Surviving and Thriving in a Recession

Surviving and Thriving in a Recession

When a recession hits, it affects many people and industries across the world. Even if you think that your industry is not affected, your company can still be hit due to knock-on effects. Revenue becomes harder if your clients are affected or if they realign their budgets. If this persists for several months, it can result to layoffs and furloughs.

Protect your income

It is with this increased risk that we should protect our sources of income as much as possible. If you run a business, then this is the time to optimize operations and reduce unnecessary expenses. Look into each recurring expense and determine whether it is critical for your business. You may be surprised to know that some of them can be eliminated without affecting your operations. read more

More Lessons I Learned Working From Home

More Lessons I Learned Working From Home

In the previous article, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages to working from home. In a remote work setup, it is important to establish a fixed time and place for you to work. But there are more things that we need to take into account: communication and security. These are the additional lessons I learned while working remotely since 2012.

Communication is a high priority

My boss always emphasized that communication is the most important thing especially in the context of working remotely. If we are not able to communicate effectively, then the whole setup will fail. read more

Lessons I Learned Working From Home

Lessons I Learned Working From Home

We live in interesting times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more companies are being forced to adopt a remote working setup (or working from home) for its employees. I have been working remotely full-time since 2012. This article discusses some of the lessons and tricks I learned throughout the years.

I understand that working from home does not apply to all industries. It is mostly applicable to jobs that involve working in front of a computer. My career is in software development which fits this set up comfortably. However it can also apply to other industries such as business process operations, accounting, and company administration. read more

Accounting for Noobs, Part 2

Accounting for Noobs, Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed basic accounting concepts like the Accounting Equation. From there we identified the different Account categories and how transactions are placed under Debits or Credits.

You may be thinking, “Ok good, I get why this is being used by companies and banks, but this does not apply to me!“. Perhaps you may be right, but have you asked yourself these questions before?

  • How much did I receive as salary this year?
  • How does it compare to my earnings from my side business?
  • I have been paying my car loan for quite some time now. How much did I pay for it so far and what is left to pay?
  • Considering everything including non-cash assets, what is my net worth?

These questions are easily answered if you are recording everything using a double-entry system. read more

Accounting for Noobs, Part 1

Accounting for Noobs, Part 1

If you are not involved in finances in your work, accounting seems to be a very daunting concept. This is understandable as there is an Accountancy course in college which means that you need to spend years studying the whole thing. It should not dissuade us in learning about basic concepts however, as it will help us greatly in managing our own finances. This article will serve as an introduction to accounting for noobs or those new to the concept.

The main purpose of accounting is to enable recording of economic data (which is mostly money or asset values). From these data recordings we can then summarize them and provide useful reports for analysis. These reports are used to see how a business or organization is doing. The results of the data can then be analyzed to determine the next course of action. read more