Fast Cash If You're Unemployed

When you're out of a job and have no money coming in you've got to get creative and seek out ways to provide fast services to your community to make ends meet. You may need to put your pride aside but having food on the table is much better than starving proudly.

Accounting Job Interview Questions / Tips

Accounting job interview questions will center on the accountancy job requirements. Carefully study the job description or job posting for the accounts payable or accounts receivable job.This will help you to determine the specific accountancy job requirements and the type of questions you are likely to be asked. KYJ6UYYQHFFQ

Accounts Payable Clerk

What are the steps to take before you approve an invoice for payment?
Show your understanding of the invoice verification process. Go through each step in detail such as checking that goods have been received in proper condition or services rendered in a satisfactory manner. Explain the importance of each step.

What information do you require before you approve an invoice for payment?
Focus on your monitoring and checking skills. Demonstrate your understanding of the documentation required for verification before payment is made.

Tell me about an invoice discrepancy you discovered and how you resolved it.
Be specific about the type of discrepancy. Discuss the steps you took to identify and sort it out such as obtaining and checking the original order. Focus on the skills required to resolve the discrepancy such as attention to detail, problem analysis and problem resolution.

Have you ever been involved in an invoice dispute? How did you manage the problem?
Accounting job interview questions like this explore your conflict management skills. Emphasize your interpersonal skills, your maturity and your ability to stay calm in the face of difficulty. Describe the techniques you use to diffuse disputes such as asking questions to determine the reason for the dispute, not conveying blame and not becoming too emotional. Demonstrate your ability to work together with others to reach an acceptable resolution.

Explain the accounts payable cycle.
Demonstrate your knowledge of this cycle - the length of time it takes the company to pay its accounts payable - and what the implications of the length of this cycle are for the company, for example cash flow.

What accounts payable applications are your familiar with?
With accounting job interview questions like this first list the applicationsyou have used and then expand on the value of the solutions they offered to your particular business. Look at aspects such as managing vendor information, approval controls and providing payables reports.

Use this detailed Accounts Payable Job Description to help prepare for your interview.

Accounts Receivable

Detail your responsibilities in accounts receivable.

Discuss all your responsibilities. Focus on the skills and knowledge you used to perform these functions efficiently such as maintaining a high level of accuracy, good verbal and written communication skills, strong organizational skills, problem-solving skills, computer skills and a knowledge of accounting processes.

What role did you play in collections?

Again focus on the skills and abilities you bring to the collections function. Demonstrate how you have used your good interpersonal skills, perseverance, ability to managing conflict, negotiation skills and communication ability for successful collections.

What software applications have you used for accounts receivable?

List the applications you have used and expand on the value of the solutions they offered to your particular company. Look at aspects such as tracking transactions, assessing late payments, creating past due notices and printing out relevant reports.

What information is included in a bill for services?

List the information, make sure you cover everything and highlight your attention to detail. Include a sample of a bill for service that you created in your interview portfolio.

What was your average accounts receivable days outstanding/days sales outstanding?

If relevant, discuss any corrective action taken to reduce this figure.

What are the most important goals of accounts receivable?

These goals will depend on the needs of the organization. Show how you are aware of organizational needs and then identify the appropriate goals to meet them. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of what the goals express and how they support department and company objectives. Common aspects include positively impacting on company cash cycle, increasing cash flow, reducing DSO, reducing bad debt and write offs.

Fears Grow as Millions Lose Jobless Benefits

Fears grow as millions lose jobless benefits | Reuters

CINCINNATI (Reuters) – Deborah Coleman lost her unemployment benefits in April, and now fears for millions of others if the Senate does not extend aid for the jobless.

"It's too late for me now," she said, fighting back tears at the Freestore Foodbank in the low-income Over-the-Rhine district near downtown Cincinnati. "But it will be terrible for the people who'll lose their benefits if Congress does nothing."

For nearly two years, Coleman says she has filed an average of 30 job applications a day, but remains jobless.

"People keep telling me there are jobs out there, but I haven't been able to find them."

Coleman, 58, a former manager at a telecommunications firm, said the only jobs she found were over the Ohio state line in Kentucky, but she cannot reach them because her car has been repossessed and there is no bus service to those areas.

After her $300 a week benefits ran out, Freestore Foodbank brokered emergency 90-day support in June for rent. Once that runs out, her future is uncertain.

"I've lost everything and I don't know what will happen to me," she said.

The recession -- the worst U.S. downturn since the 1930s -- has left some 8 million people like Coleman out of work.

Never Give Up

...and never surrender. Here is a video about a man's determination and struggle in his pursuit of happiness.



A portrait of a man in my neighborhood that exhibits some of the finer qualities of the Unemployed: resilience, persistence and humility. Michael Johnson (not the runner) is a survivor. 

Survive Unemployment

Watch this video for a demonstration of "How to Survive Unemployment". To complete the task, you will need:

An unemployment benefits application
Job-posting sites
Ways to bring in money

Get started with the first step: If you haven’t already, apply for unemployment, even if you don’t think you’re eligible. Studies show that many people who are entitled to collect don’t even apply.

Look Into Becoming a Bookkeeper

Every single business out there needs someone to be able to keep its financial records. It does not matter what kind of business it is. Every single business needs to keep track of its cash flow or lack thereof. In order to fill this need, the easiest way to go about doing it is to read up on Accounting 101 / Level 1 and take a test at a temporary agency such as Accountemps in order to secure a job. Here is a video on how that would work and why you should look into doing that.

Latoya is a Genius!

I love graphics. This map best illustrates how screwed we as a country really are. Numbers, fact, figures and statistics can only go so far in ones mind. Some reporter throws around 10% unemployment, another throws around 6% another 13% and you and I are thinking yea yea ok already whatever. But this by far tells us how far down the hole we are especially if we're comparing ourselves to where we were at just 5 years ago let alone 10 or 20 years ago! Quite disturbing if you ask me. As a matter of fact I'd advise starting to plant a garden and/or implementing a plan B just in case we'll have to cross the border over to Canada or Mexico searching for a better life. I'm even seeing people moving back to Europe and South America to get out of this mess. Anyway, enough talk, check this out;