The Basics of Franchise Accounting

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Franchising Your Business |The Basics of Franchise AccountingOwning a franchise is an easy and affordable way of starting a new business. As a franchise owner, a lot of the heavy lifting involved in starting a business is already done for you. Franchisees can take on an already established brand and don’t have to worry about marketing themselves, as this is done by the franchise centrally.

All the franchisee needs to worry about is dealing with the day to day running of the business, which includes the accounting. Many aspects of a franchise business will be managed centrally. In particular, the costs of marketing and developing new products don’t fall on the shoulders of individual franchisees.

Franchise accounting is similar to accounting for any other type of business, although there are a few extra steps. Let’s take a look at exactly what a franchise is and how they are run and managed.

How do Franchises Work?

A franchise location is owned by an individual, the franchisee. However, the franchise as a whole is owned by a larger corporation. For example, each individual McDonalds store is owned and operated by an individual franchisee. However, McDonald’s decides what’s on the menu, how the store functions, etc. They also handle all of the marketing and other costs of developing and growing the business.

franchising makes owning and operating a business accessible to people who would otherwise be unable to. Returning to the example of McDonald’s, a franchisee may be able to open a McDonald’s franchise as the first business that they run themselves. It’s hard to envisage most people launching a startup that has the kind of name recognition that McDonald’s does, or the existing infrastructure.

With the franchising model, new locations can be opened easily and quickly. From the perspective of the larger franchise business, this makes expanding a much simpler proposition. New franchisees will bear many of the responsibilities, and some of the costs, of opening a new franchise. If the new franchisee fails, the franchising corporation hasn’t lost as much in terms of time and money as it would if it had invested fully in a new physical location.

Franchisees, on the other hand, get to open a new business with an already established customer base, marketing strategy, etc. The franchisee will have to pay the franchising business according to their contract. This can either be in the form of a percentage of the profits, or it might be a flat rate.

Role of the Franchisor

The franchisor is the larger corporation that ultimately owns all the franchises. They manage the brand and business as a whole, deciding how to market the business and how to develop the available product ranges. The franchisor also provides assistance to their franchisees as and when it is needed.

Fees and Franchise Accounting

A franchisee owns the franchise location that they run, even though the business they operate is under license from the franchisor. They are required to follow all the guidelines set out by the franchisor. If they don’t, the license can be revoked and the franchisee can end up with a location but no business to occupy it. The franchisee will be required to pay fees to the franchisor; that’s how the franchising business makes their money.

The fees a franchisee pays are used to cover a number of costs. For example, these fees allow the franchisee to use the franchisor’s trademarks, brands, products, and services. Franchisors are legally required to set out all the fees involved in being a franchisee upfront and they cannot spring unexpected charges on the franchisee at a later date.

There will be an initial fee to pay the franchisor, which serves as a kind of entry charge. There will also be some form of ongoing fee, usually a royalty fee. Proper franchise accounting requires you to be familiar with all the expected fees and charges; you won’t be able to maintain accurate accounts unless you know what deductions and fees to factor in.

Initial Fees

The initial fee is the entry fee that grants the franchisee the right to use the franchisor’s trademarks, including brand, products, services, logos, etc. And, of course, the most important thing your initial fees will pay for is the right to use the franchisor’s name. Finally, your initial fee will cover some of the costs associated with opening a new business.

For example, the franchisor will cover the costs of training staff to use their point of sale systems, as well as any other in-house sales software. Initial costs are paid as a lump sum to the franchisor. Before you pay any initial fees, it is important that you establish exactly how much business capital you will need.

Amortizing Initial Fees

When filling out a business tax return, a franchisee can deduct their initial fee from their total profits; this is known as amortizing. Amortizing is similar in nature to depreciation, except that it deals with tangible rather than abstract assets. By amortizing a fee, its cost can be spread out over several years. This makes it possible for franchisees who can’t afford to pay a lump sum to instead pay the fee gradually over the useful lifetime of tangible assets, such as trademarks.

You can amortize the fee over a relatively long period of time, paying off fractions of it annually. For example, if you amortize your initial fee over a period of 20 years, you divide the total fee by 20 to work out how much of it you will pay per annum.

Royalty Fees

Royalty fees are the main way that the franchisor makes their money. Royalty fees are a little bit like a tax that the franchisee pays on every sale. This is the cut of the profits that the franchisor gets in exchange for essentially providing the core business. In some cases, royalty fees might be specified at a flat rate. However, the majority of the time they will be paid as a percentage of sales.

Marketing Fees

Some franchisors will further charge franchisees to cover the costs of marketing. Even though individual franchisees aren’t involved in the centralized marketing efforts, they still benefit from the effects of new marketing campaigns, so it does make sense that the franchisor would want to recover some of their investment.

Both franchisors and franchisees need to understand the intricacies of franchise accounting if the arrangement is to work. A mistake in a franchisee’s bookkeeping can end up in the franchisor being paid incorrectly and can lead to a distorted image of how healthy individual franchises are. For this reason, many franchisors are now centralizing their accounting and utilizing cloud-based accounting software. This allows individual franchisees to access and update their business accounts on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Conclusion

Franchise accounting needs sophisticated accounting software like QuickBooks Enterprise hosting which can be accessed on Citrix Xendesktop VDI that enables accountants to work remotely for franchise-based models to work from anywhere anytime.

5 Reasons Why Online Payday Loans With No Credit Check Are Preferred By Teachers

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Payday Loans|5 Reasons Why Online Payday Loans With No Credit Check Are Preferred By TeachersIt is astonishing to note that our children and our country’s future lie in the hands of people who are paid very little for the work they do. According to a survey conducted in 2020, it was found that the median annual wage for a teacher is $60,000. An alarming fact was presented through this survey that teachers’ entry-level positions are only paid $40,000 per year.

This leaves our educators no choice but to pick up extra jobs and extra shifts to fulfill their basic needs. The state of our education system rests upon the hands of our teachers. Many already have previous loans resting upon their head, either for their previous education or for a house. If they cannot pay the installments back on time, they rack up a bad credit score, which makes it extremely difficult for them to apply for another loan. This is why teachers, left with no option, choose to go for online payday loans. These are a lifesaver for teachers when they are left with no viable financial option.

Teachers are given relief through no credit check online payday loans

It is not easy living a life where you can barely cover your expenses every month. As reported by many teachers, they tend to run out of cash-in-hand by the end of the month and usually have to do some serious budgeting to get through the whole month.

Payday loans offer a lot of relief to teachers in this regard. Payday loans are short term loans that can be repaid by the borrower within 30 days, that is, till their next payday. This loan is supposed to be paid back in one go. Teachers can easily apply for a loan to get some ease and convenience until their salary comes again.

Many teachers can have a bad credit score due to late loan repayments or even late credit card payments. This leaves them no way to apply for another traditional bank loan. A lot of lenders approve online payday loans without any credit check. You can learn more about no credit check online payday loans with instant approval to see how they can benefit you. This is quite an attractive feature for teachers looking for other viable financial options.

Help offered during emergencies

How many times have you had an emergency come your way? Maybe you had to take your spouse or child to the hospital suddenly. Maybe your car broke down, or maybe you had an unexpected household expense come up. We all know how hard it can be to deal with such emergencies, especially when we do not have any savings kept on the side.

As reported by many teachers, they barely have any savings kept on the side since all their salary goes into fulfilling their basic needs and necessities. Payday loans offer the borrower money in case of emergencies. Unlike traditional bank loans, these loans are provided almost instantaneously to the applicant after approval.

This offers a huge safety net to teachers by providing them with an option in hard-hitting emergencies.

No collateral is needed for a payday loan

Loans such as business or home loans require the borrower to put up security or collateral for borrowing the specified amount. Lenders do this to guarantee that the borrower will return the loan amount within the specified time. It is quite difficult to obtain such loans when the borrower does not have any collateral to put up or is quite skeptical about it.

Online payday loans do not require the borrower to put up any collateral at all. In case the individual is unable to pay back the loan, they can simply talk to the lender about changing the payment schedule. They do not have to worry about losing their property or whatever they have put up as security. This is quite a viable alternative for teachers.

Full control over the money

Business loans can only be used for specified purposes such as construction, payments to suppliers, employee salaries, or new equipment. Similarly, home loans can only be used to purchase property, home renovations, and similar things. Such loans do not give any control to the borrower on how to spend their money.

On the other hand, online payday loans offer full control of the loan amount to the borrower. Teachers can use the loan amount for anything such as their child’s tuition, household emergencies or bills, groceries, or even just for a vacation. They can use the amount in any way they wish to.

Applications have never been this easy before

Whenever we think of applying for a loan, the first thing that comes to mind is the extensive amount of work we have to apply for a loan. Traditional bank loans require the borrower to visit the branch multiple times, fill out a ton of forms, and go through an extensive credit score check to consider the bank’s application.

This is not a viable option for teachers since most of them are working two jobs to support themselves. Payday loans can be applied for online. All you need is five minutes of your time and a good internet connection to apply for a payday loan.

Unlike the endless requirements that are needed to be fulfilled for a bank loan, payday loans only require a few things. They need the applicant to be at least 18 years of age, have a valid and active bank account, provide their Social Security number, and have a stable income source.

It isn’t charming to see the median annual wage of teachers in this country. Sadly, our educators have to resort to other methods of income to survive. Till this country gears up and recognizes the need to pay teachers a better salary, payday loans have provided immense relief. Indeed, payday loans are a perfect financial alternative for teachers. So, if anyone is distressed with their financial situation and is finding it difficult to find any reliable source to borrow money, online payday loans can be of great help.

How to Decide if Contractor Material Financing is Right for You

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Contractor Material Financing|How to Decide if Contractor Material Financing is Right for YouAs an entrepreneur in the construction industry, you might find yourself juggling a backlog of accounts payable, a stack of past-due invoices from suppliers and new projects in your pipeline that require even more equipment and materials ASAP. Though suppliers typically offer 30-day terms, any contractor knows it often takes much longer than that to get paid on completed work, leading to inconsistency in cash-flow.

While there are several contractor financing options available, credit card limits are many times too low on limits for your needs (especially for larger commercial projects) and traditional lenders are known to require blanket liens on your business just to work together. However, project-based financing for purchasing construction materials is an ideal option that’s growing in popularity with many savvier contractors today. In particular, contractor material financing can provide the flexibility you need to close the cash-flow gap, keep projects on schedule, bid on bigger projects and scale your business faster.

How Does Contractor Material Financing Work?

You obviously can’t begin a project without materials — but, chances are, you probably won’t get paid on your last project before the next one begins. That’s why materials are such a popular option for project-based contractor financing.

In this scenario, your business partners with a construction partner who gets to know your business and the types of projects you work on. Then, they pay your supplier directly with upfront cash so you can secure materials exactly when you need them. Finally, you repay the cost of the materials to your financing partner over an extended period of time, versus in one lump sum, in order to keep your projects running smoothly, allowing you to simultaneously bid on more projects.

And with material financing, you’ll enjoy:

  • Higher credit limits – funded to your needs and the project.
  • Faster funding – in many cases, as quickly as same-day.
  • Better supplier pricing – by paying in cash, take advantage of supplier cash discounts.
  • Lower monthly payments

Perhaps the greatest benefit is that, unlike the experience of working with a lender from a bank, you’ll gain a financing partner with construction industry expertise who understands the needs of your business.

But how do you know if contractor material financing is right for you? Here’s a helpful checklist:

1.Are You Trying to Grow Your Construction Business?

Contractor material financing is an optimal way to kickstart growth by helping you take on more projects at once, as well as larger, more ambitious projects.

Do you currently feel comfortable bidding on a project twice the size of your typical bid? Do you have a relationship with a lender who will extend the necessary credit on a project that large? Even if your supplier will extend terms, you’re likely going to end up coming out of pocket to purchase materials when you need them. But when you work with a material financing partner, you can confidently bid on a variety of projects knowing the material costs will be covered, with the flexibility to repay on a timeline that works for you.

2. Are You Striving to Innovate and Improve Your Business?

Even if you’re comfortable with your ability to pay suppliers through cash flow, utilizing material financing will give you the financial clout and strength necessary to enhance your business-growth initiatives, generate more revenue and compete more successfully with larger construction firms in your market.

Enjoying flexible payment terms on materials frees up cash to hire skilled marketing and sales talent, increase your advertising spend, or add more field workers to your team necessary to take on more projects. You’ll be amazed at the opportunities to innovate and grow when you’re no longer held back by inconsistent cash flow.

3. Do You Want to Move from Residential to Commercial Jobs?

If you’re making the move from residential to commercial construction, material financing is one of the best ways to lower your risk and support your success. The stakes, the budgets and the expectations are all much higher on commercial projects, so you can’t afford to let inconsistent cash flow stand in the way of meeting your objectives.

Timelines are especially crucial on commercial projects, where one hiccup from a subcontractor can slow down the entire train. If you fail to pay your supplier for materials by the time new material is needed, they may refuse to sell you more, forcing you to find a new supplier altogether and potentially slowing down the project. Needless to say, this is not a circumstance where you want to rely on funds from one project to pay for materials on another.

By working with a material financing partner, you’ll be poised to pay your suppliers upfront, complete your commercial construction projects on-time, and continue to build a great reputation with the GC.

To read more about tips for moving from residential to commercial construction, check out this article by Billd.

4. Would you Like to Minimize Everyday Business Stress?

Entrepreneurship is stressful enough as it is, without the added burden of erratic construction payment cycles. When the success of your business and the wellbeing of your employees is your responsibility, the pressures of being stretched too thin financially and unable to keep your projects moving forward on time can keep you up at night.

A significant benefit of working with a project-based financing partner is the pure relief that comes with the ability to pay your supplier upfront, without having to worry about when you’ll receive payment from your last project. With the freedom and flexibility of material financing, your supplier gets paid and you can stay focused on growing your business.

5. If Contractor Material Financing is Right For You, So Is Billd

Don’t let the construction cash-flow gap prevent your business from moving forward and achieving its full potential. With contractor material financing, you can free yourself up to accept a greater amount of projects, take on more ambitious projects, innovate in all areas of your business — and lower your stress along the way.

At Billd, we’re experienced construction professionals who understand the struggles of your payment cycles. While many banks are unable (or unwilling) to provide short-term funding to contractors for construction projects, we’ll work with you to provide a flexible financing solution that will free you up to achieve your business goals. If you’re ready to try material financing or just want to learn more, contact us today.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Jon KatzJon Katz is the Vice President of Marketing at Billd, a simple payment and finance solution for the construction industry. Jon oversees all marketing at Billd, including paid user acquisition, demand generation, email and owned channels, website, marketing budgets, brand, content creation, and more. Jon lives in Austin, TX, where Billd is headquartered, and he brings an entrepreneurial spirit, self-starter mentality, and passion for life-long learning to his role.

What is a Trustee in Business?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Trustee|What is a Trustee in Business?To understand what a trustee is within a business, one must have a conceptual understanding of what a trust is. A trust is a way of managing money on behalf of someone else. A trust usually has three people involved: A beneficiary, a settler, and the trustee. So basically, a trustee is a person who manages the trust for the beneficiary.

The settler is the person who puts the money in the trust. Once the settler sets aside the beneficiary’s money, they are also responsible for selecting a trustee to handle and administer the trust to the rightful beneficiaries. A trustee can be a person or a firm, and they are solely responsible for the money.

Trustees that are associated with charities differ in some ways. For starters, they have total control over the charity and are tasked with ensuring the charity does what it is intended to do. Being a trustee within a charity means that their decisions impact the lives of many people who depend on the charity organization.

Becoming A Trustee For A Charity

To become a trustee, you have to be at least 16 years of age. This applies if you are working for a charitable incorporated organization or a company. If it’s any other type of charity, you need to be at least 18 years old. You can also be disqualified as a trustee and prevented from trustee duties unless allowed for a number of reasons, including:

  • Being a registered sex offender
  • If you have an individual voluntary arrangement
  • Being bankrupt
  • Having a conviction record

Trustee for charities uses the expertise and skills to ensure the charity supports the right beneficiaries. Being a trustee for a charity is a great role, and it needs someone experienced, trustworthy, and credible. There are a number of rules and regulations that govern this position. You have to comply with them regardless of their difficulty or risk disqualification from trustee duties.

Trustees have a chance to act independently in regard to the trust, but they are allowed to consult with various advisers such as financial experts and lawyers. Sometimes, they may delegate the final decision to a third party, but the final decisions on matters concerning the trust are made by the trustee in most cases.

Duties Of Trustees

While executing their duties, trustees are not immune to errors. They must have a keen eye for detail lest they make an error resulting in money getting into the wrong hands. This is a loss for both the beneficiaries and the charity organization. Charity organizations are encouraged to get trustee indemnity insurance for charities to protect themselves from losses.

A trustee’s main duty is to the beneficiaries, and therefore they should act without a partial intention. They must exercise respect and consider all of the beneficiaries while making their decisions. They should also follow the wishes of the settler, as stated in terms of the trust while managing the trust for the beneficiaries.

Trustees must comply with the charity’s rules and regulations of operations from the governing document. As a trustee, one should make an effort to understand the legal and financial requirements, together with the guiding principles of the charity. They must also comply with the rules set by the Commission overseeing charitable organizations in terms of general conduct.

Tips To Help Save Money In Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Save Money In Business|Tips To Help Save Money In Your BusinessSaving money in your business is never really a bad thing. It’s good to always have a bit of extra cash lying around when you need it and for many businesses, an emergency fund is in existence for a rainy day. If you’re looking to save money for your business, then here are some helpful tips that you might find useful.

Control Department Spending

Departments are likely to have individual budgets that you’ve distributed out at the start of the financial year. However, that doesn’t mean you should simply let go of that responsibility or just let them spend as they please. It may be useful to have more than just the one person signing off on a bigger expenditure than normal to ensure that the money is being spent wisely. It’s also good for all departments and their staff to have good communication about what’s being spent and what can but cut down on.

There’s always going to be the odd spend here and there that can be avoided and so it’s good to monitor the departmental spending where possible. If there are opportunities to reduce or cut back when needed, then make sure you let the departments in question know beforehand. It’s critical that you’re not pulling the rug from under them, especially when they may need the money for something else. This can be particularly important for smaller businesses who may not have the sizable cash flow that bigger companies have.

Monitor Your Finances Overall

There’s no harm in monitoring your finances overall as a business. There are lots of expenditures that will be happening in your business and it’s good to look over them every once in a while. There’s also always the risk of falling victim to fraud and that could result in a lot of money coming out of your bank account. It might also be money that comes out in small amounts and is therefore not noticeable, especially if you’re not checking receipts against what’s being spent. It’s important to have someone do this regularly and if you can’t get it done in-house, then it’s worth outsourcing where possible.

Don’t allow your finances to become something you push to the bottom of the to-do list because they matter more than most things.

Ensure Your Finance Team Aren’t Overwhelmed

Looking after your staff is a must and the last thing you want to do is to make them feel overwhelmed. This might lead to a lack of productivity else and that’s only going to hinder your business directly. Look at your finance team and how much they’re taking on. It might be that the work processes involved in their day-to-day activities are too much and it’s something that you may want to streamline. Consider what can be streamlined and what needs to be outsourced.

All businesses outsource certain things that need doing and it might be that you need to do the same in your finance department. Make sure that your financial team have all the relevant training they need to, whether it’s a course to help learn more mathematics like how to calculate percentage or a course on dealing with taxes. There’s always learning to be done!

Spend Money That’ll Go Further

Spending money is important because it helps grow the business in different ways. If you’re trying to make your money go further, then it’s important to consider what you’re spending it on and where you might want to change when it comes to your tactics. For example, traditional advertising has worked for many businesses over the years but to an extent, has limited the amount of companies who can financially afford it. It has also proved to be quite inferior thanks to the birth of the online world. Digital advertising therefore has become a lot more popular, and a lot more affordable.

Not only has digital advertising become more popular there’s also more opportunity to expand your reach as a business. So, you might be thinking about spending your money through digital advertisements, rather than the traditional route to save money.

Try to be more smart with your money and how you spend it. There are lots of ways to spend your money that will only do so much. The best way of spending your money is to spend it in places that are going to double or triple the ROI. The more you can get out of it, the better. Start looking at where you could be saving money and where else to spend it to get more out of it.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Save Money In Business|Tips To Help Save Money In Your BusinessCollaborate With Other Businesses

Collaborating with businesses can be a great way to save money because you’re cutting down the costs. For example, if you wanted to create a new product and that product had the opportunity to be combined with an existing business, why not partner up? There’s something that can be gained by both of you financially but also there’s the potentially to cross-promote on each other’s channels, which opens up the potential for new customers on both sides. As much as you might not want to partner up with other businesses for fear of the competition, it can actually be more beneficial to you both, to collaborate where you can.

Be Wary Of Taking Financial Risks

All businesses can come with their risks and there are many occasions where some risks will be taken and others will be avoided. Any risk is usually financially driven and you should be wary about which ones you take. When considering a risk, ask yourself whether or not you can bounce back? If you don’t have the money to risk or you can’t afford to do the risk twice, then you may want to step away from the opportunity itself. There will be many more that come along but it’s important to spot those risks that might be financially detrimental to the business.

Saving money in business can be something that helps keep you going through the tough times, so try to be active in your methods of saving money.