subject: What Your Accountant or Business Consultant Should Have Told You In 2009 [print this page] Author: Sam Fuller Author: Sam Fuller
What Your Accountant or Business Consultant Should Have Told You In 2009 By Sam Fuller Almost every business felt the negative effects of the recession last year, so if you didnt post record profits for your business in 2009, you are not alone. However, if you use an accountant or a business consultant and they didnt advise you to incorporate MBE-barter as an integral and ongoing part of your business and marketing plan, you sadly missed out on many thousands of dollars in additional revenue last year. A good accountant will most definitely tell you to barter where possible to make savings and created better cash flow. Most average accountants, on the other hand, will tell you not to bother with barter, because they dont want the additional workload entailed in keeping track of those transactions. Just think, though, those extra few minutes of effort on their part could have saved your business many thousands of dollars in expenses. Another reason they may be disinclined to bring up the topic of barter, is that you may suggest they trade their fees with you a sensible point, as it doesnt really cost them anything in additional cash outlay to have you as a client, does it. Likewise, many business consultants merely regurgitate textbook rhetoric and have no vested interest in your success. If either of these service providers didnt at least save you more money than you paid them in fees, you may wish to reconsider things in 2010 and certainly suggest bartering with them, if they wish to keep you as a client. Good advice-givers will undoubtedly tell you without exception the single, most effective thing you can implement in your business right now is to utilize barter. Whether you attempt the direct route of trading one-on-one (which has challenges well discuss a little later) or go with the more efficient method of using a successful and established barter network, like Merchants Barter Exchange (http://merchantsbarter.com) you will make savings for your business. A word of caution, if you are considering saving a few pennies up front and going it alone. First and foremost, the IRS still considers all bartering as taxable income, so keep appropriate records. Secondly, only barter directly in comfortable amounts that improve your cash flow (some businesses are not liquid enough to barter.) Thirdly, make sure the trade is fair and you are getting equal value and quality. These three hurdles alone are usually enough to deter most businesses for even contemplating bartering, but that is just the reason companies like Merchants Barter are booming right now. They take out all the leg work involved with bartering, and the hindrance of wanting the other companys stuff in trade. Not all barter companies are created equal, though, so caution is also advised here. A very useful independent site for research into barter organizations is Barter Week (http://barterindependent.com) which profiles, reviews, and rates all the national barter networks in the US. This site is a vast improvement on the sponsored organizations like IRTA and NATE, who tend to be completely biased towards only their members. Never barter as a preference to doing cash business, and make sure the barter company doesnt disclose your company details in an open directory, so that existing cash customers are not enticed to barter with you instead. Horror stories abound about very trusting business owners bartering many tens of thousands of dollars worth of work, but then getting a raw deal in return. A good quality barter exchange especially one that lets you purchase something first will inhibit this from ever happening to you. The best advice, if in doubt, purchase something first. This also ensures that you wont be stuck with a pile of Mickey Mouse dollars you cannot spend no anything you want. Also ensure the integrity of their dollar, if they allow any part of the transaction in cash at all (instead of being 100% on barter) steer well clear, any blends or mixes of barter with cash only means one thing: theres more room for things to be inflated or not be controlled. No matter what size your company, there are literally thousands of dollars worth of savings to be had each and every year (whether its directly for your business, or some personal things too which are paid for out of profits in the business, so you may as well take advantage of it!) and a great deal of new customers you are missing out on. Imagine how much business you would lose, if you stopped accepting credit cards? Now just think how much business you lost in 2009 because you didnt use the simple, yet highly effective power of bartering? About the Author:
Sam Fuller is a freelance writer and blogger.
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