If It’s Accounting, It’s Universal:

Get to Know More About the Company That Will Change Your Career!

Universal Accounting is a company that is making a difference in the lives of their students! For those who are pursuing or looking into the possibilities of pursuing a career path into the Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation services, you need to get to know more about what all Universal offers in their comprehensive training programs.

If you prefer onsite classroom study or looking for the benefits received on independent study, we have developed the programs that you will be able to get the one-on-one experience in your own home. The skills we have used over the course of the last 28 years, with the trial and error, the fine-tuning of accounting methods and strategies, and what we and thousands more have experienced running their own practices - we have provided to you the advantage to stay on top of your profession. Our coursework is designed to be exactly what you will be doing when you are servicing the biggest customer base available, the small business owner.

If you are looking for the knowledge, the skills, and the know-how to start or build your accounting or tax practice, or just looking to gain the essential skills to further your career in your place of business, Universal’s Programs are what you are going to need.

Click here to take the Video Tour of Universal and all that we offer to you, the accounting and tax professional to be the best in your field and to have the success in business and in your professional life that you are seeking.Our exclusive short term courses do just that!

Imagine staying on top of the latest in the industry and having access to the experts who can assist you through training? Imagine what you are learning can be applied the very next day at work? Imagine being able to keep the materials, and the reading for continued referencing as you take that path in Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation? You don’t have to imagine too hard, because that is one of the many things you receive when you enroll in these specialized programs! Click here to get to know Universal Accounting.

Are You Ready For The Next Step?
Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself getting paid what you’re worth! Are you tired of thinking, “Why not me?” You have gotten this far in your search to do what you want to in your chosen career, take the next step. The time is now to be able to get the training and the change you desire in your professional life. Click here to find out if Professional Tax Preparation Certification is a fit for you.

Be the Profit Expert Professional for Small Business! Don’t hesitate another day in getting the Accounting and Marketing Training that makes the difference. Click here to get more information on what you need to know about becoming the Profit Center Expert for small business accounting and tax!

Painless Accounting: Increase Your Services and Your Bottom Line

Here’s a quick quiz for you.

1. Would you like to grow your business?
2. Would you like to work smarter and beat the competition?
3. Would you like to make more money?
4. Would you like to make a difference?
5. And would you like to do it all in less time?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of the above questions, than you would probably be interested in becoming a certified Professional Bookkeeper.

If you’re not quite sure yet, here’s another quiz.

1. Would you like the training to be convenient?
2. Would you like to learn at your own pace?
3. Would you like to avoid complicated math and confusing lingo?
4. Would you like to work with the small business, which provides over 85% of accounting opportunities?
5. And would you like to do it all without spending 4 years at a university?

Again, if you answered “yes” to those questions, than don’t wait another day to change your career and your life!

Small Businesses Are Looking for a Few Good Accountants
Over 85% of the opportunities in the accounting field are within small businesses. Universities prepare their students for corporate accounting which doesn’t address small business needs. More than 50% of small businesses fail, and much of that failure can be attributed to lack of accounting expertise. Imagine contributing to the success of small business, which will build your own community while providing you with job satisfaction and security. Why can’t that be you and how would you go about it?

UAC’s Professional Bookkeeper Program Has the Answer
At Universal Accounting, we understand the needs of the small business like nobody else. We’ve helped people like you advance their career in small business accounting for over 25 years. With a curriculum designed specifically to address the needs of small businesses, Universal Accounting offers the most complete small business accounting course anywhere. And depending on your schedule and situation, it could only take you 60 hours to complete. That’s about 4 weeks. Just think of it, you working for your financial stability and the lifestyle you have set for yourself in as little as 4 weeks!

Endless Opportunities
The Professional Bookkeeper Program will enable you to advance in your current job. Even non-accounting positions can be enhanced with accounting knowledge; this designation alone could impress your boss and earn a promotion. Or maybe you’d like to expand your tax practice by adding accounting services to your menu. This one program can open doors you might not have known existed.

In an informal poll taken by the success coaches here at Universal Accounting, we contacted 100 graduates of our Professional Bookkeeper Program 12 months after their graduation. 74% are now working in the accounting field, have been promoted to a management position or own their own accounting business.

Success Stories
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what our students have to say about the program.

When I started this class I knew nothing about accounting. Wow, what a difference 4 weeks can make! My advice, Just Do It. You never know what you can do until you do it. I know you’ve heard it before, but in 10 years do you want to be where you are now? I don’t. That’s why I’m here doing this.
-Dennis Keener

I have the videos and will watch them over and over. This support sets Universal Accounting Center apart from the other institutions. The material presented by Universal Accounting Center is what I have searched for all my life. I know from years of educational experience that no finer information exists and no one puts this material together better than Universal Accounting!
-Benjamin York

I have been very impressed by how much we have learned in such a short time. I had no experience in any accounting but I was still able to complete this course. I would recommend this class to anyone that is interested in accounting.
-Marianne Johansen

Hundreds have found success in the Professional Bookkeeper Program. Won’t you join them?

Universal’s Distance Learning PB Program
An explanation of Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper Program is available on VHS or DVD to provide you with the flexibility and convenience necessary in today’s hectic world. While some students breeze through the program in a matter of weeks, others take their time in order to work the training around their busy lives.

Maybe you have been thinking about this for a while, to getting your PB Certification, take advantage of the opportunity right now. Learn how if you order your copy today, you can get all the modules for only $1485 paid in full! Consider how much a university education might cost. Here is a quick breakdown of typical expenses.

There is no comparison on cost - $33,000 verses $1485 of the Professional Bookkeeper Program! The PB Program wins hands-down. And because our course will take about 4 weeks, rather than 4 years, you can also cut out the cost of lost career opportunities, since you can get working right away. Even a conservative estimate of $2,000/month of wage x 47 months (4 years minus the month that our training takes) comes to $94,000 in lost wages. Add that to the $33,000 in costs associated with a college accounting program and we come to a grand total of $127,000 - the REAL COST of university training!

$1485 is only a mere fraction of the cost of a university education and the Professional Bookkeeper Program will help you take advantage of 85% of accounting opportunities. And if you can’t afford the $1485 right now, click here to learn about our financing. Don’t let anything hold you back from the success you both want and deserve.

Visit Universal Accounting Center today to begin increasing your services and your bottom line!

Are You Where You Want to Be?

Another tax season has come and again you are not where you want to be. For awhile you’ve been thinking you could really “clean up” if you just had the right training and marketing know-how to get your tax preparation business off the ground. You know you have the aptitude; you’ve been doing your friends and family’s taxes for years. Every time you get a chance you read up on the latest tax code changes. Perhaps you even subscribe to IRS Alerts from the latest edition on MSN Money. Doing taxes professionally would be easy for you.

So how can you make this happen? How can you get yourself into the position where you can make your current yearly salary in the first 4 months of the year? How can you become a Professional Tax Preparer?

Perhaps you’ve looked into signing up with the biggest tax prep chains. A couple even looked good, that is, if you like signing your life away for the next two years. And you know that something wouldn’t sit right knowing you’re making them hundreds of dollars with you only seeing $8.50 an hour. The training they provide seems ok, but when you look into it more deeply, you realize their training isn’t complete and would not enable you to work independently later. There has to be something better!

Maybe you’ve even considered opening your own tax preparation franchise. However, the cost of buying into the franchise, with the initial fees, monthly payments and royalties required, makes it difficult to become profitable. It isn’t worth the expense for the mere HOPE that you could recoup the tens of thousands you would have to shell out for name recognition alone. And all that while paying some steep monthly overhead for office space and furniture. There has to be a better way, right?

Complete and Affordable Tax Certification

Universal Accounting has thought the same thing. Since 1979 Universal Accounting Center has been showing businesses how to become more profitable. In his book, In the Black, Allen Bostrom, President and CEO of Universal, details the formula one would use to see their business succeed. And it’s upon those sound and solid principles that Universal has built the Professional Tax Preparation Certification.

There is a better way to do business, and it’s having a business of your own! Universal Accounting has helped over 30,000 other accounting, bookkeeping and tax professionals get the training they need to be successful with their own practices. You could be the next. Don’t let another year pass without you being in the driver’s seat of your career! You can get the hands-on training and marketing know-how while keeping costs low as you work from your home office. Universal knows a better way to making your career change profitable and successful.

Are you ready to take that next step? You have gotten this far in your search to do what you want in your chosen career, take the next step. The time is now to be able to get the training and the change you desire in your professional life. Enroll today!

Serving You with Our Free Newsletters

We enjoy sending you information that we hope improves your work as a tax preparer. Our three newsletters, AB Tips, Tax Tips, and Career Tips, are intended to help professionals like you advance in whatever their current position in the financial field. The AB Tips Newsletter is designed to share accounting and bookkeeping tips with subscribers. Intended for individuals with their own accounting practice or for those who would like to start their own practice, we specifically include tips on how to market your services, how to streamline tasks, how to organize your office space, etc. Our Tax Tips Newsletter is for tax preparers or those interested in tax preparation. We provide tax news, information on starting your own business, tips on building your clientele, etc. And finally, we have our Career Tips newsletter, for those who work or would like to work in the accounting field. In this newsletter we include information on getting the right job, advancing in your field, moving into management positions, etc.

As we learn more about your needs, we alter our approach in order to better serve you. We’re adding a few things to the newsletter that we hope you enjoy. Here’s a breakdown of what’s included and how we hope it helps you.

Two articles

Since we began running our free ezines over two years ago, we have included two articles every issue that offer accounting and tax information, tips on running and marketing a small business, career guidelines and promotional pieces. The newsletters provide us with the opportunity to share our products and services with those we believe they best serve. Universal’s programs are top of the line and life-changing; we promote them because we know they help people like you achieve career goals and realize your business dreams.

We also use the newsletter as an opportunity to expose you to our many free resources, including personalized information from our President and CEO, Allen Bostrom in Allen’s Blog, UAC’s accounting and tax forums, the newsletters, and the Universal video tour.

Recently we’ve responded to requests for purely informational pieces as well. Last summer we asked newsletter subscribers to tell us what you wanted to read about. For the past six months we’ve tried to include articles on all suggested topics. Each newsletter contains one, if not two, informational pieces. We continue to welcome your feedback as we write articles intended to help you improve your financial services. Please visit our forums for a chance to give us feedback on past articles and suggestions for future articles.

Press Releases and New Products

We want you to be in the know about everything Universal, so we include all press releases, enrollment offers, and information about new products in our newsletters. From our new interactive testing center to our customized Professional Bookkeeper Program for Canadian residents, we want you to be the first to know what’s happening at Universal Accounting Center.

Quotable Quote

Everyone could use a little inspiration now and then, so we like to include a quotable quote in each issue of our newsletters. Funny quotes, somber quotes, quotes that make you want to get up and accomplish something, we try to include a variety that inspire and uplift.

“The Bottom Line”

And last but certainly not least is an upcoming addition to our newsletters: a video clip we call “The Bottom Line.” In the serious world of financial statements, taxes, and projected profits, the bottom line is that we like what we do and can enjoy a good laugh about our profession. The humorous clip is intended to help lighten your load and improve your day. We hope you look forward to this new feature and share it frequently with coworkers, family, and friends.

We want our newsletter to help you move forward in your goals as a financial professional. So stay tuned as we continue to improve our newsletters so that they can better serve your needs. We appreciate your support.

Take Our Quiz to Find Out
(Part One of a Two-Part Series)

You have just survived a taxing tax season and find that you just don’t feel like yourself these days. Perhaps you’re lethargic or just can’t get excited about work like you used to. Are you experiencing burnout? Burnout is the result of physical, mental, and/or emotional exhaustion caused by your job. Generally it’s brought on by too much stress and anxiety. Don’t panic. This doesn’t mean you have quit your business. It’s perfectly understandable, and treatable. Take our 10-question quiz to see if you’re a little crisp around the edges.

1. Do you dread going to your office?

This is a telltale sign of burnout. If you find yourself avoiding your office, finding excuses to stay away, or bracing yourself for work that was once enjoyable, you need to consider what has changed. Tracing the burnout back through your symptoms and to the cause will help you better deal with the stressors that are making you feel overwhelmed.

2. Are you feeling unmotivated and depressed?

Often apathy and sadness are emotional signs that you’re struggling with burnout. Consider what, specifically, is making you feel this way. Diagnosing your ailment is only helpful when it enables you to pinpoint what’s causing it.

3. Are you suffering from physical ailments like backache, headache, insomnia, or high blood pressure?

Your body will respond to stressful situations to let you know they need to be addressed. Instead of masking the ailments with medication or chemical substances (see number seven) you should look to the root of the problem to see how it might be eliminated. Perhaps it’s the stress that has made you feel burned out.

4. Is your work suffering?

If you find it takes longer to do ordinary tasks and the quality of your work has declined, chances are you’re feeling overwhelmed by your job and all that it entails.

5. Are you avoiding clients and other tax professionals?

When you’re experiencing job burnout, you develop an aversion for things you once enjoyed. Often that includes those that you work for or share common interests with.

6. Are you irritable?

Things that didn’t bother you much before suddenly become extremely frustrating. You may recognize that your temper has a shorter fuse and you’re taking your anger out on people that you care about, putting relationships at risk.

7. Have you turned to chemical substances for support?

Some people try to cope with burnout by turning to sleeping pills, caffeinated beverages, and cigarettes. This can lead to the abuse of harder substances like drugs and alcohol. If you find yourself turning to chemical substances for support, you need resolve this problem as soon as possible.

8. Do you find yourself consumed with anxiety about unfinished tasks?

Often those with burnout don’t leave the office even after they’ve turned out the light and shut the door. If you find yourself consumed with the stress and anxiety regarding your job and are distracted by work when alone with friends and family or when you should be sleeping, than chances are you’re burned out.

9. Have you lost the excitement and passion you once felt for your work?

You got into this business because it was something you enjoyed and could get excited about. If you’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, you need to determine what has chased it away.

10. Do you live day-to-day rather than look with great anticipation towards the future?

When you’re consumed with the stress and anxiety of your job and have lost sight of your future, than you need to take a step back and ask yourself what’s causing you to feel that way.

If you’ve answered “yes” to three of more of the above questions than you’re probably experiencing job burnout. Thankfully, diagnosing the problem is half the battle. Once you determine that you’re experiencing burnout you can find out exactly what stressors are causing you to feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. This week consider what’s triggering your most difficult symptoms and join us next week when we discuss ways to overcome this common career ailment.

Overcome Burnout by Reducing the Stressors That Cause It
(Part Two of a Two-Part Series)

Last week you took our quiz to determine whether or not you’re experiencing job burnout. We’re guessing you’re back because you are indeed burned out and are looking for ways to eliminate both the symptoms and their causes. We asked you to consider what’s been causing various symptoms, and we hope you took the time to determine which stressors are triggering the burnout. Here’s a breakdown of common stressors and ways to reduce them:

Working Too Hard, Too Long

Are some of your burnout symptoms caused by working long, hard hours? Not taking the time to relax and unwind can lead to job burnout rather quickly. You need to achieve a good balance between your business and your personal life. And we realize that many of you are working long after your day-job has finished. Take the time to evaluate your work schedule and see how you can ensure that you’re getting enough sleep and time to yourself. This may require setting some practical boundaries. One way you can achieve that is by vowing to work only within designated office hours. For example, you might decide that you won’t work after 9pm, and you don’t go to bed after 10pm. Or perhaps it means you reserve your weekends for yourself and your family. Whatever you decide, ensure you reduce this stressor before it leads to greater physical and emotional problems.

Feeling Stressed and Frustrated

Perhaps your feelings have more to do with your day-job than they do with your small business. Either way you need to determine which is causing the stress and frustration. If your full-time job is leaving you overwhelmed and unsatisfied, it might be time to consider starting your own accounting and/or tax practice. If your stress is caused by too much work in your business, again, it might be time to consider moving your part-time business full-time. If you’re not ready to expand your business, you may consider releasing a client or two in order to reduce the workload and stress you may be feeling as a result. Or you can hire an employee to help you manage the workload in your part-time business.

If your stress is associated with another aspect of your business, focus on resolving that problem. Deal with that difficult client, look for ways to better manage finances, organize your office, practice effective time management; the important thing is that you reduce or eliminate the actual stressors. Otherwise, the anxiety seeps into every other aspect of your business.

Perceiving a Lack of Reward or Satisfaction

Again you must determine whether or not this is something you associate with your day job or your small business. If you’re feeling unrewarded or unsatisfied with your business, you need to determine why. Perhaps you could set specific goals and then reward yourself when you achieve them. Having your own business is no fun if you don’t take the time to enjoy some of the fringe benefits. And waiting for your clients to praise your work is no way to live. Learn to appreciate that a client’s continued use of your services is reward enough.

Suffering from Physical Ailments

Chances are if you reduce the above stressors you’ll find yourself feeling much better physically. But you still should visit a doctor to ensure that your physical ailments aren’t caused by something completely unrelated to your job. You may be surprised to find that a simple prescription can eliminate this burnout symptom.

The important thing is that you address the burnout as soon as possible. Unfortunately, if you continue to ignore the symptoms and the stressors that cause them, you may ultimately find that your health, and consequently, your business are at risk. Take the time to take care of yourself today!

Get Yourself That Much Needed Raise

No matter age, experience, or occupation, most people are looking for a way to increase their bottom line. If you work in a 9 to 5 job, you try to get a raise to move to a position with a larget salary. If you own your own business, you try to increase the income your business is bringing in.

But how, exactly, do you go about increasing your income? You must encourage geometric growth within your own business. And what’s geometric growth? Linear Growth requires you to do even more work for the current clients, and while that’s great, linear growth slows doen over time. Geometric growth comes from many different angles: from existing clients, from new clients, from existing services and from newly added services.

Perform Existing Services For Existing Clients

If you own a cherry orchard as a business, you would sell as many cherries as possible to the customers you already have. Hopefully, this means that they would buy more than they are buying now.

As a tax preparer you want to prepare as many forms as possible for your current clients. This would also mean as you perform for them, they will see your talents, and (with the proper marketing placement of your additional services in finance) recognize the value of tax planning and ask for you to perform more services year-round.

As you do this and build your year round business, you will be able to not only gain the additional monthly income, but you will also be able, because of the services you’ve added, you’ll also be able to charge a bigger per month fee.

Perform Existing Services To New Clients

Following the cherry orchard example, the goal here is to find new customers for the cherries you are growing. This would be accomplished in using different business marketing strategies. The idea is to “sell more cherries” to the new customers.

This is the area which most think of when they look to grow their own business. This is the area that, done right, will provide the direct fuel to build your practice from a possible part-time effort to a full-time, burgeoning business.

Perform New Services For Existing Clients

Your cherry customers could have need for peaches, pears, apples and possibly many other contemporary products to the ones you already sell - maybe even canned cherries, cherry juices, pie crust and tins. Ideally, these new products can be produced by you as well. This provides additional sales through new angles.

Many of your existing clients could probably use general accounting services as well as your tax preparation services. Why let them go anywhere else? Imagine preparing financial statements, setting up you clients’ books, managing payroll for youe small business clients, and much more. Adding accounting and bookkeeping services to your menu enables you to become the one-stop financial shops for your current clients.

Perform New Services For New Clients

This means that you could also sell the peaches, pears and what not to new customers. As a tax preparer this means that you could then begin performing accounting and bookkeeping services for new clients as well as your current ones. Opening to you and your business a whole new world of profit centers and possibilities to capture the additional billable hours that make up the growth of your company.

By growing your business geometrically you increase the methods of generating income. If you’re a freelance tax preparer this just might give you the opportunity to quit your day job and work as a professional accountant and tax preparer. Or this might mean that you increase the income you generate on the side. However, you run your business, the bottom line of this is that much needed raise.

UAC can help you add accounting and bookkeeping services to your services menu

For over 25 years, Universal Accounting Center has helped people like you start their own accounting and tax practices. We recognize that 85% of the accounting opportunities are with small business so our curriculum is designed to help you learn small business accounting. Think back to our recommendation to increase your income by performing new services for new clients. When you learn small business accoutning you suddenly make yourself available to new clients whil increasing the number of services you can perform.

Give yourself a raise and become a Professional Bookkeeper today.