As an owner of a small accounting practice, I am constantly looking for new clients. One area of focus that seems to have a lot of growth potential is the new entrepreneurs. The new entrepreneurs are people who have either been laid off from large corporations or who are looking for second or third careers or young adults entering the workforce for the first time. The entrepreneurial spirit is still very much alive and well. People are taking advantage of technology and starting all kinds of interesting online ventures. I just read about some recent college graduates that have founded an online customized chocolate bars business, Chocomize, with bacon and chocolate being the most requested.

It's amazing how quickly technology can change the way that we work. Old manual methods of working are replaced by new automated processes. And just as my 10-year-old children don't know what a 33-1/3 record is - or what they would do with one - the day is fast approaching when an accountant entering a new job will not recognize a stack of old fashioned working papers bound together by a rickety metal clip.

Economic pressures have caused many individuals to stay closer to home. These homebound individuals have fueled a huge increase in DIY (Do-It-Yourself) activities. We’ve seen at home pedicures replace SPA visits, tossable dryer sheets edging out trips to the dry cleaner, even off-the-shelf mouth guards substituting for trips to the dentist. How this DIY trend has impacted small business revenue is a topic for another day, but when it comes to their internal operations, sales tax compliance in no place for businesses to consider DIY.

Given its importance to the operation of any organization, it is amazing that software to help define and build a budget gets such short shrift in the marketplace. Yet it remains a fact that only a handful of software developers focus on this market.
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