REAL Assets...

[IanF]

An Accountant? I love accountants, they always seem to be so precise & they have such a bookish air about them. Just love that, so why did you quit, it's a cool job.

I hate doing accounting by the way, I think it sucks and mine is never ever up to date. And to think that accounting is based on algebra and developed by a monk. Yeah, right I would get bored too being celibate, so I have sworn at the poor monk many a time.
I only love analysis They shoul have kept it at algebra!

I have just finished with cash flow and I absolutely hated doing it, comprises of
Sales and Cash Collections (predictions in relation to sales blah blah)
Cash Collections
Cash Disbursements
Net Cash Inflow
Cash Balance
All with graphs.

Now I am onto the last bit of my system which is the cost of financing.

Oh, how come I thought you were down in Durbs? Ouch for your area, it is pricey, but like you say it might just be the right time now to buy.

I hope you understand your relational dbf now as you shall be taking an on-line exam shortly

Alta ( Now a CSD)

HI Alta
First what is a CSD?
An accountant is a history person the main responsibility is on reporting on history, then the bosses get worried if you don't work late every night. I just got tired of that and thought I should try it myself and run my own business.
So I gave up working for someone.
As for an alternative to double entry book keeping I wish, but it is so logical and it works well right up to doing consolidations of large groups. I have done that and it got exciting when we had cross holdings.
Cash flow management is an important part of management especially when expanding a business. Also you must always remember the tax payments as these can dent you when you extend terms.

Now for databases thanks for the explanation, when I first did a programme it was with watbol done on to punch cards. The programme bombed with an infinite loop so I know it is not easy. But has got easier. My feeling is now that we can sort on so many different fields having a logical account numbering system is not needed any more and could hinder an implementation. Records aren't stored on tapes any more.

I was just so impressed with the package I bought it.

[Alta Murray]

Current Software Developer as opposed to Retired Accountant

Thanks for the tip -- tax / def.tax is in, it is so important!! Oh Ian thank you so much, you don't know how much I miss talking 'accounting' to someone since my dad became so ill, i really miss it a whole lot. And I have been very sad for a long time, as all the other people I know are more than happy with the status quo, and never question anything. And who else in the wide world will find cross holding exciting? Go Ian!

My dad also did his stint with programming in the same way, and I find it so funny, but
I remember the first time I started off with C, I also ended up with a major forever loop that looked like the matrix, only it looked like a screen saver When the movie came out I wanted to duplicate it, but I could never replicate it again.

But yes, you are just recording historical events, so my thinking went : If I know my history, I can to a certain extent predict the future and plan for it, hence I kicked off 9 years ago with analysis and diagnostics -- that Ian is very, very cool. It just grabbed me and dragged me in.

I found that business people are not making the complicated intricate mistakes, but they are getting the basics wrong.

If you want to see something cool look at microsofts accounting 2008, it cost them 1 bill dollars for development, with 30 people, and because I know my stuff, I can see they are heading towards analysis with graphs, when I started off, such software was unknown. But I do have a bit of a headstart and my failure prediction model is really hot.
One woman up against MS, but Africa is not for sissies My system is patented in SA though.... a lot of help that is

Also with the Cash Flow Budget it is done quarterly, and worked out as a perc. of sales etc, however I found that I really want to see my current month and prev period so I can compare the two at one glance. Also I want to see the deviance between my prediction and actual. What do you think?

You can sort on any field -- you pass your exam -- however the numbering system is to clump the grouping together which becomes easier when you are working with over a million records on one system. Can you imagine what the code will look like if I had to find a string, i would have a hopping record pointer through multiple dbf's. It slows the system down, not a problem in a small business, but as the record count increases, the speed decreases.

Perhaps one can look at automatically doing the set-up, as I can see it from an end-users point. Would that help?

Okay, after the infernal cash flow predictions and real-time cash flow, and on another topic I can determine how many days you are without cash flow in your buz. I want to include the different loan types and amortization so that one can see the actual cost over the period of re-payment. Do you think I am moving in for an over-kill by including that?

Also I don't like the look of current systems, so I have changed mine, the current systems all look like cartoony, or is it just a female perspective?

[Norri]

Another asset...

An Opt-In Mailing List - I could've just said "a mailing list" but a list of people who didn't opt-in for what you're sending them ISN'T an asset, it's an expense. People will complain to your ISP, your account could get shut down, etc. (Believe me, I had 24 hours of downtime on my most important server because one of my partners mailed UCE stuff)

HOWEVER, an opt-in list with 1,000+ subscribers is worth real MONEY. Not by itself, mind you, but once you start doing something with it.

Say you set up an Aweber account to send a weekly newsletter using your RSS feed. (Easy) And then include affiliate links in those newsletters. That's 100% automated, and you earn money automatically.

Or you do the newsletter thing but, once in a while, you post a message to your newsletter subscribers offering an exclusive (to subscribers) special of 15% off on your best-selling product. Wham! Instant cash injection.

Building a mailing list can be tricky though. It takes time, a great offer or, usually, both! And you have to keep the great content coming or you will lose subscribers.

I'm still experimenting with mailing lists but my brief experiments have confirmed the online adage, "The money's in the list."