Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) has some critics saying that the company is losing out to online shoppers. Showrooming is said to be the reason that brick-and-mortar sales aren’t growing as fast as online sales. Showrooming is where you go into a physical store, look at the product you want, then go online to make the actual purchase. While I’m sure this does happen (I’ve done it myself a few times) to say this is the death knell of the big box retailer is overreaching.

Here is a real life example. Right now on Best Buy’s website there is a 32” Samsung LCD TV for $299.99. It’s available at about 10 different local stores for immediate site-to-store pickup. On Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) the same 32” Samsung LCD TV sells for $299.99. (I didn’t cherry pick this one product I just figured a 32” TV is a pretty standard product that both Best Buy and Amazon would have.) The price is the same, are you surprised? This is an example where Amazon’s pricing should be superior because of their lack of overhead, but it’s not. I’m sure there are examples where Amazon has a better price than Best Buy, but I think the majority of the time the pricing is similar. That being said, the idea that shoppers will leave Best Buy en masse for online merchants is overblown. Best Buy is price competitive and you can buy the item and have it today instead of in 5-8 business days.

What about Best Buy stock, is it a good value? Let’s take a look at analyst expectations and see:

Current Price: 25.44
P/E based on ’12 earnings: 7.53
Growth expected: 8.53%
Yield: 2.52%
PEG+Y: 1.47

The stock looks like a decent bargain right now. The PEG+Y is a useful statistic that compares the growth rate plus the yield to the P/E. This is a good metric if you are comparing two companies where one pays a dividend and the other does not. With a PEG+Y ratio, the higher the better. Usually a 1.5 ratio or better is what you want, and Best Buy comes very close. Just for point of comparison, Amazon’s PEG+Y is 0.27. Keep in mind also that Best Buy has been raising its dividend for the past few years.

The company’s cash flow statement shows Best Buy has an average of $252 million positive cash flow after capital expenditures and dividends in the last 4 quarters. This cash flow has helped Best Buy double their cash, net of long term debt, in the last year. The remainder of this positive cash flow has been used to buy back shares.

What could Best Buy do differently to be even more competitive?

1. Cut down their CD, DVD, and Blu-ray collections. As these formats move more toward streaming media, the physical discs will become more obsolete.
2. Offer site-to-store dedicated computers. Just because there are 25-35 laptops on display doesn’t mean they all sell well. This takes up a lot of space and ends up confusing and overwhelming customers. Pick several price points and have a few laptops at each price point that are best sellers. Then relegate the rest to the dedicated site-to-store computers. This would use less than half the space and allow the company to retail the number of selections available.
3. The benefits of Reward Zone should be advertised and mentioned much more often in the stores. This is Best Buy’s differentiating factor and gives customers a reason to be repeat buyers.
4. Best Buy needs to decide what its niche is. By offering appliances, musical instruments, furniture and exercise equipment the company is straying from its roots. Each of these departments needs to be looked at to determine if they have a future in Best Buy stores and inventory.
5. Shrink the size of the average store. By focusing on core products and greater utilization of site-to-store, the remaining inventory could fit into a 10-20% smaller store.

Taking some of these steps would make Best Buy a more focused and profitable company. We know that Best Buy can be price competitive, their stock is a decent bargain right now, and they are growing their cash each quarter. The idea that they are a sinking ship doesn’t appear to ring true. We’ve looked at a lot of information, so do your own research and decide if this company is a Best Buy after all.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bringing manufacturing back to America

Owner Michael O’Shaughnessy talks about the decision to have Element Electronics open up a new television assembly plant outside of Detroit – the only one of its kind in the country.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/politicsnation/46169963

Teaching Unethical Behavior

Businesses provide ethics classes and seminars to teach employees about acceptable behavior in the workplace. Employees who are honest by nature usually take away some food for thought from these sessions while those who are not honest by nature take away only a free lunch. Ethics classes tend to teach behavior in binary terms. This behavior is acceptable and this behavior is not. Stealing from the business is bad and not stealing from the business is good. The problem is that most unethical behavior occurs in the gray areas, in areas where the employee would like to excuse or overlook their actions. The company just purchased new software and I would never think of stealing one of the CD’s out of the box for myself. But maybe borrowing the CD so I can load the software on my PC at home is OK if I return the CD in the morning… right? After all, this will allow me to use the software to do my work from home… right? And if my daughter is able to also use it to do her homework, what’s the harm… right?

Of course we all recognize that this is unethical behavior. The harm is done to the company that created the software and expected that one license was being used when in fact two are being used. Most software companies struggle to overcome their development costs and this is probably not a small breach of ethics to them and they would say they are the victim of theft. And let’s face it… when you “borrowed” the CD, you probably didn’t announce it or ask permission and might even have hid it in your purse on your way out the door. Nobody said this was unethical behavior so it was probably OK… right?

This is an example of unethical behavior that some might consider minor. It probably occurs tens of thousands of times every day. Aside from the loss of revenue for the software developer, the real problem here was that the employee rationalized their behavior. By not stealing the CD they aren’t breaking the ethics policy of the business and might even be helping the business by enabling themselves to work at home. The employee is intentionally overlooked the fact that their behavior was unethical.

Let’s consider another example. You are the CEO of a large public corporation and it’s your job to build value for your shareholders. You’re in a tough, competitive market and, while you know you have some problems today, you also have every reason to believe things will improve in the future. To help you through this period, you have your finance department assess the future value of some of your contracts to make your projections look better. After all, these are future projections and if you fail to achieve your projections at that time, you will be able to absorb the loss at that time and besides, maybe by helping your numbers now, you can help make those projections become a reality. Of course, you are having a bad year and have to account for some real losses. By moving around some of your assets to other parts of the corporation you can isolate those losses and explain them against poor operating units of the business. This is just business and your just doing your job… right? Your corporation uses Arthur Anderson, one of the “Big Five” accounting firms to perform your outside audits. They will look at your balance sheet as you have now directed it and be able to report that your corporation is healthy and a great investment helping to maintain your stock prices. You don’t think your behavior is unethical; you’re just doing the job you’re being paid to do… right?

This is an extreme example of the rationalization of unethical behavior that would eventually result in the conviction of their CEO, Kenneth Lay, for financial fraud and the downfall of Enron and Arthur Anderson. Arthur Anderson’s defense was that they had performed their analysis on the numbers Enron gave them and therefore they were not at fault… and then they destroyed evidence related to the case. They were just protecting their reputation… right?

To be effective, ethics training needs to go beyond the “Do’s and Don’ts” and cover the gray areas that occur in the workday of all employees. They need to be given tools to guide them when they are operating in the gray areas where their actions may be unethical.

Employees should be taught to question their decisions by asking; “Am I rationalizing unethical behavior?” Businesses need to reinforce their ethics policy by instructing employees, when there is doubt; “Take the high road”. When followed, this simple rule will help employees avoid unethical behavior. Unethical behavior creates a victim who is negatively impacted by the employee’s actions. If there is a victim then the employees behavior is likely unethical.

The following subject (and others) should be covered by a business’s ethics policy and acceptable behavior taught as part of employee ethics training. In each example, the statement points to a gray area where the “high road” is not taken. Try to identify the potential victim in each example.

- Sexual Harassment – I’m happily married and would never come on to someone at work, but her short skirts definitely helped her go from a 4 to a 5 on her performance appraisal.

- Equal Opportunity – That joke was funny so I passed it on but was careful only to send it to certain friends because I know we have some of them working here and I didn’t want to offend anyone.

- Product Representations – The salesman told me it would outperform the competition but he didn’t tell me that was only under limited conditions.

- Product Quality – We needed to meet our shipping schedule so we sent the product out and planned to send a patch for that bug later.

- Sales Dealings – She is a good customer so of course I gave her a 5% discount because I knew we had raised our prices by 10% just before advertising the sale.

- Environmental Impacts – Yes, these light bulbs are designed to save energy, but they have high mercury content when you have to dispose of them.

Jim Grebey ( jfgrebey@diligentconsulting.com ) is the President of Diligent Inc. and the author of: Operations Due Diligence – An M&A Guide for Investors and Business, published by McGraw Hill.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_F_Grebey

http://EzineArticles.com/?Teaching-Unethical-Behavior&id=6810226

The most popular American companies in China.

By Douglas A. McIntyre and Charles B. Stockdale, 24/7 Wall St.

The primary reason, it is often argued, that China is an important market for many large U.S. companies is that its population has doubled since the early 1960s. But the whole picture is actually more complex than that. China’s real appeal to American corporations is that the huge population growth has been coupled with a sharp expansion of the middle class. As a result, the Chinese market probably will become more important to consumer goods and technology companies in the next few decades than the U.S. is today.

China’s population in 1960 was 667 million; more than double that of the United States in 2010. China now has 1.34 billion residents. The increase would not matter much to companies if the population was still largely rural and poor, as it was half a century ago. But, in fact, the manufacturing industry that has become the engine of China’s GDP growth also has rapidly built a huge middle class, one made up primarily of factory workers. And this middle class continues to grow. The United Nations Population Division and Goldman Sachs predict China will have 1.4 billion middle-class consumers by 2030, compared to a forecast of 365 million in the U.S. The stakes for American companies in China are rising.

24/7 Wall St.: Worst product flops of 2011

The most important consumer target markets for companies in China largely mirror those in the U.S. American companies find themselves competing with foreign multinationals for these sales.

Retailers, led by American companies like Wal-Mart, have begun to open thousands of locations across China. Much of the competition for the retail market there comes from corporations based outside America, particularly France’s Carrefour. The situation in the athletic gear market is similar. Nike has a strong sales base in China, but so does Germany’s Adidas. Li Ning, a Chinese company, is the second largest market share in terms of sales. General Motors is the leader in the Chinese light truck and car market. Volkswagen sells nearly as many vehicles as GM. Several large local car companies are owned and operated, in part, by Chinese government-controlled entities.

American companies that need strong sales in China to maintain their positions as global leaders will face challenges unique to the People’s Republic. The level of piracy of Western goods is remarkably high. Microsoft estimates four-fifths of Windows OS software in China is pirated (msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal). Apple iPhone knockoffs are widely available as well. American corporations will have to fight the problem, but accept that it cannot be entirely conquered, or, in some cases, even significantly reduced. Even manufacturers like Boeing and GM have to contend with the fact that their Chinese partners may “borrow” some of their expertise and patent-protected knowledge.

24/7 Wall St. has identified the American companies that have done the best job of tapping into this growing market. We reviewed America’s most iconic, top-selling brands at home and abroad that reflect a cross-section of the economy. We then selected 10 companies with the largest market share in China by industry and product category to identify the most popular American brands with the most to gain — and the most to lose.

1. KFC

• Market share: 40 percent (Yum! Brands)
• Industry: fast food
• Competition: McDonald’s

KFC has become a sensation in China. Since the first restaurant opened in Beijing in 1987, the chain has grown to more than 3,200 locations in 650 cities, according to Bloomberg. McDonald’s, the second most prominent fast food chain, operates 1,100 locations. McDonald’s commands only 16 percent of market share, while Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, has 40 percent. KFC is so hugely popular that the company plans to increase its number of restaurants in China to 20,000. China accounted for 29 percent of Yum! Brands’ measured-media ad spending and 36 percent of its worldwide revenue in 2010, according to Ad Age . While McDonald’s restaurants in China have an almost identical menu to those in the U.S., KFC offers local patrons a number of more familiar dishes, such as Chinese-style porridge for breakfast.

24/7 Wall St.: Best- and worst-run states in America

2. General Motors

• Market share: 12.8 percent
• Industry: automotive
• Competition: BYD, Toyota

General Motors passed Toyota Motor in the first half of 2011 to become the largest automaker in the world. It is also the top-selling brand in China. GM’s presence in the country is still expanding. In the first half of 2010, the company sold more vehicles in China than in the U.S. for the first time ever. At that time, China accounted for a quarter of the company’s global sales, according to the New York Times . Since 2000, the company’s market share in China has grown from 3.4 percent to 12.8 percent. Last year GM sold more than 104,000 LaCrosses, one of its most popular models in China. GM operates in China through joint ventures with a number of Chinese companies, such as SAIC Motor.

3. Microsoft

• Market share: 99.3 percent
• Industry: PC operating systems
• Competition: N/A

Microsoft dominates the PC operating systems market in China. According to web analytics company Baidu Tongji, the company has about 99.31 percent of market share. Apple’s Mac OS and Linux have virtually no representation. Due to rampant piracy, however, Microsoft makes only a fraction of the revenue it would make if everyone in China bought software directly from the company. Nearly 80 percent of PC software is pirated in China. According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the company’s revenue in China will only be about 5 percent of what it is in the U.S., despite almost equal sales of personal computers in the two countries, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Click here to read the rest of the most popular American companies in China

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

More than 100 Sears and Kmart stores to close

The company that owns Sears and Kmart said Tuesday it would close more than 100 stores, after lackluster sales during the holidays. Both chains have struggled in recent years. NBC’s Lester Holt reports.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45800196

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BofA to pay $335 million in Countrywide settlement

The Justice Department announced Wednesday it has settled lending discrimination charges against the defunct mortgage lender Countrywide, which steered black and Hispanic customers into more expensive subprime loans, even when they qualified for prime mortgages. NBC’s Brian Williams reports.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45758320

Small, independent retailers, many of them mom-and-pops selling off-beat items, are increasingly popping up in shopping malls that have historically been filled by big brand-name retailers such as the Gap, Foot Locker and Victoria’s Secret.

“We’ve lost some big boxes to bankruptcies, and that’s opened up a lot of vacancies in our properties, said Greg Maloney, president and CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Retail, which manages more than 98 million square feet of retail space in 350 malls and other properties. “We’re taking a look at anything to generate traffic.”

Maloney said that among the tenants who likely couldn’t have landed a mall spot in the past are independent retailers, medical centers, even churches and schools.

“Both independent and non-traditional tenants saw an uptick because there was more space available,” said Jesse Tron, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, a global trade association. “A smaller local retailer probably fits the retail mix better than those non-traditional tenants. Centers are adapting.”

High-end malls are least likely to sign such deals, simply because they’ve continued to sell their space, Tron said.

John Myers had a business for years in upstate New York renting inflatable bounce houses and other equipment for backyard parties. He wanted an indoor location, and in the fall of 2010, he rented space in the Aviation Mall in Queensbury, N.Y., north of Albany.

He was only there a few months when an Old Navy store moved out, so he negotiated with the mall to take on 18,000 square feet of space. The indoor business, the Party Palace, caters to children’s parties. It offers miniature golf, inflatables and a stuffed-animal center. It does best in the winter, but foot traffic drops in warm months.

“I’m definitely not getting rich,” he said. “It breaks even and makes some money here and there. If I didn’t have the outside rental business, I don’t think I could make it there.”

Still, he said, he’s used it to make the business more year-round, and he’s been happy to be in the mall. He’s in the process of negotiating another year on his lease.

Maloney said sales forces seek out such businesses, often offering leases of a year or less. Mall tenants typically sign multiyear leases. The shorter contracts allow the independent shops to try out mall life, and vice versa, he said. If the center is unhappy with the tenant, they aren’t committed to a long-term deal.

Joe and Wendy Cucinello, a Sterling Heights, Mich., couple who had worked as automotive engineers, are running their own specialty olive oil store, Giuseppe’s International Oils & Vinegars, at the Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township, Mich. It sells olive oils infused with flavors such as butter, blood orange and wild mushroom and sage. The oils sell for $11.95 to $30.95 and can be tested at the store.

“It’s kind of one of those dreams you have, to have your own” business, said Joe Cucinello, 31.

New federal data show that the number of small bank loans to business has fallen to the lowest point in more than a decade, cutting the flow of money to a sector that’s usually a job-creation powerhouse.

“It’s usually the smaller business that is more able to bounce back and take advantage of different opportunities faster than a middle-market company,” said Linda O’Connell, manager of small business research at Barlow Research Associates, a Minneapolis market research firm that focuses on the financial industries. “We haven’t seen that.”

An analysis of recently released Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data by the Investigative Reporting Workshop shows that overall commercial and industrial lending by banks has increased for five straight quarters, but small loans to business of $1 million or less have been shrinking consistently since June 2008. As of Sept. 30, total outstanding loan volume was down 14.7 percent from its peak.

BankTracker: Search for your bank by name or location

The reduction of bank credit has had an even bigger impact on small business than it would on large business, which can borrow money through corporate bonds and “commercial paper.” In contrast, small businesses rely almost exclusively on credit provided from banks.

The current situation stands in stark contrast to the recession at the start of the decade, following the dot-com bust. Even though commercial lending dropped severely, small business lending kept chugging upward. In this recession, the number of individual small business loans has fallen even further. Banks reported having just 1.5 million of those loans outstanding on Sept. 30, the smallest number since 1999, according to the FDIC data. Bank regulators define small business lending as loans of $1 million or less, regardless of the size of the business.

The numbers are especially troubling because businesses with fewer than 500 employees created 65 percent of the jobs between 1993 and 2009, according to the Small Business Administration. But in a November survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a small business advocacy group, only 7 percent said the next three months would be a “good time to expand.”

There are many reasons that mom-and-pop businesses have been hit harder than international behemoths, economists say. Local businesses — especially service providers — can’t easily tap overseas markets, though small-scale manufacturing firms that can have done slightly better. And construction, which has traditionally driven the local recovery, is expected to linger in the doldrums for years, as it has since the real-estate bubble popped. Finally, the sheer length of the country’s economic woes has left small businesses with fewer reserves and hardly ready to jump back up, were conditions to start looking up.

Even successful businesses find it hard to get credit
With annual growth of around 40 percent, David Ehreth’s six-person sauerkraut and pickle business in Healdsburg, Calif., had a different problem — he couldn’t grow his “Alexander Valley Gourmet” and “Sonoma Brinery” brands fast enough without new machinery. “Everything we were doing, we were doing by hand,” he said.

Ehreth’s hardly a standard food entrepreneur. He started brining pickles full-time about six years ago, following a lucrative three-decade career in the technology sector. As a tech executive, Ehreth had overseen “hundreds of millions” in sales and peppers his conversation with phrases like “credit facility.”

He had reason to be optimistic about borrowing. “I am an individual of relatively high net worth with no debt of any sort. … When I approached the banks we had about four years’ worth of track record of steady growth of about 40 percent year over year.”

None of that mattered to the banks, though. “I was just flatly turned down without any discussion,” he said. ”Just about everyone I know in the food industry has given up on banks.”

Instead, Ehreth and his crew kept working by hand, even though that slowed their growth. Finally, he decided to sell a vacation home, even though the price he got for it wasn’t great. The investment in his business, he reasoned, was a sound one.

Banks’ unwillingness to lend was especially galling to Ehreth because jobs he would create — small-scale, blue-collar manufacturing that’s unlikely to go overseas — is the kind of job that’s most needed. “For those who are college educated, for those who have engineering degrees, there’s plenty of work. But for those who were working in factories, who saw their jobs sent overseas, people like myself create opportunities.”

Bank profits reach four-year high
Though small business has suffered, bank results continued to improve in the third quarter of this year. Profits rose to $35.3 billion, the best in more than four years. Most of the improvement came because troubled loans continue to decline. Meanwhile, lending rose for the third straight quarter, though it remains well below pre-recession levels, mostly because of real estate lending remains very sluggish. The number of banks with troubled assets greater than their capital and reserves also declined.

The small-scale, business lending slowdown is all the more remarkable given the federal government’s exceptional efforts at reversing it. The 2009 stimulus bill and 2010 Small Business Jobs Act cut fees and included “credit enhancements” that pumped up the Small Business Administration’s loan guarantee rate.

The last three months of 2010 was the biggest quarter in the agency’s history in terms of total new loan guarantee volume, said spokesman Mike Stamler.  Many of those loans are for amounts greater than $1 million, and don’t show up in FDIC’s statistics. Yet bank lending during the SBA’s biggest quarter ever still declined.

The jobs bill set aside $30 billion to buy preferred stock in midsize banks, with those that actually increased small business lending eligible to lower the dividend rate paid back to the government. But just $4 billion of that money was actually lent out.

“The lending program through the federal government certainly didn’t do a whole lot. We’ve heard from many banks that we’ve talked to that they have enough money to lend, it’s just that there aren’t enough borrowers out there,” said Holly Wade, a senior policy analyst for the NFIB, the small business group.

Bankers say lending standards aren’t the issue, and point to research that backs them up. In 2011, 17 percent of businesses with sales between $100,000 and $10 million applied for additional credit, but of those, only 22 percent were denied, according to Barlow Research surveys.

Overall, the number of businesses that haven’t sought credit because they don’t think they’ll get it has been rising. In 2010, 15 percent of the small businesses that didn’t apply for credit did so because they thought they wouldn’t succeed, according to NFIB surveys. And 24 percent of small businesses that did seek additional credit reduced the amount they sought for fear of being turned down.

“The longer it goes on, the worse the financial condition for those that are just hanging on becomes, so they become less credit-worthy,” said Robert Seiwert, director of the American Bankers Association’s Center for Commercial Lending and Business Banking.

“Are credit standards tighter today than they were two years ago? Absolutely. But they should be because we’re operating in a different economic climate,” said the ABA’s Seiwert. “The business that was viable in the past may not be viable in the future.”

That’s hardly consolation to upstart entrepreneurs trying to launch. Michael Marquess, chief beer officer of Mother Road Brewing Co., in Flagstaff, Ariz., spent six months trying to get financing to open his brewery and taproom. “Borrowing has changed dramatically in the past five years from easy lending to extreme process,” he wrote in an e-mail.

“We had the plans in with the city. The contractor was on board. Everything was just waiting on that funding,” he said. But his SBA loan application for less than $300,000 fell apart, he said, because plans for a small craft brewery didn’t match up to numbers loan examiners expected for an established beer manufacturer.

Marquess’ story turned out well, though, thanks to the persistent bankers at the National Bank of Arizona, who he said helped him cobble together another application that was finally approved in June. Mother Road Brewing Co. opened last month and now has four employees. “We sold our first pallet of beer two weeks ago,” he said.

]]> http://cactusnewsonline.com/2011/12/17/bank-loans-to-small-business-fall-to-12-year-low/feed/ 0 http://cactusnewsonline.com/2011/11/24/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-deals-tips-and-the-story-behind-it-all/ http://cactusnewsonline.com/2011/11/24/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-deals-tips-and-the-story-behind-it-all/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:59:23 +0000 admin http://cactusnewsonline.com/?p=2008

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals, Tips and the Story Behind It All

By Krystle Chow

Savvy shoppers will know that Black Friday 2010 is coming up on November 26 and that it’s the best time to score fantastic deals on the hottest items such as electronics and toys. Whether it’s to get a bit of a head start on Christmas shopping, or just because it’s fun to take advantage of the terrific sales, it’s now a common sight to see shoppers lining up extra early outside their favorite stores on the first Friday after Thanksgiving. What’s more, the phenomenon has now spread to the Internet, with some of the best specials now offered online, along with the added attraction of avoiding the hectic crowds while saving big from the comfort of your own home. But what’s the deal with Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here are some fun facts, as well as tips on how to get in on the top Thanksgiving 2010 deals!

THE HISTORY OF BLACK FRIDAY, CYBER BLACK FRIDAY, AND CYBER MONDAY

Black Friday is known as the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many retailers began making a big advertising push for their Christmas sales shortly after Thanksgiving to maximize the shopping season. As many workers are given the day off on the day after Thanksgiving Thursday to lead into the weekend, the Friday after Thanksgiving soon became one of the biggest shopping occasions.

The term “Black Friday” has many suggested origins, with one of the earliest references to the phrase appearing in 1966 in a Philadelphia publication, where it was said that the Philadelphia Police Department used the term in a negative way to refer to the massive traffic jams and mobs of shoppers plaguing the city on that day.

Another popular theory is it refers to the fact that retailers would soon be “in the black” or profitable – as opposed to being “in the red” or incurring losses – due to the onset of the Christmas shopping season, according to accounting terms.

Then, as online shopping became more popular, Cyber Monday came about as the day when online retailers would offer lots more discounts and deals, as an alternative to the crowds at the brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday.

It’s clear shoppers are looking for options to avoid the manic rush and crazy lines outside the stores on Black Friday, so what are some ways to save from the comfort of your own home?

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING TIPS

• Make a list, check it twice: Whether you’re shopping for someone’s Christmas gift or giving a loved one a helping hand with ideas for your own Christmas present, it’s always a great idea to make a shopping list! This will help you save time and money and help you not to purchase dud gifts that will simply be returned.
• Do some research: How will you know it’s an actual deal unless you scout it out beforehand? Make sure you do a bit of shopping around online to see how much your desired item normally costs, and then decide whether it’s worth getting up early to take advantage of them.
• Always pay the lowest price: Even if you’ve checked out prices at your favorite retailer, sometimes an advertised deal is not the lowest price around, so make sure you compare at different stores! Look out especially for retailers or payment options which offer a best price guarantee or price protection.
• Look out for cash back and reward programs: Big-ticket items such as big-screen TVs and other electronics are usually the top purchases during the Black Friday sales, so why not get rewarded for spending a ton?

For more ideas and tips on the best Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals, check out the eBillme Black Friday page!

Krystle Chow is a writer for eBillme – the safest way to pay in cash online! She loves food, fashion and beauty, film and TV, technology and shopping. A graduate of Carleton University’s Journalism program, Krystle has been reporting and blogging on technology for more than three years. You’ll often find her either on the lookout for hot deals and new trends, busy keeping up with the latest and hottest shows on the big and small screens, or indulging her love of Broadway musicals. You can follow Krystle @krystlechow.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Krystle_Chow

http://EzineArticles.com/?Black-Friday-and-Cyber-Monday-Deals,-Tips-and-the-Story-Behind-It-All&id=5159492

Small Business Tax Questions: How Much Tax Will I Pay On S Corporation Profits?
By Wayne Davies

If you own a profitable S corporation, are you wondering how much income tax you’ll pay on those profits? This article will answer that question.

S corporation profits are reported on Schedule K-1. This K-1 is prepared as part of the corporation’s federal tax return, which consists of Form 1120S, the K-1, and any other forms needed to complete the return.

A Schedule K-1 is prepared for each shareholder of the corporation. If you own 100% of the corporation’s stock, then there will be only one K-1, issued to you, and it will show you as the one responsible for reporting 100% of the corporation’s profit. If you have two shareholders, each owning 50% of the corporation’s stock, then there will be two K-1′s, one for each shareholder, showing that each shareholder is responsible for 50% of the corporation’s profit.

What do I mean by the phrase “responsible for reporting 100% (or 50%) of the corporation’s profit”? Generally speaking, S corporations do not pay federal income tax on the corporation’s profit. Instead, the shareholder(s) are liable for the tax on corporate profits by reporting those profits on their personal tax return. So if you own stock in an S corporation, you should receive a K-1 every year and you must report the income from that K-1 on your personal tax return. And it is critical that you do so, because the IRS also receives a copy of that K-1 and will be expecting to see that K-1 profit on your personal tax return.

So, how much federal income tax will you pay on your S corporation profits? The answer to that question is simply this: whatever your marginal federal income tax rate happens to be. If you are in the 15% tax bracket, you’ll pay 15% on the K-1 profits. If you are in the 25% bracket, you’ll pay 25%. And so on.

Here’s another critical fact of S corporation tax law: you will pay federal income tax on your K-1 profit whether or not you have actually received that profit as a cash distribution. The corporation is not required to distribute the profits to the shareholders. That is really up to the corporation. But the point is, even if the corporation doesn’t pay you the profit, you must still report that profit on your personal tax return, and you are therefore required to pay the tax on the profit whether or not you have received it. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of S corporation taxation, so please do not ignore this important fact.

Looking for more small business tax deductions? For a free copy of the Special Report “How to Instantly Double Your Small Business Tax Deductions” visit http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com. Wayne Davies is author of 3 ebooks on tax reduction strategies for small business owners and the self-employed.

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