UAC is Giving You One More Thing to Be Grateful for

In case you weren’t grateful enough over Thanksgiving, we’re giving you another chance to effuse with gratitude. Yep, that’s right. At Universal Accounting we’re all about helping you celebrate the holidays to the best of your ability. And if you didn’t get the chance to offer thanks for your business and all the prospects available to you, well, here’s your second chance. Call it Thanksgiving Do-Overs (no, not leftovers. Do-Overs).

Grow Your Bookkeeping and Accounting Practice

Wouldn’t you like to infuse your business with profitability? Well, first you should rest-assured that your occupation of choice is well-favored. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008 accounting opportunities will increase by 20%! In addition they state, “Demand for full-charge bookkeepers is expected to increase as they are called upon to do much of the work of accountants. Those with several years of accounting or bookkeeper certification will have the best job prospects.”

UAC’s Professional Bookkeeper Program

If you haven’t already, you could ride this small business wave by opening your own accounting practice. This is your chance to earn the certification that will demonstrate your expertise to current and potential clients.

More than 50% of small businesses fail, and much of that failure can be attributed to poor financial management. And when you consider that over 85% of accounting opportunities are with small businesses, becoming a small business accountant is, well, good business.

At Universal Accounting, we understand the needs of the small business like nobody else. We’ve helped people like you advance their careers in small business accounting for over 25 years. The Professional Bookkeeper Program is designed specifically to address the needs of small businesses, and Universal Accounting Center’s small business accounting course is the most complete of anything else offered today. And depending on your schedule and situation, it will only take you 60 hours to complete. Imagine earning a professional designation in less than one month!

Your Business, on Steroids

One of the greatest challenges for many small business owners comes in the marketing. You may love working with numbers but groan at the thought of promoting your services and expertise. Universal Accounting Center understands this struggle and can help you eliminate it.

UAC has developed a turn-key marketing solution which will enable you to grow your business with our proven system. You could work for years on a marketing plan, hitting and missing, only to find your business growing at a snail’s pace. Imagine learning which marketing strategies work by watching our 8-DVD course, the Universal Practice Builder!

What was once a live, 2-day workshop in now a professionally mastered DVD program that you can work through at your own pace. Designed to teach you the art and science of getting clients, the UPB Program will train you in over 12 marketing strategies that you can implement immediately!

This special professional package will enable you to grow your practice significantly in the New Year. With small business training and marketing expertise you’ll be equipped to become the premier accounting practice in your area. So if you didn’t have enough to be grateful for last week, now’s your chance to give thanks. Because once you’re finished with the Universal Practice Builder Program you’ll join the ranks of our thankful graduates.

Don’t wait to prepare for the New Year. Because 2008 is the Year of the Accountant. Isn’t that you? Order now!

A Big Investment for Your Small Practice

You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in a way that people will feel in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen.-William Bernbach

Your business depends on your ability to market it. If you don’t have the skills or the know-how necessary to accomplish that, then your business will flounder. And while you may believe that the quality of services you offer is enough to generate word-of-mouth marketing, the honest truth is that unless you’re actively involved in the promotion of your business, you’re actively involved in its demise.

We understand that time is money. You probably feel like the more time you spend marketing, the more billable hours you lose. In the mind of any good accountant that just means you’re letting money flow down the drain.

But marketing is an investment. And like any wise financial planner, you are interested in getting the biggest return from your initial marketing investment of time and money. But without proper training how can you be expected to know the most effective strategies for your target market?

Let the training program with over 25 years experience be your guide.

The Universal Practice Builder Program

We understand that every hour your spend marketing must produce significant returns. As a small business owner yourself, you can’t waste time on ineffective marketing techniques. While some techniques you may have studied will work well with one demographic, they may bomb with another. So you must select those that are proven effective for your target market: the small business owner.

With over 25 years experience providing training professionals in small business accounting, Universal Accounting Center has also prepared graduates for success by teaching them how to market their unique and valuable services. We know what works. And we know what doesn’t work.

When you enroll in the Universal Practice Builder Program you partner with seasoned freelance accountants who know what it takes to make a practice succeed. Not only will you be trained in over 12 proven marketing strategies, but you will develop your own customized marketing plan that will enable you to secure 15 to 25 qualified leads per month. You will learn how to offer client-generating seminars and will have access to three months worth of master coaching from our qualified staff.

And here’s the kicker. This program is guaranteed to help you generate $30,000 in annualized billings in just 12 months! That’s more than 17 times the cost of tuition. Can you think of an investment with such a quick and large return?

You may not have the skills or the marketing know-how right now, but in less than one month you could acquire them. Not only that, but UAC is known for offering valuable, follow-up services that will ensure you are properly applying all that you have learned.

An Even Bigger Investment

Order now and you will receive QuickBooks Made Profitable, a program designed to help you translate your QuickBooks expertise into a larger clientele. You’ll be trained in a proven system in using QuickBooks to attract larger numbers of prospective clients while representing yourself as the expert. Learn how to leverage your time, meet potential clients and offer them services that will help them reduce taxes, increase profits and put money in the bank in such a way that you will be asked the question that we are all longing to hear: “How much do you charge?”

When it comes to building a viable and thriving business, there’s no time to wait. Stop wasting your time on ineffective marketing techniques, or worse yet, stop neglecting your business’s marketing efforts altogether. In just a matter of weeks, you can have all it takes to catapult your business as the premier accounting practice in your area. Order this amazing package today!

Universal Press Release

For Immediate Release (800)343-4827

Universal Accounting Initiates New Interactive Testing Center

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (March 1, 2007) – Universal Accounting Center (UAC), an Inc. 500 company, has launched an upgraded testing center for students completing the Professional Bookkeeper program, Professional Tax Preparer program and Professional Bookkeepers guide to QuickBooks Pro. The testing center provides a reliable solution for students participating in UAC’s distance programs.

The upgraded Web testing center includes the following features:

• An advanced database accelerating student movement to each question.
• Students can navigate to any question regardless of where they are in the test.
• A virtual “time attendant” following students throughout the test monitoring remaining test time.

Universal Accounting Center is the worlds only accounting specific trade school offering accounting, bookkeeping and marketing training to students throughout the world. Skills are taught through classroom trainings or through a patented home-study course, allowing students to learn at their own pace. In August, 2006, Universal Accounting debuted on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. More information about Universal Accounting Center can be found by calling 1-800-343-4827 or visiting www.universalaccountingcenter.com.

Start Up Advice:

From a Universal Accounting Center Graduate

Wouldn’t you like to sit down and have a good, long discussion with someone who’s living your dream? Someone who could offer advice, tell you what to do, what not to do, and prove that what you’ve always wanted is possible. If you’ve ever wanted to have your own accounting and tax practice, then we have the motivational conversation for you.

Scott Irvins has an interesting career history, one you might want to hear about. He spent a number of years working in corporate America , and after two company shut-downs he decided it was time to start his own business as a full-time accountant. Because he lacked formal training he did something unusual; he went to a local university to get an associates degree in accounting and he took Universal Accounting Center’s 4-week Professional Bookkeeper course. This is Scott’s experience.

Scott’s Experience with UAC’s Training
“The Universal Accounting course - we were done in 4 weeks. I knew everything we needed to do, and that was just getting started. As to the other one [University coursework], in that four weeks I hadn’t even finished the first class yet, and 18 months later I finally had a little piece of paper that says I have a degree in computerized accounting. But from the get-go with Universal Accounting Center , their training was fast and simple. In looking at both, it was actually more comprehensive than the 18 month class. We had to do the entire extra general education things, and they broke the training up into little pieces, where in Universal Accounting Center you got the whole picture and you got to do it all in four weeks. It was great.”

Not only that, but as Scott continued to complete his university coursework he found himself using the knowledge gained from UAC’s training to help mentor and advice fellow accounting students! In fact, some days he would actually teach portions of his classes upon the request of university faculty.

But Scott continued to enjoy Universal Accounting Center benefits even after he graduated. Scott explains: “[UAC] was great with the training, and the support staff here at Universal Accounting Center . If there was any situation to come up, they were always here to help and to get you through the problems, and to get things done right, and make sure the client is satisfied.”

How to Get Clients
Upon completing the training, Scott began working from his basement. In fact, he ran a successful accounting and tax practice from home for 10 years. Just two years ago he opened his own office, and just recently hired his first assistant. But how did he get his first clients?

“The actual client I got myself, I answered a classified ad. They were looking for an in-house bookkeeper, and I went in and talked to the owner and basically helped change their mind to say you don’t really need somebody full-time in-house. I can take your stuff and do this much more, and do it for an actual less price overall per month than what they would pay somebody in-house…”

A lot of my clients have come through referrals, so by servicing the clients you expand on it. The referrals come in. I got a few neighbors and relatives that didn’t jump on board immediately, but after seeing that I was picking up new clients and developing a successful practice, I was then able to add those on and expand quite quickly once we got a few going.”

Advice for Others Starting Their Own Business
“Once you have gotten the training, it is just a matter of going out and using the marketing tools that are taught in the class. The first few things they teach you will get you a few clients to get started, and then, based on where you want to go, how much time you want to put into it, it’s just how much you continue marketing. You can have 3 or 4 clients and have a nice part time business or you can go straight out, and I am not saying you will be self-supporting in a month or two, but within 6 months you should be able to get enough clients to have a decent income and expand from there…”

The accounting experience isn’t necessary if you are going to take the Universal Accounting Center course. It will teach you everything you need to know. If I was to try to go out and do it without having taking that, even having gone through the associates degree program at the college, I don’t believe I could have done what I have done, just because they didn’t teach us how to go out and get clients, or how to start up your chart of accounts for small business and get them started. [Regarding university training] Everything was so modularized and the training was more geared to how to go out and get a job. So the first thing I say is go through the accounting program. In four weeks, you will be done. The training is well worth every penny you pay for it, and that will give you everything you need to go out and get started. You expand from there. I usually suggest to new people [to] go through the accounting. Get comfortable for that, usually for the first year, and as you are going for that point, then think about taking the tax class, because every one of your clients and more wants you to do taxes for them, since you are already doing their accounting books. So that is kind of the second step. Get settled in your accounting business and add on the tax and it will just bring in much more income.”

Enjoying the Benefits of Self-Employment
“The biggest thing is being your own boss and being flexible with your time. And to go in whether you need to. The other day, my little boy was sick. You could take him in the middle of the day and take care of things like that or over the last two weeks we have had family reunions. So I took a half a week off and worked the other half, and now I am taking another vacation to San Diego next week.”

Scott’s Motto: Just Do It!
Scott found that starting his own business required a leap of faith, but with solid training to back him up he felt confident that he would succeed. After comparing both university training and Universal’s Professional Bookkeeper course, he felt UAC’s program was much more beneficial. Why spend months, maybe years trying to get the training to start your own business when you could get all the information you need in just 4 weeks?

If you’ve been looking to start your own accounting and tax practice, take that leap of faith today! Give yourself an early Christmas present that will keep giving and giving and giving to your bottom line. Enroll and expand your knowledge and skills, increasing your marketability and value to potential clients. Or give yourself the gift of a lifetime and get the Professional Package, both the Universal Practice Builder and the Professional Bookkeeper Program for Big Savings off the retail price! Don’t hesitate and waste another day procrastinating, take the steps to the best decision you can make for your career.

Tax Simplification: “Not Gonna Happen”

A recent student asked me how to respond to a well-meaning relative who felt that accounting was a dying occupation because of tax simplification. I’m often asked if a simpler tax code, meaning flat-tax or federal sales tax, would eliminate the need for accountants. Those who ask this question obviously don’t understand what an accountant does.

First of all, I don’t think such a tax bill could ever pass. Too many special interest organizations with powerful lobbying groups will lose too much to let any such bill pass without a fight.

• Religious organizations will argue that their funding from contributions will dry up.
• National homeowners’ associations will argue (and rightfully so) that homes will drop in value as mortgage interest will no longer be deductible.
• Medical organizations will buy TV ads telling stories about people with debilitating diseases and high medical bills going to ‘tax prison’ because they lost their medical deduction.

And, those are just the obvious problems.

Plus, most tax simplification plans will tax the poor heavier and the wealthy lighter than they do now. That’s a hot-potato that neither political party will support.

No, the public will never let such a thing happen.

Even if we were to assume that such a tax program will be adopted, accountants will remain in high demand. Certainly simpler tax laws may eliminate tax preparers. But most tax preparers aren’t accountants.

The primary and most beneficial roles accountants perform are in the area of management controls, and cash management. A company stands to gain much more through staying on top of these areas than saving on lower taxes. Let’s face it, companies don’t go out of business because they are paying too much in taxes, but they will if they have poor controls, or poor cash management.

Big businesses certainly understand this. A large company I once worked for had four thousand accountants. Less than 1% of these accountants worked in the tax department. In other words, 99% of the accountants with this company were working on providing management with crucial information regarding profitability, while monitoring the company’s financial position. This company understood that income taxes are a necessary evil that require some attention, but the potential for business improvement is much greater in other areas.

So, do we ignore taxes? Certainly not! Taxes must be completed, and done correctly according to law. Besides, a good tax preparer may save a tax payer hundreds of dollars, if not thousands in taxes — sometimes many times the cost to have the taxes prepared.

Tax preparation will always be needed. And, my guess is that it will become even more complicated before becoming any easier.

Regardless of the tax law, however, accountants will always be a critical part of the business world.

Also, see the article entitled “Why are Businesses Begging for Your Services?” This is “must reading” for every freelance accountant.

The Professional Tax Preparer:

The Occupation as Certain as Death and Taxes

“Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” We’ve all laughed at that axiom before, right? The saying is intended to emphasize the inevitability of taxes. You can’t run from the IRS, just like you can’t run from death. But did you know that even if you die on April 14^th, your taxes are still due on the 15^th? And even Elvis still pays taxes. So you can’t escape taxes, even in death.

So where’s the good news in that, you ask? If every adult, dead or alive, must pay taxes, tax preparers not only have the largest potential client base of any profession around, they also enjoy serious job security. Add to that the potential to make $100+ an hour and you have an appealing line of work.

Countless Opportunities
Becoming a tax preparer opens up countless career options. You could supplement your current income with part-time work in the evenings or on the weekends. You could turn your accounting/bookkeeping practice into a one-stop financial shop by adding tax preparation to your services. You could replace your full-time income by becoming a Professional Tax Preparer. Or you could build a successful tax firm. Whichever option appeals to you, the training necessary to become a tax preparer isn’t as long and painful as you might expect. Universal Accounting Center has made easy.

A Profitable Designation
Others like you have earned the Professional Tax Preparation Certification with great success. Graduates have prepared tax forms for up to 50 individuals in their first year. At an average of $150 each, they made $7,500 working just the 45 days before April 15. For many people, this represents 3 months of salary. If you are the kind of individual that likes to work hard for a concentrated period of time and then have time to relax, preparing income tax forms could be perfect for you.

Once your business gets off the ground and you have clients and referrals coming in, your second year could be 3-4 times that number, or $22,500 to $30,000, working only a few months out of the year! For many, this represents what they make the entire year at a full-time job! We show you the ways to help grow your practice with proven strategies and tactics. Leave nothing to chance!

Click here to learn why adding tax preparation to your business makes sense … and money!

Additional Revenue Stream for Accounting and Bookkeeping Businesses
If you already have an accounting or bookkeeping business, preparing taxes will be a natural fit for you. While the training for tax and accounting are different, they complement one another. If you are already good at preparing books, you have the types of abilities that you will need to prepare taxes. The accuracy, meticulous record-keeping, and patience that you rely on in your accounting or bookkeeping business will serve you well when preparing tax statements.

Combine tax preparation and accounting/bookkeeping services, and you earn a terrific income all year long. It is easy to cross-sell from one service to another, making it easier to find clients, since you often will service the same client for both tasks.

If Someone Should Profit from Tax Season, it Might as Well Be You!

“There may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some.” –Martin A Sullivan

“Isn’t it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool’s Day and ends with cries of ‘May Day!’?” –Rob Knauerhase

People love to joke about taxes, probably because everyone has to pay them and no one likes to. Tax law can be confusing, and laymen and woman generally don’t like to sort through it all. So most will either use popular computer software to do their taxes, or they’ll look to a tax professional for help.

My father has his own accounting and tax practice, and I was surprised to find out that he wouldn’t have a business without the money he makes preparing taxes. In fact, over the years his clientele has shifted from accounting to tax simply because of demand. If you currently run your own accounting business the time has come for you to expand your business and increase your income.

Add Tax Services to the Menu

One proven technique in expanding your business is to add new services that will appeal to current and potential clients. Because everyone must pay taxes, in adding tax services to your menu you’re opening your business to a much broader prospective client base. You can charge $125 plus per hour and earn at least $7500 of additional income your first year! Not a bad promotion, right?

While tax season can be hectic, it would keep your door swinging with business. Not only would you make more money, but you would change the nature of your practice. You would quickly become a full financial services provider, a one-stop shop for all your clients. Not only that, but accounting and tax services compliment one another perfectly. In a typical year, accountants find they’re least busy at the beginning of the year and busiest at the end of the year. The opposite scenario exists for tax preparers; they’re busiest at the beginning of the year with business dropping off after tax season. You could find yourself drawing in clients when you need them most!

The Power of a Professional Designation

In this day of pending legislation to regulate paid tax preparers, tax payers have become more interested in finding tax professionals with credentials demonstrating their expertise. A professional designation can do just that, putting your clients at ease and earning you immediate trust. It’s difficult to put a price on something that valuable.

The Professional Tax Preparer (PTP) Program is the Answer

Universal Accounting Center’s PTP Certification provides hands-on, video-based training in the preparation of individual and full business taxes, step-by-step instruction in starting a sole proprietorship, and one full year of follow-up support from expert tax preparers. When you complete the program you can choose to earn the Professional Tax Preparer Designation as well. UAC’s PTP Course is the most complete tax program on the market!

Don’t let another tax season come and go without making a profit. Expand your business by offering full business services. Tax season could soon become your busiest and most profitable time of the year. Enroll in the PTP Course today!

A Brief Survival Guide for the Home Business Owner

Running an accounting practice from your home offers countless benefits. It also poses unusual obstacles. While you can determine your own work schedule, you only get paid upon submitting invoices to clients. While you can take on as much or as little work as you’d like, you must promote your own services. Self-employment definitely has its fair share of pros and cons. And in order for your practice to thrive in a competitive market, it’s important that you do all you can to ensure your business is successful. Here are seven simple survival tips:

1. Mind your distractions
While you can walk around the office all day in your bunny slippers, if you don’t have the self-discipline to get work done then you might at well go back to your day job. For a home business to be successful, the owner must be productive and not only work hard, but work smart. You will retain more clients if your services benefit their businesses; that cannot be accomplished unless you mind your distractions and focus on the work at hand.

2. Take advantage of tax benefits
Small businesses, especially those operating out of a home residence, can take advantage of countless tax benefits. However, instead of waiting until it is time to file, you should look at ways you can take advantage of these benefits year-round. If you’re unsure how to do that, consider either taking advantage of valuable tax training or consulting with a tax professional.

3. Charge what you’re worth
It’s common for freelancers to appear somewhat apologetic when discussing their fees. If you find yourself somewhat timid when explaining what you charge then you need to change your perspective. You offer valuable services that enable your clients to save money in some instances while making more money in others. You are worth your fees and then some. In fact, your small business clients will appreciate the confidence and assertiveness you display when discussing your services.

4. Market with confidence
Again, the ability to successfully market your services stems from your belief that what you do is valuable and worth promoting in the first place. If you are convinced that your services help small businesses owners function more profitably then all your advertising will speak of that with conviction.

5. Practice what you preach
You tell your clients how to use the information you give them to make more lucrative decisions; you must do the same. When performing accounting functions for your own practice, determine which marketing efforts are most profitable, which services are most appealing to clients and which services could be added in order to increase your business appeal and bottom line. Answering these questions will enable your business to become more successful.

6. Keep ahead of the competition
It’s important that you always keep an eye on your competition. Know what they’re doing and how they’re marketing their services. Doing so will enable you to keep one step ahead where clients and potential clients would rather you be.

Small businesses need a lot of work in order to survive. But you want to do more than just survive; you want to thrive. And in order for your practice to thrive you need to constantly evaluate your business’s health in order to find weaknesses and make them strengths. These six tips will help you to do that, learning more about your practice and how to make it function more profitably.

Running a Winning Own Accounting and Tax Practice:

A Profile of Success

Ralph Barnes is in the middle of tax season, counting the days to April 15^th when his business will slow down a bit so that he can get back to the regular, less rigorous routine of his accounting practice. He works by himself in a little office on the main street of Clarkston, Washington, and has the freedom to work late hours when his business requires it or to or take a week off when he requires it.

He quit his job as an accountant for a radial tire chain 14 years ago. Ralph works as an accountant for 20 clients and prepares, roughly, 170 tax returns every year. He’s as busy as he would like to be and enjoys a flexible schedule, spending leisurely time with his wife, adult children, and young grandchildren.

Ralph enjoys his business. He says the best part is being his own boss. He advices others who would like to start their own accounting and tax practice to remember ” . . . it takes awhile to build up the business. You have to be working on getting new clients all the time. You can’t wait for them to walk through the door; it’s not going to happen. Once you get a good client base you’ll get lots of referrals.” What’s the benefit of adding tax services to your menu? Ralph says, “That’s where I make my living. I get 75% of my money from taxes.”

You Too Can Run a Successful Accounting and Tax Practice

Perhaps you already have your own accounting practice. Or maybe you’ve been thinking about it, planning for just the right time to launch yourself to success. Regardless of your current status, you can build a successful accounting and tax practice in less time than you might imagine. All you need is accounting and tax expertise and the know-how to market that expertise.

Accounting Expertise

Consider all the small businesses in your community, those with storefronts and those without: owners of restaurants, specialty shops, training facilities, freelancers and consultants, and even the closet Ebay seller all have to manage their business’s finances. If you are an accountant or bookkeeper, the opportunity to serve a growing community of entrepreneurs is remarkable. In fact, over 80% of accounting opportunities exist within the small business sector.

Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper Program has over 25 years of experience training individuals in small business accounting. In less than 60 hours you can receive a professional designation as proof of your expertise, enabling you to reach out to small businesses in your area and work year-round as an accountant.