It's late and your team is waiting for the final draft of the new product presentation that you're making tomorrow in St. Louis. But there's a problem -- you need new numbers so that you can generate a Pro Forma statement for the project. Unfortunately, those numbers must come from your partner in Seattle and your marketing guy in Dallas. To make matters more complicated, each of them will need to factor in the other's numbers in order to make their own projections so that you can put together the final document. And you're in Syracuse!

You long for the old days when you actually worked in the same office as your team members and could just call everyone into the conference room to hammer out the new numbers. But wait, you still can --

Online project management has gotten a lot easier over the past few years. Services have been introduced that effectively create, online, an office in what's become known as the cloud which, in this case is a metaphor for services that host their applications and your data remotely. Everything you need, right down to contact information, is virtually at your fingertips just by logging into the service with a standard web browser. Subscribing to one of these online project services can quickly give new meaning to the term 'team collaboration.'

Back to your problem. A quick email sent off to John in Seattle and Rashid in Dallas notifies them of your requirements. Both of them quickly log into the project space that has been reserved for them, download each other's spreadsheet files, take note of the updated calculations, and use those numbers to update their own work. After each updates his own file to reflect the new assumptions, you swoop in, spreadsheet at the ready. You download each of their files, update your Pro Forma statement, and modify your presentation file before heading off to bed, now secure in the knowledge that tomorrow is going to be a very good day after all.

Tick - Tock.... Tick - Tock.... Tax - Time... Tax - Time...

You're one of the fortunate; diligent in your efforts to maintain accurate accounting records. You have the money to pay an accountant and are one of the first clients each year to knock on his door with records in hand, ready to be scrutinized, discected, and parsed onto waiting tax forms. You're fortunate... and you are a rarity.

Face it folks. Most of us just aren't as punctual when it comes to the accounting aspects of our business, are we? We believe that the only good tax deadline is someone else's tax deadline.

Friend, it doesn't have to be this way. Tax filing doesn't have to be the stuff of nightmares. Long ago some of us figured out that buying computers and hiring people to use them was a sure fire way of saving time; time we could spend on other, more pleasurable pursuits... like golf. Now here's the kicker. You know the software that goes into those computers we bought? Not the one titled "Two Hundred Solitaire Games You Never Knew Existed." I'm talking about real software -- business software. Well, believe it or not, there's something called -- get ready for this -- TAX PREPARATION SOFTWARE!!

Stop dancing. There'll be plenty of time for that later.

Here's the best part. Even you must have heard the term 'e-file' used in conversation, maybe at a bar during last week's big game. But did you know that the 'e' stands for EASY? And do you know who gets to spend more time playing golf if you spend just a little bit of time e-filing taxes? You -- that's who. Now DANCE, my friend. Dance like you've never danced before!

Courts do not look kindly upon the defendant who pleads ignorance of the law. How many otherwise law abiding, upstanding business owners have found themselves in tax court simply because they were unaware of a particular tax filing requirement and, as a result, failed to pay their taxes? Even otherwise successful businesses can flounder when it comes to tax accounting; many times as a result of their inattention to the details of successful business management.

There is never a valid reason for ignoring the accounting aspect of one's business. While many business owners have been stymied when faced with the debits and credits of the accounting ledger, today there are a host of accounting software solutions that excel in helping one visualize the current financial state of any business entity. And we're not just talking about easy payroll accounting software either. It's now easy to track the value of inventory as it moves through the system, stay abreast of tax requirements, be notified of upcoming filing dates, and monitor both current and projected cash flow.

For those who prefer not to wade through instruction manuals when trying to install and configure software on their own computer systems, there are companies that host the accounting software online, making it a simple matter of logging into an account and entering figures into a web browser. And for those who do not mind getting their hands dirty, there is an even greater number of professional accounting software packages; one or more of which might help keep you from one day standing before the judge, looking sheepish as you utter the words, "I didn't know."

During these turbulent economic times many small business owners find themselves struggling to stay afloat. It's rare, even among owners who foresaw the downturn, to find those who prepared for either its severity or rapid decline.

Faced with dire circumstances, many of those with businesses being pummeled search frantically for ways to bolster sales and simultaneously reduce expenses, assuming that success in either endeavor will help the company weather the storm. Like a captain whose ship is tossed in turbulent seas, it's easy to get so involved in day-to-day survival mode that the mundane aspects of business, such as tax filing, are overlooked or ignored.

FEATURED SPONSOR 

WINCHESTER, VA — Web development firm, WebCamp One , has announced the successful design and launch of another new website.  Tickercom.com is the company website of Ticker Communications, Inc. of Victoria, British Columbia. The Canadian company, together with it's Las Vegas, NV satellite office, provides LED and digital media displays, complete with wireless and Internet content feeds, to thousands of such devices worldwide. The new website is a complete redesign of Tickercom's web presence.

According to WebCamp One's Jim Pietrangelo, "There's nothing more satisfying than working with people who, to a person, understand the goals of a project and work together as a team to bring about a successful outcome. Tickercom is such a company. I'm proud that we were chosen to be their web design firm."