Whether or not a worker departs your business friendly and on their own terms or from being fired for cause, there are several steps a company must take to protect its security, viability and reputation.
When an employee leaves it typically is at a moment more important than when they first join your staff, because a new employee typically knows little about your business inner-workings. Conversely, when employees leave they have cultivated a great deal of knowledge about your company, your competitors, your finances and, most importantly … your client list.
Even If It Is A Friendly Departure, You Need To Read This…
Even if the departing employee has performed admirably and has shown no signs of hostility during their employment, there is no way of knowing for sure how they will react when it comes time to part ways.
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A “Sales Lead” is a new contact that you are in the process of selling products or services to, but who has not yet become a full-fledged client. You must be able to track the prospect’s contact info and a list of steps that should be completed as a part of your sales closure. When tracking sales leads, you do this in Outlook, you can use a CRM product (integrated with QuickBooks, or not), or you can resort to tracking sales leads in QuickBooks.
The QuickBooks Sales Lead Center does not make this a CRM product. There is a great deal more that goes into managing and tracking leads that a good CRM product can do for you. However, tracking sales leads in QuickBooks via the Lead Center does have some advantages:
- It is a part of QuickBooks, no complicated integration issues.
- It is free, as a part of your QuickBooks installation (all US versions)
- It is easy to convert a Lead record into a Customer record.
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Cloud based Financial Project Manager Software applications have enabled businesses to take advantage of software options that in years previously would have costs 1000s of dollars to purchase and load on even a single PC.
Take Project Manager Software, for instance…
Up until 2006, our options for project manager applications were few and expensive. Microsoft Project was the big player, priced at well over $800 per license, not including the extensive training that was needed in order to understand the Gantt Charts and set up of connected tasks.
Scott West, CEO of CloudSway writes: “When I was highly reliant on MS Project, we shelled out around $7,000 for the Microsoft project management software licenses and training. Back then (I sound like my grandfather, but the reality is, this whole technology world is changing so rapidly, we all sound like our grandfathers after only five years), it was my only choice, and all I really needed was a good way to manage 15 – 20 projects that had tasks associated with them. We even tried using shared task and calendars from Microsoft Office, to no avail.”
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There’s much at stake for your company. Ask your attorney these ten questions so you don’t come up short when it counts.
You’re a small company owner, not a business law expert. Still, you’ll need to be familiar with legal compliance matters, intellectual property regulations, taxes, business liability, and a myriad of other law issues as you launch and nurture your company. With so much to learn, where do you begin? It’s best to talk to an attorney and get advice for your unique business needs, but it also helps to know what issues to discuss with your lawyer.
To assist you in beginning the conversation, here are ten essential business compliance questions you might not know to ask. The answers to these questions are fundamental for protecting, growing and operating your business.
From Attorney Matthew Hickey at RocketLawyer.com -
1. Do I need to keep a record of this?
In the early months of a new business, it’s typical for things to fly fast and loose. Nonetheless, you’ll also generate a number of important documents that you need to keep track of. For starters, small businesses are required to maintain a number of receipts and records for tax and corporate compliance purposes. Depending on the nature of your business, some documents may help limit your liability in the event of a lawsuit. In addition, some of the other paperwork generated by your business will prove incredibly valuable later on because it will allow you to analyze the growth of your business and the efficiency of your operations. As a result, it’s important to ask your attorney what type of records and other documents you should be generating and maintaining as part of your business operations. It’s much easier to keep the right records from the beginning than try to find or recreate them later.
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