Post about "Finance"

SRED Tax Credit Financing – 3 Things You Need to Know

Canadian business owners and financial managers who are not as conversant with Canada’s SRED program as much as they would like to be pose three major questions when we sit down with them and talk about SRED ( aka (Sr&Ed) and Sred financing. Typical questions include”1. What is the program – am I eligible2. How long will I have to wait for the money3. How can I monetize of cash flow my sred claim for immediate working capital now?Let’s examine the basic thing you need to know around those three key areas.1. Canada’s Sred program is without a doubt the most powerful program when the business owner asks themselves – ‘ What assistance is available in the form of government loans and grants ‘ – a typical question often asked by every Canadian business owner. And the good news is that not only is the Sred program available to virtually every type of industry in Canada, the funds coming to you under that program are non – repayable. The program basics are simply that Sred was set up to encourage innovation in products, technology, and business processes. A very heft ‘rebate ‘comes back to your firm in the form of a large percentage of the actual expenses you have incurred in the research and development area. Naturally for many businesses R&D is the key driver that allows your firm to stay competitive and ahead of the pack, so the ability to recover a large part of those expenses at the governments cost is a huge benefit to Canadian business. And when you are able to both file a Sred claim and be armed with the knowledge that it is financeable is clearly a powerful win win strategy.Many business owners are also not aware that the credit can be claimed for the previous two years, so this is one case where playing catch up is a good thing. To determine eligibility for a Sred speak to your accountant or what is known as a Sred consultant.2. ‘So when does our firm get the actual money ‘?’ is one of the next major questions customers pose. Here are the basics around that issue. Naturally do receive funds you have to file your claim – this is done at the time you and your accountants submit your year end corporate tax filings. In fact the Sred claim must in fact be filed at this time to maintain your eligibility. The key issues you have to know about are that you want to ensure you have a claim that is filed in a timely fashion, as per above. At the same time focus on the quality of your claim – by now you should be working closely with your accountant or Sred consultant to ensure you claim is properly documented. Recent new process at Canada Revenue Agency are clearly, in our opinion, focus on weeding out the ‘wheat from the chaff’, so to speak. You want to ensure your claim has been filled out with the proper form – there is even an online process you can utilize. Your ability to succinctly make your claim, and, as importantly, back it up with the proper documentation will ensure much higher probability of approval. In some cases the claim might be partially disallowed if rationale, submission style, and back up info don’t conform to what the Sred folks want to see.3. Now lets focus on what to most of our clients is the most important aspect of the Sred program process – which is ‘getting the money ‘! Here we advised clients you have two options, you can wait for the cheque which may take months and in some cases a year, or you also have the option to finance your claim immediately. We are all familiar with consumer programs which provide immediate cash for their personal tax credit rebates – essentially we are talking about the same thing. Select a trusted business financing advisor who is credible and experienced in Sred financing. That will allow you to complete a basic financing application, undergo the standard due diligence that any business financing might entail, and then proceed to documentation of the Sred financing, in essence you ‘ sell’ your tax credit in return for immediate cash now. Clients ask ‘ how much can we get ‘ and the rule of thumb in Sred financing is generally 70% – the balance is held back and remitted to your firm on final approval of your claim by CRA. No payments are made in the interim (that’s a good thing) and you receive the remaining 30%, less financing costs at final closure on the claim.So now you have taken a double advantage of one of Canada’s best programs for business – you have filed and received approval for a non repayable grant for a significant portion of your r&d expenses, and, as importantly you have monetized or cash flowed that claim. That’s great Canadian business follow through.

Commercial Loans

Commercial Loans are loans used for business or industrial purposes and it is considered as a key source of funds for the business section. This is a major line of business since they provide credit for a varied section of business purposes.Commercial Loans are available in various forms. The common type is the business loan and the amount can vary depending on the income of the borrower. This can now be decided online. These Loans have repayment options keeping in mind the interests of the borrowers. One of the payments is termed as Equal Payment Mortgage where the borrowers have the option to pay the amount of the loan either monthly or on a quarterly basis.Flexible payment terms are offered to the borrowers for a industrial loan. Such options may offer fixed or variable rates and other convenient repayment options tailored according to the borrower’s needs.Types of Business Loans :Industrial Loans on Real estateMajor business companies often go for a commercial real estate loan to construct minor commercial structures like apartments, hospitals, buildings etc. In commercial real estate, loans the borrower’s always pay an affordable interest rate.Commercial MortgagesIt is known as the best business loans offered because it is very flexible and provides good deal on business loans to purchase property or building. The borrower can keep the same property as a collateral security against the commercial loan taken and thus the lender takes over a legal claim on the property until the loan is paid. In case of commercial mortgage’s you can borrow 80% of the loan amount and the rest you can use it as an insurance to cover up the cost if any risk arises.Income Property LoansIncome property loans are used to buy a property or refinance a mortgage already taken, and then this industrial loan can be invested on apartments, retail outlets from where income would be generated.

Brainstorming The Ideas for Influencing Your Mobile App Audience

Once the app is downloaded, you have little time to take a sigh of relief, and then again start focusing on making things easier for the them till their goal is achieved.

According to the AppsFlyer, an app marketing company, the global uninstall rate for apps after 30 days is 28%. Entertainment apps are most frequently deleted, whereas apps based on Finance is least frequently deleted. No matter which app category you belong to, your strategy should be to remain in the mobile phones of users for a long time, and not just sit around but to fulfill your purpose as well.

If we analyze the encounters of users with an app step by step, it can help us unveil the critical factors that influence mobile app audiences, so that we can work upon those and achieve our purpose. Here are the details:

Step1. Finding Your App in Appstore

For this, we have to first find out what exactly users type to search an app. Based on a research, it has been found that 47% app users on iOS confirmed that they found the app through the App Store’s search engine and 53% app users on Android confirmed the same.

What have been their search queries? Interestingly, as the per the data provided by the TUNE research, 86% of the top 100 keywords were brands.With little scope for non-branded categories, most of the keywords were either of games of utility apps. Common keywords in the non branded category are: games, free games, VPN, calculator, music, photo editor, and weather.

Leaving brands aside, if we analyze the user-type of a Non-branded category, we will get two types of users:

1. Users are informed, and they know what they are search

2. Users are exploring possibilities, have no precise information in mind.

If you are a mobile app development company, targeting non-branded users, then your efforts must be directed to creating apps that compel these two types of users. To do so, we have to analyze once they are on an app store, what keywords they use to search. Regina Leuwer, with expertise in marketing & communications, bring some light to the subject. She reached out Sebastian Knopp, creator of app store search intelligence tool appkeywords, who shared with her the data of unique trending search phrases. And according to that data, in 2017, there were around 2,455 unique search phrases trending in the US.

Now, if we study these data to get information, we will find that name of the app is critical to attract the attention of the users.

If your app belongs to non-branded category, then make sure your app name is similar to the common search queries but also unique in comparison with your competitors. So that when your app name is flashed, they click it on to it, finding it purposeful and compelling both.

Step 2. Installation

Remember your users are on mobile devices has limited resources, from battery to storage and RAM to Internet. Everything is limited. So better create an application that is easy to download or say get downloaded with 5 minutes. One critical advice here:

1. Keep the application file size small.

If you are a developer, use APK Analyser to find out which part of the application is consuming maximum space. You can also reduce classes.dex file and res folder that contains images, raw files, and XML.

Step 3. Onboarding

After the user has successfully downloaded your mobile application, don’t leave anything on assumptions. Guide them properly. This you can do through an onboarding process, where users can learn the key functionality and where to begin with the mobile app. Below are the 3 things you need to keep in your mind when creating an onboarding process for your users.

Short and Crisp: The entire guidance of features and functions should be completed within few seconds, with easy options loud and clear option to skip.

Precise Information: Don’t introduce them to the app. They already know what they have downloaded. The objective to inform about the key functions and features.

Allow Users to Skip: Let the tech-savvy users skip the intro. Your app is to meet their requirement and not to have a friendly session.

Step 4. Purpose and UI
Here, the stage is set for your app and it is the golden chance for you to impress your users. What is needed here is the collaboration between purpose and UI of the app. It totally depends on the problem-solving capability and ease of use of the mobile app. Interface design plays the critical role, allowing the users to access features of the apps easily and quickly to perform the task for what they have downloaded the app. When it comes to interface design, make sure that the design is interactive and task-oriented. Here are some factors that you must take care off while creating mobile app interface:

1. Usability: The Mobile phone is an epitome of convenience and if your users find it difficult to use your app, then there is no way there are going to make the space for it in their mobile phones. From screen size to the color of the app, there are many factors that are equally critical and need attention.

2. Intuitive: To create an intuitive User Interface, you have to read the mind of the users, and develop a model based on that. The next should be precise, clear and ‘obvious’ in an interface.

3. Availability: Key features should be hidden in the drop down menu or even if so, it should be obvious for the user to look into the drop-down. An intricate work of design and research is required to make essential features available for the customers and they don’t need to navigate here and there.

If you need more help with the user-interface and innovative ideas for a mobile app, write to me [email protected] and I promise to get back to you with interesting mobile app designs.