among others.

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Check out our Financial Analysis Tools & Techniques Seminar and know how to analyze business situations and make tough decisions based on sound financial principles. Don’t just “go with your gut” when it comes to assessing business risks and opportunities –click here to find out more about how you can be equipped with the proper tools to ward off fears in analyzing and interpreting financial statements within just 1 day!

Bookkeeping: From back-office role to organizational backbone

All organizations, ranging from small to medium enterprises to massive corporations –are required by the law to keep and maintain accounting books. It is mandatory for a firm or organization conducting business to keep accurate bookkeeping records. The set of accounts should show the sales income incurred expenses and profits for tax purposes. These businesses employ the services of accounts clerks and expert bookkeepers in order to maintain financial records and to generate accounting information and reports on a regular basis.

These back office roles are often overlooked –hence, maintaining the “back office” reputation. But did you know that in the USA, UK, Australia & Canada, the salary of a bookkeeper ranges from $ 26,627 to $ 39,217 annually –translating to a whopping Php 1.2 million to Php 1.8 million a year? That’s probably because bookkeepers do a lot more than just file and archive financial statements, they identify and analyze these statements and save the company a lot of time and risks when audit season comes.

Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy offers a Bookkeeping Course designed to equip interested applicants with all the technical knowledge and skills they need to perform different accounting functions and processes, including the identification and recording of business transactions, preparation, analysis and communication of financial information for business decision making. This course is TESDA Accredited with a Level III National Certification, providing vast career opportunities both here and abroad. Wanna find out how you can become a certified bookkeeper with just 5-12 months? Click here!

Some things entrepreneurs (or would-be entrepreneurs) might want to know about this year

Whether you’ve been in the business or entrepreneurship industry for years, or have just started toying with the idea of putting up a business as another (or sole) source of income, knowing the financial and economic trends could become a factor to how well your business could do this year.

In an article called “The entrepreneur’s gut feel for 2010” by Ned Roberto and Ardy Roberto for Inquirer.net, they discuss some scenarios that will most likely happen to the business sector that will affect both sellers and consumers. One such scenario is that from a wide perspective, money will continue to flow in from OFWs all over the world as opposed to what the World Bank predicted for this year, says economist Bernardo Villegas. In fact, there’s even an increase in remittances. Why? Because among all the workers laid off in a number of countries around the world due to the recession, Filipino OFWs are not among them.

Another piece of good news is that Banks are reporting that Filipinos are becoming more “savings savvy”. There has been a noticeable double-digit growth in savings deposits, which is indeed a good sign for us Filipinos who have previously been dubbed as one of the worst savers in Asia. On the spending side, ironically, trends point towards an increase of sales in luxury products this year. Particularly “feel-good” products will most likely be popular among middle class consumers, such as those affected by the recent flooding brought about by Pepeng and Ondoy. Concerts and movies are also predicted to make a comeback this year, so for music and film aficionados, this year looks promising (especially for those involved in this industry, sales are going to look pretty bright for them in this aspect).

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Are there some business ideas brewing in your head but not equipped with the necessary tools on how to get started? Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy is eager to help you out – register for our Entrepreneurship Seminar which we will be offering for free. All you have to take care of is a fee of 500Php (for snacks, lunch and training kit), and you will be receiving a comprehensive yet practical guide towards a booming career in entrepreneurship. In this seminar, you will be informed about all the necessary requirements needed to start up, manage and turn your business idea into an income-generating enterprise. Click here to register and find out more about this seminar.

Bookkeeping: an overlooked element in business operations

Bookkeepers can be spotted in most business establishments. Some businesses however, ranging from small to big ones, prefer to operate without a bookkeeper and can manage to keep operations running that way. However, the absence of an effective and efficient bookkeeper can limit a company’s success potential. Why? Because the bookkeeper (whose role is oftentimes overlooked or underrated) is the person who performs the arduous task of recording all the daily financial transactions that occur such as sales, collections, revenues and even the tiniest expenses of the organization. Just imagine how messy the company records would be without a  bookkeeper. How could one keep track of what to collect and what to pay without an organized and accurate set of records? How would one know how much cash is needed and how much cash is on hand without the bookkeeper?

In the Philippines, companies hire bookkeepers whose qualifications include the attainment of at least a degree in Accounting. This can be due to our perception that anyone who has graduated from an Accounting Course is automatically equipped with all the knowledge and skills necessary to perform effective bookkeeping. Yet, years of experience have taught us that both our minor and major problems today are brought about by the lack of the actual practical and necessary skills of individuals tasked to do the bookkeeping function.

Is there really a standard on how to do bookkeeping? Should a bookkeeper also be knowledgeable on the tax implications of transactions? Are there specific necessary skills and knowledge that should be focused on if you want to qualify as a bookkeeper? If I am an accounting graduate and have taken the CPA board exam, can I be assured that I already possess ample knowledge to perform bookkeeping at the onset of my career?

Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy envisions to develop a new breed of bookkeepers and entrepreneurs who understand the ins and outs of the business and are fully equipped in answering the needs of the business industry in order to yield a standard bookkeeping process and a consistently effective bookkeeper. With our Bookkeeping Course, you can become just that – a consistently effective bookkeeper that keeps up with the standards of the industry. Enroll in our course and have the option of going through the regular course or the fast-track program. Be a qualified bookkeeper within just 5-12 months! Click here to know more.

Philippine economy to bounce back in 2010

Now that the holidays are over, its time to get back in the game and take a look at what lies ahead in the year 2010. With the combination of the various tragedies, calamities and atrocities that have taken place in the Philippines last year, Filipinos approach the New Year with either open arms and a sigh of relief, or fear and skepticism.

In the economic aspect at least, Filipinos can look forward to a year that seems to bring promising improvements. According to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director Dennis Arroyo, the country is heading for rebound by 2010 even assuming that the global recession lingers, with election-related spending mainly feeding growth.

According to Arroyo, some of the undertakings expected to bear fruit in 2010 include the following:

• Completion of infrastructure projects constructed starting 2007, particularly the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and new Metro Rail Transits (MRTs).
• Benefits of the FIELDS project of the Department of Agriculture meant to improve agricultural productivity. (FIELDS stands for Fertilizer, Irrigation and other rural infrastructure, education and extension work, Loans, Dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and Seeds)
• A boom in several industries such as offshoring and outsourcing, real estate, tourism, mining, renewable energy and retirement estates.
• An increase in demand for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) due to demographics of the aging population around the world like Canada, Korea, Japan, Singapore and the United States.

As per Philippines economic forecasts it has also been predicted that in 2010 imports would go up and would range within 12 -14 percent.

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Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy wishes everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year!  With the holidays over, we’re back in business with our training and seminar offers. EAA will be holding a Budgeting and Forecasting Seminar, which is a course aimed at delegates who are, or soon will be, actively involved in budgeting and who want to understand how to make this management tool work to best effect in their organization. What better way to start than year than by planning and managing your resources? Click here to sign up or know more about this highly informative and interactive seminar.

Common bookkeeping errors that might cost you

With all the details, receipts, paperwork and such procured in a business, it might get difficult to archive and keep track of every little detail. Some might make the mistake of regarding those details as petty, but on the contrary, one of those “petty” mistakes mind wind up to make some major damage in your business sooner or  later. Listed below are the some common bookkeeping mistakes as mentioned in Allbusiness.com:

• Forgetting to track reimbursable expenses. Small business owners often pay for expenses out of pocket or with their own personal credit card then make the mistakes of failing to track these expenses. They then fail to submit the expenses to the company for reimbursement.

• Not properly classifying employees. The proliferation of independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers has made it difficult to determine who is on staff and who is not. This results in misfiling when it comes to filing taxes since there are different rules and regulations for employees and non-employees.

• No backup. The paperless office does not exist in the real world, where audits do still exist. A paper trail, documentation or verification in the form of backup documents should be available, especially if all files are on the computer system, which could be prone to technical problems.

• Petty cash nonchalance. A system should be set up whereby a set amount of money is in petty cash and each time money is taken out for any purpose, a petty cash slip is filled out. When the fund is exhausted, the slips will total the original amount and a check can be written to cash to set up the full amount again. Many offices are nonchalant about using the petty cash fund without keeping accurate records.

• Miscategorization or overcategorization. There are fairly standard categories for expenses. However, often expenses are entered into the wrong categories or too many categories are created. Use general bookkeeping guidelines for standard categorization and create as few new categories as possible. Try to follow generally accepted accounting practices.

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Feel like you need an update in your current bookkeeping system or seeking to learn the basics and practical know-hows of bookkeeping? Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy will be holding the start of the next batch of its Bookkeeping Course on January 4, 2010. This course is open to all entrepreneurs, business professionals and even high school graduates who wish to become equipped with sound knowledge in bookkeeping and become effective decision-makers in the business and accounting arena. This course is a Level III TESDA-Accredited program, that has a certification recognized not just in the country, but internationally. Learn everything you need to know within a span of just 5 months to 1 year! Check out our website for more details.

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