Material costs are more than distribution costs in Business

Fulfilment solutions are referred to the various processes and techniques that are related to the smooth transportation of products from one end of the manufacturer to the other end of the consumer. This process is also known as distribution. The consumers who take the help of the fulfillment solutions pay the fulfillment company or fulfillment house a certain amount of cash or finance for the smooth delivery of their products. There are various modes of transportation that are availed by the producers in order to fulfill the demands of the consumers or customers. The producers can deliver their products to the customer’s end by either reaching the producers physically or by recruiting a management team who will look after the various procedures of fulfillment solutions. If the producers go to the customer’s end by themselves then their expenditure will be less whereas if they keep a management team for it then their cost of expenditure will be much more than the other mode.

However it is not always possible for the producers to deliver their products to the customer’s end all by himself. For this reason he needs to appoint a management team that can help him to cope up with his work load. Different fulfillment companies charge differently from their customers according to their need and requirement. The cost of fulfillment solutions will be more for those products which are more in quantity and better in quality. Also the fulfillment companies can increase rate of the fulfillment services after they become famous and renowned. The two major cost oriented services that are used in fulfillment solutions are distribution costs and material costs. The material cost ranks first among the two and distribution cost is the second. From this, it is evident that the costing of the materials in the fulfilment solutions are more than the transporta

How an Accountant Can Help in the Bankruptcy Process

Having an accountant handle your bankruptcy will make the process go smoother and quicker. Bankruptcy accounting is accounting in relation to the laws of bankruptcy, and can be invaluable if you find yourself needing to file for bankruptcy but are uneducated about the myriad of laws surrounding the process.

The first and most important roll of an accountant in the bankruptcy process is to help you determine whether or not you actually need to file for bankruptcy. Your accountant should be well aware of your financial circumstances, and can help you try and find alternative ways to regain your financial footing before resorting to bankruptcy. If bankruptcy cannot be avoided, the accountant will then help you determine which kind of bankruptcy to file for.

There are several different kinds of bankruptcy, and all have different qualifications and procedures of which your accountant should be well aware. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is very straightforward: your assets are liquidated and used to repay your creditors. This type of bankruptcy is used for individuals debtors and it is important that an accountant is involved, as some people try to use Chapter 7 bankruptcy to simply "get rid" of their debt.

The next kind of bankruptcy is called Chapter 13. Chapter 13 is filed when the debtor needs to restructure his or her debt. If Chapter 13 is granted, which happens less often than Chapter 7, the debtor will still retain some of the original debt, but will be able to pay less of it off at a slower rate.

For larger debts, normally incurred by businesses, there is Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is only awarded if the client has more than one million dollars in debt, and will last at least ten years on your credit report.

The last kind of bankruptcy is Chapter 12, which is reserved for family-owned farming businesses.

After your accountant determines which kind of bankruptcy you should file for, he or she will attain and complete all of the necessary paperwork and submit it to the proper places, according to the regulations set by your state. The accountant will see you through the entire bankruptcy process, and may even be called to testify about the legitimacy of your claim for bankruptcy in court. Because of this, it is important to have an accountant that you trust and that has full disclosure concerning your finances.

How Forensic Accountants Help Lawyers

When lawyers are preparing a case pertaining to fraud or other illegal financial activity, forensic accountants are an invaluable asset to their team. By working together, forensic accountants and lawyers can clear the name of an innocent employee or help convict a criminal.

When lawyers are building a case for or against a client being accused of fraudulent activity, one of the most important pieces of evidence is the actual financial activity of the person or business they have allegedly swindled. Before determining who has committed fraud, it must be confirmed that fraud was committed at all. This evidence, thought taken from the accusing side's records, must be obtained by a nonbiased third party that both knows what to look for and where to look. This third party is the forensic accountant.

A forensic accountant approaches these financial records as an investigator approaches a crime scene. If any illegal activity has occurred, the forensic accountant must dig through the records to find the evidence. To do this, the forensic accountant will go through every piece of financial information and detect flaws in the documentation by using his or her knowledge of how a business works and how to use financial reporting systems.

If the forensic accountants find any flaws in the documentation, be it the process or the content, he or she will further investigate the report in question. Forensic accountants help lawyers in that they are highly educated in the laws surrounding financial documentation. This being said, they can detect inconsistencies that a lawyer may night notice, such as false reports, incorrect information, missing reports, or reports that were not properly drafted.

Every error found in these financial documents are tracked, and the forensic accountant writes a report detailing his or her findings. It is this report that is used as evidence in court. While forensic accountants are generally not asked to provide testimony for or against a defendant, their work clearly shows whether or not illegal activity has taken place. This evidence is indispensable, and often verdicts are based upon the findings of a forensic accountant.

Forensic accountants help lawyers by providing them with the evidence they need to build their cases. While it is the lawyer's job to determine how best to introduce the work of the forensic accountant, there would be no case without the report that the accountant compiles.

How Much is My Business Worth?

Determining how much your business is worth can be tricky, and figuring out where to start can be one of the most difficult tasks. There are several different ways to place a monetary value on a company; the key is to find the method that works best for you and your business.

The most obvious way to determine how much your business is worth is to compare it to similar businesses. Each industry has its own standards, so making a comparison between your company and a similar one is an easy way to measure where you stand with regards to the worth of your business. This method is relatively easy to execute and can help you determine your place among your competitors. The downside to this method, however, is that it uses benchmarks to gauge value, which are based on the industry's average. By using the industry's average, special situations are not accounted for; neither your company's extreme values nor the extreme values of comparable companies are taken into account. Because this method results in only a general idea of how much your company is worth, it is a good starting place, but should be used in conjunction with another method.

Another way to determine how much your business is worth is to subtract your company's liabilities from its assets, leaving you with the amount that you would walk away with, should you pay off everything you owe (this is called equity). After you do this, you can factor in your intangible assets and anything else that adds or detracts from the value of your business. When all this is done, you should be left with your business' value.

Instead of taking the straightforward route of simply subtracting liabilities from assets, you could consider the annual rate of return that your company needs to be successful. Basically, in order to make your investment worth it, how much money does your business need to make? Then you determine how much of an investment it will take to make your targeted return. Compare this against past earnings, and you will see what your business is worth.

The last method is to determine the value of your business' tangible assets, which includes those you can see, like inventory. The worth of your business, then, is the sum of the values of all of your tangible assets.
While no method is always right, these are just a few methods that can help you determine how much your business is worth.

How to Prevent Fraud in Accounting

Fraud prevention is an important part of protecting any business. A business is an investment, and without safeguards to protect it, the business is vulnerable to criminal activity that could, potentially, ruin it. For this reason, fraud prevention is a crucial part of any business model.

The first and most important step to prevent fraud is to know who you are working with. Employee references must be checked; without having positive feedback from reliable references you should not trust any employee with your business, with your investment.

To prevent fraud, the business must establish a clear understanding of what is and what is not acceptable. Each employee needs to be explicitly told the rules; the business must not allow for any gray areas when it comes to policy and procedures. Not only will this make it easier to detect criminal activity, it will also prevent accidental mistakes from being made. If every employee is comfortable with what the company expects of them, they will be less likely to make a mistake and less likely to try to hide criminal activity from other employees

There are many ways to commit fraud in accounting, and one of the ways to prevent it from happening is to implement procedures that will make it easier to detect dishonest activity. For example, use checks numbered sequentially so that each check can be accounted for. Enforce procedures that involve more than one employee being present, such as when a deposit is made or when money is counted.

In addition to this, secure and sensitive documents, such as payroll and bank statements, should be controlled. This will help keep important financial information from falling into the wrong hands. You may consider getting a separate post office box or address for sensitive documents, which would help limit the amount of people who have access to them.

To further prevent fraud in your accounting department, the work of the select people who handle secure and sensitive documents should be reviewed by a third party. This third party should not have an investment in the work in question and should be able to spot any mistakes, whether they are accidental or warning signs of fraud. An effective way of doing this is to hire an accountant. This will safeguard your business by not only bringing in a third party, but by bringing in a third party that has experience and knowledge that will protect your business.

Regardless of how you choose to protect your investment, make sure that fraud prevention is a key concern when drafting your policies and procedures.

Why a Bad Economy Leads to Accounting Fraud

Accounting fraud seems to escalate in a bad economy. There are many reasons for this, and some of them may surprise you. When the economy is bad, people become desperate to maintain their lifestyles, or even to just survive. Under these conditions, some people turn to fraud.
In a bad economy people do not make as much money, there are not enough jobs to go around, and the stress of trying to make ends meet can be overwhelming. Some people turn to fraud as a quick fix for their financial problems. There are many types of fraud, from the employee of a large corporation taking advantage of access to secure documents to investment fraud.


But why would people take such drastic measures, considering the severity of the consequences? If caught, criminals convicted of fraud can be subject to large fines and jail time. In a bad economy, these measures do not seem as drastic as the thought of losing one's home or having to alter one's lifestyle. Living beyond one's means is a common financial ailment in America, one that quickly becomes severe with the economy goes bad.
Part of living beyond one's means entails accruing a significant amount of debt. Things have to be paid for somehow, and the credit card has long been a best friend of those who wish to buy more than they can afford. Excessive debt can ruin a person's lifestyle and may make someone more likely to commit fraud, especially in a bad economy.
Another drain on one's financial resources that may lead to fraud is child support. Child support, and alimony, are often both taken directly out of one's paycheck. This causes a significant decrease in the amount of money one is making, and can lead to desperate measures, such accounting fraud, in a bad economy.


Obviously not everyone with these hard to maintain lifestyles resorts to fraud, but the risk does increase in proportion to the amount of financial stress. Other contributing factors are personal, such as addiction, legal issues, or a criminal history. These circumstances all require an excess of money, and heighten the risk of a person committing accounting fraud in a bad economy.
While a bad economy does not guarantee that people will commit accounting fraud, the odds of it happening get higher as the economy gets worse. When people feel there is no financial way they can survive, many will resort to criminal behavior.