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INTERNET
Yahoo! at a
Price
Yahoo! the largest web
directory has finally succumbed to
commercial and people pressure. For a fee,
Yahoo! will guarantee to look at any
submitted site within seven days of
submitting. The same rules apply:
no
rubbish (as they perceive it), no 'under
construction', no free web
space, no choosing of
directory category, - and of course - no
guarantee of entry.
The cost $199, 'yes'
dollars! USA only at present, but, I figure,
it
won't take long to get to
this side of the pond.
(Ed: Did you know that
'yahoo', as in the Oxford Dictionary, means:
bestial person - a race of
brutes in 'Gulliver's Travels' - about
right I think.
PHONE-Y WAR
AOL
Cut Out Telephone Bills
Last weeks article on net
phone costs would have been slightly
different had we known that with AOL's £9.99
per month, 1p per minute service, that a
condition of this is to pay your on-line
time through
your credit card to AOL. The
implications of this are:
a) No Family and Friends
Discount - or more importantly, Best Friend.
b) Not paying your credit
card bills on time could make the 1p per
minute much, much more.
AOL did not hide the
issue of who you paid for the on-line time,
neither did they make it
clear. In fact, they advertised the offer in
the vein of 'no more
telephone bills'.
(Ed: My solution
for heavy users is AOL Monday to Friday, and
a free ISP with BT's Best
Friend option at the weekends).
Tempo Come to a Screaming Stop
screaming.net the
alliance ISP - Tempo (electrical retailer)
and LOCALTEL (recently the subject of harsh
words from the Advertising
Standards Authority) have
stopped distributing their 0800 CD.
A statement on the Tempo web
site says;
"For a
limited period, we will
not be
issuing screaming.net CD's through our
stores. This is a
temporary measure to
ensure that existing users experience a
rapid
increase in the quality of
their service. We would like to reassure
potential subscribers
to
screaming.net that we anticipate only a
brief pause in distribution."
(Ed: What took them so
long to do something about a poor service,
that
was openly known to be poor,
and suffered by their poor customers!
This action may make others
think about quality, as well as
quantity.
BANK NEWS
Let the
Bank Guide You
The banks, like the rest
of us, are learning daily about what the net
means to business, in particular small
business. The HSBC bank has
produced a free guide called
'The Small Business Guide To The Internet'.
I know (through recent
experience) that understanding the bank's
perception of small business
Internet is a wise move if you use any part
of
the Internet in your business. Call 0800
343435 for a copy.
NET SHOP
Insurance
For nearly two years I
have used
Screentrade for all my insurance needs;
this is not reason enough to recommend their
services. However, I have read no less than
three articles this week alone praising this
company's competitiveness: now that's worth
a mention, and
worth a try.
TOPIC
The
Profit & Loss Account
Last week we set out the
Balance Sheet, being a snap shot in time of
a company's overall worth. The Profit & Loss
Account (P&L) is a report
of the company's profit on
the sale of their goods or the provision of
their service over a trading period,
normally one year.
___________________________________________________________________
PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT
1999 (£000)
01. Income
02.
Turnover
3050
03. Cost of Sales
04.
Materials 1,400
05.
Wages 650
06. Total
[4+5]
(2,050)
07. GROSS PROFIT
[2-6]
1000
08. Distribution
09.
Marketing 75
10. Delivery
Costs 80
11. Total
[9+10]
(155)
12. Expenses
13.
Rent/Lease 135
Insurance 10
Professional
Fees 30
Utilities 35
Debt Write
Off 30
Salary 120
Motor 80
Interest
Charges 50
Depreciation 50
14. Total [All of
13] (540)
15. NET PROFIT BEFORE
TAX [7-11-14] 305
___________________________________________________________________
1. INCOME: 2.
This is the total value
of INVOICED products or service's supplied,
LESS vat, and trade discounts over a one
year period. The words 'Turnover' and
'Sales' would mean the same.
3. COST OF SALES:
4. 5. 6.
This is the direct cost
of goods or services SOLD. All other goods
left at the end of the accounting period are
entered as 'Stock' in the
Balance Sheet. If you were a
house builder, bricks, wood and glass would
be direct costs within
'Materials'. As would the wages for the
brick layer, joiner
and glassier be direct costs within 'Wages'.
The cost of
advertising the houses would not be a direct
cost as advertising is
not part of the
building/manufacturing/production cycle. The
same applies to wages
for the administration staff.
7. GROSS PROFIT
This figure is the total
amount of profit on all sales after
deducting the direct cost of making the
goods or supplying the service. Expenses,
tax
and interest are yet to be deducted.
8. DISTRIBUTION
9.10.11.
This area covers postal
and vehicle distribution, wages for sales
and marketing staff, agent commissions,
sales outlets and anything that is clearly
involved with sales promotion.
12. EXPENSES
13.14.
All costs outside of 3.
and 8. are listed here. Again, as with all
costs in the P&L, figures exclude vat. Most
of the expenses are self explanatory,
however, depreciation is not so straight
forward.
Depreciation is the
reduction in value of a fixed asset. Lets
look at a production machine with a working
life of five years. The reduction in value
would be as follows:
Machine purchased 1996
Value £5,000 With no scrap value
Depreciation @ 20% Per
Annum £1,000 1997 Worth £4,000
Depreciation @ 20% Per
Annum £1,000 1998 Worth £3,000
Depreciation @ 20% Per
Annum £1,000 1999 Worth £2,000
Depreciation @ 20% Per
Annum £1,000 2000 Worth £1,000
Depreciation @ 20% Per
Annum £1,000 2001 Worth £ 0
When you buy a new
machine the purchase value is added to the
FIXED ASSET column in the
Balance Sheet. At the end of each year
the value of the machine reduces the FIXED
ASSET amount in the Balance Sheet. For an
equal five year period a compensating entry
is needed in the P&L (this is 'double entry'
bookkeeping). It is very similar to a write
off entry.
15. NET PROFIT
BEFORE TAX
This figure is the profit
resulting from all sales in the period.
Corporation Tax @ 20% has to be deducted
from this amount for a true figure.
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