Thursday, March 1, 2012

Outsourcing For Small & Medium Sized Businesses | wcae2011.org

Small and middle sized companies will most likely realize that they need help in areas where they have deficits of in-house experience. This might include areas like IT, HR, payroll and bookkeeping.

Perhaps the Money Controller or Finance Director is on extended leave. Maybe your company isn?t huge enough yet to explain a full time Controller but desires some monetary oversight. Perhaps you are opening up in a new country and need folk on the ground. You may have plenty of accounting staff, but they lack the talents to finish their responsibilities.

Startup companies are especially vulnerable to having insufficient money resource as there just is not the internal staff and experience. Outsourcing financial aspects means that a new business can concentrate on building itself and growing.

Perhaps you have a number of staff but are starting to get issues that you don't have in-house experience to address. Human resources management is a vital area that if not given the right level of expertise can end up in staff issues and disturbance. Smaller businesses often fall down on the most simple things,eg ensuring staff have a proper contract in place that obviously sets out the conditions of their work, through lack of in-house experience.

IT is an alternative aspect of business that is frequently poorly served. This is crazy given the importance that IT has to the modern business. For most businesses a major IT issue can mean the business stops working. Nevertheless again in-house expertise is commonly lacking and staff in other roles can get drawn into handling it. A business of any size will run its operations on some type of network and the complexness of this is likely to need pro help and monitoring. Other than for larger enterprises some level of outside help will be necessary.

The efficient business will recognise the abilities that it has within its own staff and attempt to outsource other functions for which it does not have the necessary level of expertise. In this way it will maximise its potential for growth.

When should a business Outsource services?

* Do you spend weekends and evenings trying to ?catch up? on your corporation's accounting?

* Do you have the monetary info available to help you run your business?

* Is it tough to find or keep a competent bookkeeper?

* Do you need book keeping assistance but can't afford or need a full-time staff member?

* Are staff issues getting in the way of expanding your company?

* Are IT issues holding back your plans for your business?

* Do seasonal rushes overpower your staff?

* Is a lack of certain staff holding your business back?

Outsourcing brings the advantage of experience and professionalism to the services selected, such as accounting, book-keeping, payroll, HR and IT support. In this way your own staff time can be freed up to address core business areas such as sales, production and purchaser support.

Outsourcing non-core business services should save cash and time as well as rocketing potency and productivity. As long as a little time is spent selecting a good outsourced supplier then the expertise and talents gained should mean that it will be enormously favourable to your business.

Who Am I?

Kathryn Aldred is a seasoned outsourced HR Executive, based in Rotherham but working across South Yorkshire and the North of England.Generally the firms I support have between 5 and 250 staff and the majority of them don?t employ a HR Professional.

For full info about my sevices please visit my website here; Rotherham HR Services

Visit my profile on LinkedIn here; Kathryn Aldred

Source: http://www.wcae2011.org/outsourcing-for-small-medium-sized-businesses/

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Bank of America considers checking account fee revamp: report (Reuters)

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New York Police Department officers guard a Bank of America branch during a Reuters - Bank of America Corp is planning to introduce a monthly fee for its customers holding checking accounts unless they agree to bank online, buy more products or maintain certain balances, the Wall Street Journal said.


Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120301/wr_nm/us_bankofamerica

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Cheap Value and Best Seller Curtains Review ? Purple with Black ...

If you have got simply bought a house or you?re thinking of re-decorating your home, contemplate the options presented to you by a number of different curtain varieties and their functions. With correct curtain selection, it is doable to vary the design and feel of a space utterly. Curtains are an necessary feature of your area?s vogue and feel. Curtains are not just used for blocking cold, keeping heat inside, blocking out light-weight and creating a private atmosphere. Now curtains are used in a ornamental manner also sensible functions, for example The ?KATROLINK?. Depending on the window you wish to decorate, curtains can become a focal purpose of a whole room or frame a view from the window. Interior decorators use color, style and new materials to assist produce an glorious wanting window curtain. Well, lets check the ?Purple with Black Velvet Floral Flocking Window Curtain / Drape Set with Sheer Backing? Shall we have a tendency to ?

Features and Product Descriptions ? Purple with Black Velvet Floral Flocking Window Curtain / Drape Set with Sheer Backing

With the web it is potential to read the numerous types of curtains, opt for the acceptable style and colour to suit your home. To name some types of curtains you are likely to seek out (curtain valance, cascade curtains, shirred curtains, caf? curtains and additional). When you think about curtain sorts, conjointly investigate the type of hanging style you require, for example The ?Purple with Black Velvet Floral Flocking Window Curtain / Drape Set with Sheer Backing?.


Purple with Black Velvet Floral Flocking Window Curtain / Drape Set with Sheer Backing

Product Features and Specifications
Product Features
Each curtain set include 2 panel and 2 tie back.
Each panel size: 60? x 84? in inch. 18? Valance Drop.
Sheer backing and Valance are attach to the curtain.
Easy Care- Machine Washable
Fabric Content 100 % Polyester

There is a reason why the Product get into our Best Seller Categories in curtains. The Purple with Black Velvet Floral Flocking Window Curtain / Drape Set with Sheer Backing products Pass all the measures and comparison aspects like Quality, availability and of course the Best Worth. Can you think if this Hot Products is sale solely for SPECIAL PRICE ? I mean look how abundant money you may save by buying this amazing product with that value here than buying it from the opposite online store.

Source: http://hobrosolutions.com/cheap-value-and-best-seller-curtains-review-purple-with-black-velvet-floral-flocking-window-curtain-drape-set-with-sheer-backing/

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THANK YOU! | TOTAL PURPOSE: Health-Fitness-Beauty for Body ...

Dear friends, family, fans and followers,

Welcome back!? I am thankful for you and share with you from the depths of my heart, mind, soul and spirit.? My wish is that you benefit in all aspects from our blog website and YouTube videos.? We are all physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual beings, so it is my purpose to enhance overall health, fitness and beauty (inner and outer).? Together, we can do it!

This is a brief post to thank you for ALL the support and love we have received.? Your kind words and thoughts are amazing.? I am very happy that our sharing encourages and helps you.? I especially enjoy reading numerous emails from all over the world.

Thank you for being interested in our stories and life/health journeys.? Because we want to continue to motivate and guide you all, Chiquita and I decided to start writing a book!? So many of you have asked us about who we are, our backgrounds, our health journeys, and so much more.? We are hoping and praying that our book gets published, because we sincerely want to be used as instruments to help others live life to the fullest.? We are excited to have the opportunity to share our lives and the plethora of lessons we have learned with you!

We are deeply grateful and humbled by all the support and love you all show us.? ?All of you are special, and we are all worthy of an optimal life filled with good health, healing, happiness and hilarity!

With much gratitude and anticipation,

-Etienne-

This entry was posted in Health, Healthy living, Living Out Loud. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.totalpurpose.com/living-out-loud/thank-you

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Valentine's Day gift-giving tips | Pro Hands at Work

(ARA) ? Giving your significant other the right gift can make or break your Valentine?s celebration. If you?re also giving something to your best friend, mom and children, you may need a little help finding the perfect token.

Erase some of frustration involved in finding the perfect gift and enjoy the holiday of love and romance with these great Valentine?s gift-giving tips:

* Want to take a unique route but lack a good idea? Start searching for ideas online. Traditional gifts can be altered slightly with gifts that incorporate jewels, chocolate or flowers in an unusual setting. For example, a bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries designed to look like a bouquet of roses, puts a unique twist on several of the more popular gifting items.

Or deviate completely from the traditional and look for gifts your loved ones would appreciate, but never expect for Valentine?s Day. Use your computer to help you find great gift ideas for others on your Valentine?s Day shopping list like your grandma and best friends. Use search terms like ?gifts for grandma? and ?Valentine?s gifts for friends? to help find ideas.

* If you have an idea in mind, find product reviews and recommendations from experts and savvy shoppers with a few quick online searches. Use forums like FatWallet to read reviews on products ranging from electronics to travel. This way not only will you be able to confirm that your idea is a great one, but also ensure you find the best prices, and the best retailer for that product.

* Don?t forget to search for coupons and deals to maximize your savings. Use Ebates.com to purchase the gifts for everyone on your list and earn cash back on every purchase through thousands of retailers. For example, if you choose to go the traditional route and order your girlfriend a beautiful bouquet of flowers from FTD, you can earn 20 percent cash back from your purchase, on top of any discount coupons available on Ebates.com. Keep that extra cash back handy to make your Valentine?s Day celebration even more special.

Many retailers provide free shipping or delivery, and you may discover you can stack deals, allowing you to save plenty of money this Valentine?s Day and helping to ease your gift shopping frustrations.

Celebrate the holiday of love and romance this year in style with great gifts for your loved ones. Go online, gather great and unique ideas and don?t forget to save while shopping.

Source: http://prohandsatwork.com/?p=60336

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Keystone pipeline claims don't add up

TransCanada via Reuters file

The Keystone pipeline is pictured under construction in North Dakota in this undated photograph released in January. Republicans have been turning up the heat on the pipeline, which has been blocked by the Obama administration.

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

ANALYSIS: Proponents of the Keystone oil pipeline argue?the $7 billion project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, give the economy a shot in the arm, lower gasoline prices and wean the U.S. from foreign imports.?

Too bad the claims?don?t hold up.?

House Speaker John Boehner renewed his attack on the White House this week for postponing approval of the?project pending a State Department review of the environmental impact of the 1,661-mile pipeline, which would cross six Midwest states to deliver Canadian crude to the Gulf Coast.?Republicans have intensified their attacks on the Democratic President?Barack Obama's?energy policies in recent days, blaming them for higher pump prices that could hurt his re-election prospects in the Nov. 6 face-off against the eventual GOP? nominee.

On Wednesday,?Boehner stepped up the pressure in a letter to the White House urging approval of the project "to provide greater energy security." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed the White House for rising pump prices.

"Make no mistake: the rising price of gasoline isn't simply the result of forces we can't control," he said in a Senate speech.

There's no doubt that rising North American oil production has created pipeline bottlenecks for companies trying to get their product to market. One major chokepoint at a central storage hub in Cushing, Okla., has created such a glut of oil that it's forced prices lower, providing consumers in the middle of the country with a significant discount at the gas pump.

But proponents' case that the Keystone XL pipeline will bring major economic benefits to the U.S. is?much harder to make.

Short-term, the construction phase of the project will "create more than 15,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs and construction jobs in 2011-2012 across the U.S., stimulating significant additional economic activity," according to TransCanada, the Canadian company that is seeking approval to build it. (The company said this week it plans to go ahead with construction of a 450-mile segment linking the Gulf Coast and a major pipeline and storage hub in Cushing. That segment with U.S. borders does not require State Department approval.)

That 15,000-job claim is based on a report the company commissioned which assumes roughly $5 billion of the total will be spent on building the U.S. portion of the pipeline.

"The fallacy I see with a lot of the arguments that are going back and forth now?is to try to say you can somehow spend $5 billion and not create some economic activity," said Robert Perryman, author of the report. "You can't do that."

But critics say the jobs created will be a drop in the bucket of the U.S. labor force, which totaled more than 153 million people in January. Even if those jobs were added in a single month, they would reduce the unemployment rate by just 0.01 percent.?When measured against just the construction and manufacturing workforces, the impact would be 0.07?percent.

Critics of the company's claims, including a group of Cornell University researchers, also note that the employment impact would amount to the equivalent of 15,000 jobs that last only a year.

"We're not looking down our nose here at temporary jobs. A six-month job is better than no work," said Sean Sweeney, one of the authors of a report on the pipeline's economic impact. "But the actual effect of the project is finite. It's not going to create jobs permanently."

The Cornell report also notes that a significant portion of the economic impact will be felt outside the U.S. Some 50 percent or more of the steel pipe used for Keystone XL, the report said, will be manufactured outside of the U.S.

"A lot of the steel for Keystone XL is already stockpiled in the U.S. and sourced from India and Canada," said Sweeney. "Those are not U.S. jobs, those are Indian and Canadian jobs."

TransCanada also argues that the six states crossed by the pipeline's route "are expected to receive an additional $5.2 billion in property taxes during the estimated operating life of the pipeline."

But that analysis fails to account for the likely damage caused by oil spills along the pipeline route. In the past five years, more than half a million barrels of oil and other hazardous liquids have been spilled from U.S. pipelines, killing 76 people and causing some $2.4 billion in property damage, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Oil price impact
Some of the biggest claims about the pipeline's economic benefits are based on the argument that it will lower oil prices by increasing supplies and reducing the risk of a cutoff of shipments from less-friendly foreign suppliers.?That assumption generated some very large numbers in Perryman's analysis, some of which have become part of the political debate. ?

Perryman argues that removing even a small "risk premium" from reliance on foreign sources will have a huge impact on the? U.S. economy.

"It's so much more than just gasoline," he said "When you work it through the entire economy and tilt down the cost structure over a $15 trillion economy, that generates some big numbers."

The number are indeed large. Based on the worst case -- the peak oil price of $147 a barrel reached in 2008 -- savings from more "stable" supplies would add an additional $221.3 billion in spending, $64.2 billion in output and 553,235 jobs to the U.S. economy. (Under more ?normal? assumptions, based on the 2007 average price per barrel of $66.52, Perryman Group figured the benefit would amount to $100.1 billion in total spending, $29 billion in output and 250,348 permanent jobs.)

But critics argue that Keystone will raise the price of oil consumed in the U.S., not lower it. That's because the current glut of oil created by the bottleneck at the Cushing hub would allow Canadian producers to reprice their oil at the global benchmark, which is now about $15 a barrel higher. The total increase would amount to some?$2 billion to $4 billion a year, according to the company's own estimates presented in its application to Canadian authorities.?

"Oil companies don?t benefit by reducing the price that we pay at the pump," said Jeremy Symons, a spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation. "The reason they're willing to invest so much money to build in a pipeline all the way across America is to maximize their profit. And that means we're all going to pay more."

As a result of those higher prices, consumers in the Midwest could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel, adding up to $5 billion to the annual U.S. fuel bill, according to the Cornell researchers. They figure that just one year of those higher fuel prices cancels out some or all of the jobs created by the project.

Energy Security
One of the most popular claims by the pipeline's political supporters centers on the benefits of "energy security." They assert that?increasing the supply of oil bought from a friendly neighbor will?offset the reliance on politically hostile suppliers in the Middle East.

But critics say that argument fails for several reasons. First, while increased oil output from Canada would displace a small fraction of U.S. imports from other sources, even if the Keystone pipeline weren't built that oil would almost certainly flow to the U.S. over existing pipelines or?by?other modes of transportation, such as railcars. The U.S. imports just about every barrel of oil Canada produces. (Only 1.7 percent of Canadian oil goes to non-US destinations.)?

Secondly, the flow of oil to the Gulf could actually lower the share of Canadian oil consumed in the U.S. because, once transported to Houston, oil producers would have access to a global shipping hub in a?tariff-free zone, giving them a financial incentive to export at least some of it.

Moreover, the U.S. is already steadily ?weaning? itself from foreign oil?based on forces that will likely remain in place for some time, with or without the Keystone pipeline. Since 2005, U.S. dependence on imported oil fell from 60.3 percent in 2005 to 49.3 percent in 2010 due to a variety of factors,?according the Energy Department.?The biggest reason is that demand is falling; it's down 12 percent from the peak in 2007? thanks to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks and to increased supplies of biofuels.?

Domestic oil production has also begun rising after more than two decades of being in decline. Increased output in deepwater Gulf of Mexico oilfields and the Bakken formation in the upper Midwest will continue to add to those supplies. Improvements in U.S. refineries have also helped cut the demand for crude, the Energy Department said.

Related story: Why the Keystone Pipeline would boost?pump prices?

Should the White House approve the Keystone pipeline?

Continue the discussion on our Facebook page.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/29/10541404-keystone-pipeline-claims-dont-add-up

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Facing the Facts on Fossil Fuel | Peak Oil News and Message Boards

We are so accustomed to our dependence on petroleum that discussions of alternative energy futures take its convenience and efficiency for granted.

This is Part 1 in a three-part series focusing on fossil-fuel dependence and the intersection of energy and the environment. Part 1 discusses what underpins our current dependence on fossil fuels to meet our energy needs: its unmatched efficiency as an energy source.

Developed societies have enormous energy needs, which at present can only be met by large-scale energy sources (oil, gas, coal, nuclear power, and hydro). An increased dependence on ?unconventional? fossil fuels (oil from oil sands, shale gas) has been met with an increased level of concern about environmental issues surrounding these developments, including proposals for pipelines to carry oil-sands crude, and the ?fracking? process required to release gas from deeply buried shales. Protesters, raising concerns about ?Canada?s dirty oil,? would like to stop the oil-sands industry and cause pipeline projects to be cancelled. But our dependence on fossil fuels means we need to take a more holistic approach to these issues. At present, without fossil fuels, industrial production would be crippled, there would be no efficient transportation, and there would be little or no economic growth. Despite concerns about fossil-fuel emissions and impacts on climate, we must not lose sight of the critical importance of fossil fuels to developed society. Because of this, climate-change solutions cannot be focused only on Canada?s petroleum industry, which is making strides to reduce its carbon intensity.

There is much hopeful talk about a future ?low-carbon economy? following a switch to renewable energy, but, at present, the major renewable sources ? solar, wind, and biofuel power ? cannot provide the necessary substitute, despite much optimistic promotion of a clean, green future. This is true even in jurisdictions where there has been heavy investment in renewables: Consider the wind farms of Denmark and Germany, which only meet five to 20 per cent of the countries? electricity needs. Wind is too variable to provide a steady base-load capacity ? coal, gas, or other traditional power sources need to be retained for this purpose. Furthermore, the scale of the needs is commonly misunderstood. A typical thermal-power plant (gas, coal, nuclear) can generate 200-2,000 MW of electricity continuously, whereas the most powerful modern wind turbines only generate three MW in the same timeframe under ideal conditions (i.e. when the wind is blowing at the right speed, which seems to only be about 30 per cent of the time). Thus, thousands of wind turbines are needed to make a real difference, and backup thermal-power plants must still be retained.

?

There is an increasingly urgent need to develop new and cheaper renewable-energy technologies. For one thing, the supply of petroleum is finite (something I will discuss in more detail in Part 2 of this series). For some applications ? air transportation and the manufacture of plastics and other synthetic materials being among the most important ? there is currently no substitute for petroleum. As a developed society, we often fail to recognize our enormous dependence on fossil fuels for these purposes.

Current renewable technologies, in addition to being of limited use, are very inefficient. In order to measure the efficiency of various energy sources, economists have created an index called the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI), which considers how much energy it takes to get the useful energy out (for example, the energy required to drill a well). EROEI can help us understand which energy sources promise a good return on investment. It tells us, for instance, that petroleum has decreased in its returns over the last several decades. At the beginning of the petroleum age, and until the 1970s, the return on petroleum energy invested was about 100:1 (100 units of energy were produced per one unit of energy invested). However, the increasing need to search for reserves in remote or hostile territory, such as the deep offshore, is steadily reducing the returns to less than 20:1.

Providing insight into the returns on investment for various energy sources, EROEI gives us a sense of their value and their likelihood of use for the foreseeable future:

  • Unconventional petroleum sources, including oil sands and shale gas, have indices in the 5-10:1 range.
  • Nuclear power, notwithstanding the huge start-up and maintenance costs, has an index in the 15:1 range.
  • Hydro power and coal have impressive indices in the 100:1 range.
  • Wind looks competitive with unconventional petroleum, at an estimated 18:1, but only when the wind is blowing.
  • Solar power is in the range of 2-8:1.
  • For some biofuels, calculations suggest that the index is less than one ? that it takes more energy to create the fuel than is delivered upon combustion.
  • Geothermal energy could have great potential as a heat source and for electricity generation, but remains largely untapped.

Based on this index, then, it looks like fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas (as well as nuclear power and hydro) will remain essential to meeting electricity generation needs for many years yet. In the developed areas of the world, we are so accustomed to dependence on petroleum that we take its convenience and efficiency for granted. The compactness, flexibility, transportability, and energy density (the amount of energy per unit mass) of liquid oil and natural gas are currently unchallenged by the other sources. To continue the supply of these resources as long as possible requires drilling in more difficult areas, using more invasive technology, and expanding the infrastructure of plants and pipelines for delivery to the places it is needed. These developments raise legitimate environmental concerns, an important factor that I will discuss in the third article in this series. While it is na?ve to think that our energy supply can be transformed overnight, the pressure to make this transformation is also linked to the finite nature of oil and gas, which I will explore in more detail in Part 2.

The Mark News


Source: http://peakoil.com/alternative-energy/facing-the-facts-on-fossil-fuel-2/

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