Are Self-Employed Small Business Owners Audited More Often Than Other Individuals?

Yes, taxpayers who file a Schedule C, "Profit or Loss from Business," are historically twice as likely to be selected for audit as other individual tax filers. In its September 2007 report, Reducing the Federal Tax Gap: A Report on Improving Voluntary Tax Compliance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated a $345 billion shortage for tax year 2001.

Yes, $345 billion in tax revenues, the "tax gap," that were either not reported, reported improperly, or not paid when due. IRS determined that individuals are responsible for 57% of that tax shortage, and Schedule C filers are the most likely to underreport their income. Based on these findings, during 2008, IRS will increase efforts in the audits of individual returns for tax years 2005 and 2006.

You're a business owner, so you know it's important to keep good accounting records. Your system doesn't need to be complicated, but it must be complete, consistent, accurate, and updated in a timely manner.

What tasks should your accounting system do for you? Your needs will differ depending on the size of your business and the industry in which you work, but here are some basic requirements:

*Record all receipts and payments

*Track customer billings and payments

*Monitor vendor billing and payments

*Prepare payroll checks, calculate employee and employer tax liabilities

*Manage inventory purchases and sales

*Generate periodic profit and loss statements and balance sheets

*Document your transactions through journals, registers, customer and vendor invoices, bank statements, etc.

Your accounting system must also provide information to comply with federal, state and local reporting obligations which are complex and ever changing. You may be overwhelmed or confused by the paperwork, but it's not okay to ignore it or hope it will go away.

It's also time consuming to keep track of everything. If you need help, hire a bookkeeper or a bookkeeping service, a virtual assistant, or engage a Certified Public Accounting firm to assist you. You don't have to do it all yourself, but you should understand what's necessary. It's your business, so supervise the process and understand your financial information. Get help from a professional to make sure you're doing things right, and you'll be better prepared if IRS comes to visit.

What items in the tax returns will IRS target? IRS estimates that noncompliance is greatest when income or expense items are not confirmed by a third party like a bank, mortgage company or a customer. For example, the taxpayer received income in cash and did not report it, deducted payments for personal expenses, or paid workers and didn't complete Form 1099 reporting. To persuade taxpayers to more accurately report their income, IRS will improve their monitoring processes, expand taxpayer reporting requirements, and increase penalties for noncompliance.

What do you do if IRS notifies you that you have been selected for audit? Take a deep breath, and then contact your tax professional and ask for help. IRS is now more selective of information to maximize audit efforts so they may request only specific data which makes the experience less stressful. The best advice is to hire a CPA and utilize their knowledge and expertise to guide you through the process.

If your accounting records are complete and accurate, your transactions are properly documented, and you have professional assistance, you should have nothing to worry about.

Hope Player started her own CPA firm in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1987. She promotes small business by helping start-up companies, and speaking at national, state, and local meetings on various topics relating to entrepreneurship. Hope is currently the Managing Member of The Arcadian Group, LLC, a CPA firm in New Jersey which provides accounting, consulting, and tax services to businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations. http://www.thearcadiangroupcpa.com

Business Process Mapping Workbook: Improving Customer Satisfaction

A holistic approach to harnessing a company's processes to achieve true customer satisfaction

Every move that a corporation makes is a mixture of input, action, and output-in short, a process. To keep customers, employees, and shareholders happy, corporate management must juggle conflicting priorities. These competing priorities result in conflicting processes. To help achieve true customer satisfaction, manage-ment needs tools that allow for a holistic approach to analyzing these processes. This book provides that tool. It shows corporations how to analyze and enhance their critical processes in order to deliver the highest level of service to their internal and external customers. Providing a clear understanding of what process mapping can do for a company as well as practical applications for each step in process mapping, this useful guide outlines a proven method for assuring better processes and building a more customer-focused company.

Price: $50.00

Click here to buy from Amazon

The SHELL Audit - A Skills Assessment and Auditing System For Business and Personal Success

The S.H.E.L.L. Audit is a skills assessment and personal strengths recognition system that anyone can use to mine their background for fun and profit. It is a strengths assessment that business managers, executives and small entrepreneurs can use to get more attention, articulate greater value and increase personal and even business income.

For instance, if your whole department or business organization undergoes a SHELL audit, you have a much greater chance of identifying under-utilized intellectual capital that may be used to attract strategic partners or create profitable licensing opportunities.

The SHELL AUDIT Skills Assessment

Since the SHELL Audit is designed to maximize the intellectual capital monetization in formal and informal settings, it often requires that we customize it to the particular context of individual clients. Keep this fact in mind as you read through the subsequent sections describing this unique skills audit process.

Here are the components of the S.H.E.L.L. Audit.

S - Skills And Strengths

One of the easiest ways to begin with this area is to audit your resume and translate your past job descriptions into skills inventory covering the areas of responsibility and know-how that your jobs involved. In the "skills" section, you want to identify both "business" and personal skills.

Categories of skills may include technical and functional "hard" skill sets like:

Programming skills
IT skills
Administrative (office) skills

Or they may include soft skills areas like:

Leadership skills
Management skills
Organizational skills
Problem-solving skills

H - Hobbies And Habits

Your hobbies may be indoor or outdoor hobbies. They may be lifestyle-oriented or may be common to only certain demographics. In this age of information publishing and digital content publishing, many individuals have found ways to turn their hobbies into very lucrative profit sidelines and even full businesses.

Make a list of your hobbies to decide whether you might be able to create a community or content marketing platform around them.

E - Experiences or Epics

Your life experiences (or epics as I call them) can be highly valuable means of creating value in personal or business contexts. Many consultants have been able to build a base of business customers from expertise developed through their personal experiences.

For instance, John Maxwell who is a Christian evangelical pastor has built a worldwide thought leadership and a massive leadership development and consulting organization based on insights and expertise developed from his personal background.

My coaching clients at MarriageInspiration.com have built thriving marriage coaching and communications consulting businesses on the back of a unique epic of marital dysfunction, acrimonious divorce and blissful reconciliation.

L - Learning And Academic Background

Your academic background or your intellectual pursuits can provide the backdrop for identifying and assessing skills that you could package and provide to the marketplace for promotion or profit. Dig through the transcripts of your college career, or through training and certification programs you have completed over the course of your life and see if there are special and valuable skills or competencies that you can identify from them.

L - Loves and Life Missions

Sometimes, an individual's accomplishments and identity are defined by an all-consuming passion or by a philosophy that they adhere to. The example of John Maxwell above is one of those instances where a person leverages their spiritual background to build intellectual assets and skills that he is being paid for today.

What do you love or believe in so deeply that it can inspire you to deliver speeches, write books and create organizations?

Make a comprehensive list of these things and then see if you can match them to any of the other areas of your SHELL or connect them to a specific need in your company or in the marketplace.

Gogo Erekosima, The Small Business Digital Coach is the CEO and Lead strategist at The Idea Age Business Consulting firm, where he developed the S.H.E.L.L. audit for his clients in leadership positions.

He recommends the resources at www.TurnAttentionIntoDollars.com for small businesses (and professionals) seeking to leverage the internet to attract clients, build profitable email lists, generate internet traffic, win influential partners and grow sales in record time.

Audit Management Software For Your Small Business

If you have heard of some type of software that is helping companies in managing their workforce company performance, then you should include the audit management software. This software is going to be very good for higher authorities of a company to audit the companies under them.

So what does audit management software manage? This software can automate the entire auditing process. This includes automation of surveys either down internally or externally through customers. These surveys are very much good for companies as this is the medium for them to hear out their customers and their employees in order to improve their product and performance.

This audit management software will also takes care of planning for auditing throughout the year. This is because the user can easily customize depending on the workflow of the company. And what makes this software very convenient for the user is that assigning of tasks can be done immediately and automatically once the auditing plan gets approved.

And since the purpose of auditing is to check the performance and if the company is going by the set regulations by the government and the upper offices, you can use the audit management software to generate checklists. These checklists can be used in order to make sure that you are compliant with the standards set by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO. Being branded with the ISO standards will also increase the profit in your business as many clients will rely on your company.

The audit management software will also be used in order for the auditors to know if there is a need for a corrective or preventive action. This software can synchronize the information with the CAPA documents in order to know if a corrective action is needed to be revised or a new one should be implemented.

Other features of this type of software are its user friendly interface and scoring methods that will let you determine the performance score in the company. Aside from being easily configured, it also has a user-friendly interface that will really help you manage it properly.

And if you want to get audit management software, you can try checking online to find the ones that will fit your company's needs. As long as you have this software, you will surely know how your company is working and be able to do something to improve it.

With audit management software working for your company, you will surely be able to do a lot of things inside your company to improve your workflow and also the product or services that you are offering. And you will be able to increase your profits because of this.

To learn more about audit management software and quality management software and how it can help your company, you can visit MasterControl.com.

Business Process Mapping: Improving Customer Satisfaction

Praise For Business Process Mapping: Improving Customer Satisfaction, Second Edition

"A must-read for anyone performing business process mapping! This treasure shares step-by-stepapproaches and critical success factors, based on years of practical, customer-focused experience.A real winner!"
—Timothy R. Holmes, CPA former General Auditor, American Red Cross

"Paulette and Mike make extensive use of anecdotes and real-life examples to bring alive the topic ofbusiness process mapping. From the outset, this book will engage you and draw you into the worldof business process mapping. Who would have thought that reading about business process mapping could make you smile? Well, Mike and Paulette can make it happen! Within each chapter, theauthors provide detailed examples and exhibits used to document a process. Each chapter also includes a 'Recap' and 'Key Analysis Points' which enable the reader to distill the highlights of the chapter."
—Barbara J. Muller, CPA, CFE, Senior Lecturer, School of Accountancy W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University

"Keller and Jacka cut through the drudgery of process mapping with a path-breaking approach thatenables the reader to better understand processes, how they work and how they work together toward successful achievement of business objectives. With great style and flair, this book will provide youwith a different way of thinking and new tools to assist you in process analysis and improvement. This book is a must-read for auditors, risk managers, quality improvement management, and businessprocess engineers."
—Dean Bahrman, VP and Internal Audit Director (Retired) Global Financial Services Companies

"Mike Jacka and Paulette Keller show their expertise with the application of business process mappingin increasing customer service and satisfaction in this updated and expanded edition of this popular book. With clear, practical examples and applications, this book shows the writing talents of bothauthors, and it will be used over and over by those from all lines of industries and professions. Kudos for a job well done!"
—Joan Pastor, PhD, Founding Partner, Licensed Industrial-Organizational Psychologist JPA International, Inc., Beverly Hills, California

Price: $65.00

Click here to buy from Amazon

Business Tax Audits and How They Are Different

An IRS business audit exposes many more areas of inquiry than a personal audit. This is because business tax returns are much broader than personal returns.  Business tax audits include Schedule C businesses, 1120S Corporations and C Corporations. 

Here are things you will want your audit defense team to offer:

They must appear at the audit in your place
They must never allow the small business owner to speak to the IRS--this preserves the integrity of the defense, keeping unsaid the things that should never be said to an IRS auditor
They should guard against Shareholder Derivative Suits (suits brought by an existing shareholder on behalf of the company against the officers and directors of the company. The cause of action for this kind of suit is grounded on an alleged breach of fiduciary duty. Because these kinds of suits are becoming increasingly common and they grow more risky, it would be wise to secure expert and competent lawyers to handle your defense
If an informant has given information to the IRS (think angry ex-spouse or business partner), your audit defense team must obtain their statement and contradict where necessary
If your business has complex investment or business expenses on its tax return the audit defense team must consist of attorneys who are highly experienced in the area of transaction law and its tax effect
If you have complex tax transactions without explanations on your tax return then your audit defense team must be prepared to address those complexities at the first meeting with the IRS
If an IRS auditor wants to come to your place of business and talk to your customers or clients you should call your defense team without delay and have them take over the issue

So what's your business bottom line?  First, an IRS business tax audit  calls for a substantially different approach than the type of audit faced by individual taxpayers.  Second, you as the business owner must determine that your business audit team has the know-how and experience to effectively defend your business tax return.  Without the proper documentation and witness preparation your business is at risk.

by: John Ellsworth, Attorney at Law at IRS-SOLV. Thank you.

Want to know more? Come to IRS-SOLV and find out the other things every business owner must consider at tax audit time.

Avoiding an Income Tax Audit If You're a Small Business

There's some thing about just sitting down with an IRS income tax auditor that may get to even the most self-composed and mature men. The bad news is, in case you are self-employed, and your way of filing your tax return is always to innocently do it with a Schedule C, you're already on the IRS shortlist for an income tax audit. What did you do to deserve that? It is simply that you have been personality-profiled - they figure that anyone who runs a business, is bound to try to disguise particular expenditures as business ones, and claim deductions on them. They usually earmark 50% more auditors to audit firms as well as the self-employed pool, than they do for the salaried W-2 pool. But there is certainly still a good deal you are able to do, to maintain out of their sights.

The first factor you do, would be to use a top-notch accounting system on the personal computer. Superior nevertheless, would be should you had your taxes prepared by not someone in-house, but by a expert accounting firm. And whatever you use, it is possible to run your particular expenditures by way of it as well. The first factor that occurs whenever you sit down to an income tax audit is, the IRS agent looks as a result of all the deposits on your back accounts, both business and particular. If they discover more money in your bank accounts then you've documentation for to prove where they came from, you will have a bit of explaining to do.

As well as the flip side of which is, that if you ever do your own taxes, whilst skipping the experts and expert grade software program, the IRS feels that you are almost certainly not going to have done a great job, being an amateur at this and all, and will bring you in for an income tax audit. Did you know that the tax code runs to more than 10,000 pages? Their assumption that you possibly couldn't possibly have all that below your belt, can be a reasonable one. In case you are just worried about how expert CPA may charge you huge bucks, take into account how an income tax audit costs you large bucks as well.

There is certainly a pattern here, in case you would care to see it. They feel that the more homey and individual your business structure is, the more beneath suspicion you naturally are beneath. If you ever happen to be a organization, you are suitable away all more believable within the eyes of the IRS, and have less complications with an income tax audit. You could truly think about upgrading your business to some thing more businesslike - turn your self into an incorporated partnership or one thing. But more critical than any of these image difficulties you may well have of not applying the appropriate software program or looking like a "real" business, is the way you file your returns.

The rule for regardless of whether or not a deduction is reasonable, is always to ask your self in case you would have created the expense in question, in case you did not have a business. Some kinds of expenditures, draw a good deal more scrutiny. Car expenditures, come number one on their list. They assume you to help keep a detailed log of how several miles you traveled for worthy business purposes. Appropriate by means of the year. Basically, the income tax audit persons anticipate you to pull a fast one utilizing your business vehicle for private purposes. The more records you've in this area, the much better.

In case you claim to work from dwelling, telecommuting, as they call it, you'll almost certainly would like to charge for rent from your business for providing a house space for it. This is anything that the auditor will genuinely like to pick apart. Be positive you could have detailed records of how long you work from your property office each day, to make certain that they genuinely believe you.

Find out more about the author in:

Portable Toddler Bed

Kids Sleeping Bags

How to Get Into the Energy Audit Business

Starting your own energy audit business is a real option for anyone that wants to get involved in a secure, green career.

This is one industry that is expected to continue to grow, even in times of economic downturn, when people are more focused on saving money.

This gives you a virtual guarantee of job security, regardless of the overall financial outlook.

Working as an energy auditor has many significant advantages. You can be your own boss and the training can be relatively straight-forward and fast.

Start-up costs? Minimal.

You can also position yourself at the forefront of a developing energy-saving wave. It could be your energy audit business as a local leader in this emerging field.

A Range of New Business Ideas

Training to work as an energy auditor opens up a wide range of possible career opportunities. Some of these include:

Self-employed Home Energy Auditor - provides energy efficiency advice for residential properties.
Self-employed Commercial Energy Auditor - provides energy efficiency advice for commercial properties.

Energy auditor employed by a Utility Company.

You would provide regular home energy auditing advice for customers of a utility company. Utility companies are now realizing the popularity of energy auditing and offering it as an additional service for their customers. This is a good reflection of the growth of the energy audit business.

Energy auditor specializing in Alternative Energy.

You would provide energy advice for people interested in installing an alternative energy system (such as solar, wind or geothermal power) on their property. Consumers often need help understanding how to make the best use of these systems and how to successfully integrate them with other energy sources.

Energy auditor specializing in building design and construction.

You would provide advice to architects and builders about how to make buildings more energy efficient. They may also conduct assessments of newly built properties in order to give them an energy rating to guide potential investors. This is one aspect of the energy audit business that is very important as investors are now very interested in learning the energy efficiency of a property before purchasing it.

Because conducting energy audits is such a new industry, you have a lot of freedom to determine the path that you want your career to take.

Carefully check the components offered by various training courses to find the one that best aligns with your interests.

When researching the best energy audit training courses, check whether they include units on the general principles involved in running your own business. You will need to learn about marketing, tax and public relations in order to successfully run your energy audit business.

You should also consider whether the course has been accredited by a reputable organization. Certification by the National Energy and Sustainability Institute (NEASI) for example. This means that once you complete the course you are eligible to sit the NEASI Home Energy Audit Certification Exam. Such certification provides additional credibility for your business.

AlternateEnergySources.com is concerned about the effects of global warming. In particular we use our own experience in practical approaches towards alternate energy sources to survive and thrive in our environmentally disabled world. See http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/home-energy-audit.html

Starting a Business - 5 Personal Inventory Audits to Help You Launch Your Business Startup

Starting a business appears to be as American as apple pie. Every year, tens of thousands of people in the United States decide to launch their own business start up. If you are thinking of doing the same thing, you probably need some help in deciding exactly what type of business you should start.

In over 9 years of being a business adviser and coach, I have helped numerous entrepreneurs make decisions like this with a special set of tools known as personal inventory audits. These personal inventory audits are simple sessions where you think specifically about a particular life area and create a list of assets. Here are 5 simple audits you can perform on yourself to help you decide on the business startup of your dreams.

1. Audit your Skills and Competencies

Starting a business related to skills you have means that you can be your own employee. These may be broader professional skills, or technical skills or even leadership skills. When you establish a company that delivers a skill set that you understand, you can manage your employees based on your first hand knowledge of what they do.

2. Audit your Experiences

The experiences you have been through in your personal or business life can form the foundation of a new company. Whether these are nominally negative or positive experiences does not matter. In seminars and workshops, I instruct people to "turn tears into gold" by repackaging their experiences (and lessons learned) for the marketplace of people who may be going through similar situations.

3. Audit Proximities

By proximities, I mean that you should audit and create a list of people, places, products, or philosophies that are near and dear to you. Ask yourself questions like:

What can I partner with these people to offer?
What do these people do well that I can sell?
What are the places I'm familiar with well known for?
What do I know about this product that many others need to know but do not?
How many others could use these philosophies I have been adhering to?

These types of questions serve to jog your thinking into action and to help you discover hidden opportunities for doing business.

4. Audit your Hobbies

If you have outdoor hobbies like extreme sports or hiking and mountain climbing, you can leverage your knowledge of these areas to start a related business. Not only could you start an equipment or accessory supply business, you could start an internet-based business where you sell valuable information to fellow hobbyists. The internet is also a great business platform if your hobby is an indoor activity like embroidery or scrapbooking.

5. Audit your Professional Knowledge

Do you have professional credentials? If so you could start a business in your area of expertise. An accounting professional I know recently started a bookkeeping business to help business owners in a very specific niche. This is a great way to leverage the work you have already done and the experience you have already built in your professional life.

Conclusion

Starting a business can be one of the most exciting but challenging experiences of your life. You can increase the chances of your business reaching the point of ultimate success that you define by building a business according to your core strengths. Learning to conduct regular personal audits gives you a great measure of control in your decision-making.

These personal inventory audits are not so much exercises in starting a business as they are tools for building self-knowledge.

Self-knowledge is something you will need to make sure that starting a business does not become something you deeply regret down the road. Whether you are in charge of a business startup or you are leading a corporate unit within an established company, gaining this kind of self-knowledge makes you a more effective leader - a more effective leader for your business organization, and a more fulfilled person in life.

Gogo Erekosima, is The Small Business Digital Coach and provides customized Denver Business Coaching through a unique system of identifying and deploying hidden personal and business assets. Sign up today for a Marketing SWOT Analysis. This consulting module uncovers strategic marketing and business growth opportunities. This Consulting Package is valued at over $1500 dollars.

How to Audit Your Business Strategy

Why conduct a business strategy audit?

Nearly all the major initiatives undertaken by corporate executives today are called "strategic". With everything having high strategic importance, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between the many priorities and imperatives that are initiated in organisations. When everything is clearly strategic, often nothing strategic is clear. When everything is designated as a high priority, there are, in reality, no priorities at all.

However, when the overall strategic direction is clearly understood by everyone in your organisation, the following benefits occur:


organisational capabilities will be aligned to support the achievement of your strategy
resources will be allocated to different business processes in priority order - according to the importance of that process and its contribution to competitive advantage
your company or organisation can excel in the market place or in its business/commercial sector.

The purpose of a strategy audit is to arm managers with the tools, information, and commitment to evaluate the degree of advantage and focus provided by their current strategies. An audit produces the data needed to determine whether a change in strategy is necessary and exactly what changes should be made.

Defining a Strategy Audit

A strategy audit involves assessing the actual direction of a business and comparing that course to the direction required to succeed in a changing environment. A company's actual direction is the sum of what it does and does not do, how well the organisation is internally aligned to support the strategy, and how viable the strategy is when compared to external market, competitor and financial realities. These two categories, the internal assessment and the external or environmental assessment, make up the major elements of a strategy audit.

The outline that follows is derived from The Business Strategy Audit (see References). It's intended to give you a clear idea of how to set about conducting a self-assessment audit in your own organisation, without the need for any additional training or external consultancy support. But note that this outline does not include the range of Questionnaires and Checklists and the detailed guidance to be found in the full, 124-page Audit.

Part 1 ~ The External Environmental Assessment

A conventional corporate mission is to provide distinct products and services to customers at a value superior to that offered by competitors. Without a strategy, valuable resources will be diluted, the work of employees will be unfocused, and distinctiveness will not be achieved. The external environment assessment provides any business with a critical external link between its competitors, customers, and the products/services it offers.

The fundamental reason for examining an organisation's environment in the process of clarifying strategy can be summarised thus:


Ensure that the company is meeting the needs evident in the environment
Prevent others from meeting those needs in a better way
Create or identify ways to meet future or emerging needs.

The success or failure of a company often depends on its ability to monitor changes in the environment and meet the needs of its customers and prospective customers.

An organisation's business environment is never static. What is viewed as uniqueness or distinctiveness today will be viewed as commonplace tomorrow as new competitors enter the industry or change the environment by modifying the rules by which companies compete. Consequently, an effective strategy will do more than help a company to stay in the game. It will help it to establish new rules for the game that favour that company. Successful companies do more than simply understand their environments. They also influence and shape the circumstances around them. Companies that fail to influence their environments automatically concede the opportunity to do so to their competitors.

Steps in conducting an environmental assessment:

Step 1: Understand the external environment at a macro level

The first step in the environmental assessment is to develop a basic understanding of the trends and issues that will significantly change, influence, and affect the industry. The overall industry understanding comes from looking at the elements that influence the environment.

These elements include:


Capital markets
Industry capacity
Technological factors
Pressure from substitutes
Threat of new entrants
Economic factors
Political factors
Regulatory factors
Geographic factors
Social factors

A useful framework to understand these issues comes from answering the following questions. They should be posed directly when used in an interview, and indirectly when analysing data:


What is the long-term viability of the industry as a whole, and how do capital markets react to new developments?
What trends could change the rules of the game?
Who are the industry leaders? What are they doing? Why?
What are the key success factors in the industry?
What developments could allow a company to change the rules of the game?
Five years from now, how will winners in the industry look and act?
What is the reward (and/or cost) of being a winner/loser within the industry?
Where has the industry come from?

Step 2: Understand the industry/sector components in detail

Industry/sector components are normally broken down as follows: competitors, customers and stakeholders. Questions that should normally be asked of each key competitor include:

BUSINESS REVIEW

Strategy Issues:


What is the strategy of each competitor? Where do they appear to be heading?
What is their business emphasis?
Do they compete on quality, cost, speed or service?
Are they niche or global players?

Capabilities:


What do they do better than anyone else?
Where are they weaker than others?
Where are they the same as others?

Business Objectives:


Who are their primary customers?
What types of business do they not do or say no to?
Who are their major partners? Why are they partnering? What do they gain from it?
What are they doing that is new or interesting?

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial Strength - Internal:


How much cash does each competitor generate annually?
What are the drivers behind their financial success (from a cash perspective)?
How do they allocate resources (funds)?
How fast are they growing and in what areas?

Strength as Perceived by Capital Markets:


Are competitors resource constrained or do they have strong financial backing?
Is this perception consistent with the internal analysis? Why or why not?
How has the company performed in the financial markets? Why?
What constraints/opportunities do they have with respect to financial markets? Why?

ORGANISATION REVIEW

Top Management:


Has management kept the company at the forefront of the industry? Why or why not?
Are the key players seen to be moving the company forward?

Organisation:


Is the company centralised or decentralised?
Does the corporate parent act as a holding company or as an active manager?
Is the organisation perceived as being lean and able to get things done?

People:


How many people are employed? Is the company over-or under-staffed?
Are people managed to achieve mainly business objectives, human objectives or some of both? How does this affect the company?
What skills are emphasised during recruitment?

Culture:


Is the culture results-oriented?
Bureaucratic?
Flexible?

Similar lists of questions should be developed for customers and stakeholders (or see the full Audit for ready-made questionnaires).

Step 3: Integrate the components into an environmental picture

Once the findings of the stakeholder analysis, customer analysis and competitor analysis (above) have been collected, audit team members should step back and integrate the data. Integrating the different components will help the team to understand the overall environment in which the business operates.

This integration should take place at two levels: assessing where the industry is heading and the likely impact of that direction on the company, and combining the organisational assessment with the environmental assessment.

The Business Strategy Audit offers a detailed framework for analysing this data. In brief, it should highlight significant changes in the environment, and the impact of those changes on the company's competitive position within the industry. It should address the fundamental question of how the company can influence its environment in the future, and what the business will need to look like if it is to thrive in the future.

In addition, the analysis should highlight the requirements and capabilities that are needed within the company to meet external demands. These requirements and needs should then be matched up with the current capabilities outlined in the organisation assessment. This will enable the team to determine the overall alignment of the company's strategy to its environment.

Part 2 ~ The Organisational Assessment

Once the company's environment has been examined and analyzed, managers should consider the qualities and characteristics of the organisation itself that influence what can be accomplished in terms of strategy. This section is about organisational assessment. The steps shown here will provide insights into the effectiveness of the company's current strategy, and provide guidelines for increasing strategic effectiveness.



Strategy Clarification. Strategy clarification helps the leadership team determine what business they are in, the direction of the business, and framework or criteria for making strategic decisions in the future. If people at any level of a business are unclear about any of these three areas, it is difficult for them to focus their attention, cooperate with other teams, and organise their efforts to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Viability and Robustness. Measuring viability and robustness helps a leadership team test strategies and ideas against future world scenarios to determine whether the strategies can be achieved and sustained. By looking at both market and financial viability and robustness in different scenarios, a management team can see what will create advantage in the future and what key measures need to be implemented to monitor changes in business conditions.

Business Processes. The term business process refers to the overall work flow within a company and includes elements such as product design, manufacturing, and delivery. A good process analysis will help a leadership team to see what must be done given the company's strategy, and how those processes can be improved.

Capabilities. Capabilities are bundles of separate skills required to deliver the products or services that give a business competitive advantage. There are two parts of a capability assessment. First, the capabilities needed to execute the strategy must be determined. Second, the current level of ability in terms of those capabilities must be assessed. Without knowing what capabilities should be focused on and improved, competitive advantage will be difficult to achieve.

Organisation Design and Resourcing. This part of the analysis looks at alignment issues between the environment, the strategy, the skills required to achieve that strategy, and the organisation structure. During this step, a management team can design an organisation that aligns systems in a way that will allow them to execute a strategy. Unless the systems within a business are aligned to improve effectiveness or efficiency, strategy statements are merely plaques on the wall that are seldom realised.

Culture. Culture refers to the set of shared values that influence behaviour and direction over time. The style of management and the beliefs and assumptions commonly held by people in the organisation must be determined in order to ensure alignment and execution of the strategy.

Having completed each of these assessments, they must be integrated by the audit team. In this process, audit team members should attempt to answer one fundamental question: Is our strategy in alignment with the external environment?

To answer this broad question, the following issues should be addressed:


Do our capabilities match our customer requirements?
Do we offer something required by our customers that is better than the offerings of our competitors?
How are customer demands changing?
How are competitors changing?
How are our internal capabilities evolving to keep pace with those changes?

Depending on the answers to these questions, the team can implement the changes dictated by the audit. In making these changes, three issues should be considered:

Structure follows strategy - This means that current organisational boundaries and structures should not be allowed to determine the selection of a competitive strategy. Rather, the environmental and organisational assessments that you have just conducted should determine and drive strategy selection.

Plans for change must be widely owned - Those people ultimately responsible for implementing strategy (typically front-line employees) should be consulted for their ideas about what changes should be made and how they should be made. Otherwise, very little change is likely to happen.

Implementation should start with what is core to gaining advantage - In other words, start with core business processes, 'pick the low hanging fruit' first, make those changes that will make the most visible difference.

In addition, it may be useful to know that the following are the most common mistakes made by teams conducting business strategy audits:


Expecting all data to be equally useful
Do nothing with the audit findings
Failing to link other support systems (rewards, administration, etc.) to strategy
Not thinking strategically about what processes and capabilities to keep in-house and what to outsource
Failing to prioritise those core processes that must be world-class
Failing to match internal capabilities with customer requirements
Failing to communicate audit findings and strategy changes to people throughout the organisation is a clear and simple language

Andrew Carey is editor of the full-length Business Strategy Audit referred to in this article. It is published by Cambridge Strategy Publications (http://cambridgestrategy.com). Andrew has worked as a writer, editor, marketing consultant, publisher, team facilitator and business development adviser. He is also a practising psychotherapist.

How to write a winning business plan

Anyone who has ever sought financing for their business from a financial institution knows that writing a business plan is a prerequisite to receiving any funding. To be considered for financing, most banks and other financial institutions such as venture capitalists will require a comprehensive and detailed business plan from which a thorough understanding of your existing or proposed business, your own goals and objectives and your financing requirements can be obtained.

Focus should be concentrated in some key areas, namely;

The business The entrepreneurs The market The financial management and planning The risks and rewards.

We can provide you with a general guide to writing a business plan but always bear in mind that every business is unique and each plan needs to be tailored accordingly.

All the same, no business plan would be considered complete without the following

A title page An executive summary Overview of the business Management The market Sales and marketing strategy Financial statements and projections Legal and regulatory environment Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and threats assessment (SWOT analysis) Supporting documentation

The Title Page

The title page should be short, precise and to the point. A good example would be'

"Funding Proposal For Acme Distributors Inc"

Thus, at first glance your banker or potential investor has a fairly good idea what the document you are handing them is all about.

Executive Summary

The most critical part of your business plan is the executive summary. Well written, it can win over a potential financier or investor without having to get into the 'nuts and bolts' which would normally be reserved for the rest of your plan.

It is a summary of the whole plan and captures the essence of what you have included in the various headings within the plan. The executive summary should be the last to write and it should be self explanatory without requiring the reader to refer to other pages of your business plan.

Overview

In the overview, you describe your business profile, products and/or services. In the profile, ensure that you include;

The background and history of the business The type of business e.g. proprietorship, partnership, Corporation e.t.c. The kind of business e.g. new, take over, expansion, franchise e.t.c. The mission, vision and values of the business, the long and short term objectives for business growth.

When describing your products and/or services be sure to include the following;

A full description of the products and or services you are offering or intend to offer. Simply stating, 'fast food caf' is not enough. You need to delve into details and include any unique features that give you a competitive edge over your competition. If you are in manufacturing, then you must include the product life cycle. Describe any key technologies that you use together with any current and future research and development Give a description of the location of the premises and where applicable, production facilities describe processes and capacity, identifying any existing constraints and possible problem areas include information on quality assurance systems and procedures, and certification

Management

Of particular concern for any financier or investor is how the business is being managed or is going to be managed. This is because human capital, more often than not, is responsible for making or breaking an enterprise. In this section you need to provide a detailed description of the ownership structure of the business. It is best to use a chart to do this. In summary be sure to include;

skills and experience of the entrepreneurs specific functions and responsibilities of each entrepreneur and/or manager a detailed resume of each entrepreneur the financial contribution of each entrepreneur to the business, and the current shareholding structure. The remuneration, incentives, share options, and terms of employment of key management and directors Any deficiencies in management and how these positions are to be filled current and future employment levels, labor relations and union membership details of systems to be implemented: information technology, accounting, administration, management information and stock control systems details of auditors, attorneys, bankers and professional advisers

The Market

In this section you need to analyze your market from two perspectives. An industry perspective and a customer perspective.

From an industry perspective, summarize the industry in which you will compete. You will obtain most facts from government websites and trade organizations. You will need to note;

current trends and developments in the industry important players in the industry industry segmentation industry issues e.g. high cost of raw materials national or global events influencing the industry or what we call the PEST factors (Political, Economic. Social and Technological factors) national and global growth forecasts effect of legislation

When analyzing your potential customers be sure to include;

a description of the existing market and growth potential a detailed analysis of the size, maturity, trends and seasonality a list of existing and potential customers, supported by letters of intent, orders on hand and contracts awarded, where applicable a detailed analysis of your competition, the price and quality of their products, service and delivery, and their expected reaction to your activities a demonstration of your competitive advantage

Sales And Marketing Strategy

This is basically a description of how you will deliver your product and/or your service to your targeted customers. You will need to elaborate on current and planned strategies specifically as regards; promotional activities, distribution, staffing, sales motivation and pricing.

Financial Statements And Projections

This is one area where most people get it wrong. It is advisable to seek the help of a CPA or use the numerous free resources on the internet to help you get the basics of financial statements right. Ensure that you include; Operating budgets, cash flow projections, income (profit and loss) statements for five years. For the first two years you can provide monthly projections, quarterly projections for the third year and annual projections for year four and five.

If your company is already operating, then you need to provide historical performance data from your last three audited financial statements.

Never fail to disclose the amount of loans, long or short term, that you hold. This information should include the outstanding amount, interest rate and bank(s) involved.

Finally, enumerate your capital requirements and explain how the sought funding shall be utilized.

Legal And Regulatory Environment

In this section you describe the laws and government regulations that affect and concern your business. You will also need to show that you have complied with all laws in your area of operation by attaching copies of any licenses, copyrights, trademarks, tax compliance certificates and so forth.

Swot Analysis

No business plan is complete without a discussion of definite and possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You should provide an honest assessment of the risks faced and relate this to the potential for growth, profitability and capital appreciation. This is very important to an investor. Finally, suggest strategies that can mitigate the risk factors you have highlighted.

Supporting Documentation

While writing the business plan you will most likely find that you have used a number of information sources to provide data to back up the feasibility of your business e.g. you may have used data from a government website to show that demand for your product has steadily increased over the years. Where applicable ensure that you include the following documentation; newspaper clippings, promotional literature, product brochures, market research, trade and industry publications.

You may also need to provide supporting documentation for contracts awarded, letters of intent, orders, leases, memorandums, pro forma invoices, marriage certificates, life insurance policies and so forth. The bottom line is to back up any statements that require verification in your business plan.

(C) Copyright - Kimkay Kihara. All Rights Reserved Worldwide Kimkay is a freelance writer and researcher specializing in web content, articles, E-books and ghostwriting. You can find out more at Kreative Freelance Writing

Phoenix Heliparts appoint a new Manager of quality assurance; Business Development Manager

Mesa, Arizona on March 5, 2011. Phoenix Heliparts, Inc. continues expansion of successful by appointing Conrad Moreno as Manager of quality assurance and Marcus Landry as business development manager. Both appointed to more than 30 years of experience in the helicopter industry, with a career that focused on quality assurance and strategic expansion.

Moreno endorsed MD500 aircraft, Eurocopter and UH-1 aircraft in various capacities in the course of his career. Has served in the related roles at Pacific helicopters, the Canadian Helicopter Corporation and Columbia helicopters. Moreno s considerable industry expertise and background with the aim of ensuring that the quality of the extensive will be invaluable as Phoenix continued its current strategy of growth.

Phoenix Heliparts President, Tina Cannon, said Conrad brings expertise in quality assurance, an area which continues to be the main objective of our activities. We are looking forward to even greater improvement under his direction.

New business development manager, Marcus Landry, will provide critical tools necessary to identify potential customers and products and ensure the efficient and effective decision-making throughout the business units of Phoenix s; His areas of focus will include planning, marketing, advertising and promotion. Previously, he worked in leadership roles at the Timken Company Bristow helicopters (air logistics) and Aviall.

Cannon said, We are very excited to welcome to the Marcus our team; It will play an instrumental role in helping to build its Phoenix Heliparts unprecedented growth as a total supplier of service MD 500. His industry knowledge, leadership ability and strong business theory to make it an ideal choice for this role.

Phoenix is the total solution support Heliparts. The company maintains a stock of significant parts of for immediate release. Features include, but are not limited to; Engineering, mechanical engineering, interior design, metal processing, mechanics AP and IA, field support and repair of the component. Group commitment to quality and unparalleled customer support sets it apart.

View the original article here

Business practices in language schools

An English Language School's key goals, strategies and objectives should provide the fundamental planning and operational tool for the development and continuous improvement of the school.

The business practices that a school chooses to follow will set the boundaries and dynamics of development. This is why it is very important that managers understand the complex nature of this market. In doing so they must establish an organizational structure that creates the best possible environment for both staff and students to develop their capabilities to the fullest.

The underlying reason why any organization (with the exception of non-profitable ones) goes into business is to generate profits. In the English Language School business, managers must balance profitability with educational value. This is to say, profits must be maximized while excelling in product value and quality. In such a sensitive market, schools cannot just focus on cost cutting to become profitable. Managers must concentrate on efficiency and the marketing value proposition in order to optimize resources and performance.

This article's purpose is to show the reader how to structure and utilize business resources that can help increase a school's efficiency, and so its profits.

Management Structures:

The organizational structure that a school follows depends greatly on its size. A small school will have a very much centralized decision making structure, while larger schools are more decentralized. It is common to find roll-overlapping in smaller schools, as resources are scarcer and staff take on a series of rolls. This is neither a weakness nor a problem when the number of students is limited. However as a school grows, its organizational structure must extend to become as efficient as possible.

The larger the school the greater the number of staff in each department resulting in tasks being outsourced.

The optimum number of staff in each department depends on each and every single school. However, managers must always remember that under-staffing is just as detrimental as over-staffing.

Marketing Department:

Any organization which wishes to be successful in the 21st century must follow a marketing oriented strategy. This means, finding out what are the consumers needs first, and then matching them to the schools capabilities. The reasoning behind the marketing concept is that although a school may offer excellent products, if learners are not interested in them and do not want them, the school will make no profits.

Marketing Research

In an English Language School research is extremely important in order to determine key factors such as:

? Market size
? Potential Demand
? Potential Profitability
? Product characteristics that potential customers would prefer
? Who the competitors are and what their position in the market is

Market research must be carried out constantly in order to attract new learners as well as to maintain the current learner's loyalty to the school. However, a strong argument against marketing research is the fact that it may become very costly. Schools should always remember that without research it is very hard to obtain a clear image of the schools positioning and value in the learner's mind. So although outsourcing research can be costly, some forms of research are inexpensive and can be conducted internally. For example start and end of term surveys in the form of multiple choice questionnaires can obtain information on learner's perceptions and their experience.

Advertising and Communications

It is through Advertising that a school can create brand awareness, product awareness and can place the full offering to the target markets. The target markets are not always the learners per se, but parents who wish to enroll their children as well. Through Advertising the schools must communicate its achievements and successes in order to gain students and retain the loyalty among existing ones.

Effective advertising can be achieved by determining who the target market is, and so conveying a message that they would not only understand but be attracted to. This may sound simple, but believe me when I say it is not. Outsourcing advertising is usually the best alternative for all schools who can afford it. Smaller schools usually resort to simple leaflets and word of mouth, which must by no means must be underestimated. Outsourced or not, the Marketing, Advertising and Communications functions must be synergistic and congruent with all the other marketing activities.

Sales and Promotions

It is recommended that this activity is not undertaken by the school teachers, as it happens in many cases. The reason for this being, that it is very confusing for a learner to discuss financial aspects with his/her teacher. However it is recommended that teachers endorse the part of the sale in which academics are discussed. Sales staff must be fully trained, and must have deep knowledge of all the products (courses) on offer.

The school may use as promotional tools not only in-house Attendance Certificates, but also International exam preparation courses such as Oxford and Cambridge ESOL, IELTS, TOEFL and others. The Internet is a magnificent tool for sales and promotions as web-sites let interested consumers have a good look at the school's offerings and have an inside look at its infrastructure and atmosphere without actually visiting the school. So the Sales and Promotions team must always work closely with the ICT department in ensuring that the school web site is clear, has reliable information, is up to date, and keeps a record of all interested visitors.

Public Relations

Public relations activities are designed to generate goodwill and to create a positive image of the school and its courses. The PR function is to ensure that members of the school's community are aware of the events, achievements and future developments of the school. Keeping in touch with ex-students and exposing their achievements is a typical PR strategy.

In general, the marketing activities are meant to generate a positive brand recognition that carries the value and benefits of the school's offerings to the target market. The Marketing Manager must ensure that all marketing activities are coordinated to maximize their effect on student enrolment.

Finance Department:

An English Language School must ensure that it has sufficient financial resources to support its overall strategic objectives as well as its tactical goals. It should also ensure that the school has a comfortable liquidity ratio, meaning that there are no negative cash flows. The finance department is also then responsible for monitoring and guarding the inflows and outflows of cash, the credit provided and the debts obtained.

In terms of credit, the Finance department must ensure that fees are paid timely and that bad debt is reduced to a minimum. Many schools adopt a "cash up front" policy, although it may not always work. Credit records must always be obtained before providing credit to anyone.

The Finance Department is also responsible for determining and forecasting costs for every term. These costs are the basis on which fee structures are developed for each course. When developing fees, the Finance Department must set realistic enrollment targets that are congruent with the facilities available and the optimum teaching class sizes.

In the case of schools that are privately owned by a small number of partners, pressures on performance are not as high as for schools owned by large numbers of shareholders. The Finance Department must not only follow cost cutting strategies to improve performance, but should focus on efficiency. In education, quality must never be compromised.

An English Language School should attempt to establish financial policies and standards to provide a systematic approach to financial resource management, and evaluation of performance and accountability by:

? Maintaining and regularly reviewing the following financial policies:
- Accounting Manuals
- Accounting Policies
- Budgeting Procedures and Guidelines
- Corporate Manual

? Yearly analysis on audited financial statements
? Ensuring the contents of all financial policies are communicated to relevant members of the staff.

It is common in small schools, where decision making is centralized, for accounting services to be outsourced. In such cases the financial decisions would be taken by the CEO.

Information Communication Technology:

The importance of this department is sometimes undermined, but doing so can be strongly detrimental for the success of the business. An English language school must understand the importance of keeping up with the technological changes of the market, both inside and outside the classroom.

The ICT department can ensure that the school has the appropriate technological infrastructure by implementing an ongoing system for assessing the school's technological needs. This department is also responsible for generating a budget that obtains approved funding from school fees.

This department is responsible for implementing security programmes on all:

? database access
? document recovery
? document backup
? web page access

An English Language School should attempt to design and develop a universal platform which allows interfacing of all existing and new computer-based systems by:

? Maintaining standard specifications of hardware, software, networking and communication equipment.
? Practicing standard operating procedures throughout the school.

As discussed earlier, it is essential for the school that the ICT department provides constant support to all other departments and their needs. In order to do that, all members of staff must have a certain level of technological and ICT skills. In house or outsourced training must be provided in order to constantly improve the general level of ICT skills throughout the school.

ICT is an ever developing arena, so when necessary ICT services must be outsourced in order to keep up with change. It is also important that the school benchmarks the levels of ICT used by other school nationally and internationally to ensure its success.

Human Resources:

An English Language School should attempt to attract and select a suitable, highly qualified and competent workforce, through effective human resource planning, innovative recruitment programmes and appropriate selection techniques by:

? Identifying annual manpower recruitment needs:
-identifying sources of recruitment
-recruiting appropriately qualified staff
-reviewing remuneration packages to ensure competitiveness with similar employers.

Through effective line management, and a system of recognition, rewards and incentives, together with career and growth opportunities the school should be able to retain a high percentage of its workforce.

The HR department is responsible for:

? Ensuring that all staff share an awareness that the core business of the school is teaching and learning.
? Encouraging greater staff stability.
? Providing for career advancement of all staff in ways that are consistent with their own professional needs of the school.

An English Language School should attempt to provide opportunities for staff to participate in relevant training and development programmes so as to continually enhance staff expertise. This can be achieved by providing appropriate training for academic and non academic staff, as well as by encouraging teachers to upgrade their qualifications. A way of doing so is by maintaining and improving the Professional Review and Development Programme.

The HR department is also responsible for nurturing a supportive and productive work environment that fosters teamwork and promotes optimum benefits to the individual and the organization. The organizing of events that foster better relations among staff can help in ensuring a harmonious working environment. Providing an attractive and physical environment which allows staff to work effectively is also an important responsibility for thus department.

Academic Department:

The Director of Studies should attempt to recruit teachers of the highest quality in terms of academic and professional qualifications and who possesses the qualities of an ideal teacher by:

? Ensuring that individual teachers' qualifications and professional experiences are relevant.
? Providing a salary and benefits package which attracts teachers of the highest caliber.
? Ensuring that the recruitment and induction programme is conducted to the highest professional standards.

Under the supervision of the Director of Studies the department is divided into 3 different areas (that will depend largely on the courses offered by the school). Each area has a designated coordinator i.e. Business English Coordinator, Young Learners Coordinator and Adult Learners Coordinator. Each coordinator is responsible for the running and organization of their designated arenas.

The Academic department is one of the most important departments because its staff are responsible for creating and delivering the service (English language teaching) to the consumers. This is why an English language school should ensure that teachers constantly review and deliver the following:

? A broad and balanced curriculum which is subject to ongoing review and development.
? Information and advice concerning education, career opportunities and development.
? A love of learning and encouraging students to develop as responsible members of society.
? Recognizing that the acquisition of academic, personal, social, emotional and health skills and knowledge are central to realizing individual potential.
? Ensuring that academic policies are regularly reviewed and updated in relation to the needs of students.
? Recording, reporting and utilizing the results of assessment in order to set targets to enhance teaching and learning.
? Promoting parental links.
? Identifying and addressing the academic, personal and social needs of individual students.
? Providing challenging and open-ended tasks promoting independent and critical thinking.
? Supporting and praising individual effort and achievement to develop self-esteem and confidence.

Physical Infrastructure:

An English Language School must equip and maintain its campus facilities and amenities, ensuring that they are functional, aesthetic and provide conducive and safe environments for students and staff.

A capital expenditure budget must be set in order to have physical infrastructure development priorities and provide for maintenance and upgrading of physical resources.

It is fundamental that the school provides sufficient classroom and specialist accommodation appropriate to the age of the students to meet curricular requirements. The facilities must be sufficiently attractive to encourage interest and application from prospective entrants to the school. From a business perspective, effective maintenance must be followed to retain the capital value of the site, buildings and equipment.

An English Language School should attempt to systematically monitor standards and quality against established benchmarks and industry best practices. The constant review and use of new technology is vital for improving the functionality and efficiency of physical resources. It is also important that the school carries out its business in a socially responsible way. So it should attempt to promote good energy management and maintain a clean and healthy environment by:

? Providing sufficient, high quality and hygienic washroom facilities for both students and staff.
? Providing catering services which are hygienic give value for money and encourage healthy eating.
? Promoting efficient use of energy and minimize wastage.
? Providing an attractive and clean school environment.

An English Language School must comply with statutory and regulatory requirements including those relating to safety and health, environmental standards and other industry-related requirements. A good method of control is auditing. The school should attempt to audit space needs and usage on a regular basis for optimum use of physical resources and to ensure cost effectiveness in their upkeep and maintenance by:

? Carrying out a physical infrastructure condition audit.
? Determining the basis of carrying out an annual audit of the use of all school facilities.

Overview of Business Practices:

An English Language School should attempt to ensure that the management system is comprehensive and generates appropriate information in a timely manner for decision making by:

? Periodically reviewing the type of information that is required for efficient decision making and ensuring that the management information system can provide such information.
? Maintaining an information system which allows all required information to be easily stored and retrieved.
? Promoting links with other related agencies to set-up potential customer information.
? Establishing direct links with other schools and institutions to update knowledge of new management technologies.

An English Language School should attempt to continually streamline and update systems and processes to enhance effectiveness and efficiency through use of technology by:

? Developing a systematic process for good practice and management of change by fully utilizing ICT facilities.
? Establishing consistent quality processes and standardized frameworks throughout the system.
? Ensuring all implemented systems benefit the development of teaching and learning.

An English Language School should attempt to ensure that the system and processes implemented accord all customers the highest level of service, benchmarked against leading English Language education providers by:

? Establishing a quality system that focuses on student and community needs.
? Ensuring that the system implemented is an effective means for control and monitoring for effective corrective action.
? Establishing the feedback channel within the school for effective corrective action.
? Benchmarking with other English Language Schools and with English Language Teaching bodies.

An English Language School should attempt to establish internal and external communication processes which are capable of receiving, responding to and disseminating information in a timely manner by:

? Identifying areas of weakness and ways of improving the existing communication system.
? Implementing new communication technology facilities.
? Organizing events that help promote relationships between the different divisions.

An English Language School should attempt to enhance internal controls and audit mechanism to better manage risks and improve productivity by:

? Improving and streamlining the internal audit system.
? Establishing methodology for measurement and accountability based on real data for effective decision making.

An English Language School should ensure that the systems and processes incorporate adequate security features to protect intellectual property and maintain system integrity by:

? Conforming to national and international regulations on intellectual property rights.

It is here stated that no profit maximization strategies should be followed if their result is detrimental towards the quality of the courses. But where to draw the line between cost cutting and lowering service quality depends on the nature of each and every single school.

Jason Geyser

Green Business certification

When your business thinking will Green, it can be a good idea to think ahead about how a decision to seek a green certification will affect your business. Kind of "Easy Green" now promoted to this Green-driven market brings short-term gains with long-term worries. In the absence of a decision to create an environmentally friendly business format should compromise the integrity of the company's future. It is a worthy better thoughts decision.

Take, for example, the near certainty that certain investigative reporter is sure to examine the growing number of home page certifications that require only a few hundred dollars for payment and a self-evaluation form. The lack of any integrity factors for these types of certifications seem to invite abuse. In other words, a less than honest company serves the same certification as an environmental committed company. This blatant invitation for abuse will certainly come back to haunt companies took the easy route to a world in underlines the problem. Only a fool would believe that these easy to cheat systems will be a bastion of integrity.

Correctly said: "if we cannot measure something, we cannot control it." A green certification logo obvious aim is to provide the public with certain quality assurance to the logo means something more than that the applicant pay a fee and filled in a form. These programmes to promote a basic deception because certification is designed to convey the public's trust in something that is not controlled, or even be audited by an independent expert.

Ask yourself about just how you will feel after deciding to do business with another company which prides itself on its Green profits to win your business, and you discover later that any company with a few hundred dollars could buy the same designation. Do you want to feel cheated and deceived? This will be more than a few businesses take the routing "Easy Green" short-circuiting system rather than to make a realistic commitment ugly fate.

The whole concept of greenwashing have been artificially kept alive due to a business believe that marketing is bending of concepts of lift markets hare and profits. Advertising has always given leeway to turn negatives into positives, words to the realities and minimum settings for maximum. What happens when the quotas of the placing on the market run in requirements for integrity? In the case of environmentalism is called the mongoloid child greenwashing.

If the only way to green observed when measuring or testing, so obvious antidote against greenwashing is a revision of a professional who uses an industry standard compliance, The Green Business League where a commitment years ago to provide training for certification bodies (Auditors) and provide a standard for a green businessthat requires more than good intentions or a symbolic effort. More than 250 Certified Green consultants, provides guidance and audits for companies willing to prove their green value.

This standard has in an executive order recently confirmed by President Obama will require a sustainability officer who is required to project a number of green and sustainable practices for your agency or company. This federal requirements shows that the path forward not a self-acclamation, but documented compliance.

Let us return to the original question. What would be the investigative journalists of criticism to find your company (out of many other easy green enterprises) installed a number of green practices, which had been revised by an independent expert and found to deserve a national certification? You will probably feel pretty good about being the one who stood as the language-use green business.

Audits prove that you keep honest books. Revisions to prevent cheating by manufacturers. Revision of the inventory stop the thefts. No one really wants a revision, unless you know that the review will prove the quality of the work. Those who want to cheat the system withstand audits. One of the fiaskørne in Copenhagen was China's willingness to sign in to any-control Climate Summit mandates, as long as China should not submit a review of the results. What kind of message this revelation to bring you in the clear message. China does not intend to live up to the mandates, although they will put on a show that they are concerned about the environment. This is a classic example of green washing.

Enterprises everywhere should make the obligation to reject Greenwashing by insisting on green certification earned by green practices certified by an independent audit. Accept any Green claim at face value is so foolish as to invite unscrupulous in the world to pay you in monopoly money. Why not play golf with a person who believes, to adjust its score is a good way to impress his friends. If it is not measured cannot be checked; and if there is any revision of green practices, there can be no certification of a green business ... unless you bought it from the Internet!

Michael Richmond is Director of the Green clean Instituteand the primary coach of Certified sustainability Officer training internal sustainability officers.