Typically sold for around $250, but on sale through Amazon US or Amazon UK for only $199, Intuit’s newest adaption of small business accounting software actually costs less to buy than its 2012 predecessor, but signing up might not be worth the savings.

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Small businesses operating on Quickbooks Pro 2012 or earlier might want to keep the version they have. According to customer reviews of Pro 2013, the software offers very little in advancements and leaves users disappointed with their purchase.
Consumers who upgraded to Quickbooks Pro 2013 cite a long list of issues with Intuit’s most recent version. Claiming the company has attempted to “dumb down” the product, most reviewers were extremely displeased with limited color choices and larger font sizes.

 Video below summaries what Quickbooks can do for you and your business:

Long term users of previous versions of Quickbooks Pro are frustrated at the newer style of 2013. A vast majority say that, unlike Pro 2012, the 2013 version allows for little to no color scheme preferences and leaves companies to deal with a “dull and lifeless” black/white/grey graphics.

Another major problem with colorization is that businesses no longer have the ability to color code separate accounts within their files.

Font size was also an area of contention to those who paid out for the 2013 upgrade. Disgruntled owners of the accounting software assert that Intuit has increased font size almost 30%, making screen space limited and increasing the effort required by the user – some reviewers argue that what took only a moderate amount of time to achieve in previous versions, now takes longer because multiple right and down arrow clicks are needed to access information that could normally be seen all on one full screen.

This video below is just one of the many online videos available to help you set up your small business books.

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Intuit, the maker of Quickbooks Pro 2013, has responded to negative reviews for its product. Quickbooks Customer Care representative, Andrea Rahn admits the company has no plans to make drastic changes to the program’s new design, but that incremental tweaks would take place periodically based on customer feedback.

Veteran users of Quickbooks Pro insist that 2013 is much less desirable than its earlier counterpart and most have chosen to revert back to their 2012 version.

Many small businesses take late fall and early winter to dispose of outdated or malfunctioning equipment. By opting for higher end, technologically advanced work tools like Canon’s Pixma MG8250 All-In-One WiFi Printer which prints, scans, copies and prints up to 11.5 pages per minute, a company can expect to see up to  $600.00  in deductions on their next tax bill.

According to Intuit, a world leader in tax preparation and business software solutions, business equipment such as laptops, printers, and computer systems are often fully deductible. The Internal Revenue Service confirms these deductions by stating expenses acquired for day-to-day business that are necessary for operations can be itemized under the assets portion of a return.  The IRS also points out that expenditures a company makes during the course of the year may also include items the company does not require to function, but rather uses to make business more functional and profitable.

Canon Pixma MG5350

In order for a small business to gain this deduction, it must first purchase an item within the current tax year, list the item as an asset on their return, and claim full deduction status on the item for the year. Once a business purchase has been fully deducted in a single tax year, it cannot be used again and cannot be amortized over a period of time.

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In some instances, the deduction of necessary office equipment and other expenses can force companies to claim a loss on their return. This is acceptable to the IRS and the deduction can still be claimed; however, it is important to carefully analyze spending to income ratios and keep all receipts for business related expenses.

The Internal Revenue Service tends to look more closely at any company showing consistent losses for an extended period of time, so be sure the expenses you incur are for business purposes only.

UK- Labour ministers have revealed proposals for a state owned National Investment Bank to lend solely to small businesses.

In a statement by Labour leader Ed Miliband, the party said they were putting together plans which would pour more funds into small businesses and enterprises- a move which would put pressure on the government to follow suit.  He said the proposals would also be directed at large infrastructure projects in the UK.

Labour have justified their proposals by suggesting big banks are large corporate conglomerates and “not equal to the task” of lending to small firms.  The plans come at a time of growing frustration at high interest rates set by banks, a staggered recovery in the economy and a failure to provide more lending to small businesses.

In a recent attack on the ethics of private banks, business secretary Vince Cable accused them of “throttling the recovery”, by focusing on their own “short-term trading profits.”

Meanwhile, the Lib Dem coalition is set to unveil its own pro-growth policies this autumn.  It is likely that part and parcel of this will be to build more schools and hospitals and to develop an out-dated infrastructure

Commissioned onto the team to implement the proposals for the bank are the shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna and Lord Adonis- a former cabinet minister and a Labour peer.  Having commissioned a former partner at the Hebert Smith law firm to examine the feasibility of developing such a state owned bank, Nick Tott reported that there was a “strong case” in favour for its creation.

Formation of a National Investment Bank would be largely similar to the set-up of the coalition’s Green Investment Bank which will invest in the renewable energy sector.  It will differentiate in size and would be larger- since it would provide funding for small enterprises as well as for infrastructure projects.

Only recently the coalition government launched their own pro-economic-growth initiative called the Funding for Lending Scheme.  It is hoped the funding will breathe new life into the economy.

Pinterest For Small Business / Image via Wikipedia

Pinterest is one of the newer social networks to hit the web, founded in March 2010, it has started to become a real challenger to other photo-sharing websites such as Flickr and Tumblr.

Despite being relatively young, the site has already broken through the 10 million unique visitor mark, been listed in the top 50 best websites of 2011, and been named best new start up of 2011.

We hear about a new social networking site being branded as the ‘next Facebook’ most weeks, and most teeter out within a few days, but Pinterest might actually be on to something. 

The site is a bit of a cross between social bookmarking site such as StumbleUpon and photo-sharing site Flickr or Tumblr. The idea is that users can grab their favourite photos, categorise them, stick them to an online pinboard, other users are then able to re-pin the photo on their own board.

The most popular categories seem to be fashion, home décor and recipes – meaning that small businesses within these labels have started to really benefit from Pinterest.com. An example of one business taking advantage of the new site is ‘Early’s a leg up’, a cooking blog started by college student Lizzy Early. She said that at first her blog was just a hobby but it is becoming a real cash generator thanks to Pinterest. Lizzy went on to say that around three quarters of her views are coming from Pinterest, and that her business success is down to the new social sharing website.

It’s not only small business owners that can benefit from Pinterest.com, web users of all types are starting to use the site over social networking giants Facebook and Twitter. The unique selling point of Pinterest is that users are updated about things that they have an interest in, rather than what their old school friend’s cousin’s dad did last week. Pinterest has managed to snatch a bit of the social media market share by focusing on building a network based on mutual interests and passions.

Web analysis company comScore found that in Pinterest had around 11.7 million unique accounts last month, with the average user spending over an hour and a half browsing through the site. These statistics make it the fastest independent website to ever reach 10 million monthly visitors. The figures that will interest small businesses are the referrals, Pinterest reportedly manage to drive 3.6% of all referrals to external sites in January – more than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn together.

The Pitch 2012 will host judging events across the UK with 20 SMEs from each region being put forward as the Pitch 80. This group of elite small businesses will then compete against each other at the new two-day event The Pitch Live in October.

Dan Martin, editor of BusinessZone and creator of The Pitch, said that the idea behind the competition was to help SMEs get expert advice and increase interest in their business. Since its introduction, The Pitch has grown every single year with support from key partners such as Yell.

The Pitch 2012 will see the biggest competition yet, with the inclusion of the Pitch 80, a new social profile which will allow the public to show interest and create a buzz around the brand. This and the The Pitch Live are both new elements of the competition, and will make the event much more exciting.

Applications are currently being accepted and must be in by May, as the judging will take place over the summer. The grand final, scheduled for 16th November in Global Entrepreneur Week, is in London and will feature the final four contestants and a ‘wildcard’ competing to win the £50,000 top prize.

Last year’s winner Ross Dickinson, the creator of Kibosh, a device designed to fix burst pipes temporarily, is being entered as a wild card. He has said that being involved in the competition was a very valuable experience and has made a huge impact on his small business.

Official figures left George Osbourne embarrassed as it was reported that the top five UK banks’ lending had decreased in every single quarter of 2011.

The news is a far cry from the results the Government had hoped to achieve with the Project Merlin agreement. The Bank of England confirmed that the five major banks, Lloyds, RBS, Santander, Barclays, and HSBC missed out on its SME lending target by £1 billion.

These results would not be so problematic if the banks had not jointly beaten the overall business lending target by a massive £24.9 billion. So where did all the money go? The chairman of the FSB Wessex region, Ken Moon said that it is obvious that the money is going to bigger businesses rather than new and small businesses desperate for financial help to improve growth.

It may come as no surprise that the bank at the heart of the problem is Royal Bank of Scotland, in which the tax payer has an 83% stake. The remaining four banks confirmed that they had in fact beaten their target. Stephen Hester, chief executive at RBS said that its overall lending total for the year was nearly as much as the other four lenders combined. Whilst this may be true, the money it is dishing out in loans and overdrafts is not going to those UK small businesses that need it most.

Project Merlin was an agreement drawn up between the Government and the major British banks in an attempt to improve lending to SMEs. The top five banks were to increase lending to £76bn for SMEs and £190bn to all businesses.

Unsurprisingly the Government has no plans to repeat Project Merlin in 2012, instead it is hoping to launch a credit easing programme. It is claimed that this initiative will initially see £20 billion become available to SMEs over the next 2 years, and will provide low interest overdrafts and loans to those with turnovers of less than £50m.

Desk.com For Small Businesses / Image via Wikipedia

UK – Salesforce.com has just handed UK small businesses a lifeline as it launches its new social media dashboard. Unlike other user interfaces such as TweetDeck, Desk.com is designed to help SMEs convert basic customer service skills into social media engagement.

The Desk.com dashboard is targeted towards those small busineses that rely on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to respond to their client’s complaints and questions. At the moment Google+ is not available but Salesforce.com may integrate it at a later date.

The move has seen Salesforce.com move from working closely with national corporations and enterprises to the much more humble UK small business. The vice president of Desk.com, Alex Bard, said that after talking to thousands of SMEs the company established that the majority desperately needed social integration into any cloud-based helpdesk.

Generally, large national or international firms are able to manage their social media streams much more efficiently than small businesses because they have advanced technology at their fingertips, and teams of staff employed to do just that. However, Desk.com is designed to help SMEs keep track of their communication with customers whilst focusing on the next sale.

Perhaps most importantly, Salesforce.com have made Desk.com accessible to small business owners by keeping the costs low. The cloud-basic helpdesk is free to use for one full-time user, but every user after that it is $49 (£31) per month, and occasional users are charged $1 per hour.

Helpdesks and customer service dashboards are not a new invention, but Desk.com is unique to its rivals such as Oracle and Microsoft because of its focus on the integration of social media. When users sign in to the web service they will be faced with a dashboard displaying the latest communication from customers.

Salesforce.com acquired a number of firms last year in order to improve its profile, and has built Desk.com on technology from Assistly. Any previously Assistly customers will simply be moved over to the new site. The launch of Desk.com is just one step in the journey of Sales.com and its social enterprise.

David Cameron at Business In You Launch / Image via Wikipedia

UK – The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has launched a national campaign called “Business In You” in an attempt to try and get UK people to turn their dreams into reality.

The entrepreneurial push is based on the concept that there is “a business in everyone” and to encourage millions of people to start their own small businesses.

The campaign, which was launched in Leeds by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, will see the Government work in partnership with the private sector in order to support small businesses that want to grow and help entrepreneurs kick start their ideas.

In order to inspire people, the campaign has teamed up with nine of the UK’s most successful business owners including Wendy Tan-White co-founder of Moonfruit and Richard Moross head of Moo. The partners will offer free online seminars, video tutorials, workshops, and face-to-face sessions.

In an attempt to stir up motivation in the UK’s budding entrepreneurs David Cameron said that the government is determined to do everything to help small businesses start up this year. He went on to say that he wants people to fulfil their business dreams in 2012.

Business In You will advertise the initiative by advertising real-life case studies of the successful business partners. Moonfruit.com has been selected as one of the businesses to front the marketing campaign as it is still currently in the growth stage itself.

Startup Britain has plans for the Business In You campaign to influence at least one million people over the next three years. This target may prove difficult to reach as there is no budget for television advertising. Hopefully the association with major businesses in the UK will help spread the word about the initiative.

Moonfruit is the UK’s leading DIY website builder, it is now home to more than 4 million websites around the world, with hundreds of thousands of them being located in the UK. The company’s CEO and co-founder Wendy Tan-White said that the idea behind Business In You was a part of the make up of Moonfruit, as it is passionate about helping UK small business owners start trading on a wider scale.

UK – According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) high CPI, soaring energy bills and the lack of spending power in the economy sent small business confidence to an all-time low.

The ‘Voice of Small Business’ Index, introduced in 2010, is comprised from the responses of 1,600 small businesses around the country. This year it recorded a score of 24.5, the lowest since the index started last year. Despite only have a year’s history for comparison, the score is a fall of over 15 points.

This weak attitude towards the economy should be a significant cause for concern as the UK’s recovery is reliant on investment from small businesses to turn the economy around. Just over 12% of the businesses who responded in the Index believed that the economic situation would only get worse in the next three months. The FSB has asked that the Government work out a way to help small businesses increase their confidence and allow them to expand.

Despite UK small businesses not having too much faith in the British economy, the dip in inflation will certainly be something to look forward to. Analysts are anticipating a significant fall from its record high as energy companies have recently announced price cuts and the impact of the 20% VAT reduces.

Businesses will benefit two-fold from any falls in inflation as it will reduce their own monthly outgoings, as well as encourage customer’s on tight budgets to start spending again. This will hopefully bring much higher profits for struggling SMEs.

The Government has announced some reformed policies such as an increase in lending to small businesses from the banks, and the seed enterprise investment scheme. However, these things take time and will not provide businesses with an immediate confidence boost but they are still important steps.

It’s time that the Government started to implement these changes in policies and allow UK small businesses to see the wheels set in motion. This could drastically improve their outlook on the economy, and help improve the current business environment.

John Walker, the National Chairman of the FSB said that whilst things may get worse before they improve, the decrease in inflation could help boost the confidence of small businesses. He went on to say that the reforms need to be a Government priority in 2012.

Small Businesses Take On Social Media / Image via Wikipedia

A report on the usage of social media by small businesses has found that 81% of them now use social media and the internet to market their company. This figure is up by 8% from 73% since the second quarter of 2011. The report, published by Constant Contact, used the results of a survey of 2000 Small & Medium Sized Businesses (SMEs).

The rate at which SMEs have started to adopt the use of social media is quite fascinating. In the Spring 2011 survey it was found that the time taken to use social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, was one of the biggest barriers.

However, this recent report found that 45% of SMEs now believe that it does not take a lot of time to use. This significant change in attitude towards social media by small businesses is down to an improvement in knowledge and education on the subject.

In terms of the popularity of different social media platforms, this particular report found that Twitter was the most popular with SME’s, with 60% finding it to be useful for connecting with customers – up by 13% since the spring.

A different survey from email marketing company iContact found that SMEs opinion on Twitter to be similar, it found that opinion is divided, with 54% liking the micro-blogging platform. The results did find that large corporations with revenues of over $100 million were more likely to like using Twitter.

Facebook proved to be the most popular social media tool, with 76% of SMEs preferring it, but only 30% of insurance and financial services SMEs would consider using it. It found that the Facebook hating finance sectors have turned to LinkedIn for their marketing has 82% of them said that they liked using the business-orientated website.

Whichever platform is most favoured, it can be said that SMEs are definitely starting to improve their knowledge of social media and how it can benefit their businesses. The Constant Contact report stated that 60% of small businesses now respond to all comments on their social media pages, irrespective of whether the post is positive or negative.

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