عرض العناصر حسب علامة : نصائح مهنية
الأربعاء, 26 يناير 2022 15:31
كيف تساعد المعلومات المحاسبية في اتخاذ القرار؟ دليل صاحب العمل
قد تبدو التقارير المالية والمعلومات المحاسبية مضيعة للوقت أو مربكة. لكن هذه البيانات هي جزء أساسي من إدارة الأعمال -خاصة عندما تحتاج إلى اتخاذ قرارات كبيرة. هل انت بحاجة الى الحصول على قرض؟ هل يمكنك تحمل زيادات لمرتبات الموظفين؟ ماذا عن شراء معدات جديدة؟ يمكن الإجابة على كل هذه الأسئلة من خلال الاطلاع على تقاريرك المالية. إذن، كيف تساعد المعلومات المحاسبية في اتخاذ القرار؟
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Financial reports and accounting information may seem time-consuming or confusing. But, that data is an essential part of running a business—especially when you need to make big decisions. Do you need to take out a loan? Can you afford to give raises to your employees? What about buying new equipment? All of these questions can be answered by looking at your financial reports. So, how does accounting information help in decision making?
Accounting information and decision making
The relationship between accounting information and decision making is a two-way street. You (or someone else) cannot make decisions without all of the necessary accounting information. But, why are informed decisions so important? Because you need to know how much you have before you can spend or apply for loans.
Simply put, lenders, investors and stakeholders, and your accountant need to know what the information says before they can determine anything related to your business. Let’s take a look at some examples.
How accounting information helps in decision making. Accounting information gives lenders, investors, stakeholders, and business owners real, factual financial data needed to make well-informed decisions.
Lenders
Whether your business is just starting or you have decades under your belt, you may need to consider a business loan. How do you know if you should be looking into a loan? By taking a look at your accounting information, of course. But, how does a lender determine if they should give you a business loan? The lender needs your accounting information, too.
When financial institutions (e.g., banks) look to see your business’s creditworthiness, they need to know your financial information. Your financial data allows creditors to make decisions about how much money you qualify for to receive in loans. Or, the lender can decide that you do not qualify for a loan based on the information you provide.
If you’re not seeking a loan but need to apply for a business credit card, accounting information allows creditors to see if you qualify for a credit card.
What kind of accounting information do you need to give to lenders to help their decision-making process? Business financial information includes:
Income statements
Cash flow statements
Business tax returns
Balance sheets
Investors and stakeholders
If you’re a startup owner or just looking to take on investors to grow, you need to provide accounting information to any potential investors. Why? Accounting information helps investors or stakeholders make decisions about investing in your business.
How do investors use accounting information? And, how do stakeholders use account information? Stakeholders and potential investors use financial information to determine the value of your company. And, they use the data to perform a credit analysis.
How accounting information helps in decision-making for investors and stakeholders boils down to them seeing your company’s financial health. They can see where your financing sources are, calculate the profitability, and estimate any risks.
For example, investors and stakeholders may ask to see your company’s income statement. The line items detail any one-time and recurring income transactions to show if your income is consistent or sporadic. An investor may decide to move forward with investing in your business if your accounting information shows you have steady income.
Your bookkeeping may also show stakeholders that your business is a financial risk by showing potential losses over time. The role of accounting information in decision-making for investors is to inform them of potential risks and losses, as well as profits, if they provide you with capital.
Accountants
Accounting information for decision making is important for accountants because they can advise you in your own decision-making. Your accountant knows how to read your financial reports to understand the bigger picture of your books.
For example, you decide that your business needs a new computer for each of your 20 employees. The desktop computers you are considering cost $300 apiece. So, you need $6,000 to upgrade the computers at your office ($300 x 20 = $6,000). Before you decide to make an investment in new computers, consult with your accountant.
Your accountant reviews your general ledger to see if you have enough assets to purchase the computers. Or, they can advise if you need to take on a liability (e.g., a business loan) to cover the costs.
How do business owners use account information?
If your business does not need a lender, have investors or stakeholders, or use an accountant, you still need to understand how accounting information helps in decision making. Some of the reasons you need accounting information for decision making include:
Creating budgets
Hiring employees
Downsizing your workforce
Purchasing equipment
Accounting information gives you hard figures and data that you can use to make well-informed decisions. When you sit down to write your budget, the financial information for decision making needs to be up-to-date and complete.
Did you see a profit or a loss last year? Did the costs of goods increase or decrease? Is there a budget line item that can be removed or replaced with another line item that may be more profitable? Your accounting information can answer these questions.
If your budget is healthy and you have room to spend, you may decide that you can hire another employee or purchase more equipment. Some documents you need for budgeting include:
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
Beginning balances
Balance sheet
Profit and loss
Have the documents in front of you to use your accounting information for decision-making.
How accounting information system is helpful in decision making
Again, you need complete, accurate financial information to make a well-informed business decision. That includes loans, credit cards, investing, budgeting, and more. But, your accounting information is only as good as your recordkeeping. That’s where an accounting information system (aka accounting software) comes in.
Pen and paper, filing cabinets, and spreadsheets are handy tools to have, but are they the best tools at your disposal? Short answer: No. Let’s take a look at the long answer.
Using pen and paper can be a long, painstaking process. You have to go to the filing cabinet, root through all of your receipts and documents, compile them, and then write everything down. The longer you’re in business, the longer this process takes. Not to mention, that’s a lot of paperwork to have to carry around when you need to produce the documents. Your filing cabinet fills up fast.
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الخميس, 07 أبريل 2022 08:32
4 نصائح لتحسين إدارة نفقات عملك
تلعب إدارة النفقات دوراً عند قيام الموظف باستخدام أموال الشركة لإجراء عملية شراء متعلقة بالعمل، تعرف على كل شيء عن إدارة نفقات الأعمال الصغيرة وكيفية تبسيط عمليتك.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Improving Your Business Expense Management 101 [With 4 Tips]
MARIA TANSKI-PHILLIPS | DEC 30, 2021
At some point or another, an employee may need to use company funds to make a business-related purchase. When this happens, expense management comes into play. Learn all about small business expense management and how to streamline your process to ensure you reimburse employees in a timely manner.
What is expense management?
So, what is expense management exactly? Expense management is the system your company uses to process, pay, and audit business expenses. This may include, but is not limited to, employee travel and entertainment and reimbursements (e.g., office supplies).
With an expense management process, a business reimburses employees for what they spent on business-related matters. And generally, businesses set up policies and procedures so employees know what counts for expense reimbursement.
Business expense management gives you insight into employee expenses and helps you categorize spending. Not to mention, it ensures that you’re compliant and makes it easier to gather reports for audits.
Types of expense management
You can monitor, track, and store employee expense information in a number of ways, such as using:
Spreadsheets
Paper forms
Software
To find the best expense management solution for your business, consider the pros and cons of each option.
Spreadsheets are easy and inexpensive. However, they are more time consuming and can be confusing to some employees.
Paper forms work well with paper receipts and are an inexpensive way to manage expense reports. But, they also require a lot of manual work for both employees and expense report approvers.
Expense management software can streamline your tasks and reduce the workload for everyone involved. Although it’s the most expensive option for expense management, software can help you reimburse employees more quickly and avoid mistakes.
Tips for a better expense management process
If it seems impossible to maintain your spreadsheets, you’re constantly making expense management mistakes, and your employees are wasting too much time filling out expense reports, it may be time to rethink your expense management procedures.
Want to improve your expense management process and streamline the task of reimbursing employees? Take a look at these four tips.
expense management
1. Put it all in writing
To ensure your expense management process goes off without a hitch, put everything (yes, everything) in writing for you and your team. That way, you and your employees can use your policy as a guide.
Include the following in your expense management policy:
What employees can be reimbursed for (e.g., supplies, travel, etc.)
What employees cannot be reimbursed for
Steps employees must take to get reimbursed (e.g., filling out a form, providing receipts, etc.)
How long it takes to receive reimbursement
Have each employee sign a copy of the policy to show they read and understand it, and keep the signed copy in their employee files for safekeeping.
2. Follow policies to a T
The last thing you want to do is be lax about your expense management policy. Otherwise, you could wind up with inaccurate records, missed reimbursements, etc. To avoid any issues, follow all policies to a T.
Make sure you:
Thoroughly explain your policy and procedures to all employees
Only reimburse for expenses listed in your policy
Have employees follow every procedure put in place
Keep your policy and procedures up to date
3. Utilize expense management software
To further streamline your expense management process, consider ditching your spreadsheet and investing in expense management software for small business.
Expense management tools, like software, can help you organize your expenses and review who has and has not been reimbursed.
Before you switch to software, consider the pros and cons for your business. Here are a few perks of using expense management software:
Simplifies processes
Speeds up employee reimbursement
Decreases delays and errors
Increases efficiency and compliance
Boosts productivity
Simplifies reporting
Improves workflow
Ensures expense management policy compliance
One major con to software is the cost. Utilizing software is more expensive than using a spreadsheet or paper forms. However, you can shop around to find what works for your business and find the best deal before committing.
On the benefits of using expense management software, Michael Cummins, Director of Finance of Insurance Geek, said:
Automation is critical when it comes to making your expense management process better. Using solid expense management software saves you additional time by automatically generating necessary reports, saves paper by using a completely online system for reports and forms, and allows you to monitor the progress of the software anytime. Most importantly, having an automated system allows you additional time to focus on your business and make better predictions about your spending habits.
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الخميس, 13 يناير 2022 10:53
ميزات المحاسبة التي تعمل على تحسين تجربة العميل
يُعد إثراء تجربة العميل محركًا رئيسيًا في الأعمال المستدامة. هذا هو السبب في أن كل جانب من جوانب عمليتك، وخاصة المحاسبة، يجب أن يعطيها الأولوية. إلى جانب المساعدة في إدارة عمليات الخصم والائتمان، تعد المحاسبة إحدى الطرق التي تتواصل بها مع العملاء. ستساعدك هذه المقالة في معرفة كيف يمكن أن تساعدك ميزات المحاسبة الصحيحة في تحسين تجربة العميل.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
ollowing is a guest post submitted by a contributor.
Enriching the customer experience is a key driver in sustainable business. That’s why every facet of your operation, particularly accounting, should prioritize it. Besides helping manage debits and credits, accounting is one of the ways you connect with customers. The way you manage finances and collect accounting data will also impact how you build customer bonds. This piece will look at how the right accounting features can help you improve the customer experience.
How can accounting improve the customer experience?
There are three primary ways accounting can boost the customer experience.
Data insight – By being able to effectively aggregate and analyze the accounting data relating to your products, initiatives, and other key areas, you’ll have a clear insight into company performance. Specifically, you’ll be able to see areas that are creating a good customer experience and generating more engagement and sales. You can also examine areas that are not creating positive customer engagement. A strong accounting system will give you a full 360-degree view of how each area of your business is performing and meeting goals. Armed with this info, you can then apply improvements.
Smooth billing and accounting cycles – No customer likes dealing with billing mistakes or confusion with payments. By making the billing and invoicing processes efficient and user-friendly, you will make it easier for them to keep doing business with you. Making these areas more streamlined, accurate, and transparent will mean you and your customers save time and money.
Security and privacy – Web-based transactions and systems are vulnerable to attack. One of the worst customer experiences is having their identity and/or money stolen. You can avoid this with security-focused accounting practices and technology. Assuring your customers of their safety encourages more business and positive customer experience with each payment.
Accounting features that improve the customer experience
The proficiency or these accounting areas is heavily dependent on the tools you’re using. Here are some critical features you should look for.
System flexibility
System flexibility plays a critical, overarching role in these features. This must be the central quality of your accounting tool because this dictates how you will optimize the processes of your accounting to improve customer experience. Specifically, look for customization and configuration options that allow you to fully control the accounting processes as you desire.
Automation
Automated billing and other accounting functions improve both work efficiency and customer experience. For example, invoices can be scheduled and sent out on certain dates and cycles automatically. This eliminates work and allows for a simple accounting lifecycle for both parties.
Custom billing
Personalizing your service goes a long way in showing that you value your customer and it makes their lives easier. This is particularly true when it’s time to pay. Being able to dictate the layout, breakdown, and timing of invoices makes the experience of payment more streamlined in itself. This also eliminates confusion and errors. Customers can examine their unique information more clearly and proceed from there either with payment or in follow-ups.
Customer data tracking
Being able to safely accumulate and analyze relevant customer data will help you improve the products and services you provide. Tracking purchasing amounts, service data, time, costs, and other relevant notes will help you tailor your customer service and delivery to secure more sales. You’ll also see what’s working with your customer relationship, like products that they’re most interested in, or seeing how staff are engaging customers to enhance their experience. All this data and more should be accessible to your staff in order to make improvements. Again, this also makes the entire work process faster and easier to manage too. Example: information can be stored on the customer account record and automatically flow through to customer invoices without extra steps.
Easy customer emails
Smooth communication is valuable for the customer experience, especially with money involved. Being able to send a secure email within the accounting system keeps communication faster and more precise. Records of these emails should be logged and easily tracked to render efficient service and responses. Having access to unique email templates and pdf formats tailored for each customer will help with payment processing too.
Security
A secure accounting system ensures a protected customer and a safe business relationship. A fully-secure accounting system is a must on the cloud; data threats are only amping up. Any kind of data theft or loss whether due to internal or external factors damages both your company and your customers. It’s your responsibility to safeguard their personal and financial data. By doing so, you also protect your company. You do this by utilizing an accounting system that is equipped with a strong security-focused infrastructure, including encryption capabilities, as well as internal control features. Internal control features allow you to assign restrictions within your accounting system to eliminate costly errors and control access to viral data. You’ll also want to make sure your accounting tool follows Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards for safely storing payment information.
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الثلاثاء, 11 يناير 2022 15:39
أربع نصائح أساسية لتعزيز الصحة المالية في عملك
عادة ما تتطلب إدارة الأعمال التجارية، وخاصة الأعمال التجارية الصغيرة إلى المتوسطة الحجم، أن تكون رائدًا في مجال الأعمال. قد يبدو الأمر مربكًا، ولكن في خضم كل ذلك، فإن الاستقرار المالي هو شريان الحياة للأعمال التجارية بأكملها. فيما يلي أربع نصائح سهلة يمكنك تطبيقها لغرس الصحة المالية في جميع أنحاء مؤسستك.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Make A Budget
Whether planning a start-up or gearing up to expand your business, preparing a budget is a major step in maintaining your organization’s financial health. Along with a general business plan, this helps you balance desired goals and investments against what you can afford. Sometimes it’s necessary to spend more money to get started and establish your company in the marketplace. You can always revise budgets as you go forward, but having a financial cap will help you remain cognizant of your overall cash flow.
Just like how an Olympic athlete develops a training regiment to measure their progress towards the goal of winning the gold, your budget will help you track financial performance, measuring expenses and sales, to reach your revenue projections. Your budget helps you track financial performance, measuring how your organization is handling expenses and achieving sales in order to be successful.
Keep Your Accounting Records Current
Tied to budgeting, you’ll want to be proactive in monitoring the actual financial performance of your business. Having a budget is only useful if you’re using it to effectively steer and adjust the trajectory of your business. You do this by monitoring and assessing the expenses and revenue of your company on a regular basis. This should be done at least on a monthly basis – but like the training athlete – achieving a higher level of performance usually necessitates more work. Get into the habit of reviewing your accounts weekly or even daily to be fully aware of how your business’ finances are progressing. This will help you determine how well your company is bringing in sales and decide whether some expenses can be reduced or eliminated to conserve more profit.
Even if you have a financial advisor, tracking accounting records will be instrumental in establishing long-term objectives and best practices to secure good financial health throughout your organization. After all, an advisor will only be as useful as the data you give them to analyze. Outdated finances will simply be ineffective in forming new strategies.
Use a Well-Designed Chart of Accounts
It’s easy to get things mixed up while running a business. When money is involved, this can lead to major errors and shortages. One way to ensure your company’s money remains organized and within budget is to thoroughly classify the types of transactions that are essential for your business.
Use a chart of accounts to list and prioritize expenses in key areas of your business. Basic components of a chart of accounts include assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. A quality accounting package will also let you segment business units and cost centers within your general chart of accounts structure and tailor them to your industry-related revenue and expenses. Essentially, you need to be mindful of the financial requirements your company needs to stay in business and monitor them carefully. You’ll also want to be flexible when classifying and arranging key accounts, allowing room for growth and changes.
A good chart of accounts is definitely an art unto itself. You need a structure that’s not too generic or overly detailed, but just right for your business, otherwise your chart of accounts will be difficult to track and hard to analyze.
Use The Right Software
Accounting software has evolved to take much of the strain out of the accounting process. There are numerous accounting applications available, some are even designed for specific industries. However, many of these systems are not designed for you. Additionally, your accounting system will be even more powerful if it can work with the other software you’re using to manage your business. For this, it would be useful to consider using a business management platform in conjunction with an appropriate accounting software. Being able to automate core functions will also add precision and convenience to your financial management. Overall, the deciding factor should be in how well the system can fit your needs and not the other way around.
Not every accounting solution, or business platform, has these essential qualities. Typical enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions lack high-level customization in favor of a rigid structure for a pre-defined specific use. Pre-defined specific use is a good thing, but as an individual business, you’ll probably have accounting needs and processes unique to your organization. Therefore you need pre-defined functions that can be fully altered by you, the user.
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الإثنين, 03 يناير 2022 11:42
استراتيجيات لتوسيع نطاق أعمالك الاستشارية
عندما تصل إلى النقطة التي لا يمكنك عندها أن تكون أكثر إنتاجية عندها قد حان الوقت للتفكير في استراتيجية جديدة لزيادة عائد الاستثمار لكل ساعة من ساعات العمل لتنمية أعمالك الاستشارية.
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الخميس, 22 سبتمبر 2022 09:43
دليل لإدارة العاملين عن بُعد
دليل Recamov لإدارة العاملين عن بُعد.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
A Guide to Managing Your Remote Workers
07 December 2020
The world we have found ourselves living in right now is unsure, scary, brand new, and exciting all at once. All of our lives have changed in one way or another over the past year due to the crisis of Covid-19, with the majority of us having to adjust to working from home.
Moving your organization from an office setting to a makeshift workplace is definitely not easy, especially when it is abrupt and unexpected. There are so many inevitable challenges that both employees and managers come up against: slips in concentration, distractions, loneliness, ineffective communication, and much more.
However, remote working doesn’t have to equal disaster. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to managing your remote workers effectively so that you have one less thing to worry about. Living through a pandemic is difficult enough without your business having to struggle.
Keep reading and you’ll find out just how to identify any potential issues that your company could be experiencing due to having to work remotely, and a definitive list of tried-and-tested ways to combat these issues.
Common Challenges Managing Remote Work
There are many challenges that you may well come up against when you begin managing your newly remote employees. We’ve outlined the key issues that you could face, as it’s always best to be aware of them. There’s no need to worry though, we’ve also put together a handy list of tricks for you all about how managers can best support their team remotely.
Many people who work in roles like remote illustration jobs or remote SEO jobs may be more used to working from their homes. However, for the vast majority of staff, it will be an entirely new experience to work for their organization from a distance.
Identifying challenges is the first step towards solving them. Many of these issues are somewhat inevitable due to the nature of remote work.
Communication
Initially, one of the hardest challenges that you’ll come up against is learning how to effectively communicate with your employees.
Besides the obvious problem of not being able to see the people you work with and interact with them on a daily basis, there are more implicit communication issues that your managers need to tackle to keep your employees happy.
Firstly, a lot of the intent behind online messages can get lost in translation as it can be hard to detect someone’s mood or tone from a simple text or email. This is especially if you are communicating with a member of the team with who you are not as well acquainted!
Failing to communicate regularly with your staff can have disastrous consequences. Top tips for avoiding this include never canceling on a team call or one-on-one check-ins. Any cancellations, unless totally necessary, will cause your employees to lose confidence in your business and feel as though their time has been wasted.
Making people feel important and listened to is vital within a successful company, and effective communication is the key to this.
Supervision
With remote working comes a new sense of independence and responsibility for your team members, which many will struggle with.
A lack of face-to-face supervision and managerial feedback can be tough for all involved. For supervisors, there will be worries that employees are not working as hard or efficiently as they should be, and for employees, there will be struggles without proper access to the support and communication that supervision provides.
Remote working is a new concept for the vast majority of people, and so it is likely that we’re going to slip up. This could mean that a lack of in-person supervision which in turn, reduces productivity and confidence.
Access to information
A huge challenge to be overcome is the barriers to access to information. Many newly remote workers will end up spending a lot of time trying to locate information from the company or from co-workers in a way that they wouldn’t in an office. Everything takes longer: sending an email requires waiting for a response, whereas leaning over a desk to ask your colleague something takes seconds.
Limited access to information will not do any favors for the culture of your organization or the confidence of your staff. This is why it is so important that you have the best software and tools, as with outdated technology or poor organization your team members will struggle to find information that they need, become confused, and possibly make harmful mistakes.
Social isolation
A very sad reality of working remotely for many is an impinging feeling of social isolation. Spending the majority of your time by yourself trying to concentrate without any face-to-face interaction can definitely take its toll.
This can be especially hard if you are used to working in an environment where you are surrounded by people. To go from this to being somewhat isolated can be a difficult and sudden transition. A potential side-effect of this isolation over an extended period of time is that some workers feel a diminished sense of belonging to their company.
Home Distractions
Somewhat unavoidable is the problem of home distractions with remote work. Some people are more equipped than others to be able to work despite distractions, but the majority of us will succumb to them to an extent.
A sudden transition to remote work means that many will not have a dedicated workspace ready to use in their homes. This means that they will be working in communal spaces or areas which are not conducive to concentration. We must also take into consideration that more than one member of a given household could be working from home, which can increase the possibility of home distractions.
Common distractions around the house include family members or friends, parenting responsibilities, pets, and loud noises. Fostering a level of closeness between employees and with managers can help to create a culture of openness in which everyone can share their best tips for how to avoid getting distracted.
Home distractions
How Managers Can Support Remote Employees
After reading of the challenges that can arise from managing remote teams, you may be feeling worried about the future of your business. We’re here to tell you that there’s no need for concern!
All of the aforementioned issues can be remedied. As long as you have the right tools and attitudes, there is no reason not to be able to still connect with your employees and keep them moving with positivity and an excellent work ethic!
We’ve outlined some of the ways in which you can combat common issues with remote working, whether this be with part-time remote jobs or roles which are more traditionally suited to an office environment.
Daily Structured Routine
It is absolutely essential to come up with and stick to a daily structured routine. This should be implemented and monitored by supervisors to ensure that some sense of normality and system is adhered to.
An excellent and simple method to incorporate routine into how your employees work is to schedule a daily check-up via a video or audio call using software like Zoom. Some supervisors prefer this to be a series of one-on-one calls, whilst others would rather have a call with all team members. Topics to be covered during these calls include asking how work is progressing, if anyone has concerns or questions, and laying out plans of action for future projects or tasks.
Any way in which you want to check up on your staff is valid, as long as it is pre-planned and regular. This gives your staff a sense of structure reminiscent of their old work environment and lets them know that you are there if they need to communicate anything to you.
Another benefit of incorporating a daily structured routine into the lives of your teams is that managers will get to interact with employees potentially more than they did before the work environment went remote. An employee will now feel like they can put a name to a face for many of their colleagues which can be a great step in bringing the business together and encouraging trust and productivity.
Provide Tech Solutions
The days in which email alone was a sufficient means to communicate with colleagues are over. Managing your new remote workers requires a more sophisticated way to communicate.
Those who work from home benefit from having multiple technology solutions, such as video conferences and direct messages. There are so many tech solutions out there, it’s just a matter of choosing the ones that work for you and your employees the best.
Managing remote workers makes the arranging of meetings much harder. You can no longer walk into a room and round everyone up for a talk. Instead, you’ll have to find the right technological solutions that work for everyone. The best tools will enable managers and employees to stay on the same page and organize part of your time for you.
A communication tool that is audio-visual such as video conferencing or phone calls can have many advantages for workers, such as allowing for increase shared knowledge and reducing a sense of social isolation.
What’s more, there are much better ways of expressing particular tones and intents than sending a rudimentary email. What can be much better is communicating through video or by using GIFs and emoticons on a messaging application such as Slack.
Provide tech solutions
Clear Terms and Outlined Brief
In order to further maintain structure and efficiency, it is a good idea for supervisors to outline clear briefs and terms.
An excellent system that supervisors can use to do this is by setting rigid expectations for their teams in terms of communication and workload. For example, let your workers know when is the best time for them to contact you, when to expect video conference calls, and when it is appropriate to use direct messaging, email, and so on.
Organizing rules of engagement is a great method of keeping consistency within your business and can be very satisfying then carried out efficiently.
It is important to establish clear times and an outlined brief as soon as possible when managing remote employees. This way every member of the team will be able to communicate effectively with each other, share information as needed, and set the tone for what is expected of them while working at home.
If you work within a large organization, there is a chance that members of your staff will be working in different time zones. Keep this in mind when creating schedules and check-ins, as not every employee will be available at the same time as others.
Many employees struggle with working remotely initially because they fail to adapt to no longer being in their workplaces. Making everything clearly outlined and detailed, with tips for them to follow during their first time working without direct contact is a great method of inspiring confidence and providing support.
Social Engagement
One of the easiest and most important ways that managers can support remote workers is through engaging in social interaction whenever possible. A simple means to do this is allowing time at the beginning or end of a work call to discuss non-work related topics, such as how everyone is doing, or what they are up to.
It may seem obvious, but social engagement can do wonders for any business, remote or otherwise! Going from working in an office surrounded by people to being stuck inside by yourself all day can be really tricky, so managers should always try and encourage social interaction.
Human beings are social creatures, so at the very least your colleagues should all know each other by first name and be comfortable chatting. Failure to foster social engagement in your organization can have serious health impacts on your staff.
A long-term impact of loneliness (which can be triggered from remote work) is the development of a depressive or anxious state. A good manager will be aware of this and be actively working towards avoiding their teams reaching such a state.
Not only this but encouraging employees to interact with each other can also be effective in reducing feelings of social isolation and increasing mutual knowledge. Virtual events or even informal chats over a messaging app or on the phone can be really helpful in building up trusting relationships.
Team Player
As a manager, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to distance yourself from your employees too much. You want to be personable and approachable in order to cultivate a culture of transparency and openness in your office. The alternative to this is coming across as either intimidating and far-removed from the work and lives of the employee, which is definitely not desirable.
To combat this common issue, supervisors should engage with their employees by offering encouragement, work advice, and emotional support if necessary. In the context of remote work, where many people experienced an abrupt and stress-inducing change to their lives, it is important for managers to empathize with this and listen to their employees.
Easy ways to become more of a team player include encouraging social interaction amongst colleagues, taking the time to listen to concerns or feedback from an employee, and providing reassurance and resources when needed.
Many companies who work remotely will organize an event once a week or fortnight as a way to check in and be present with its employees. A great way to do this is by hosting virtual parties or starting a club where managers and employees can send a book or article they enjoyed recently, for example.
Final Thoughts
Trying to manage many employees remotely for the first time is challenging and can feel difficult or frustrating at times. The majority of companies who have had to go remote in the past year did not plan on doing so, meaning that they had to overcome many unknown dilemmas and hurdles.
It is a learning process for everyone within a business to figure out how to effectively work from home, but it is the job of managers to ensure that the transition to working remotely for the first time is successful and as smooth as possible.
However, it is entirely possible for companies to be just as successful with a remote team as they were within an office setting. Some of the rules and methods may be a little different or unconventional, but the fundamentals of managing a team remain the same.
Make sure to follow the guide that we’ve given you, and always be aware of any challenges that either you or your employees are facing. The most important part about managing remote teams is making sure that everyone is happy and actively wanting to continue working. Ensuring this means sticking to the tips we’ve outlined for you above, and always remembering to be a team member.
We will get through the Covid-19 pandemic together, and if you manage your newly remote workers well, your company can come out the other side more successful than ever!
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الثلاثاء, 21 ديسمبر 2021 15:22
4 نصائح لضمان إنتاجية القوى العاملة
تعد إنتاجية القوى العاملة قضية أكثر إلحاحًا اليوم مما كانت عليه في بعض الوقت. هذا لأن العديد من الشركات (إن لم يكن معظمها) اضطرت إلى تبني العمل عن بُعد في خضم أزمات COVID-19. وعلى الرغم من أننا محظوظون لامتلاكنا التكنولوجيا التي تجعل العمل عن بُعد ممكنًا تمامًا في كثير من الحالات، إلا أنه لا يزال سيناريو يفرض تحديات فريدة على المديرين والموظفين على حدٍ سواء. ومن أهم هذه التحديات كيفية ضمان الإنتاجية.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
4 Tips To Ensure Workforce Productivity
Jun 3, 2020 | Business Trends, Salesforce & IT Admins, Salesforce Account Executives
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Featured guest article by Samual Adams.
Workforce productivity is a more pressing issue today than it has been in quite some time. This is because many (if not most) businesses have had to embrace remote working in the midst of the COVID-19 crises. And while we’re fortunate to have the technology to make remote working perfectly feasible in many cases, it’s still a scenario that poses unique challenges to managers and employees alike. Chief among those challenges is how to ensure productivity.
WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY
There are a lot of things you can do to accomplish this goal. Many of the relevant strategies are already apparent to managers: sticking to project schedules, establishing regular communications, and so on. Below, we’ll point to a few more specific tips that can keep your workforce active, healthy, and appreciative — all of which can add up to continued productivity.
1. Schedule Check-Ins
Establishing a schedule for projects and tasks is essentially a given — as is setting up a general expectation for communications. Beyond these initiatives though, it’s also wise to schedule specific check-ins with employees, ideally on a daily basis (or at least a few times a week). As one guide to managing remote workers put it, a regular check-in is a good way to let employees know that any questions or concerns of theirs will be heard. This is important for morale, especially when they aren’t working in close proximity to their managers. Plus, regular check-ins establish accountability. You don’t need to hawk over your workforce to ensure they work on an exact, dictated schedule while they’re remote — but regular check-ins do incentivize them to be up-to-date with their progress. All of this amounts to more regular productivity.
2. Choose a Video Chat
In our new era of remote work, it seems video chatting is all anyone is talking about. That’s with good reason. A face-to-face chat with employees can be one of the best ways to make them feel a sense of continuity. Working solely through chats and messages are effective, but there are likely to be some employees who simply respond better to the added social nature of a video chat.
By now, you’re likely aware that Zoom has become the leading video conferencing system. But it may still be worth your while to explore other options, and perhaps see what your workforce is most comfortable with. Some may already be familiar with Skype, for instance. Cisco has some alternative services, and Google just made its video chat available to all users for free.
In the end, you’ll only need one, but make sure it’s one that employees are up for using the system you choose. From there, you can set up occasional video conferences that will help you to maintain a feeling of company unity. You might even consider establishing a channel where employees can meet together at their leisure, whether to work together or just get a little bit of social time.
3. Run Investment Tutorials
This isn’t an idea that will occur to every business leader. But in uncertain working conditions, employees around the world are concerned about their finances. While working remotely, some are concerned about pay cuts, a loss of benefits, or simply their own lost savings in a tricky economic climate. These worries alone can make it hard for them to be as productive. Offering some investment advice or tutorials can alleviate some of this anxiety, and also show that the company cares.
That doesn’t mean you should pretend to be an expert where you’re not, nor that you even have to be fully in charge. But fostering some discussions about investment strategy can be a nice way to engage your workforce with something that matters, but isn’t work. You might consider at least covering a few investment topics that don’t relate directly to the stock markets your employees have been watching as they’ve struggled these last few months. For instance, you may want to brush up on your forex knowledge so as to have a few conversations about the currency trade. This may give them some ideas as to how to grow their finances outside of the markets. Similarly, you can discuss strategies for trading commodities, which relate to traditional markets but are traded separately. This can lead to an interesting discussion as well because there are so many commodities and different ways to trade them.
None of this means you should be dictating investment strategies to employees, or pushing them one way or another. But by having some general, informative discussions about financial management, you can help them to feel more comfortable about their financial future. Providing them this reassurance may also allow them to devote more focus to their work.
4. Provide Fitness Tips
Just as you can engage your employees about trading strategies to help them feel comfortable and proactive, you can also help employees stay fit while they’re stuck at home. You can direct staff to a variety of home workout options to help them be both healthy and focused.
Taking an interest in health and fitness as a leader shows that you care about employee wellness. Not to mention, study after study indicates that physical health and regular exercise can lead to greater attentiveness and productivity. Employees engaging in regular fitness efforts will likely perform more effectively.
Try some tips like these and you’ll likely find that your workforce operates smoothly — and maybe even cheerfully — while contributing remotely. You can find additional insight and managerial tips in Recamov’s Guide to Managing Your Remote Workers.
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الأربعاء, 06 أبريل 2022 08:29
نصائح حول الانتقال الوظيفي لـلمحاسب القانوني ومتخصصي الضرائب
اليوم وبعد مرور أكثر من عام على انتشار الوباء، يشهد الاقتصاد تقدمًا وقد اقترب موسم الضرائب من نهايته، وقد يكون العديد من المحاسبين مستعدين للبحث عن فرصتهم الوظيفية التالية.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Given the new landscape, CPAs and other tax professionals may ask what steps can you take to grow your career and land your next opportunity.
Now that we’re more than a year into the pandemic, tax season has (finally) come to a close, the economy is on the upswing and many accounting professionals may be ready to search for their next opportunity. Here are a few ways CPAs and tax pros can plan their next move.
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Education is Key
It may seem basic, but education and attaining credentials go a long way in the accounting profession. Those aspiring to explore a new role should consider the education and certification requirements of their chosen path.
For many professionals, getting their CPA license is a goal and part of the natural career progression. Obtaining this certification can qualify you for many different career opportunities, from within an accounting firm to leading a business across industries, as well as to help you stand out to employers and industry recruiters.
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Depending on your long-term goals, you might consider the CMA (Certified Management Accountant), a global certification for management accountants and finance professionals, or working towards your CGFM (Certified Government Financial Manager), a professional certification awarded by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) that demonstrates competency in skills like governmental accounting at the federal, state, and local levels. Not only do additional certifications give you an advantage on other job applicants but pursuing them ensures that you’re consistently up to date on the latest information and increases your knowledge base.
And the education doesn’t stop there. In today’s job market, a huge differentiator is knowledge of the latest technology, including the cloud, AI and automation, and practical applications for your role. More and more companies are adopting these technologies and weaving them into everyday processes.
As a result, the need to upskill or reskill has dramatically accelerated. By getting ahead and educating yourself on these hard skills like data analysis and ERP adeptness, it’s possible to stand out among a sea of applicants.
Attend Events (Virtually)
Prior to COVID-19, it may not have been feasible to attend an event or conference, due to cost or lack of time travel. This meant that there were fewer opportunities for less experienced or more junior associates to grow and network with industry thought leaders.
Today, attending events looks a little different. In lieu of traditional conferences, many organizations have switched to virtual platforms – making professional development or networking opportunities more accessible for many. By signing up and learning from thought-provoking industry executives, you can gain insights on the future of the industry and what companies are looking for in the leaders of tomorrow.
Attending virtual events is also a great way to network with peers. Many conferences offer scheduled breakout rooms, giving you the opportunity to engage and participate in discussions with peers and industry leaders. Topics may vary, but sharing your insights and ideas could position you as an expert.
Another way to network virtually is to be active on social media. Consider posting your thoughts and what you hope to experience at the event, using specific hashtags and posting on the event page or your own social media channels. By doing so, you have the ability to spark great conversation with other potential attendees and industry peers and to build your own professional network.
After the event takes place, you can also share lessons learned – this could take the form of a social media post or written article that can be shared on platforms like LinkedIn. There is also an opportunity to share your learnings with members of your firm, which with further exemplify your leadership skills.
Continuing To Develop Your Leadership Role With EQ
Many companies have changed the way they hire and onboard employees because of COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, leaders may have only been assessed by their hard skills, like developing efficient financial reporting methods. But now the leadership profile has taken a turn, focusing on behavior training and a high emotional intelligence (EQ).
In order to take the next step in your career, it’s critical to focus on your emotional intelligence. Leaders in today’s climate need to be able to better connect with teams and employees, as many people want to work in a place where they feel safe.
When looking for a new career or position, you should be prepared to discuss specific moments in time that highlight instances when EQ and ability to connect with others helped move a situation forward.
While this is a skill that’s typically intrinsic, it is possible to develop your EQ through behavior training, practicing self-awareness and actively listening. Today, these are the skills that matter most in the workplace.
Conclusion
While many employers provide professional development and training resources to their employees, it is important that you take your future into your own hands. Immersing yourself in outside learning opportunities, like virtual events, and continuing to educate yourself on the industry and necessary skill sets relevant to today’s times are critical to advancing your career.
When looking to take that next step, make sure you show recruiters your efficiency in hard skills – like those that come with certifications – and knowledge of technology. Second, but equally as important, show them the soft skills that make you stand out from other applicants – like your willingness to stand up and share lessons learned and the ability to connect with fellow employees at all levels.
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الإثنين, 06 ديسمبر 2021 16:35
30 سؤال لشركاء الغد
حقبة جديدة من مكان العمل هنا، وما تحدث عنه المستقبليون والخبراء لسنوات عديدة أصبح واقعنا الجديد.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
30 questions for the partners of tomorrow
By Ayalla Reuven-Lelong
December 02, 2021, 11:15 a.m. EST
4 Min Read
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A new era of the workplace is here, and what futurists and experts have spoken about for many years has become our new reality.
Eleven years ago, while working as external consultants for KPMG Israel, my team created the 5 Lands Journey Model to support partners and leaders in their upskilling process. The model was designed to understand how critical disruptive trends (such as technology, globalization, regulation, the new generations, talent mobility and a new socioeconomic order) are going to change the face of the workplace, creating significant challenges and opportunities for most accounting firms, partners, leaders, and employees.
In the last decade, in all our projects, we put the 5 Lands components of higher purpose, well-being, emotional self-awareness and empathy in the center of the partners' personal life and career management. We emphasized these abilities since many well-positioned and well-remunerated partners didn’t find a sense of purpose in their everyday lives, didn’t pay enough attention to their emotions and well-being, and generally felt that something was missing in their lives. As a result, many lost their passion and willingness to positively impact their teams, their clients and society at large.
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Today, phenomena such as the Great Resignation (which is not fully understood yet) put individuals, their needs and their purpose in the center more than ever. In the new reality we are all facing, partners and leaders can't think about their career management separately from their life management. In the past two years, most of us learned how precious time and people are in our lives and how we should not take anything for granted. Hopefully, this lesson will continue to guide many of the strategic leadership processes in the firm.
The only way to make sure that partners and leaders in any firm are future-fit and can prepare the entire workforce for the post-COVID reality is to stop separating our personal from our professional lives. This is an excellent time for partners, leaders and employees to embark on the 5 Lands Journey at a profound level and become the best version of themselves. On the one hand, they need to take good care of themselves and their well-being and find a deep sense of meaning in their everyday life. On the other hand, they need to make sure they manage their careers well — possessing enough of what we used to call the future skills, which have now become critical skills. Among those are growth mindset, creativity, critical thinking and emotional intelligence.
This unique journey needs to start with a self-reflection process. In most of our upskilling sessions today, we begin with questions based on the 5 Lands Model. These questions make leaders we work with think deeply about their personal lives, purpose and future career management.
A good suggestion might be to put the questions on cards and stop once or twice a day to pick a question and reflect upon it for a few minutes. It is also good to do it with someone you feel comfortable with or even with some team members.
Mindset Land
To what extent do you believe that with effort and investment, abilities and skills can be developed?
When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? What happened?
Describe one of your failures that you did not have an easy time dealing with. In what ways do you feel it contributed to your personal growth?
What are you curious about? What do you really like to learn?
When was the last time you invested effort in developing new knowledge or skills?
Whom do you value as a successful self-made person?
What do you do, as a leader, to make sure your direct reports develop a growth mindset attitude?
Artgineer Land
When was the last time you demonstrated creativity (right side of the brain)?
How often do you stop and try to imagine your future? How would you like to see yourself two years from now?
To what extent do you perceive yourself as a person who knows how to prioritize effectively?
What is your greatest passion?
Who helps you think out loud about your personal vision and plans, in order to make them come true?
To what extent do you use your critical thinking ability?
Emotional Intelligence Land
With whom do you like to share your feelings?
How easy is it for you to "count to 10" before you react?
In what situations is it easy for you to show empathy for others? In what situations is it more challenging?
Think about a period in your life where you continued and didn’t give up, even though you had a hard time. How do you feel about this period?
What are the special abilities you value in yourself? What do you want to strengthen?
In what situations is it easy for you to demonstrate flexibility?
To what extent are you able to deal with situations of uncertainty successfully?
Sustainability Land
To what extent do you feel a sense of higher purpose in your work?
In what situations is it easy for you to look at the half-full glass, and what situations challenge you?
Who are the people in your ”social bank account” (network)? How do these relationships help you to be the best version of yourself?
What do you think you can do to build yourself a winning value proposition — both personally and professionally?
What do you do to maintain your well-being — physically, emotionally and mentally?
I-21 Land
How are you going to look when you become the best version of yourself?
What are your strengths? How do you use them?
What are your “next jumps”? How are you going to develop them?
What would you like to invest in to become the best version of yourself?
Who can help you be the best version of yourself?
What impact would you like to have on a personal and professional level?
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الثلاثاء, 24 مايو 2022 08:32
كن أكثر استعدادًا للمخاطر أكثر من أي وقت مضى
قلل من المخاطر العامة وارفع مستوى مهارتك
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Be Even More Risk Ready Than Ever Before
Lower Risk Overhead and Raise Your Skill Level
For a limited time, The IIA is waiving the application fee (up to a $210 value) for the CRMA credential* through Dec. 31, 2021!
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Earning a certification is the best way to articulate your expertise in this essential area without saying a word. You can apply now.
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