Here we go again.

The disappointing number of jobs created in December has renewed calls for incentives to boost hiring by small companies. After all, goes the conventional wisdom, most new jobs are created by the puniest companies in our country, the backbone of the US economy.

Small and medium-sized companies can take advantage of a wealth of integrated technology solutions to help them manage online commerce and financial processes through a single package. This can be a great help in reducing the headache of handling the complex interweave of online and on-the-ground financial operations.

Being a bricks and mortar company was once considered the only way to truly get big and stay big in the retail world. Then came the online shopping revolution, and people said that it was bricks and clicks companies—those with big footprints on the ground and a solid online strategy—that would rule the hearts and minds of shoppers.

Small suppliers in the US will soon have an easier mechanism to bid for large corporate contracts, as a consortium of firms have announced the launch of Supplier Connection—a portal geared at simplifying and standardizing the application process for large corporate contracts.

The site, which is expected to launch early next year, is being set up by IBM, AT&T, Pfizer, UPS, Bank of America and Citi. To begin with, it will host applications for bids on their business, but will also open to other companies that want to sign up and participate as it grows.

Without net neutrality there would be no Facebook, no YouTube, no internet 
giants that started in the dorm room of a couple of college kids.

Okay I take that back. Some of the ingenious and daring internet ideas that have changed the world as we know it would still exist, and possibly in the form that we now know. But quite possibly not. 

The six largest banks in the UK will set up a task force to evaluate the business lending landscape in the UK and look at ways to increase credit to UK companies. However, at first glace it appears this is just the next step in the political dance that the UK coalition government and the banking community have been sashaying to for quite some time.

First, the government says small businesses--the fuel for the furnace of recovery--need access to more credit in order to grow; then the banks say we have no money to lend because you are making us hold more in reserve; then--surprise, surprise--the banks all return to profit; then the government says okay now lend to small business; then the banks say they don’t want our money; then the government says okay, really guys, you must lend more to small business; then the banks say okay we will set up a task force to look at it….and the dance goes on.

According to a new survey by HSBC, small business confidence worldwide is on the rise.

HSBC's Small Business Confidence Monitor measures the outlook of small-to-medium size enterprises on local economic growth, capital investment plans and recruitment. The survey found that 84 percent of SMEs across the globe are optimistic about local economic growth, and many respondents intend to increase capital expenditure and hire new employees over the next six months.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke asked lenders to ease credit to small businesses earlier this week, but the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon.

With stricter lending standards, small community banks have stopped lending to small companies. Part of the problem is a lack of demand from solid businesses. Most want to save their cash and preserve their credit while there's still uncertainty surrounding the economic recovery.

The number of women-owned businesses has been skyrocketing for the past 30 years, and new enterprises now are twice as likely to be started by women as men. However, revenues for men-owned businesses continue to outstrip that of women-owned businesses by almost 75 percent, according to a report by Sharon Hadary, founding executive director of the Center for Women's Business Research and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland University College. 

Hadary’s report, which appeared in the WSJ on Sunday, cited Kaufman Foundation research, US Census of Women-Owned Business data, and Center for Women’s Business Research statistics showing the total number of women-owned private businesses in the US doubled between 1992 and 2006 – from 5.4 million to 10.4 million.

Submitted by Caleb Newquist, republished from Going Concern, Accounting News for Accountants and CFOs.

Accountemps released the results of a survey today that shows many chief financial officers think that the best place for accounting graduates to start their careers is in a "small to midsize company." The surprising thing about this particular survey is that the numbers aren't even close.