Business Library Business Information & Tools All sorts of financial and business information, statistics, guides, and tools. If you look, you might find some useful information. Small Business Administration (SBA) SBA On-Line Courses SBA On-Line Library Note:Need Adobe Acrobat Reader Don't just think of the SBA as a place for small business loans. This site is loaded with publications and information to help the small business man or woman. Starting a new business ? Check out SBA Startup . Another useful business information site is the Business Gateway To Federal Resources. Apply for your employer ID number on line and check out other business tools at BusinessLaw. BuzGate A super site The Business Utility Zone Gateway provides a state-by-state gateway to FREE business assistance help and knowledge for small to mid-sized companies including access to: * Federal, state, regional and local agencies * Productivity-enhancing product & service * Knowledge Networks * Innovative training programs BuzGate's Free Business Tools Bean Counter's Free Small Business Tips On Line Version of Small Business Tips PDF E-Book Download Version of Small Business Tips I'm no Dave Letterman, but I've prepared a list of some things that I've picked up from my experiences that you as a small business owner should do to monitor and get a pulse of how well (hopefully) or how badly (unfortunately) your business is performing. Business Owner's Idea Cafe The Small Business Gathering Place. Nice site for information, free business publications, and tools for small businesses. BizTips Free tips,information, and advice to help you make better use of your time at work, in business, and on the internet. BizStats Want to know the answers to questions such as: How does my business compare to other business in my field ? What businesses have the best chance of making a profit ? BizStats has a great site that contains all kinds of free useful business statistics. Needing good demographic data ? All these sites are loaded with all sorts of statistical data. Census Bureau    Federal Stats Department of Commerce    FirstGov BCentral    U.S. Statistical Abstract The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis    Fred Beige Book    FreeDemographics US Census Bureau American Fact Finder Tutorials on How To Use American Fact Finder US Census Tutorial University of Michigan Understanding Demographics University of Michigan The Documents Center from the University of Michigan, provides information and statistics for local, state, federal, foreign or international governments. ForecastCenter Requires free registration but provides you with access to information on future trends in a broad range of categories, including business, demographics, economy, health, lifestyles and more. FreeLunch Economy.com's FreeLunch provides you with FREE access to over 100,000 economic, financial, and demographic data series. Requires free registration Demographic Profile Generator This application provided by the Missouri Census Data Center generates a single 1990 "Basic Tables" (demographic profile) report for any of the supported geographic units, including census tract, block group, city (no size limit), 5-digit ZIP code, state, county or metro area for anywhere in the United States. Enter only codes relevant to the area for which you want data. If this is your first visit to this site, you might want to check out the lots of helpful examples help page. Thomas Register Need to find out where to buy a product(s) ? The Thomas Register is the most comprehensive online resource for finding companies and products manufactured in North America. Requires free registration to use this service. BankRate A banking site, but it's loaded with excellent information and tools for small businesses. Guide To Starting A Business Introduction to Small Business Business Start Up Tips by Marshall Bird is a FREE Information-Packed Ebook that tells you what to do to get your new business open and operating profitably - and how to avoid some common mistakes. Advertises some of the author's pay for books but still provides a lot of good advice. ABCSmallBiz Excellent Starting Your Business Tutorial and information. Bean Counter's Starting a Business To Do List So, you want to start your own business! It sounds great to be the owner of your own business, but don't be fooled ! Nothing in life is easy and running a successful business requires dedication, perseverance, and unfortunately, more often than not, in the beginning some long hours. A little luck wouldn't hurt, but don't count on it. See what it takes. Check out Bean Counter's To Do List. Need to learn a little Bookkeeping ? Help is on the way. Check out these free tutorials ! Free Bookkeeping Tutorials All sorts of free legal and business forms, contracts, and documents needed by small businesses. You will also find answers to a wide variety of commonly asked legal and accounting questions. NOLO Guide Free Advice ILRG Legal Forms Entrepreneur BizOffice CLPGH BusinessNation OfficeDepot CCH 4hb Microsoft   Bizmanualz Policies, Procedures & Forms Not free, but worth checking out. Online Business Advisor Site has an excellent collection of Business Articles. Ernst & Young Library Free ebooks Ernst & Young produce a range of publications to assist in the preparation and understanding of business plans and company accounts. Together, they make up an invaluable resource for accounting professionals The Fair Debt Collection Practice Act Your business definitely needs to collect amounts owed you, but make sure you don't violate any laws. Need to locate customers that owe you money ? A couple of sites to get you started are InfoSpecialist and BackGroundCheck. Accounting Policies & Procedures Manual Useful guide (PDF Format) provided by Price Waterhouse Coopers for setting up a small business's accounting policies and procedures. ItsSimple.biz A great source of information and tools to aid small businesses. Site Special Areas Resource Center Find assistance on numerous topics including counseling, training, and loans Tools Center Tools to start, run and grow a successful small business. Education Center Search our huge glossary of business terms, browse our comprehensive database of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), or lookup classes and training events happening near you. Documents, Forms, and Templates Here you'll find free ready-to-use business forms, documents, and templates to help you get the job done faster and easier. A good business planning software package will provide you with an outline for a well-developed, objective-based and professional business plan. Find out more about the leading software package on the market, Business Plan Pro. Online Small Business Workshops presented by Canada / British Columbia Business Services Society presents some good summarized small business information. Areas most applicable to us Yanks include the Marketing, Financing, and Planning workshops. PlanWare is an excellent site that provides a free Business Plan Guide & Template-Free-Plan and a 6 month Business Financial Planner-Exl-Plan. Free-Plan is a Microsoft Word document and Exl-Plan is a Microsoft Excel template. Their site also has some excllent checklists and guides and free on-line business tools. Guides Getting New Business Ideas Devising Venture Strategies Developing a Strategic Plan Writing a Business Plan Insights into Business Planning Preparing Financial Projections Making Cashflow Forecasts Managing Working Capital Checklists Improving Cash Flow Better Business Plans Be sure to visit and browse the PlanWare site. Free Business Owner's Toolkit provided by CCH. CCH Free Business Toolkit Here you'll find ready-to-use business tools to help you get the job done faster and easier, including: Model business documents including sample letters, contracts, forms, and policies ready for you to customize. Financial spreadsheet templates. Help for managing your business finances from balancing your checkbook to creating your own financial statements. A selection of the forms and publications most commonly used by small business owners when filing taxes with the IRS or contracting with the federal government. CCH Small Business Guides CCH Business Library CCH also provides some excellent small business guides and a nice Small Business Library. Accounting Page Financial Step Accounting service directories designed to help users find local companies, services, and accounting and financial information. Office Depot Small Business Center Another nice site for free business tools and information.Get your free Small Business Handbook and free business forms that you can customize to fit your needs. US Chamber of Commerce Guidance provided for starting, managing, expanding, and exiting a business. Library Of Congress Library of Congress references can't be too bad. BusinessTown Start and run a small business without losing your shirt, your sleep, or your sanity! Business Topics-All Business No Bull American Express Financial Management Articles and Tools Home Business Network Over 2000 hand-picked Small & Home Business oriented websites rated and reviewed by USERS, and designed from the ground up to help ANY entrepreneur find the resources they NEED to succeed. VirtualTechnocrats Free worksheets, guides, links and checklists for starting and running a business. These reference tools were created to assist entrepreneurs in crystallizing their thoughts and developing a sound business strategy. They even offer a free business guide to download and keep for a handy reference. Smallbusinesstown Smallbusinesstown.com features 91 FREE online guidebooks from The Entrepreneur's Guidebook Series available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. These electronic books are inspired by the growing need to simplify business planning and at the same time provide comprehensive guidance. A few of my favorites: Cash Flow Projections Bookkeeping & Accounting Systems Writing a Business Plan Business Insurance Primer Why Companies Succeed Almost too much good stuff ! VentureLine From accounting ratios analysis to locating angel investors or pre-analyzed investment opportunities, MBA's mission is to assist you in achieving your business and financial goals; minimize your inherent risk of financial loss, while increasing your potential for success. Your MBA membership is free. Sign up for your MBA today Inc Inc.com has more than 100 free tools that are available to Inc.com members. From sample policies and agreements to worksheets and checklists, Inc.com has tools to help you in every area of your business. Join for Free Free Business Tools Free Annual Report Directory The largest FREE directory of online annual reports available on the web. You have to create a user profile to view the thousands of online annual reports or 10-K presentations. Public Register's Free Annual Report Service Annual Reports - Mailed to you for Free US Securities & Exchange Commission Latest filings of businesses required to file financial information with the SEC. Kaufman Foundation A free financial benchmarking service provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Business EKG provides a comprehensive assessment of your company’s financial vital signs. You will discover insights about your company’s financial well being and how you compare to the “best of the class” in your industry. The assessment requires only a few minutes and will give you ideas and strategies for improving your company’s long-term financial health. My 1st Business Run by Ben Botes, you'll find plenty of ecourses, seminars and more covering small business, ecommerce, marketing, and other topics. Not free but well worth the small membership fee ! Annual Reports A leading provider of online annual reports. Their free service allows users to review an annual report in an easy and convenient manner. Boasting the most complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports on the internet, AnnualReports.com provides instant access to annual reports in their actual format in one single location. Starting A Business E-book Starting a Business Free PDF Book Provided by BusinessFinance.com MetLife and the Charlie Brown crew provide some easy to follow, informative, and humorous small business guides. Starting A Business Although most people head off to work for someone else every day of their careers, some march to the beat of a different drummer by owning and operating their own businesses. Are you ready to join them? Running A Small Business People acquire small businesses in many ways, but all are faced with one common challenge: taking charge of everything involved in running a business. Running a small business involves many activities, including developing a business plan, overseeing sales and marketing, dealing with personnel and a whole range of administrative responsibilities. Payroll Help & Information IRS Publication 15 Circular E Comprehensive Manual of Employer's Payroll Requirements Online Version Publication 15 Downloadable E-book E-book Publication 15 (requires free Adobe Reader Adobe Free Reader) US Department Of Labor Labor Posters Did you know that the federal government requires the display of a number of posters at your workplace? There are many companies that sell these posters. But why pay for them? You can get them for free from the Department of Labor. DOL Main Site Find out how labor laws affect your business. DOL'S Employment Law Guide (ELG) Laws, regulations and technical services assistance for statutes and regulations administered by the DOL. Fair Labor Standards Act Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Fair Pay The FairPay Web site is a one-stop center for information on the Department's new "white collar" rules that strengthen overtime protections for millions of workers. The Web site includes a seminar taught by experts from the Wage and Hour Division, fact sheets summarizing the major provisions of the new rules, and links to the actual regulatory text and preamble. Labor Laws Discussion and review of Labor Laws and Employement Related Rules. State Minimum Wage Laws State Minimum Wage Laws may be different than federal laws - check your state requirements. OSHA Check out safety laws affecting your business. Need To Find a SIC Code ? SIC Codes Bureau Of Labor Statistics All sorts of useful labor information. Intuit Payroll Help An overview of payroll requirements and responsibilities , frequently asked questions, payroll forms, and other payroll help presented by Intuit. Wage Estimates U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates US Social Security Administration's official web site. If you're seeking answers, you can find them in their Frequently Asked Questions section.     Employer On-line Reporting & Help Economic Research Institute Economic Research Institute Site Registration ERI Distance Learning Center provides FREE payroll and benefits training courses. Only pay if you use them for Professional Continuing Education Credits and take the Exams. Requires free registration. PayCycle Over 500 carefully chosen links to Web sites you will find useful as you manage your payroll and business. CCH Payroll Rules People Who Work For You Payroll Guide Part of CCH Small Business Guides PaycheckCity offers unequalled employee self-service tools for paycheck management. The FREE PERSONAL FINANCE CALCULATORS at this site are used by individuals and organizations of every size to quickly and accurately answer paycheck-related questions and to compute paychecks under a variety of circumstances Requires free registration Payroll-Taxes The Premier Payroll Reference Library! Payroll calculators, articles, links, and more. PayMaxx provides good employer information about payroll rules, types of payments, employee forms, and other employer information. AIER Cost-of-Living Calculator See if your salary or salaries you're paying are keeping pace with inflation. Employment Practices Background Check Gateway Believe it or not, no background-check experience or training is needed to use this site and there’s no cost whatsoever to your company. With this tool, your staff person can be conducting professional-quality employment checks almost immediately, "learning the trade" as he or she goes. These sites provide all kinds of useful forms, policies, and information to help you in obeying the laws related to your employees and employment practices. US Search-Background Checks How To Investigate Employment Forms Employment Reports Business Policies & Procedures - Manual Sample Employee Handbook Socrates Downloadable Legal and Business Forms Employment Law Guide Covers laws and regulations regarding wages and hours of work, safety and health standards, pension and benefit plans, federal contracts, and more. Independent Contractor Test Provide the answers to some online questions and have the results analyzed to determine if you have an employee or an independent contractor relationship. Other Labor Laws Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) For answers to questions that relate to the use of criminal records, dates of birth and other information gathered in your hiring process please visit the EEOC. Federal Trade Commission Compliance with The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is an important part of the background screening process. Visit the Federal Trade Commission for further information on the use of background reports. Background Investigations and pre-employment screening are referred to in the Act as consumer and investigative consumer reports. FTC Opinions Trade Commission attorneys post Opinion Letters to further clarify the use of background investigations. Referred to in the Act as consumer and investigative consumer reports. SBDC The Small Business Development Center is a network of professional business consultants. The Centers provide free expert business advice to all types of businesses whether you are a manufacturer, retailer, service provider, or a professional; they are there to help you help yourself. Small Business Development Center-National Small Business Development Center-States SCORE National National With volunteer business counselors, SCORE provides small business mentoring and advice on the full range of business topics. SCORE business counselors are available to help you set your course for success. SCORE counseling is: Free Confidential Essential to Your Success Available to All U.S. Citizens Business Taxes Unfortunately, all businesses need to be familiar with the taxes that affect their business. Free Legal Help Compliments of LawGuru.com and Bean Counter Search for answers and information about your legal concerns. Reasonably Priced Legal Help Have a legal problem or need some legal assistance ? Not free; but, very affordable. Government Grants Finding a grant for your organization has never been easy. The government has plenty of ways to assist companies, but it's difficult to find out for what you qualify. Now there is a one-stop shop on the Net! Fill out the required paperwork and apply online. There's even an option to be notified of grants via e-mail. FindLaw An excellent site that helps you find solutions to your legal issues by providing you with easy and comprehensive access to small business legal information. Topics Covered: Starting a Business Incorporation & Legal Structures Employment Law & Human Resources Intellectual Property Finances & Taxes Forms & Contracts Business Operations Business Laws & Regulations Taxes Workers' Compensation Closing A Business Bankruptcy & Debt Immigration Finance, Banking & Securities Find Law's Business Legal Structures Incorporation, Legal Structures, and Business Formation provides you with information and resources on the different legal structures for a business -- including sole proprietorship, corporations, and partnerships. Also features a Business Formation QuickStart that can help you set up the specific legal structure you want for your business. Business Formation Quickstart How to Choose a Legal Structure Sole Proprietorships Partnerships Corporations Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) Non-Profit Organizations Resources The resources section has guides, sample forms, sample agreements, tax information and other resources to assist you in setting up and reporting on the different types of business legal structures. Resources Included: State Guide: State Corporations Offices State Guide: Forms and Filing Fees for Business Formation State Guide: Tax Agencies State Laws: Corporations Sample Forms: Partnerships Sample Partnership Agreement Real-Life Partnership Agreements Sample Forms: Corporations State Guide: Sample Articles of Incorporation Sample Certificate of Incorporation Real-Life Incorporation Documents Sample By-Laws Real-Life By-Laws Sample Forms: LLCs Real-Life LLC Operating Agreements Tax Information from the IRS: Tax Information for Partnerships Tax Information for Corporations Tax Forms: Corporations Tax Forms: "S" Corporations Tax Forms for LLCs/LLPs Tax Information for Charities and Other Non-Profits ReferenceForBusiness This site contains the following tools: Encyclopedia of Small Business is a comprehensive and easily accessible reference source for entrepreneurs that demand practical information that can be applied to their own business. Small business owners can browse over the 600 articles that detail information about financial planning, market analysis, sales, business plans, tax planning, human resource issues and more. Business Biographies are a superb tool for biographical information of industry leaders worldwide. They have over 600 in-depth essays that cover each individual's biographical information, career paths, achievements, leadership strategies and management styles. The Business Plans section is composed of actual business plans written by entrepreneurs in North America who are seeking financing for their business. This is a great resource for anybody needing examples on how to structure, compose, and write their own business plans. Finally, their Encyclopedia of American Industries is a comprehensive guide to industries in every realm of American business. They cover 459 manufacturing industries, and have over 500 essays about non-manufacturing and service industries. Reading Room Check out the vpspro.com's Reading Room for information on business and on developing a business plan. There's a lot of great information about many areas of business including quizes for testing your skills. Innovateur Innovateur is a free resource for innovators and entrepreneurs. It was founded by experienced technology and commerce entrepreneurs to help others achieve their visions. Their site focuses on practical information about how to access and leverage resources - from the idea, through financing , to realising the business plan. To assist you, they not only provide information but a growing number of free tools - from free business plan templates, free financial forecasting tools, free guides, free mentoring, free networking and learning events, and much more. Search For Business Publications Business Publications Search Business Publications Search Engine - No Surfing To Find Your Information - Just Content ! SBDC provided by Small Business Development Center Provides helpful information to meet the needs of small businesses. Researching an Industry or Company How to Learn About an Industry or a Specific Company presented by Polson Enterprises Web Site. American Success.org - Free Empowerment Courses Put the Action Principles® to work in your life with this free multi-media small business course. In Master Small Business, you'll learn how to start a successful small business or become a more productive employee, while reaching the top ten percent of your profession. Buying and Selling a Business Overview Good quick overview of what's involved in buying or selling a business. EdgarScan Need Financial Information about a Publicly Traded Company ? EdgarScan is an interface to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (SEC EDGAR) Filings. EdgarScan pulls filings from the SEC's servers and parses them automatically to find key financial tables and normalize financials to a common format that is comparable across companies. Using hyperlinks we can go directly to specific sections of the filing, including the financial statements, footnotes, extracted financial data and computed ratios. A small (35 kilobytes) Java applet called the "Benchmarking Assistant" performs graphical financial benchmarking interactively. Tables showing company comparisons can be downloaded as Excel charts and registered users can store company portfolios for future benchmarking. Topical Listing Of Business Articles Provided by fasttrac.org in conjuction with Edward Lowe. A wealth of articles on more than 60 topics of interest to entrepreneurs like you. Small Business Artcles Contains articles and explanations about topics related to small businesses, such as accounting, advertising, budget, copyright, marketing, recruiting, and stocks, indexed in alphabetical order. SME Toolkit A project of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, the SME Toolkit offers free business management information and training for small businesses / small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on accounting and finance, business planning, human resources (HR), marketing and sales, operations, and information technology (IT). The SME Toolkit offers a wide range of how-to articles, business forms, free business software, online training, self-assessment exercises, quizzes, and resources to help entrepreneurs, business owners, and managers in emerging markets and developing countries start, finance, formalize, and grow their businesses. It’s free and easy to use. Just search or browse the categories for the information you need. Mind Your Own Biz Here's where you can find the links to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality. Created by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Junior Achievement, this site walks you through five easy steps of business ownership - whether you've just had a brainstorm for your first business venture or you've been at it a few years. Ask Alice! CCH's Busines Owner's Toolkit provides Ask Alice! a small business advisor who provides answers and information about many of the problems facing the small business man or woman. Ask Alice Topics Include: Accounting Getting Out of Business Business News Business Ethics Human Resources Planning Business Entities / Not-for-Profits Insurance Sales and Marketing Business Law International Security and Risk Management Business Resources Internet Taxes Finances Free Management Library The Library provides easy-to-access, clutter-free, comprehensive resources for individuals and for profit and non profit organizations. Over the past 10 years, the Library has grown to be one of the world's largest well-organized collections of these types of resources. There are approximately 650 topics in the Library, spanning 5,000 links. Topics include the most important practices to start, develop, operate, evaluate and resolve problems in for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Each topic has additionally recommended books and related Library topics. There are approximately 650 topics in the Library, spanning 5,000 links. Topics include the most important practices to start, develop, operate, evaluate and resolve problems in for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Each topic has additionally recommended books and related Library topics. What Library would be complete without Good Ole Fashined Text Books ?