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​In Loving Memory

6/11/2014

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Marty Aronow
"Losing a dear member of our AFS team has been painful and difficult, but remembering him, and who he was, is easy. Marty Aronow was much more than my business advisor, he was my friend and truly one of the good guys. He treated everyone with respect. Even in his final days, Marty worried more about the welfare of those around him than what he, himself, was facing. This is a terrible loss for all who knew and loved him. Though he was a quiet man, he was a rock, but a rock with a glint of mischief. Marty was someone I depended on for the unvarnished truth, and for support as I grew my business over the years. He made a genuine and lasting impression on everyone he touched. Marty's legacy of strong family and an impeccable work ethic live on in the lives of his children, colleagues, clients, and friends. Marty, you will remain forever in my heart, always."
— Lisa Corcoran

Donations can be made in Marty's name to the organizations below.

The New Jersey Commission on Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities (NJCRID)
P.O. Box 26
Kendall Park, NJ 08824

CAREing for Children
P.O. Box 1291
Toms River, NJ 08754-1291
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AFS 10th Anniversary Wine-Making Event OVERVIEW

5/30/2014

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AFS toasts their tenth anniversary with a big wine-making event. They invited a group of clients and colleagues to join them in making their custom, hand-crafted red wine at Bacchus Winemaking Club in Toms River, NJ.

November 2013
"AFS Wine, The Making Of " — The story of our wine, details about our grapes, and the steps we took to craft our custom blend, complete with photos — click here to read

April 2014
Several AFS wine-makers returned to Bacchus Winemaking Club to “barrel taste” our wine. Samples were drawn from the barrel to check on the aging process. The wine was smooth and easy drinking, with the fruit of the Petit Syrah most noticeable. Continued tannin development is expected over the next few months in barrel, which will impart structure in the wine. The 2013 vintage for California grapes was a winner, and we’re excited to bottle our wine this summer.

May 2014
We returned to barrel taste the wine again. What a difference a month makes! The Cabernet Sauvignon is more forward now, and the blend is becoming more dimensional.

July 2014
The design for our wine label has been chosen and we eagerly await the big bottling event.
​

August 2014
The big day finally arrived! Clients and colleagues joined AFS to bottle our 10th anniversary wine. — click here to read
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Congratulations Top 100 ProAdvisors!

5/28/2014

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​Lisa Corcoran selected by peers as one of the Intuitive Accountant Top 100 ProAdvisors
from tens of thousands of ProAdvisors in the country.
by Gary DeHart May 28, 2014
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We are very proud to announce Intuitive Accountant's first annual Top 100 ProAdvisors. This list recognizes the leading consultants who have embraced the ProAdvisor program and have leveraged it in order to better serve their clients and grow their own business.

This listing, like all listings of its kind, may have some people you don't agree with and it may be missing some people who you believe should be included. We expect that and highly encourage you to join in the nomination and voting process next year when we will be recognizing the 2015 Top 100 ProAdvisors and the ProAdvisor of the Year.

Speaking of ProAdvisor of the Year, as promised, we'll be announcing and recognizing the ProAdvisor of the Year with our presenting sponsor, Canon ImageFORMULA Document Scanners, next month at Scaling New Heights. In addition to the ProAdvisor of the Year, we'll be recognizing the ProAdvisors who stand out in the following categories: QuickBooks Online, Niche, Trainer, Coach, Systems Integrations, Social Media, Business Process Outsourcing, Up and Comer and Friend of Intuit.
​

There is still time to register for the conference and a few hotel rooms remain in the room block, so check out the show website and join us in San Antonio at the single biggest gathering of ProAdvisors in the world as we recognize these Top 100 ProAdvisors and the ProAdvisor of the Year.

Please join us in congratulating the 2014 Top 100 ProAdvisors!
Congratulations!
Murph and Gary

Congratulations to all of the Top 100 ProAdvisors (in alphabetical order):
Marjorie Adams
Brett Barry
Judy Borland
Debbie Bosse
Dawn Brolin
Jonyce Bullock
James Cliame
Susan Cook
Lisa Corcoran
Jeremy Craig
Peter Cullen
Rick Daigle
Beth Damis
Elaine Davila
Karen Dellaripa
Carla Demers
Krista Dempsey
Maureen Diem
Paulette Dreher
Ilene Eisen
William English
​David Enix
Jane Faulks
Gita Faust
Alicia Fleri
Bryce Forney
Jill Frillman

Hector Garcia
Diane Gilson
Keith Gormezano
Tim Grant
Robin Hall
Leslie Hamm

Susan Hawkins
Mariko Hayashi-Hall

Patricia Hendrix
Mario Hernandez
Gail Hilburn
Christine Hoke
Cindy Hovig
Heather Hudson

Susan Humphreys
​
Michele Jensrud
Carrie Kahn
Richard Kane
Stacy Kildal

Debra Kilsheimer
Jo King
Gale Kirsopp
Michelle Long
Laura Madeira
Vic Madeira
Diane Margulies
Lane Maurer
Michael Mehr
Patty Mory
Teresa Mueller
Bonnie Nagayama
Mario Nowogrodzki
Laurie O'Neil
​Nancy Orben

Stacy Patrick
Annabel Pedemonti
Lisa Pierpont
Susan Pruskin
MB Raimondi
Cherri Rapp
Laura Redmond
Sandy Robertson
Debra Rockwell
Rhonda Rosand
Martin Roth
Charlie Russell
Raeann Salter
Linda Saltz
Heather Satterley
Nancy Schreiner
Caren Schwartz
Steven Seidenberg
Wilna Sepulvado
Joan Shumaker

Jeff Siegel
Karen Siewert
Richard Stanfield
Marnie Stretch
Marilyn Sudbeck
Judith Syms
Jeanne Tarazevits
Kathy Tighe
Haiden Turner
Fay Uraynar
Sharon Vetsch
Dominique Waits
Jim Wells
Terri Wilson
Kevin Woods
Cathy Wool
Katherine Wynne-Jones
​Gina Zane
Kathy Zaroczynski
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AFS PRESENTS AT NEW JERSEY ELECTRONIC SECURITY ASSOCIATION'S 2014 ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM

2/1/2014

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• The benefits of managing books properly
• Cash vs. accrual basis accounting
​• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• Payroll and 1099 issues
• Sales and use tax
• Tracking inventory
• Insurance
• Understanding financial statements

Lisa Corcoran and Kathy Lorenzo of Alternative Financial Services, LLC presented at NJESA's annual symposium held in Atlantic City in February 2014. Their two-day course, “Essential Components to Business Success,” addressed the reasons why proper bookkeeping is an essential component to business success. The sessions focused on managing bookkeeping functions using QuickBooks, complete with live QuickBooks demonstrations.

Topics covered included:



This presentation is approved by the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs for CEU credit. NJESA members who attended AFS’s course earned continuing education units toward their licensing renewal requirements.

NJESA is New Jersey's chapter of the national Electronic Security Association. Its membership represents over 300 security and fire alarm companies, manufacturers and distributors who do business in the state of New Jersey.

The “Essential Components to Business Success” course may be available to other groups upon request. To learn more about why proper bookkeeping is an essential component to business success
or to earn CEU credits, contact Lisa Corcoran to inquire.

Lisa Corcoran
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (732) 269-7809

Learn more about Alternative Financial Services at www.AFS-NJ.com.
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Why the first person I hired was a bookkeeper

11/5/2013

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COMMENTARY
Why the first person I hired was a bookkeeper
​Chris Griffiths
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Nov. 05 2013, 5:00 AM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Nov. 06 2013, 12:50 PM EST

When my first small business was in its infancy, I was struggling to make ends meet. Marketing my new business and finding customers who would trust their money to a startup wasn’t easy. The bills were piling up.
I started my business as a one-man show, and as I finally started getting some momentum, my first instinct was to hire a bookkeeper.

This isn’t typical. Not at all. But it worked for me, and here’s why: Most entrepreneurs are happy to leave the day to day bookkeeping to an outside firm. Outsourcing this work allows them to focus on their natural skill sets and leave the tedious responsibility of managing invoices and receipts to someone else.

Early on, I couldn’t even afford an outside bookkeeping service, so I did it all myself. While it was time consuming and non-revenue generating, I soon learned the value of having up-to- the-minute financial data on how my business was performing. I was addicted to this information; the sales, margins, overheads and expenses were always in front of me in black and white. These numbers didn’t lie and they gave me a sober view on how I was managing my cash flow and what was driving the profit in my business.

When it came time for me to break free from those bookkeeping tasks, I already knew how certain transactions should be allocated and was accustomed to seeing it all in real time. Switching to an outside service would mean that I’d receive monthly statements, at best. In my opinion, that information was too old to act upon in a meaningful way, so I hired a part-time bookkeeper to come into the office several hours a week. This allowed me to influence how the books were organized, and meant my statements were only a few days old at any given time.

Nowadays, I rarely encounter owners who run their bookkeeping with the same level of detail with which they run the rest of their business. They’ll often get attendance records, production reports, new orders and receivable information every day, while their financials are done once a year, submitted three to six months after year end.

I think they’re missing out. As a matter of fact, I know they’re missing out because, when their margins and expenses are well documented and presented, they inevitably change their priorities.

When I talk to small business owners about the state of their finances, they typically mention about sales and cash flow. Rarely they know where their margins or expenses are relative to last year or this years’ budget – if they’ve budgeted at all.

Furthermore, when I ask entrepreneurs about the current state of their books, they often answer in the future tense. They’ll often mention a big project coming up, the seasonality of their operation or a large receivable coming due. That’s fine, don’t get me wrong. But it speaks to their instincts about what’s about to happen, not how worthwhile or successful their past efforts have been.

While a big project or busy season or large receivable are all meaningful metrics, the truth is that it’s rarely one thing that contributes to a small business’ profitability. It’s normally a hundred little things.

Where’s the best place to find the financial impact of a hundred little opportunities in your business? One place worth looking, for sure, is in your financial statements. So while I was tempted to make my first hire a salesperson, or service technician or production worker, instead I chose a bookkeeper. With real-time profit and loss statements available to me, I was able to make hundreds of intelligent decisions and changes and improvements, all of which contributed to my success.
​
I know that spending time with your accountant and bookkeeper is something you normally do out of necessity. However, you may benefit from investing more of your focus into those financial statements, more regularly. You’ll see the positive influence it will have on how you run your business every day.
#
​
To read this article on the web, click here.

Chris Griffiths is the Toronto-based director of fine tune consulting, a boutique management consulting practice. Over the past 20 years, he has started or acquired and exited seven businesses.
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