Rural BPOs - Next big thing in IT, says Nasscom

Rural BPOs are the next revolution in Indian IT sector to happen, as the industry gears up to achieve $50 billion export target this year, Nasscom member Ashank Desai said.

"The host of rural BPOs that are coming up in the country, is the next revolution in industry to happen, rural BPOs is about creating jobs," Desai, who is also the chairman of Mastek, said at IIM-A confluence.

"Rural BPOs will reduce the cost for Indian IT companies first and later on globally," Desai said, adding, such BPOs are coming up in Karnataka and Haryana.

"Over the last 15 years we have increased the business size of industry almost 800 times, in 1990 our exports were 100 million this year we will do 50 billion, we have created two million jobs in the country directly, and another 6-8 million indirect jobs," Desai said.

source: http://www.indianbpoobserver.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1571

Read more...

Bangalore's IT, BPO crowd less than 10 percent

Bangalore's IT, BPO crowd less than 10 percent

Bangalore: Employees in IT and BPO industries constitute just 10 percent of the total population of Bangalore. Data cited by The Times of India from various trade bodies and population statics show that these two industries employ just six lack people in Bangalore, in which 3.5 lakh employees are from IT and another 2.5 lakh from BPO/call center industry.

Assuming that each employee has a family of four -which is not the case as almost 50 percent of the industry is made up of singles in their early 20s- then their population in the city would be 24 lakh, which is 34 percent of the total

It was also found that the five jobs that every single IT job creates in the city generally goes to a villager who has migrated to the city in search of better prospectus from within Karnataka.

The findings were made on the ground of the state JD(S) President H D Kumaraswamy's remark on huge traffic jam occurred in the city during a political rally of his party. The rally had affected the movement of lakhs of people in North Bangalore and many people had criticized this act. Responding to the complaints, Kumaraswamy had said, "Sophisticated people and those working in IT/BT are making unnecessary noise."

According to a report in the Times of India, it has become a fashionable for politicians to blame the city's Rs.60,000 crore IT industry for all the ills plaguing Bangalore.

Source: Silicon

A List Sites

Read more...

BPOs see a clear advantage over IT

Source: Times of india

Bangalore: Business process outsourcing firms believe they will be less impacted by the global economic meltdown than their IT counterparts because much of what they do involves facilitating day-to-day operations.

BPOs offer services like payroll processing, bill/invoice processing, loan processing and insurance claim processing, as also equity research, business analytics, merchandising, and financial planning and analysis. These are operating expenses for the client company and the return on investment (ROI) for the BPO is mostly real-time. On the other hand, a large chunk of IT investments are capital expenditures — mid to long-term — and are therefore seen to be discretionary and deferrable. So while some analysts think many of the core areas of the IT sector could see declines in revenue of as much as 30% over the next year, they believe it could be lower than 10% for most BPOs.

Avinash Vashistha, MD of technology consultancy firm Tholons, says the slow down impact on BPOs will be limited. “Application support and maintenance and project implementation services of IT are likely to take a dip of over 30%. But BPOs are about core transactions and day-to-day functioning and clients will find it tough to delay these projects or make cuts in them,’’ he says.

P V Kannan, CEO of BPO firm 24/7 Customer, says the flip-side of the recession will work well for the sector. “It opens up huge opportunities for BPOs. The discretionary portion is very small in BPOs. Existing customers are in fact accelerating their offshore plan as they are under huge liquidity pressure. Many customers will adopt the outsourcing model from the first quarter of calendar 2009,’’ he says. Currently, processing services account for 60% of the industry while the rest 40% comes from core services (business analystics, financial planning etc). Last year, the ratio was 70:30 and its likely at 50:50 in 2009. Also, the share of voice based services has come down from 95% (India gets 5% of the global voice market) a couple of years ago to 80% now and is expected to fall further. “All these trends indicate that highvalue deals are likely to grow during 2009 and beyond,’’ says Sabya Sachi Satpathy, senior director of consultancy firm NeoIT. “Everyone’s worried about liquidity. Better management of operational spends saves money for customers. BPOs will cash in on this trend during these tough times,’’ says Partha De Sarkar, CEO of BPO company HTMT Global Solutions. Much of the core processes currently go to the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil and Ireland. Opening near-shore locations is expected to help India capture some of this flow, and Indian companies are beginning to do that.

Read more...

Quickbooks training in Bangalore for $499 with certification

Here is an exciting offer to learn QuickBooks Pro 2008/2009 in 5 days from “Horse’s Mouth” and get certified as QuickBooks users. Charges: $499.00 (No other cost involved)

COURSE DETAILS

The primary goal of this course is to train you in the aspects of accounting and bookkeeping using QuickBooks Software. You will acquire the practical knowledge and skills to enable you to set up and maintain a set of books for a company using QuickBooks software and US based accounting methodology.

COURSE METHODOLOGY
Approximately 2-4 hours of lecturing and discussion daily.
1-2 hours on relevant exercises on each chapter, followed by a quick test on the topic covered. Reasoning for selection of the best answer will be discussed daily.
The final web based exam will be taken by the trainees after the 5 day sessions have been completed. They will have up to 90 days to complete the exam at their leisure and from any web connection. Upon passing the Intuit Certified QuickBooks user exam, participants will receive a certificate from the Intuit Academy. The answers for these questions would also be discussed in the class.

Exam* - Intuit Academy exam will be specific to the user and confidentialDisclaimer: All test questions are a sample, and success on these questions is not indicative of proficiency for passing the Certified User Exam.

Who Should Attend?
• Attendees who intend to work with BPO/KPO in the Finance & Accounting arena, with a minimum of a B.Com, BBM, M.com, MBA, MFM from a qualified Indian University. Working professionals with accounting back-ground, chartered accountants, finance managers etc…

WHAT THE COURSE IS NOT
• A substitute for self-study • An indirect method of self-evaluation before the main exam. • A means of picking up a question bank


COURSE OUTLINE
Day 1

Introduction To US Accounting
• The business World in the US • The Accounting world in the US • Accounting Conventions in the US• The Balance Sheet • The Income Statement • Business Transactions in the US
• Discussion of Best Practices in QuickBooks
• Quiz
Day 2
QuickBooks® Introduction
• Creating a QuickBooks Company File • QuickBooks Chart of Accounts• List, Registers and Forms• Discussion on how and why QuickBooks has special accounts for managing the data file
• Vendor Management • Customer Management • Managing the bank accounts • Discussion of Best Practices
• Quiz

Day 3

QuickBooks Advanced
• Items
• Inventory
• Sales Tax
• Receivable options in QuickBooks
• Class Tracking
• Reimbursed Expenses
• Refunds and Credits
• Credit Cards
• Refunds and Credits
• Online Functions with QuickBooks
• Quiz

Day 4

QuickBooks Advanced Continued

• Payroll in QuickBooks
• Reports Management
• Templates
• Year End for a QuickBooks File
• Best Practices Discussion
• Quiz

Day 5Day 5
QuickBooks Exercise
• Create your own sample Company
• Mock Exam
Course Wrap-up, Participant Feedback and Questions and Answers
DELIVERABLES



40 hours Instructor Led Training
QuickBooks training notes
By: Cosmic It services
Certificate of QB user
From Intuit Academy

INSTRUCTOR PROFILE
Penny Breslin

Ms. Breslin brings over fifteen years of entrepreneurial and business development experience She has trained thousands of business owners in US as how to use QuickBooks and how to deliver outsourced Bookkeeping over the internet. She has conducted this course repeatedly India and the Unites States to an excellent feedback. In addition, she has provided process improvement consulting & trainings in, Unites States, Malaysia, and India. She has conducted numerous public and in-house trainings on QuickBooks, Outsource Management, Workflow, Software Quality and Client Support. Her training feedback has consistently been rated high and has been positively received.
She was formerly working at Xpitax/XCM Solutions she was part of the Software, she developed and implemented an accounting outsourcing team, assisted in the design of the web based workflow solution and implemented client start ups and protocols

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Registration FeesRs. 24,900.00 (Inclusive of service tax) per participant

Course DATES: 10th November to 14th November 2008

Course Timings 09030 to 1800 hrs

Course Venue :

Cosmic IT services Private Ltd. 154,
6th main road, 2nd phase, 2nd stage,
Mahalaxmipuram
Bangalore 560055 India

Course Registrations To register, please email at reg@cosmictechnologies.biz name of the participants and the course location. Alternately, please request for a registration form via email.
More Information Santhosh kumar.k
Cosmic IT services Private Ltd.
154,6th main road, 2nd phase, 2nd stage, Mahalaxmipuram
Bangalore 560055 India
Tel +91-80 23190288 Fax +91-80 28456467Email:
santhoshtmg@cosmictechnologies.bizWeb:www.cosmictechnologies.biz


Registration and payment Terms

- All payments to be made in the favor of “Cosmic IT services PVT. LTD " and posted to:
Cosmic IT services Pvt. Ltd.
154,6th main road, 2nd phase,
2nd stage, Mahalaxmipuram
Bangalore 560055 India

- All registrations are required to be fully paid prior to the start of the course. - Any cancellations received within the last ten calendar days would be liable for 50% of the course fees. - No-shows shall be fully charged.

QUICKBOOKS® Certified User

www.cosmictechnologies.biz www.quickbooksindia.com

Read more...

US Tax series -5

Business Income –Schedule C

Schedule C

Schedule C is used to report income or loss from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor.

An activity qualifies as a business if your primary purpose of engaging in the activity is income or profit and you are in the activity with continuity and regularity (i.e. materially participation).

What should be done in case both the taxpayer and spouse have different businesses?
A)They should file separate Sch Cs
Q) What if the tax payer and spouse jointly own a business?
A) They do not file a schedule C even if they don’t have a formal partnership agreement, in that case 1065 would be filed.

Schedule C is divided into 5 parts
- General Information

- Part I Income
- Part II Expenses
- Part III Cost of Good Sold
- Part IV Vehicle Information
- Part V Other Expenses

- Part I Income
- Gross Receipts or Sales.
- Statutory Employees (From W2)

Income reported in the Sch C includes cash, property, and services received from all sources.

- Part II Expenses

- Depreciation
- Travel, Meals & Entertainment Expenses
- Vehicle Expenses
- Other Expenses

To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary.

An ordinary expenses is the one which is common and accepted in the taxpayer’s respective field of business. A necessary expenses is one which is helpful and useful for the trade.

Examples are 1. reasonable allowance for salaries and other compensation, 2. traveling expenses while away from home etc.

Automobile & truck expenses: Expenses incurred on a personal automobile used for business purposes can be deducted. The standard mileage rate for the cost of operating the car is 48 ½ cents a mile for all business miles.

Home Office Expense

Generally, you can deduct business expenses that apply to a part of your home only if that part is exclusively used on a regular basis:
-As your principal place of business for any of your trades or businesses,
-As a place of business used by your patients, clients, or customers to meet or deal with you in the normal course of your trade or business, or
- In connection with your trade or business if it is a separate structure that is not attached to your home.

Exceptions to this rule apply to space used on a regular basis for:
- Storage of inventory or product samples, and
- Certain daycare facilities.

Use Form 8829 to figure the allowable expenses for business use of your home on Schedule C (Form 1040) and any carryover to 2007 of amounts not deductible in 2006.Only certain expenses are deductible.and The primary home must be used as a principal place of business.

includes
-Real estate taxes
-Deductible mortgage interest
-Casualty losses
-Rent
-Utilities and services
-Insurance
-Repairs
-Security systems etc.
The business percentage can be determined by the dividing the area used for business by the total area of home.

Expenses are deductible if the part of the home is used to provide day care facility.Must be in a trade or business of providing such facilities.

Read more...

BPO to outshine IT outsourcing

New Delhi: IT being in the midst of the ever growing economic turbulence will see its outsourcing straggle as business process outsourcing (BPO) outshines it. "With a CAGR of 43 percent as compared to 25 percent of IT outsourcing the business process outsourcing shall surpass it in 2012," predicts IDC India's Head, Praveen Senger.At the Senior Leader's Forum held by Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI), major players and industry experts gave their views about the future of the BPO industry in India and the strategy which should be adopted by the players in these times of financial crisis. However, the Sami Chopra, President, BPIAI said, "But there is no need for the BPO industry to panic. We should cooperate and collaborate amongst ourselves to address the problem. The effect of the crisis would fade away in the next few quarters. We have to look beyond that and formulate strategies for the long term." Since the BPO sector has become an attractive investment option especially the domestic processes as compared to the international part of the business. Moreover, with the quality being the key to sustain the competitive advantage as opposed to cost in the future, India needs to retain the tag of the best service provider rather than that of the cheapest service provider. So, for this Leslie D'Monte, Associate Editor, Business Standard cites the importance of a sound Global Delivery Network for the Indian BPO Industry.

The forum dedicated to the issues relating to the issues of the BPO sector even discussed the rural aspect of BPOs maintaining that they along with catering to a social cause would actually make money for the clients by addressing the huge market opportunity which lies in rural India

http://siliconindia.com/shownews/47666

Read more...

US tax series-4

Rent

Rental Income.

Royalty Income.

Schedule E.

Rent Income:
Rental income is any payment you receive for the use or occupation of the property.
This is usually in the form of cash. However, if the tenant provides certain services, the value of the services is treated as rental income.

Advance Rent:
Any amount received before the period that it covers.
Include it in the rental income irrespective of the period covered or accounting method used.

For Example: You sign a 10 year Lease to rent your property. In the First year you receive $5000 for the first year of lease and $5000 as rent for the last year of the lease. You must include $10,000 in your income in the first year

Security Deposit: Do not include a security deposit on your income if you plan to return it to the tenant at the end of the lease

Expenses paid by tenant:
If your tenant pays any of your expenses then it is treated as rental income.
Payment for canceling the Lease:
If your tenant pays you to cancel the lease then the amount you receive is rent.

Rental Expenses:
You can deduct expenses that are ordinary and necessary expenses for managing, conversing or maintaining the property.

Deductible Expenses are:
Vacant Rental Property: Expenses for managing, conversing or maintaining the vacant property can be deducted.

Depreciation: You can begin to depreciate a rental property once it is ready and available for rent.
Other Expenses:
Advertising.
Cleaning and Maintaining.
Utilities.
Insurance premium.*
Tax preparation fees.*
Taxes*
Travel Expenses.*

Repairs and Improvements:
Repairs:
Repairs keep the property in good operating condition.
For example:
Repainting your house.
Fixing Broken windows.
Fixing Leaks.

Improvements:
Improvement adds value to the property, prolongs it’s useful life or adapts it to new uses.
For example:
Adding a room
Putting up a fence
Putting up a new roof, new plumbing or new wiring.
Improvements must be Capitalized. This capitalized cost can be depreciated as if it were a new property in itself.

Personal Use of Dwelling Unit
If you have any personal use of your dwelling Unit that you rent you must divide your expense between rental use and personal use.
You use a dwelling unit as home if you have used for personal purposes more than the greater of
- 14 days or
- 10% of total days it is rented to others at a fair rental price.

Reporting Expense
If the dwelling unit is
- Used as home and rented out less than 15 days, then do not include any rental income in your income and you can not deduct any rental expenses also.
- Used as home and rented out for more than 15 days, then you can include all your rented income in your income.

•Royalty is the payment to the holder of a patent or copyright or resource for the right to use their property.
•Royalty from copyrights and patents
Royalty from oil, gas or mineral properties

Read more...

US Tax series -3

Capital Gains and Losses

-Definitions and Basics.
-Classification of Gains /Losses.
-Treatment of Losses.
-Schedule D

Capital Assets

Capital assets are properties specified in the tax law that give rise to capital gain or loss.
All property is considered a capital asset, except:
•Property held for resale (inventory)
•Real or depreciable property used in a trade or business (i.e., operational or fixed assets) (see IRC §§1231, 1245, and 1250)
•Accounts or notes receivable acquired in normal course of business

•Copyrighted or a literary, artistic, or musical composition in the hands of the creator or anyone who assumes the creator's basis (i.e., the property was received as a gift)
•U.S. government publications received from the government at a reduced price
•Almost everything you own and use for personal purposes or investment is a capital asset.

Holding Period:

length of time an asset has been owned (held).

In general, Assets owned longer than one year have been held long term. Assets owned one year or less have been held short term.

Cost Basis:
The basis of property is usually its cost. The cost is the amount paid in cash, debt obligations, other property, or services. It includes:
• Sales tax.
• Freight.
• Installation and testing.
• Excise taxes.
• Legal and accounting fees (when they must be capitalized).
• Revenue stamps.
• Recording fees.
• Real estate taxes (if assumed for the seller).

Adjusted Basis:
Before figuring gain or loss on a sale, exchange, or other disposition of property or figuring allowable depreciation, depletion, or amortization, certain adjustments (increases and decreases) are made to the basis of the property. The result of these adjustments to the basis is the adjusted basis.

Fair market value (FMV): is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither having to buy or sell, who both have reasonable knowledge of all the necessary facts.

Sales of similar property on or about the same date may be helpful in figuring the FMV of the property.

Short-term capital gain is taxed at the same rates as ordinary income, regardless of the seller's tax bracket.
Long Term Capital Gain is taxed at 20%.(Reduced to 15% rate this year for assets sold after May 05, 2003)

Read more...

US Taxation series -2

Income-wages

There are three main categories of income:

Active income :
Income for which services have been performed.
E.G. Wages, commissions and income from businesses.

Passive income :
Income from business activities in which a taxpayer does not materially participate.
E.G. Rental Real Estate

Portfolio Income:

Income from investments.
E.G.
Dividends, interest ,royalties capital gains.

Earned Income –

Compensation for personal services rendered.
Wages, salary, Tips, Professional fess also includes Scholarships.


Unearned Income –

Basically investment type income.
Interest, Dividend , Capital gains, Pensions, Annuities


Wages mean employee compensation and it includes

fringe benefits.
bonuses.
retirement plan contributions.
stock options.

Wages are reported on Form W2, which is provided by the employer.


FORM W2

Read more...

Tax Credit to Aid First-Time Homebuyers; Must Be Repaid Over 15 Years

Tax Credit to Aid First-Time Homebuyers; Must Be Repaid Over 15 Years

WASHINGTON — First-time homebuyers should begin planning now to take advantage of a new tax credit included in the recently enacted Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
Available for a limited time only, the credit:

Applies to home purchases after April 8, 2008, and before July 1, 2009.
Reduces a taxpayer’s tax bill or increases his or her refund, dollar for dollar.
Is fully refundable, meaning that the credit will be paid out to eligible taxpayers, even if they owe no tax or the credit is more than the tax that they owe.

However, the credit operates much like an interest-free loan, because it must be repaid over a 15-year period. So, for example, an eligible taxpayer who buys a home today and properly claims the maximum available credit of $7,500 on his or her 2008 federal income tax return must begin repaying the credit by including one-fifteenth of this amount, or $500, as an additional tax on his or her 2010 return.

Eligible taxpayers will claim the credit on new IRS Form 5405. This form, along with further instructions on claiming the first-time homebuyer credit, will be included in 2008 tax forms and instructions and be available later this year on IRS.gov, the IRS Web site.

If you bought a home recently, or are considering buying one, the following questions and answers may help you determine whether you qualify for the credit.

Q. Which home purchases qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit?
A. Only the purchase of a main home located in the United States qualifies and only for a limited time. Vacation homes and rental property are not eligible. You must buy the home after April 8, 2008, and before July 1, 2009. For a home that you construct, the purchase date is the first date you occupy the home.
Taxpayers who owned a main home at any time during the three years prior to the date of purchase are not eligible for the credit. This means that first-time homebuyers and those who have not owned a home in the three years prior to a purchase can qualify for the credit.
If you make an eligible purchase in 2008, you claim the first-time homebuyer credit on your 2008 tax return. For an eligible purchase in 2009, you can choose to claim the credit on either your 2008 (or amended 2008 return) or 2009 return.

Q. How much is the credit?
A. The credit is 10 percent of the purchase price of the home, with a maximum available credit of $7,500 for either a single taxpayer or a married couple filing jointly. The limit is $3,750 for a married person filing a separate return. In most cases, the full credit will be available for homes costing $75,000 or more. Whatever the size of the credit a taxpayer receives, the credit must be repaid over a 15-year period.

Q. Are there income limits?
A. Yes. The credit is reduced or eliminated for higher-income taxpayers.
The credit is phased out based on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). MAGI is your adjusted gross income plus various amounts excluded from income—for example, certain foreign income. For a married couple filing a joint return, the phase-out range is $150,000 to $170,000. For other taxpayers, the phase-out range is $75,000 to $95,000.
This means the full credit is available for married couples filing a joint return whose MAGI is $150,000 or less and for other taxpayers whose MAGI is $75,000 or less.

Q. Who cannot take the credit?
A. If any of the following describe you, you cannot take the credit, even if you buy a main home:
Your income exceeds the phase-out range. This means joint filers with MAGI of $170,000 and above and other taxpayers with MAGI of $95,000 and above.
You buy your home from a close relative. This includes your spouse, parent, grandparent, child or grandchild.
You stop using your home as your main home.
You sell your home before the end of the year.
You are a nonresident alien.
You are, or were, eligible to claim the District of Columbia first-time homebuyer credit for any taxable year.
Your home financing comes from tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds.
You owned another main home at any time during the three years prior to the date of purchase. For example, if you bought a home on July 1, 2008, you cannot take the credit for that home if you owned, or had an ownership interest in, another main home at any time from July 2, 2005, through July 1, 2008.

Q. How and when is the credit repaid?
A. The first-time homebuyer credit is similar to a 15-year interest-free loan. Normally, it is repaid in 15 equal annual installments beginning with the second tax year after the year the credit is claimed. The repayment amount is included as an additional tax on the taxpayer’s income tax return for that year. For example, if you properly claim a $7,500 first-time homebuyer credit on your 2008 return, you will begin paying it back on your 2010 tax return. Normally, $500 will be due each year from 2010 to 2024.
You may need to adjust your withholding or make quarterly estimated tax payments to ensure you are not under-withheld.

However, some exceptions apply to the repayment rule. They include:
If you die, any remaining annual installments are not due. If you filed a joint return and then you die, your surviving spouse would be required to repay his or her half of the remaining repayment amount.
If you stop using the home as your main home, all remaining annual installments become due on the return for the year that happens. This includes situations where the main home becomes a vacation home or is converted to business or rental property. There are special rules for involuntary conversions. Taxpayers are urged to consult a professional to determine the tax consequences of an involuntary conversion.
If you sell your home, all remaining annual installments become due on the return for the year of sale. The repayment is limited to the amount of gain on the sale, if the home is sold to an unrelated taxpayer. If there is no gain or if there is a loss on the sale, the remaining annual installments may be reduced or even eliminated. Taxpayers are urged to consult a professional to determine the tax consequences of a sale. If you transfer your home to your spouse, or, as part of a divorce settlement, to your former spouse, that person is responsible for making all subsequent installment payments.

Read more...

US Tax return preparation series

The trend of outsourcing preparation of income tax returns overseas, particularly to India, began about five years ago and shows no signs of abating. Its popularity has grown as tax practitioners have come to appreciate its advantages

Outsourcing tax preparation services offshore, particularly to India, began about five years ago and has grown at a phenomenal rate. Its popularity has grown as tax practitioners have come to appreciate its advantages. The tax return outsourcing business has dramatically changed and expanded beyond the client to tax preparers and now, to back-office outsource processing. More and more CPA and accounting firms are opting to outsourcing tax return to India to help minimize operating costs and maximize efficiency and gain competitve advantages.

Poupular tax return outsourcing services using leading tax software like Lacerte, Creative Solutions, ProSeries, Drake, ATX, Pro Systems or any other tax software that you work with. Tax Compliance during the busy season becomes easy to manage with our backoffice tax support

Basics about US Taxation

Overview of 1040

Who needs to file a 1040 ?

Following persons may need to file a Federal Income tax return if:

•Citizen or resident alien or elects to be treated as a resident alien of US.
•Resident of Puerto Rico .
•A non-resident alien with income from US sources.

When and where to file a return?

When a person has a gross income of taxable nature and has taxes withheld he needs to file a tax return.
Filing Deadline: The returns needs to be filed by the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends.
For 2008 tax year we need to file the return by 15th April 2009.
An automatic extension for filing the return is available (Oct 15th).Form 4868 needs to be filed.

Filing Status

There are 5 types of Filing Status available:

•Single
•Married Filing Jointly
•Married Filing Separately
•Head of Household
•Qualifying Widow(er) with dependent child

Dependents

A Person Can be claimed as a “Dependent” if he meets following 5 tests:

•Joint Return Test
•Relationship Test
•Citizenship Test
•Gross Income Test
•Support Test

Benefits of Claiming Dependents

Taxpayer is eligible to claim maximum personal exemption of $3,400 each for 2007 as a deduction from the Taxable Income.

Certain credits are available with respect to the Dependents.

Form 1040

Income
(-) Adjustments to Income
= Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
(-) Deductions
= Taxable Income
Multiplied by Tax rate equals Tax Liability

The form is divided into following parts:

1.Personal Information
2.Income Section
3 Adjusted Gross Income
4.Taxes and Credits
5.Other Taxes
6.Payments
7.Signatures.

Form 1040

Read more...

Quickbooks training in india

Bookkeeping is a growing profession - it is demanding, exciting, challenging and above all, rewarding. It is about understanding how a business works and then providing accurate figures that enable the business to know exactly how well it is doing. For men and women of all ages and from all backgrounds it provides an outstanding career opportunity.

Bookkeepers become accountants and inventory control experts at a higher rate than any other profession. Those who leave the record-keeping industry altogether use their bookkeeping skills to understand various tasks within an industry, then move to positions of managerial control. The people who take this route, however, usually supplement their bookkeeping skills with business courses, seminars, or second positions where they can demonstrate their management ability.

There is only one company in India specifically in Bangalore (Silicon valley of India) cosmic IT services Pvt. Ltd. which is providing training in Quickbooks from 2002 and they are the pioneers in this area.

Cosmic has been providing corporate and individuals QuickBooks training for over 5 years. Our philosophy is to provide "Quality training at affordable rates". Cosmic unlike any other training institute provides you with hands on experience

Cosmic Training, an ISO 9001:2000 certified accounting training firm and, has provided accounting and bookkeeping training since 2002. Cosmic offers training courses to students throughout the India.

This training is dedicated to providing you with a flexible, high-performance learning system. This dedication has resulted in a unique and progressive training method. Unlike other training methods that focus on theory or high-tech training products that overwhelm you, this training method provides a simple approach to learning QuickBooks software. If you are using the software for the first time, you will be introduced to its primary features. If you are familiar with the software, you will quickly learn the new features and functionality of this version. Regardless of your skill level, you will learn with the greatest of ease.

Cosmic is also a local partner of 8020 Accounting Systems LLC, USA and provides QuickBooks training in India. After the techies, it is now the turn of the finance professionals to strike it big in KPO. Also for those who are migrating to US or any US based companies having branches in India needs to maintain their books of accounts in QuickBooks. Our training program equips them best.

They offer 3 types of training :

Training schedule - 3 days

Lesson 1: Setting Up a CompanyTopic 1A: Creating a QuickBooks CompanyTopic 1B: Using the Chart of AccountsTopic 1C: Entering Account Opening Balances

Lesson 2: Invoicing for ServicesTopic 2A: Setting Up a Service ItemTopic 2B: Changing the Invoice FormatTopic 2C: Creating a Service InvoiceTopic 2D: Entering Statement ChargesTopic 2E: Creating Billing Statements

Lesson 3: Processing PaymentsTopic 3A: Receiving Payments for InvoicesTopic3B: Making DepositsTopic 3C: Printing Statements

Lesson 4: Working with Bank AccountsTopic 4A: Writing a QuickBooks CheckTopic 4B: Using Bank Account RegistersTopic 4C: Entering a Handwritten CheckTopic 4D: Transferring Funds between AccountsTopic 4E: Reconciling Checking Accounts

Lesson 5: Entering and Paying BillsTopic 5A: Handling ExpensesTopic 5B: Using QuickBooks for Accounts PayableTopic 5C: Entering BillsTopic 5D: Paying Bills

Training schedule - 5 days

Lesson 1: Getting StartedTopic 1A: Starting QuickBooksTopic 1B: Identifying Components of the QuickBooks Operating EnvironmentTopic 1C: Opening QuickBooks CentersTopic 1D: Opening Other QuickBooks WindowsTopic 1E: Identifying Common Business TermsTopic 1F: Setting Up QuickBooks in Multi-User ModeTopic 1G: Exiting QuickBooks

Lesson 2: Setting Up a CompanyTopic 2A: Creating a QuickBooks CompanyTopic 2B: Using the Chart of AccountsTopic 2C: Entering Account Opening Balances

Lesson 3: Working with ListsTopic 3A: Creating Company ListsTopic 3B: Working with the Customers & Jobs ListTopic 3C: Working with the Employees ListTopic 3D: Working with the Vendors ListTopic 3E: Adding Customized FieldsTopic 3F: Managing Lists

Lesson 4: Invoicing for ServicesTopic 4A: Setting Up a Service ItemTopic 4B: Changing the Invoice FormatTopic 4C: Creating a Service InvoiceTopic 4D: Entering Statement ChargesTopic 4E: Creating Billing Statements

Lesson 5: Processing PaymentsTopic 5A: Receiving Payments for InvoicesTopic 5B: Making DepositsTopic 5C: Printing Statements

Lesson 6: Working with Bank AccountsTopic 6A: Writing a QuickBooks CheckTopic 6B: Using Bank Account RegistersTopic 6C: Entering a Handwritten CheckTopic 6D: Transferring Funds Between AccountsTopic 6E: Reconciling Checking Accounts

Lesson 7: Entering and Paying BillsTopic 7A: Handling ExpensesTopic 7B: Using QuickBooks for Accounts PayableTopic 7C: Entering BillsTopic 7D: Paying Bills

Training schedule - 10 days

Lesson 1: Getting StartedTopic 1A: Starting QuickBooksTopic 1B: Identifying Components of the QuickBooks Operating EnvironmentTopic 1C: Opening QuickBooks CentersTopic 1D: Opening Other QuickBooks WindowsTopic 1E: Identifying Common Business TermsTopic 1F: Setting Up QuickBooks in Multi-User ModeTopic 1G: Exiting QuickBooks

Lesson 2: Setting Up a CompanyTopic 2A: Creating a QuickBooks CompanyTopic 2B: Using the Chart of AccountsTopic 2C: Entering Account Opening Balances

Lesson 3: Working with ListsTopic 3A: Creating Company ListsTopic 3B: Working with the Customers & Jobs ListTopic 3C: Working with the Employees ListTopic 3D: Working with the Vendors ListTopic 3E: Adding Customized FieldsTopic 3F: Managing Lists

Lesson 4: Setting Up InventoryTopic 4A: Entering Products into InventoryTopic 4B: Ordering ProductsTopic 4C: Receiving InventoryTopic 4D: Paying for InventoryTopic 4E: Manually Adjusting Inventory

Lesson 5: Selling Your ProductTopic 5A: Creating Product InvoicesTopic 5B: Making Cash Sales

Lesson 6: Invoicing for ServicesTopic 6A: Setting Up a Service ItemTopic 6B: Changing the Invoice FormatTopic 6C: Creating a Service InvoiceTopic 6D: Entering Statement ChargesTopic 6E: Creating Billing Statements

Lesson 7: Processing PaymentsTopic 7A: Receiving Payments for InvoicesTopic 7B: Making DepositsTopic 7C: Printing Statements

Lesson 8: Working with Bank AccountsTopic 8A: Writing a QuickBooks CheckTopic 8B: Using Bank Account RegistersTopic 8C: Entering a Handwritten CheckTopic 8D: Transferring Funds Between AccountsTopic 8E: Reconciling Checking Accounts

Lesson 9: Entering and Paying BillsTopic 9A: Handling ExpensesTopic 9B: Using QuickBooks for Accounts PayableTopic 9C: Entering BillsTopic 9D: Paying Bills
Appendix A: Using the Easy Step InterviewTopic AA: Using the Easy Step Interview

Appendix B: Using Online BankingTopic BA: Setting Up an Internet ConnectionTopic BB: Activating AccountsTopic BC: Reading Online StatementsTopic BD: Creating Online PaymentsTopic BE: Transferring Funds OnlineTopic BF: Canceling Online PaymentsTopic BG: Sending E-mail to Your Financial Institution

Read more...

Obama still playing anti-outsourcing card

Continuing to play the anti-outsourcing card, Democrat presidential front-runner Barack Obama said on Wednesday while America cannot "shy away" from globalisation, it would have to take measures to ensure that jobs are not shipped overseas.

"We have to stop providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United Statpes of America," Obama said in during a debate with rival Senator Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Cleaveland.

The Illinois Senator, playing to the gallery of those workers who have been displaced in manufacturing jobs as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and generally to the anti-outsourcing crowd, said he would ensure that every pact the US signs has environmental, safety and labour standards to protect workers and consumers alike.

"We can't have toys with lead paint in them that our children are playing with. We can't have medicines that are actually making people more sick instead of better because they're produced overseas," Obama said.

At the same time, he said, Americans cannot "shy away" from globalisation. "We can't draw a moat around us." "The problem is we've been negotiating just looking at corporate profits and what's good for multinationals," the African-American Senator said adding, "as President, what I want to be is an advocate on behalf of workers".

Facing the heat from US presidential hopefuls who blamed "shipping jobs" to China and India for rising US unemployment, the India Inc had last week launched a counter-offensive here through the media, telling Americans that the industry is creating new work opportunities for them.

Obama and Clinton were at a 90-minute debate in Cleveland a week ahead of a critical group of primaries -- an event that was devoid of any major fireworks but a mere reiteration of stated positions on issues as universal health care and Iraq.

Speaking about NAFTA, the trade pact with Canada and Mexico that is seen as unpopular with the workers, Obama said Clinton's views on the issue were not consistent.

"I think that it is inaccurate for Senator Clinton to say that she's always opposed NAFTA. In her campaign for Senate, she said that NAFTA, on balance, had been good for New York and good for America. I disagree with that...Now, I think that Senator Clinton has shifted positions on this." Clinton, on her part, said "I have said I would renegotiate NAFTA...I will say to Mexico that we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it."

On the Iraq war, both the Democrats slammed President George W Bush's record and restated long-held disagreements over which of them was more opposed to the invasion.
Clinton also said as far as she knew her campaign had nothing to do with circulating a photograph of Obama wearing a white turban and a robe during a 2006 visit to Kenya which appeared on the internet.

"We have no evidence where it came from," Clinton maintained.
"I take Senator Clinton at her word that she knew nothing about the photo," Obama said. ...

source:http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Obama-still-playing-antioutsourcing-card/277682/

Read more...

Outsource help desk

In continuation with my earlier posting on call centre services outsourcing one more important sub-category which can be added is Helpdesk services.

A growing trend in recent years has been to outsource either the help desk function individually, or the whole IT operation inclusive of the help desk. This is certainly not appropriate for all organizations, but does bring measurable benefits to some.

Obviously the major areas of benefit relate to economies of scale and the advantages of utilizing a specialist and focused provider. However, it is important that there is no illusion with respect to help desk management: ultimate responsibility for the help desk is retained. Poor help desk provision will adversely effect the help desk provider, not only the outsourcing firm.

Improve your customer service
Lower your technical support costs
Improve your business image
Reduce your management headaches

Help desk services includes

Toll-free telephone
e-Mail
FAX
Live Internet text chat
Remote control
24 hours/day X 7 days/week X 365 days/year
After-hours and Overflow
Commercial computer hardware
Commercial desktop software
Vertical or Custom application support
Bilingual (English/Spanish) support etc....

Read more...

Examine Growth of Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Market Worldwide

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of "Business Process Outsourcing - Global Strategic Business Report" to their offering.

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Business Process Outsourcing in Millions of US$. The major Service segments analyzed are Logistics, Sales & Marketing, Customer Care, Finance & Accounting, and Human Resource. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Rest of World. Annual forecasts are provided for each region for the period of 2000 through 2010. The report profiles 574 companies including many key and niche players worldwide such as Accenture, Adaptis Inc., Aegis InterWorld Inc., Affiliated Computer Systems, Amdocs, Ceridian Corporation, CGI, Convergys Corporation, Covansys, Electronic Data Systems Corp., Gevity HR, Hewitt Associates, Intelligroup, KARVY Global Services Limited, Keane, Inc., Perot Systems Corp, Sapient, Spherion Corp, StarTek, Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Intelenet, and Unisys Corporation.

Companies Mentioned Include:
--CodeThree Technologies (P) Ltd (India)
--Cognizant Technology Solutions (USA)
--Cognos, Inc (USA)
--CollectAR, Inc (Canada)
--Combine Resources (India)
--Computech Enterprise Solutions Pvt, Ltd (USA)
--Computer Consultancy Services, Inc (India)
--Conceptual Edge (India)
--Concrode Digital Technologies Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Consultants 'R' Us (India)
--Consulting Engineers Group Ltd (India)
--Continuum Systems (India)
--Convergys Corporation (USA)
--Convertz (India)
--Core BPO (India) Private Limited (India)
--Core Integrators, Inc (USA)
--Core Software Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Core, Inc (USA)
--Cosmic Internet Technologies Solutions Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Cossmoss Infotech (India)
--Covansys Corporation (USA)
--CovientCom (USA)
--CoVisible Solutions Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Creative Technology (Nepal)
--Crossdomain Solutions Pvt, Ltd (India)
--CSC Chemical And Energy Group (USA)
--Customer First Services, Inc (India)
--Customer One LLC (USA)
--Customer Line Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Cyber Futuristics India Pvt, Ltd (India)
--GoBPO (India)
--GOCustomer (India)
--Cyber Infrastructure (India)
--CybizCall International Ltd (India)
--Cygnet Infotech Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Cynosure Infotech Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Daleel International Company (Kuwait)
--Danconia FZ LLC (UAE)
--Danfa, Compsoft BPO Services Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Data Entry India (India)
--Data Infocom Limited (India)
--Data Management Systems Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Data Point Computer Services (India)
--Datamatics Technologies Ltd (India)
--DCS BPO Private Limited (India)
--Deccan Multisourcing Private Limited (India)
--Deepak Software Consultancy Pvt, Ltd (India)
--Deloitte Consulting LLP (USA)
--Destination IT Solutions (India)
--Destiny Infotek Limited (India)
--DevelopAll, Inc (USA)
--Devi Architects (India)
--Dhooran Conversion Solutions & Services (India)
--Digital Fuel Technologies, Inc (USA)

For more details visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c40995

Read more...

Call center services outsourcing

Call center services outsourcing

Call centers can be set up to handle many types of calls they can be broadly classified into 2

• Inbound Services - Inbound Customer Service Call Center
• Outbound Services

Taking orders Customer service

Tech support Qualifying inbound leads Answering service/messages etc...

Need for outsourcing call centre services:

Testing and learning- Smaller companies with little experience dealing with customers may launch their phone operations as an outsourced solution. When they have learned what it takes to run a call center and built up enough capital, they can bring the operation in house. Larger companies interested in testing new technologies or programs may find it easier and cheaper to use a call center for testing than to retrain in-house employees

Significant growth- A new product launch or other major event can bring a huge volume of calls to even a small business. Outsourcing incoming calls to a service provider can eliminate the hassles of trying to ramp up dozens of new employees or investing in major equipment upgrades.Save money- When businesses reach call volumes that demand a significant capital investment, either new phone systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, dedicated call center space, or many new employees, it can be an easy choice to outsource. Call center service providers are able to keep their costs much lower by spreading the cost of employees and technology over many customers

Business model shifts- The decision to outsource incoming call management can be triggered by a major decision, such as making the leap to 24/7 tech support. Switching to a two- or three-shift operation can be a huge problem - or as easy as going to a service provider. Another trigger can be the need to offer support in multiple languages

Call centers are often treated purely as a commodity. Avoid this trap! For many customers, the vendor you choose will be their primary point of contact with your business.
Those interactions can have a significant impact on people's perception of your company, positive or negative.

Throughout the selection process, try to keep in mind that you are not just looking for a low-cost supplier - you are looking for a call center partner who will have considerable influence over your brand and customer satisfaction.

Pricing call center services is fairly complex. The bulk of the cost is per-minute or per-hour fees for each agent or call, depending on how your contract is structured. The complexity of your script, volume of your calls, and any special services you require will also come into play. In addition, pricing can vary according to quality: call centers that employ highly skilled, experienced agents have higher costs and therefore charge higher prices.

When contracting for call center services, you can usually choose between shared or dedicated agents. Shared agents, also known as blended teams, handle calls from multiple vendors.
They may answer the phone for you one minute, and for some other company halfway around the world the next. With the right software and training, this approach works well for many common types of calls. Typically they will charge between $0.50 and $1.00 per minute.
Dedicated agents work only for you - almost like an off-site employee. By concentrating only on your calls, the agents are better able to learn your business. Pricing is per agent per hour, and can range from $10 or less for the lowest-priced offshore companies to $25 and up for larger U.S.-based firms. This gives you agents who are more knowledgeable about your company's products, but is more expensive overall.

There are many other fees to consider beyond the basic charges. Many providers enforce monthly minimums, which can drive up your costs if your volume fluctuates unpredictably. You should also expect a setup fee of up to several thousand dollars. Other costs, such as additional commissions, training, programming, and reporting fees, may be covered by your per minute or per hour charges - or may not. Make sure the provider spells out exactly what additional charges you will need to pay before signing a contract.

Contracts, metrics, and SLAs

A call center services contract needs to define more than just the contract term and pricing. It should specify exactly what standards and procedures the call center is expected to follow, how their performance will be measured, and what penalties can be applied if they fall short of the requirements.

Other contract options include exclusivity, translation services, secrecy/confidentiality, monitoring rights, and more. When creating contracts of this magnitude, almost anything is negotiable, but remember that you will pay more for special requests.

For example, a service level agreement (SLA) usually focuses on response times, such as guaranteeing that 80% of calls will be answered within 30 seconds. Depending on the nature of your business, you may want to pay extra to get a higher percentage in less time, or you may decide to save money by setting a lower goal. Some companies do not routinely include SLAs. You can probably negotiate one with any vendor, but some feel that their standard response times are sufficient or most customers.

Contracts are typically six months to a year, with provisions to automatically renew. Some may discount their rates if you agree to a longer term contract - if you are confident in your choice of vendors, you might want to take them up on a two- or three-year term. Others may penalize you for canceling a contract within the first six months or a year, but allow you to cancel any time after that.

Call centres may be of 2 types captive unit where in companies will open their own call centre units in low cost countries and manages call centres and third party providers who will provide infrastructure,manpower,and other technology and manages the unit for their clients.
Call centre outsourcing has given raise to voice based and Internet based voice providers to facilitate call receiving and making calls to other countries and we have hosted call centre services where in we will have facility to log in to web based soft dailer, make calls, record calls, call barging for supervisor,Automatic dialing etc....

VOIP (Voice over Internet protocol) which is made legal in India has seen tremendous growth an account of call centre service outsourcing. Outsourcing call centre will provide a very good turnaround of time and 24/7 support to end customers.

Read more...

Business transcription services

Business transcription services

Transcribing recordings of meetings, conferences, seminars, focus groups, insurance interviews, police reports, etc. is a time-intensive process. Instead of struggling with difficult accents, distortions, background noises and hours of editing, save time, money and be more productive by outsourcing your business transcription requirements to an experienced company .

Business Transcription Services for Focus Groups / Interviews They transcribe your standard, micro cassette or mini cassette tapes. Transcripts can be saved to disk, transported via email and/or a hard copy created

Benefit of outsourcing business transcription services

· No cost of special equipment.
· No hourly employee downtime. Pay only for production.
· No SSI, payroll, or unemployment taxes.
· No medical insurance benefits, paid vacations, and sick leave.

Business Transcriptions for Speakers/Moderators

Business Transcriptions for Teleconferences

Business Transcription Services for Books/Manuscripts

Business Transcription Services for Police and Fire Departments

Business Transcription Services for Schools

Read more...

Beyond BPO and into knowledge process outsourcing

Beyond BPO and into knowledge process outsourcing:-

Martin Kochman explains why the role of Business Process Outsourcing is changing. He believes it is going up the value chain and argues that firms can access talent unavailable in their domestic market.

Organisations have been outsourcing and offshoring business processes for many years now, to take advantage of the lower cost of labour in developing countries such as India or China. Many of these Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contracts have focused on large scale transaction processing, frequently in 'non-core' processes such as accounting or human resources, or in areas of perceived lower value or complexity.

Low-value, 'lift and drop' contracts have run into some severe and well-publicised problems. In the UK, most of us have either had, or heard about, a bad experience with an offshore customer service agent usually suffering from inadequate language skills or a lack of knowledge. On the other side of the fence, the offshore call centre agents themselves often face daunting overnight shifts (to field daytime calls from the other side of the world) and a job offering limited professional challenges to skilled graduates. Under these circumstances it's not surprising that offshore staff attrition rates per year can routinely be over 50% and that serious questions around customer satisfaction and operational stability have become common.

As these problems have hindered the development of offshore call centres and even prompted some organisations like LloydsTSB to use their onshore call centres as a selling point, other factors have led BPO providers to offer more complex, knowledge-based services that sit far closer to the core business. These higher-value processes, while still offering reduced cost, also take advantage of the wider availability of qualified talent in developing countries, exploit the benefits of operating in different time zones and allow added flexibility for ad-hoc or short-term projects.

Moving up the value chain

http://www.financeweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=6257

Read more...

Bookkeeping services

Today i will be discussing about Bookkeeping services!!! In general term it is also called as maintaining books of account. Any organization prefers to maintain their own books of account for tracking their income,expenses, and to review their financial performance from time to time.

Bookkeeping involves dealing in financial statement lots of paperwork!!!! and lots of repetative work involved.

In general Bookkeeping includes the following activity:-

• Account Reconciliation


• General Ledger Maintenance


• Inventory Reconciliation


• Payroll Processing


• Cash Flow Management


• Payroll Administration


• Financial Planning


• Budgeting


• Credit Card & Bank Reconciliation

Accounting softwares in use..........

QuickBooks (American Accounting package)


Peachtree (American Accounting package)


Sage Line 50 (UK Accounting package)


Quicken (Wideley used in Canada)


MYOB (Wideley used in Australia)


Tally (Widely used in India)

I will be discussing more details about each services in my coming postings keep wacthing my blog!!! and i will be discussing about technology which will assist in outsourcing all listed services.

Read more...

Audio transcription services

Audio transcription service providers can accurately transcribe any type of audio file into a text file. Just send the audio files of your interviews, focus groups, seminars, meetings, radio broadcasts, TV talk shows, lectures etc. Apart from accurate audio transcription services, we also provide value add services such as, editing, typesetting, DTP and PDF creation.

A bunch of talented and creative writers and documentation experts will assist to fulfill your needs in almost every area of writing. You will agree with us that it's hard to write good English when English is not your first language. But, that’s not quite the case here. India is a country where English is the first language for a majority of professionals and they communicate in English as comfortably as their American or British counterparts. You can find Indian writers specializing in almost every field of writing who can serve you as well as the writers in other parts of the world, at a fraction of the cost.

There is no need to use your precious money and resources to employ a staff writer. Who wants to spend money to hire a full-time writer or specialist, only to keep paying them to sit around after the project is complete? Outsourcing your content writing needs to our qualified team will save you an immense amount of time, money, and aggravation.

Professional from countries like India,china and other developing countries where we have surplus talented professionals can handling all types and sizes of writing projects. They will ensure that your project is completed on time and within your budget.

What are the services that fall under this category?

1. Content writing and editing
2. Academic writing,
3. White papers Travel Reviews and Travelogues
4. Biography writing Book summary and Book reviews Business
5. writing Ad Copy writing
6. News item writing
7. Speech writing Technical writing Travel writing
8. Presentations Product descriptions,
9. Manuals, Online help,
10. Tutorials Promotional materials and Brochures
11. Press release writing Report writing
12. Review writing
13. Script writing Software and technical book writing

google6f44e004df0e9340.html

Read more...

Audio editing Services

Audio editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media. A person who edits is called an editor. In a sense, the editing process originates with the idea for the work itself and continues in the relationship between the author and the editor. Editing is, therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

Just one needs to send the audio files of interviews, focus groups, seminars, meetings, radio broadcasts, TV talk shows, lectures etc. Otherthan audio transcription services, other value add services such as, editing, typesetting, DTP and PDF creation can be done.

A bunch of talented and creative writers and documentation experts will assist you in g to fulfill your needs in almost every area of writing.

There is no need to use your precious money and resources to employ a staff writer. Who wants to spend money to hire a full-time writer or specialist, only to keep paying them to sit around after the project is complete? Outsourcing your Audio editing needs to our qualified team will save you an immense amount of time, money, and aggravation.

They will ensure that your project is completed on time and within your budget.

Read more...

Residential Architectural Services

For a common man building his dream home would be a lifetime achievement. Some will take home loan , external funding etc to construct their home......

This service is very important or we can call it as a foundation for anyone who wishes to build their dream home. This service Provides design services for clients who wish to build new homes as well as for clients who wish to alter their older homes. Some clients prefer to build a project all at once. For others, a master plan can provide a framework for dividing the work into manageable increments that can be built out over time.

An architectural designer is an architect that is primarily involved in the design of buildings or urban landscapes, as opposed to the construction documents and management required to construct it. Architectural designers have good creative skills, imagination and artistic talent. Although most students of architecture are trained to be designers in school, not all become designers in practice. Non-registered designers are similar, but cannot legally refer to themselves as "architectural" designers in most parts of the world. Most are referred to as building designers, especially when not employed by an architectural firm.

Many large architectural firms have architectural designers that set what the general public views as the "style" of the firm's projects. These firms may actually have groups of designers (design studios), often divided into their own separate niche markets (education, healthcare, housing, etc.) In smaller architectural firms, the architectural designers tend to remain involved with the project right through completion, and actually take an active role in documentation and management, sometimes to the point of supervising construction. It is worth noting that most "star" architects, that have become household names, are known because of their skill as architectural designers.
Professional Services under this include the following

 Feasibility Studies
 Master Planning
 Site Selection
 Site Analysis
 Building Design
 Interior Design
 Architectural Visualization

Read more...

Benefits of Outsourcing

One of my friend has given a very good comment “What is the benefit of outsourcing?”, so I have issued this postings which will give a fair idea as to why we have to outsource. Many are under the impression that outsourcing can happen for data entry kind of job is outsourced but it is totally wrong.

Now BPO has taken a new name KPO i.e. Knowledge process outsourcing. Cost reduction is one of the main benefit of outsourcing but at the same time we are adding more business as we are diverting our precious time in getting new clients than looking into routine activities or non-core activities which can be easily outsourced to a third party service providers in countries like India, china, Philippines etc. Where we have skilled and trained resources availability at a very competitive pricing.

Cost is no longer one of the top benefits of outsourcing. Many companies are now looking at strategic value and speed to market as the primary benefits of outsourcing.

Here are the some of the benefits from outsourcing….

• Save on manpower (Payroll) and training costs
• Control operating costs
• Improve speed and service
• Increase processing capacity specially for a seasonal nature of job

• Eliminate peak staffing problems
• Provide the best quality services, products and people to the customers
• Be reliable and innovative
• Be competitive in the market in terms of pricing to the customers

• Provide value-added services
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Enhance tactical and strategic advantages
• Focus on strategic thinking, process reengineering and managing trading partner relationships
• Benefit from the provider's expertise in solving problems for a variety of clients with similar

requirements.
• Obtain needed project management and implementation consulting expertise
• Acquire access to best practices and proven methodologies
• Avoid investment in technology
• Concentrate more on diversifying the business
• Leverage the provider's extensive investments in technology, methodologies and people
• Reduce the risk of technological obsolescence
• Increase efficiency by consolidating and centralizing functions
• Reduce the overall management burden while retaining control of strategic decision making.
• Reduce overheads, free up resources
• Minimize capital expenditure
• Eliminate investment in fixed infrastructure
• Offload non-core functions
• Redirect energy and personnel into the core business
• Free your executive team from day-to-day process problems
• Focus scarce resources on mission-critical projects
•Get access to specialized skills new technology in communication like

VOIP,Teleconferencing,Screen sharing applications like Gotomeeting
• Reduce need for internal commitment of specialists

Read more...

Architectural Services Outsourcing

Architectural Services Outsourcing:-


In some countries architecture, as a profession providing architectural services, is sometimes referred to as "architectural engineering". In others, such as in Japan, the terms "architecture" and "building engineering" are used synonymously. The practice of architecture includes the planning, designing and oversight of a building's construction.

In some languages, such as Korean and Arabic, "architect" is literally translated as "architectural engineer". In some countries, an "architectural engineer" (such as the ingegnere edile in Italy) is entitled to practice architecture and is often referred to as an architect.[4] These individuals are often also structural engineers. In other countries, such as Germany and Austria, architecture graduates receive an engineering degree


In the world of architectural design, overheads can be significant. Personnel, computer systems, software, office space and drafting equipment require considerable investment by a company.


Types of Architectural services:-

Architectural Design Services which includes Commercial and Residential Architectural Services
Building Information Model
Architectural Drafting Services
Architectural Visualization
Landscape Drafting

I will be exalaining in detail about the above mentioned services in my next posting!!!!

we have different companies in india which perform the above said activity at a very competative prices for example

http://architecture.bluent.net
http://www.cadoutsourcingservices.com
http://satellier.com etc...

Read more...

Accounts reconciliation services

Accounts reconciliation services

Account reconciliation is the procedure of verifying that all accounting records of an organization are consistent with the bank statements. It also ensures that the various components of the company's financial statements agree with each other. Account reconciliation thus entails a detailed check of an organization's financial records, bank statements, client and vendor bills and all supporting documents to detect discrepancies, address them and reconcile the final balance. It accounts for checks outstanding, deposits in transit and reveals errors in the records.
Account reconciliation is an integral part of a company's internal financial controls. Accurate account reconciliation reports are an indication of effective tracking and interim controls. Accounting reconciliation is a vital tool for company auditors to determine the veracity of a company's financial statements and its internal reporting.

There is only one company in India which predominantly works on Quick books (Quick books is an American accounting package which is used widely in USA by majority of SME segment or (small and medium scale Enterprise) to maintain their books of account) i.e. cosmic IT services Pvt. Ltd. which is in this US SME market from 2003 successfully handling 6000 plus SME clients through their network of CPA firms.

Cosmic has developed it's own work flow management system to handle the paper flow process and provided Accounts reconciliation service to it's end clients in USA.

http://www.cosmicitservices.com/

To know more about quick books one can visit http://quickbooksgroup.com/forums and

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/about-quickbooks/small-business-financial-software.jsp


Benefits of Outsourcing Accounts reconciliation services:-
• Cost-effective accounting services
• Best-of-breed infrastructure and technology
• Proficiency in a wide range of bookkeeping software
• Experienced, skilled and trained accounting workforce
• Quick turnaround time

Read more...

Accounts receivable services

Accounts receivable (A/R) is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of customers who owe money to a person, company or organization for goods and services that have been provided to the customer. In most business entities this is typically done by generating an invoice and mailing or electronically delivering it to the customer, who in turn must pay it within an established timeframe called credit or payment terms.

An example of a common payment term is Net30, meaning payment is due in the amount of the invoice 30 days from the date of invoice. Other common payment terms include Net45 & Net60 but could in reality be for any time period agreed upon by the vendor and client.

While booking a receivable is accomplished by a simple accounting transaction, the process of maintaining and collecting payments on the accounts receivable subsidiary account balances can be a full time proposition. Depending on the industry in practice, accounts receivable payments can be received up to 10 - 15 days after the due date has been reached. These types of payment practices are sometimes developed by industry standards, corporate policy, or because of the financial condition of the client.

On a company's balance sheet, accounts receivable is the amount that customers owe to that company. Sometimes called trade receivables, they are classified as current assets. To record a journal entry for a sale on account, one must debit a receivable and credit a revenue account. When the customer pays off their accounts, one debits cash and credits the receivable in the journal entry. The ending balance on the trial balance sheet for accounts receivable is always debit.
Business organizations which have become too large to perform such tasks by hand (or small ones that could but prefer not to do them by hand) will generally use accounting software on a computer to perform this task.
Associated accounting issues include recognizing accounts receivable, valuing accounts receivable, and disposing of accounts receivable

Accounts receivable activity is often defined by the age of the receivable assigned for collection. Typically early stage collection references debt placed for treatment 90 days or less from the point of delinquency. Conversely, the term late stage refers to older accounts or those previously placed with one or more collection agencies or attorneys.

Outsourced AR Services provides effective collection solutions that yield high recoveries despite the age of the account or who may have previously worked it.

Read more...

Accounts payable services

Accounts payable services

Accounts payable is a file or account that contains money that a person or company owes to suppliers, but hasn't paid yet . When you receive an invoice you add it to the file, and then you remove it when you pay. Thus, the A/P is a form of credit that suppliers offer to their purchasers by allowing them to pay for a product or service after it has already been received.

In household, accounts payable are ordinarily bills from the electric company, telephone company, cable television or satellite dish service, newspaper subscription, and other such regular services. Householders usually track and pay on a monthly basis by hand using cheques or credit cards. In a business, there is usually a much broader range of services in the A/P file, and accountants or bookkeepers usually use accounting software to track the flow of money into this liability account when they receive invoices and out of it when they make payments.

Commonly, a supplier will ship a product, issue an invoice, and collect payment later, which creates a cash conversion cycle, a period of time during which the supplier has already paid for raw materials but hasn't been paid in return by the final customer. Certain companies, most famously Dell[citation needed] , have been able to profit handsomely by reversing the conversion cycle: they receive payment before they ship the product. Instead of granting credit to their customers, they receive it from them.

AP process involves Generation of Purchase orders, Entering Bills of vendors, tracking of A/P, Payments to vendors/suppliers, Generation of A/P reports, aging analysis etc.

There will be a reduction in A/P Process costs by approximately 40% by outsourcing the process.

Companies can spend more time on client interaction and high-level problem solving-making your time available for core processes. Using A/P outsourcing and best practice in A/P processes, and knowledge-based decision making, one will get lot of time and cost advantages.
And the bottom line: you get increased control over your A/P Business Processes.

Difference between In-House and Outsourced Accounts payable Management

1.In-house manual A/P data entry is costly, prone to errors, time consuming, and labor-intensive.

But

Outsourced automated (electronic) A/P data entry saves time, money, and aggravation.

2.Paper filing is complicated, costly, space-consuming and unreliable.

But

Filing is paperless and reliable. Imaged copies of latest documents are available for viewing anytime in outsourced AP process

3.Employee costs and workstation overhead subtract directly from your bottom line.

But

Employee Costs = 0Fixed Assets = 0Total Savings = 30-65%

4.Payment Approval can be impaired by poor interdepartmental communication and lag time of information availability

But

Outsourced A/P provides improved interdepartmental coordination between managers due to instant information availability.

There are so many benefits of outsourcing Accounts payable process which will really benefit the companies by saving cost by 50% and more with improved accountable payable system in place.

Read more...

What is Academic Transcription?

What is Academic Transcription?

Academic Interview Transcription is nothing but the conversion of recorded academic interviews, one-to-one discussions etc. into text form.

Academic Interviews are the interviews that are conducted by students/teachers as a part of their research efforts and futher studies. Academic Interview Transcription services help in getting the recordings of these interviews transcribed.

Academic interview transcription services are subsidized heavily, taking into consideration the background of teachers/students seeking such services as well as the noble cause. By outsourcing this job one can save upto 40% of their in-house cost.

The only requirement is one must be good in English language and grammer and able to undertsand different ascent.

Read more...

What can be outsourced???

If one is considering outsourcing for the first time, and you’ve heard that it’s the non-core processes that are the top candidates. But you suspect that this would give rise only to low-level benefits, and ‘non-core’ processes sound like ‘unimportant’ ones. Do you really have any of those? What processes really can be outsourced? I will help you to identify what can be outsourced, what it means for your business,and what kind of benefits can be expected.

These are the following type of services which can be outsourced!!!

we will be discussing on these services in coming days. Please keep sending your comments here.

on all 80 services and I will not be posting on weekends (i.e. Saturday and Sunday)...


Academic research transcription services
Accounts payable services
Accounts receivable services
Accounts reconciliation services
Architectural services
Audio editing services
Audio transcription services
Bookkeeping services
Business transcription services
Call center services
Catalog conversion services
CATI services
Chat support services
Civil engineering services
Claims processing software
Clinical services
Content management systems
Conversion of raw images
Customer relationship management
Dashboard creation services
Data auditing services
Data conversion services
Data entry services
Data management services
Data processing services
Digital image editing services
Disaster recovery services
Email support services
EMR software
Engineering services
Financial analysis services
Financial reporting services
Financial services
Foreign language transcription
Healthcare accounts receivable services
Healthcare services
Image blending services
Image clipping services
Image enhancement services
Image manipulation services
Image stitching services
Impact analysis software
Inbound call center services
Infrastructure management services
Insurance services
Legal transcription services
Maintenance services
Market research transcription services
Mechanical engineering services
Media transcription services
Medical animation
Medical billing and coding
Medical claims processing
Medical transcription
Open source software development
Outbound call center services
Payroll services
Photo restoration services
Practice management software
Product development services
Reporting and analysis services
Software as a service (SAAS)
Software configuration services
Software services
Software testing services
Spanish data entry services
Spanish telemarketing services
Spanish transcription services
Spanish translation services
Structural engineering services
Tax preparation
Technical helpdesk services
Toll free dictation transcription services
Transcription services
Vat returns
Video transcription services
Web enabling legacy applications
Website design services
Website optimization services
Write-up services

Read more...