Business Finance Tips

One huge expense that has affected many homeowners and painters over the last 15 years was the replacement of their faulty LP siding. The class action suit against Louisiana Pacific for selling the faulty siding lasted for years. Many homeowners never recovered money from the lawsuit as the money allocated ran out.

During this period of time a new type of siding entered the market that offered the durability that most homeowners demanded. It was perfect timing for a cement based siding to enter the market. Many homeowners and builders rushed to buy hardiePlank to replace the decaying siding that plagued the housing industry. Finally a siding existed that would probably outlast the owner. Most folks viewed this siding as an answer to prayer.

Most painters in our industry welcomed the siding. Not having to deal with swelling siding that wouldn’t hold paint, certainly made our job easier. While most homeowners and painters were excited about this new long lasting siding, most weren’t aware that keeping it caulked would become the new problem that everyone would talk about. The problem was and still is: How do you keep HardiePlank caulked?

For homes that have exposure to sunlight and widely varying temperatures, keeping HardiePlank properly caulked is a challenge. HardiePlank expands and contracts a lot under these conditions. Many caulks on the market today simply do not have the elasticity to handle the movement of HardiePlank.

Got Gas? – Part 3

There are a lot of elements in your house that use Natural Gas to run. My parents have a gas stove, fireplace, furnace, hot water heater and a clothes dryer. I think they are in need of personal finance help if they want to reduce these costs. When they discover their budget one day, they’ll understand if their gas bill is in line with what it should be based on their income. I’ve already shown them to our resource link to get a detailed budget spreadsheet and various financial calculators, but they can also search Google. Here are three quick gas saving tips you can implement in your house.

It’s Getting Hot In Here – I know you’ve heard the song. You shouldn’t get to the point of wearing shorts at home in the dead of winter. Can I offer a simple bit of personal finance help you can use to lower your heating costs. Drop the thermostat setting by 2 degrees and you will save a large 5% on your gas bill.

Mmm Smells Fresh – Why does no one hang clothes out to dry. If your dryer is gas powered, you could save a lot of cash by hanging your clothes to dry. This is my favorite personal finance help tip as it helps with gas bills, because of the fresh odor it creates. If you find them stiff, tumble them on low heat for 5 minutes.

I Burnt Myself Again – Have you burned your hands while washing them or doing dishes? Think of all the things you use hot water for. I don’t believe your water should be so hot that you are unable to hold your hands under it with minimal discomfort. If it’s too hot to hold your hand under it, you water temperature is set too high and is costing you cash. My personal finance help tip regarding hot water heaters is adjust the setting so it’s not around 100 degrees, but is warm enough to get your dishes clean.

As a personal financial consultant, I’ve helped many families reduce their overall costs. Their first step when receiving my personal finance help is to get their budget figured out. Simply doing this has often allowed them to allocate or free up hundreds of dollars a month. The next step is always to see where you can reduce expenses in other areas. In this case, I hope these tips will help you reduce your gas bill. Stay tuned for Part 4.

DID YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE? SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS!

The necessary condition of a company successful operation is a good state of computer assets. That is why all the companies software and hardware should be inventoried on the regular basis. A system administrator has to audit the operation of computer hardware, check whether all the computer parts are on their places and operate normally. The administrator has to control and audit software licenses and installed programs on the computers. If the PCs are connected to a local network, you can solve the inventory problem easily by using a network inventory software.

With a network inventory program, you can generate a network inventory database effortlessly. Install it on a system administrators PC only and add computers to be managed and inventoried into the program inventory database. After that, you will be able to get nearly any information about the computers’ hardware and software via the network.

You are able to collect all information remotely without leaving your seat and distracting your colleagues. So you can save your nerves and time.

First of all, good network inventory software should not only collect the inventory data from computers, but it should allow the administrator to track all the software changes. As soon as a new application was installed or uninstalled by a network user, the network inventory software monitors all the software changes and records them to the inventory change log. You should be able to generate various reports about a single computer or about a group of computers on your network. You will always be able to get the detailed information about software that has been installed, including the application authors, the program sizes, and the installing dates.

Also, the software license and serial numbers audit is necessary. Using the unlicensed software is illegal so you need to be sure that the number of installed copies is not more than the number of licenses you own. The good network computer inventory software should support the license auditing.

Second, you should be able to easily manage and track computer hardware with the network inventory program. The hardware tracking ability allows you to be informed when a computer part fails, disappears, or it is replaced by another one (for example, RAM modules, video controllers). All the hardware changes are recorded to the program log and various reports can be generated.

Third, the inventory should allow you to create hardware summary tables that help you to learn about computer details that are outdated and need to be upgraded. Various filters allow you to specify conditions that should be satisfied for including a computer to the summary table. You should be able to select any computer parts to be included to the table as columns. For example, you would include computers with a specified CPU model or with some specific installed applications, hard drives, and insufficient RAM size to your report.

You can avoid a lot of problems and save your time and efforts when you inventory your network computers regularly with network inventory software. Track and monitor network computer hardware and software, create reports, and be notified about the network inventory changes in time.

What business valuation would you place on a distribution management software company with $1.5 million in annual revenues and $500,000 in losses? How about a healthcare software ASP with $300 K in revenues that is breaking even? These companies don’t exactly fit the 5 times EBITDA or the discounted cash flow valuation models.

That is what makes software or technology based companies so much fun to sell. Arriving at a business value is done the old fashion way. You identify the universe of likely buyers, prepare your blind profile and NDA, and contact the president or person in charge of mergers and acquisitions. What you are trying to accomplish is to identify and articulate the strategic rationale for considering this acquisition.

In the example above, our distribution management software company had adapted their software to a new vertical market while also introducing it on Microsoft’s .NET platform and upgrading from green screen to GUI interfaces. They were not getting any traction in the new vertical competing against the two dominant players in that space. They had, however, created a lot of value in their technology. They were a very good acquisition candidate for one of the dominant competitors. They had “leap-frogged” this competitor with a more modern platform. The competitor, through a series of prior acquisitions, was actually supporting six different software platforms for essentially the same capability. They were contemplating a long and expensive system rewrite. They needed to consolidate platforms, but did not have an upgrade path for their installed clients. Their clients were vulnerable to defections.

We approached the president and positioned our client as follows:

1. Purchase our client for a favorable buy versus build outcome.

2. Time to market – We could provide an immediate upgrade path versus eighteen months of development

3. Substantial cost savings – By rationalizing their software platform and reducing the number of supported systems

4. Immediately end customer defections by announcing an actual upgrade path versus years of promises

5. Prevent a more formidable competitor from getting his hands on this technology and causing them some real damage

The good news is it worked and we were able to get our sellers north of $2.5 million. Over a year later it has proven to be a good deal for both buyer and seller.

The healthcare ASP also turned out to be a strategic fit for a much larger healthcare IT firm. This established company had previously delivered their software through a traditional licensing approach where their clients managed their own internal systems. The buyers needed our client’s cutting edge module that completed their suite of products. They intend to use the ASP model as the springboard to launch their entire product suite on the ASP model to complement their licensing approach.

Much of this transaction value was in the form of a well structured earn out. Both buyer and seller feel comfortable that the sales targets will be met and will provide the maximum contractual payment. This will result in a value for the seller of about $2.5 million. The buyer’s customer base of 1400 hospitals are prime candidates to upgrade their current software system (the buyer’s product of course) with this new capability. The seller achieves a 20 times improvement in the sale of their product as part of the large company. The large company increases revenues and uses a portion of that revenue to complete the purchase price obligation. It was accretive from day one.

When it comes to software or technology companies and business valuation, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If the company can identify the right buyers and if they can be positioned as a strategic fit, traditional valuation metrics may not apply.

There are a number of benefits to Nevada incorporation, and those benefits are enough to make you want to start your Nevada incorporation process right away. However, you take some time first to learn how to complete your Nevada incorporation properly in order to enjoy the benefits of it.

In Nevada, the process of Nevada incorporation follows the basic incorporation process of other states. To begin your Nevada incorporation process, you will first need to determine if the name of your business is available. In order to find out if your business name is available, you must fill out a name reservation form with a $25.00 filing fee. You may also complete this form online at the Nevada Secretary of State website.

Once you have a business name, the next step in your Nevada incorporation process is to name the initial directors of your corporation. Then you will need to file formal Nevada incorporation paperwork, also known as the articles of incorporation, with the Nevada Secretary of State office. The articles of incorporation form will require that you answer some specific questions for your Nevada incorporation. You will need to know the names and addresses of your board of directors or trustees along with the purpose of your corporation. You will also have to appoint a resident agent and determine the number of shares with a par value attached and without in order to complete the form for your Nevada incorporation.

The official Nevada incorporation paperwork is available online at the Nevada Secretary of State website. The fee for Nevada incorporation is $125.00, and is payable to the Nevada Secretary of State. You will also then need to develop corporate bylaws and hold a meeting of the board of directors to ratify the articles of incorporation. The final step of the Nevada incorporation process is to issue stock certificates to the initial owners of the corporation.

While the process of Nevada incorporation may be simple, there is significant paperwork to fill out of which must be thought out carefully. However, the paperwork will result in your Nevada incorporation, which brings with it significant benefits. For instance, you will not have to pay a corporate income tax nor are there taxes on corporate shares with Nevada incorporation. Also, there is no franchise tax nor any personal income tax, either.

Besides the tax benefits, there is no I.R.S. Information Sharing Agreement and minimal annual fees. However, the benefits do not end there. Nevada incorporation means that there is little by way of reporting and disclosure requirements and stockholders are not subject to public record. Plus, stockholders, directors, and officers do not need to live in Nevada, nor do they need to be U.S. citizens. Nevada incorporation also adds the benefit that officers do not need to be stockholders and they can be protected from personal liability through Nevada incorporation.

Read the rest of the article here: Nevada Incorporation.