How to Build a Brand That Attracts Die-Hard Followers

Brand your customers. One of the most powerful things you can do is to create a branded term to refer to all your employees and customers. Link it back to the core idea of your brand and promote the idea as they are a part of eome exclusive “tribe.” Create a special celebration process to praise them for joining your tribe and get them excited for being a part of something bigger than themselves.

At our marketing agency, Savvy Panda, we call all our employees and customers “pandas” and when we bring on a new client we send them a welcome pack with panda apparel, stickers and even a stuffed toy panda.

Related: Your Customers Aren't Looking for a Fling (Infographic)

Random acts of kindness. It’s fairly common for a business to have some sort of rewards program to help encourage repeat business. However, a more powerful way to make an impact on your customers is to establish a “random acts of kindness” program. Getting something unexpected helps spark emotions deep within an individual.

Create some criteria to identify your most active and enthusiastic customers and send them care packages to appreciate them for being such great customers. You can take it one step further and identify various influencers in your customer base and fly them out to your business to meet the people behind the brand.  

Many organizations have a dedicated community manager whose sole responsibility is to help implement these tactics discussed. Their goal should be to create and strengthen the relationship between your brand and your audience.

Disconnect from digital. It’s easy to keep communications solely in digital formats like email or social media. However, digital communications lack one of the critical brand building elements: Oxytocin. Oxytocin is a chemical released in the brain when we personally interact with each other. This is what helps spark emotions and memories -- the exact thing we're trying to create.

Related: This Is How a Brand Loses Its Luster

Personal, non-digital interactions of genuine goodwill are a great way to spark oxytocin release. This could be as simple as picking up the phone and calling your customers to tell them you appreciate them or more complex strategies like hosting an event where you can meet and get to know all your customers in person.

Digital communications are nice for working at scale, however, it’s important to keep in mind that they are not the best advocate-building methods. Where possible, put in the extra effort to connect offline or in person (even if it takes more time or costs a bit more).

Personalize. As Dale Carnegie famously said, “The sweetest sound in any language is one’s name.” As powerful as someone’s name is, it’s equally important to have context around that name. Tailoring your brand experience around an individual consumer is what will start building those deep branding connections

9 Lessons You Won't Learn In Business School

The celebrated entrepreneurs who didn't finish college let alone a graduate program (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg).

While a business school will give you a pedigree, the real world is about results. As soon as the job interview process ends, no one cares which degree you received from Harvard, Stanford, or Florida Atlantic (my alma mater). All they care about is that you get the job done.

1. The way to keep a job is to understand what success looks like.

Commit to aggressive and achievable goals. Then deliver more than others.

2. Get voted onto the team every day.

In football and the real world, when you try to solve today's problems no one gives you credit for past accomplishments. People care about how well you get today's hard stuff done.

3. Operate with a mind-set that reflects a meritocracy.

That's opposed to displaying a sense of entitlement — no matter how proud you are of your education. Having a pedigree doesn't mean you can look down on others. People sense that — and won't like it. And while Harvard or Stanford may open the door to opportunities, capitalizing on those opportunities is all about how well you do the job.

4. Be ready to demonstrate how you handle adversity.

When I hire, I often look at educational achievements as a basis for assessing someone's raw intellectual prowess. But I spend way more time looking at the challenges they've tackled, what they've achieved and how sought after they are.

5. Be open to seeing excellence wherever it is.

You'll find it often comes in the most unlikely of places.

6. Leverage your network.

That's one of the most valuable assets of any degree. Work it.

7. Understand that it's not all about you.

MBA programs spur a lot of competition; there's an intense race to be the top of the class. But that individualistic focus isn't always welcome at the workplace, where a "company first" and not a "me first" attitude is desired.

8. Learn a new culture.

Don't adhere to what you learned in school. Do extra-credit projects that provide exposure to executive management and hopefully the board. Watch how people handle themselves at these meetings and modify your behavior accordingly.

9. Give back and continue to enhance and help others on their path.

If you have an MBA, use it for good.

Journal Vouchers

Journal Vouchers

What is a Journal Voucher (JV)?
JVs are forms used to process accounting entries. They are primarily used for fund transfers and corrections. Many central offices process JVs. 

What types of transactions generate Journal Vouchers (JVs)?

Transfers from one account to another are done via JV, including revenue, deficit and expenditure transfers. Write-offs from closing budgets are also done via JV.

Who processed this Journal Voucher (JV) on my budget?

To see who initiated a transfer that generated a JV, please follow these steps: 

1) Call up the budget in My Financial Desktop (MyFD) using the Budget Summary report.

2) Expand the object code in which the JV posted by clicking on the plus sign. 

3) Locate the JV by JV number, transfer amount or date.

4) The field to the right of the JV number shows the NetID of the individual who initiated the transfer.

An internally generated transaction to record financial activity not processed through other systems such as payroll, accounts payable, cash receipts, purchasing card, travel and expense, etc. It can be used to correct errors (ie. an item charged to the wrong department or account), assess overhead or provide support to another fund.

A JV must include a debit and a credit, so that it is balanced, and a description with enough detail to satisfy the approving unit within Financial Services. If appropriate, supporting documentation can be attached to the JV when submitted for approval.

What is a journal voucher?

The entries such as "Rectification Entries", "Adjustment Entries", "Closing or Opening Entries" and Making or Providing for estimates are passed through an internal document called Journal Voucher.


Book Entries are classified as:
1) Purchase Order Based Entries - Booking expenses and liability via GRN against a P.O
2) Sales Order Based Entries - Booking Sales & Scrap Sales
3) Treasury Entries - Entries involving Bank or Cash
4) Debit Notes
5) Credit Notes
6) Journal Entries


Journal Voucher is the document through which the Journal Entries are made into the books.

Backflush Costing

Backflush Costing

A product costing system generally used in a just-in-time inventory environment. 

Backflush costing delays the costing process until the production of goods is completed. 

Costs are then "flushed" back at the end of the production run and assigned to the goods. This eliminates the detailed tracking of costs throughout the production process, which is a feature of traditional costing systems.

By eliminating work-in-process accounts, backflush costing simplifies the accounting process. 

However, this simplification and other deviations from traditional costing systems mean that backflush costing may not always conform to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). 

Another drawback of this system is the lack of a sequential audit trail. 

Alternatives to Backflushing when using the Push-strategy

'Make To Order - MTO'

A business production strategy that typically allows consumers to purchase products that are customized to their specifications. The make to order (MTO) strategy only manufactures the end product once the customer places the order.

The make to order (MTO) strategy relieves the problems of excessive inventory that is common with the traditional make to stock (MTS) strategy. Dell Computers is an example of a business that uses the MTO production strategy.

Pull-Through Production

A method used in just-in-time manufacturing processes to order production inputs and schedule manufacturing at the time a customer places an order. By basing purchase orders and manufacturing schedules on actual, rather than anticipated, orders, pull-through production helps control inventory costs. 

Pull-through production also facilitates product customization. Since products are made as they are ordered, it may be possible to cost-effectively tailor an order to a customer's specific needs, instead of only offering a generic product. 

THROUGHPUT COSTING

Throughput costing treats all costs as period expenses except for direct materials. It is also called super-variable costing. It is very suitable for those companies where labor and overheads are fixed costs.  Assembly-line and continuous processes that are highly automated are most likely to meet this criterion. In such company, workers are usually well-educated engineers or technicians employeed on permanent basis.

Throughput philosophy cannot be termed as a costing technique as it is not providing a new way of cost classification and accumulation for any of the three major elements of cost i.e. direct material, direct labour and overheads. Therefore, it is termed as throughput accounting instead of throughput costing.

According to throughput theory, managing the business with a view to maximize profit is not only ignoring the much important variables (like customers demands, needs and affordability) but also push the organizations towards inter-departmental conflicts.

According to throughput accounting, management should be concentrating on maximizing cash flows instead of maximization of profits. And this does make sense that profits can be maximized by increasing the price or quantity sold but one major thing ignored in “profit maximization” methodology is that no answer is given regarding the tangible translation of profits i.e. cash. Unless we do not realize the profits in cash form, then all the theoretical profits and feasibility reports have no value at all. Thus, management should work towards maximization of sales, which will prove generation of cash and thus indirectly increasing the profits.

As now we can understand that by merely producing items and having them in the store in the finished goods form does not promise profits. We earn profits ONLY when goods change hands i.e. actual sales take place.

And that is also the meaning of the word throughput. Under this technique we do not emphasize on increasing profit, instead we emphasize on generation of cash inflows by increasing sales which will automatically push profits to increase.

Absorption, variable and throughput costing are alternative product-costing methods. The difference is treatment of certain cost elements. Under absorption or full cost method, all manufacturing costs are treated as product costs. In financial accounting, this method is used in inventory valuation and is acceptable to tax authorities.In fact all annual accounts are prepared on this basis to facilitate inter-company comparison or calculation of industrial ratios.

Variable costing covers only variable costs while all fixed costs are treated as period costs. This type is more suitable for operational decisions as fixed cost, being committed, is irrelevant for most decisions.

In present high tech, environment, direct labour has disappeared. Generally, a few engineers operate the plant. Hence, the only throughput costs (raw material costs) vary with the change in production. This would reduce the incentive to over produce to cut down cost per unit.

Creative Accounting

Everything should be in black and white

Creative accounting can be used to manage earnings and to keep debt off the balance sheet. 

Creative accounting capitalizes on loopholes in the accounting standards to falsely portray a better image of the company. 

companies utilize creative accounting to overstate a company's assets or understate its liabilities

Why Boost the Balance Sheet?

Companies that manipulate their balance sheet are often seeking to increase their earnings power in future periods (or the current period) or create the appearance of a strong financial condition. After all, financially-sound companies can more easily obtain lines of credit at low interest rates, as well as more easily issue debt financing or issue bonds on better terms.

Overvaluing Assets

Provision for Doubtful Accounts

Accounts receivables play a key role in detecting premature or fabricated revenues, but they can also be used to inflate earnings on their own by way of the provision for doubtful accounts.

Investors can detect when the reserves for doubtful accounts are inadequate by comparing accounts receivable to net income and revenue. When the balance sheet item is growing at a faster pace than the income statement item, then investors may want to look into whether or not the provision for doubtful accounts is adequate by further investigating.

Inventory Manipulation

One example of manipulated inventory was Laribee Wire Manufacturing Co., which recorded phantom inventory and carried other inventory at bloated values. This helped the company borrow some $130 million from six banks by using the inventory as collateral. Meanwhile, the company reported $3 million in net income for the period, when it really lost $6.5 million.

Investors can detect overvalued inventory by looking for telling trends, such as inventory increasing faster than sales, decreases in inventory turnover, inventory rising faster than total assets and falling cost of sales as a percentage of sales. Any unusual variations in these figures can be indicative of potential inventory accounting fraud.

Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures

When public companies make large investments in a separate business or entity, they can either account for the investment under the consolidation method or the equity method depending on their ability to control the subsidiary.

Undervaluing Liabilities

Pension Obligations

Companies can make themselves appear in a stronger financial position by changing a few assumptions to reduce the pension obligation. Because the pension benefit obligation is the present value of future payments earned by employees, these accounts can be effectively controlled via the discount rate. Increasing the discount rate can significantly reduce the pension obligation depending on the size of the obligation.

An increase in the expected return on plan assets will reduce the pension expense in the income statement and boost net income. (For additional information, take a look at Analyzing Pension Risk.)

Contingent Liabilities

Contingent liabilities are obligations that are dependent on future events to confirm the existence of an obligation, the amount owed, the payee or the date payable. For example, warranty obligations or anticipated litigation loss may be considered contingent liabilities. Companies can creatively account for these liabilities by underestimating their materiality.

Companies that fail to record a contingent liability that is likely to be incurred and subject to reasonable estimation are understating their liabilities and overstating their net income or shareholders' equity. Investors can avoid these problems by carefully reading a company's footnotes, which contain information about these obligations.

5 Tricks Companies Use During Earnings Season

five of the most common shenanigans that management and communications teams use in their companies' releases.

1. The Friday News Release

Communication teams looking to "bury" a bad earnings report (or bad news in general) will sometimes seek to disseminate the release at a time when it suspects the lowest number of people are watching.

to send out the release after the close of the market on a Friday afternoon, preferably heading into a holiday weekend, or on a day when a variety of economic data was due for release and the spotlight wasn't on the company.

 (To learn more, see Trading On News Releases and Can Good News Be A Signal To Sell?)

 Surprising Earnings Results

communications teams, however, may attempt to bury the bad news by using phrases and/or words that mask what's really going on. 

Language like "challenging, "pressured," "slipping" and "stressed" should not be taken lightly and could even be red flags. For example, rather than say in a release that the company's gross margins have been declining and that as a result the company's earnings may get pinched in the future, management may simply say that it "sees a great deal of pricing pressure." Meanwhile, the investor is left to calculate gross margin percentages from the provided income statement - something that few retail investors have time to do.

bold or italicize headlines

Federal Board of Revenue

Federal Board of Revenue

PRAL = Pakistan Revenue Automation (Pvt) Ltd

• ANNEXURE-D for Exports
• ANNEXURE-E for FE
• ANNEXURE-F for Carry Forward Summary

SED Special Excise Duty is no more 



Saturday, November 05, 2011

FBR amends Annexure D to tax return form

SLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue has issued here today Circular No 18 of 2011 (Income Tax), regarding amendments in Annexure D to the Tax Return Form for the Tax Year 2011. The circular states that after consultation with the FPCCI, chambers of commerce, trade bodies and tax bars of the country, the following changes are made in Annex D to the tax return form for the tax year, 2011.

i. Break-up of “Education of children, spouse, self’ is made optional, which can be included in Sr-9.

ii. Break-up of “Travelling (foreign and local)” is made optional, which can be included in Sr-9.

iii. “Motor vehicle in use (whether owned or not) running and maintenance including lease rental and insurance” is simplified as, “Running and maintenance expenses of Motor vehicle(s).”

iv. A new line has been provided to write the contribution by family members.” staff report

SAP EC.6 FI/CO Module

ERP Training - 
Foundation Level of 
“SAP EC.6 FI/CO Module”

ISLAMABAD BRANCH COUNCIL

ICMAP

Dec. 1st & 2nd, 2012 (Saturday & Sunday) from 9 am to 5

it is impossible to create and maintain a custom designed software package which will cater to all their requirements and also be up-to-date.


OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING

By the end of this training, trainees will have an understanding of the capabilities of the SAP features, especially in the area of Payable Management, Cost Centre Accounting, Banks Management and Funds Management and the skills necessary to perform routine accounting tasks in these modules.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

All those who are desirous to enhance their skills by acquiring training of SAP Solution in Financial Module, Professionals planning to become SAP Consultant, ERP users or looking for some good job in Pakistan or abroad would find it an excellent opportunity to achieve their goals.

TRAINING CONTENTS

 SAP R/3 Applications & Navigation
 ASAP Methodology
 Organizational Elements
 Master Data Maintenance ISLAMABAD BRANCH COUNCIL
 Document Control, Posting Tips
 Payment Process
 Funds Management
 Cost Centre Accounting
 GL Account Maintenance
 Reporting

TRAINER’S PROFILE

Mr. Waqas Ahmed Paracha, FCMA is SAP EC.6 Certified Solution Consultant and Specialist in integration of SAP Different Modules. He is the CEO of Tally Marks Consulting (PVT) Limited (www.tallymarks.co). He has also worked in the areas of Standardization of Accounting Framework, Preparation of SOPs and Workflows, Implementation of Costing and Financial Accounting Systems, Development of Policies and Procedures manuals, Budgeting & Planning.

Financial Modeling using Excel

Dec. 8th & 9th, 2012 (Saturday & Sunday) 

THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR: 

Finance and Accounting, business managers, research professionals, financial controllers, accounting managers, financial directors, senior accountants, financial analysts and general ledger accountants. 

WHAT THE STAKHOLDERS’ ULTIMATE VISION IS? 

• Profit & Loss forecast 
• Cash Flow forecast 
• Financial Analysis using critical Ratios
•  Dashboard techniques

 BY THE END OF THE PROGRAM, PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO: 

Learn and practice all the advanced tools in Excel 2010 by applying them to real-life business cases; Develop practical models in Finance, 
Business, 
Accounting and Research; 
Build Dynamic Business Dashboards to assists professionals in measuring performance and enhance decision making; 
Learn Capital Budgeting techniques & discover developing useful Investment appraisal models; 
Build Automated Financial Models using forecasting and what-if analysis; 
Perform MACROS to automate and manage models efficiently; 
Building KPIs & other financial models. 

Contents of the workshop :
 I. FINANCIAL MODELING INTRODUCTION • What is Financial Modeling • Attributes of good Excel Models • Financial Modeling Tools • Steps in creating Financial a Model using Excel
MIRR, XIRR & ROI Calculators
Common mistakes in Financial Modeling • Customization of Excel view

II. INVESTMENT APPRAISAL • CalculatePV, FV, NPV and IRR in Excel • Payback & Discounted Payback  

 III. CAPITAL BUDGETING TECHNIQUES • Capital Budgeting Functions and Formulas • WeightedAverageCostofCapital (WACC) • Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

IV. BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS • Break-even Analysis • Break-even Visualizer • Forecasting Sales & Profits using Target break-even approach

V. BANKING MODELS& LOAN MODELS USING FOLLOWING TOOLS • Advance Functions and Formulas(PMT, IPMT, ISPMT, NPER) • Data Validation & Scroll Bars • Using What-if-Analysis o Data Tables o Goal Seek o Scenarios • Conditional Formatting • Graphs & Charts • Macros & using buttons allotted to different scenarios • Name Ranges & Flexi fields • Protection to sheets & files

VI. CASH FLOW STATEMENT & RATIO ANALYSIS • Annual Cash Flow Analysis • Cash Flow to Equity approach • Financial History & Ratio Analysis

VII. DASH BOARDS AND DATA PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES • Creating Dynamic Charts • Two ways to build Dynamic Charts in Excel • Assigning Names & Forms Buttons to Charts • Insights for Management Reports

Course Facilitator:
Asif Hafeez ACMA, APA, MBA
Financial Modeling & Advance Excel Trainer
Mr.Asif HafeezACMA, APA & MBA is expert in Financial Modeling & Advance Excel. He has trained hundreds of excel users within his professional community and built a number of models. He is a Qualified Management Accountant & done Masters of Business Administration. He has more than 10 years of working experience in Oil & Gas sector. He is the member of following professional bodies.
1. Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP)
2. Pakistan Institute of Public Finance Accountants (PIPFA)
Latest Training at ICMAP:
• He conducted a workshop at ICMAP-Islamabad during October 20th & 21st on “Financial Modeling Using Excel 2010”.
• Also conducted a workshop at ICMAP-Islamabad during August 2011 Four days’ workshop on “Advance Excel 2010”.
His Personal Key Developments:
Today Excel is a powerful tool to build various Models and Mr. Asif used Excel at the level which brushed up his Financial Modelling Skills and many of his trainees from the various organizations are using his own built time savor Excel Models. Quick reviews of his key developments are highlighted below;
 Financial Models using Excel are still being used in his professional community.
 Excel based Automatic linked Financial Statements Model from Trial Balance for Management Accounts (including Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement).
 He built some excellent Dashboards Reporting Packages covering Cash flows and from other GL activity.
 Aging Analysis Models using Advance Excel.
 He has prepared some Financial Analysis spread-sheet Solutions and What-if-Analysis Models.
 He has also developed some Excel based time saving Decision making Tools (Feasibility Reports).