People were shopping 'til they dropped in August, according to the Federal Reserve. The Fed reported that total consumer installment credit increased $10.8 billion to $1.36 trillion in August, marking the strongest monthly increase in seven months.

In an electronic age, where people receive more email in a day than they ever got in a week, face to face communication seems a bit strained. In the recruiting arena, employers are relying more on online resumes and electronic job posting. Doesn’t exactly set the environment for relationships, does it?Enter Austin, Texas based Hire.com’s e-Recruiter service. e-Recruiter is helping companies put relationships back into the recruiting process.

Research has shown that around 80 percent of first time surfers tend not to return to a web site once they have made their initial visit - yet building a strong brand and a loyal customer base, ensuring repeat visits, and ultimately repeat sales, is critical to ensuring a company's online success.According to Nvision, the ten areas which businesses must concentrate on include:Easy access - Start by getting the basics right. Registration is a great way of getting to know who is visiting your site and capturing some key details.

Century Business Services announced this week that it has hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to explore strategic alternatives which would result in increased shareholder value for the accounting consolidator. Among the alternatives it is exploring is finding a merger partner or even selling itself outright. Over the past few months, CBIZ has been approached by several parties to explore exclusive business relationships. They have not yet found the relationship yet that makes the most sense for shareholders. Michael G.

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a guy named Heath Row. Who’s Heath Row? For those of you who aren’t avid readers of one of the hottest business magazines in the country – Fast Company – Heath is an underground celebrity. The Company of Friends (CoF) is Heath’s brainchild. Now he’s out hitting the pavement, staying at readers’ homes, and spreading his message to the magazine’s foremost groupies in his CoF Road Show.

Small- and medium-sized companies' use of electronic commerce is key to economic growth in Asia Pacific, according to the results an international survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

CPAs who provide consulting services in retirement planning take note: employers can now set up a 401(K) retirement plan on the Internet at ez401k.com.Ez401k.com markets itself as an efficient and inexpensive alternative to traditional 401(k) planning. With the cost to set up a company retirement plan at $401, ez401k.com gives businesses a savings in fees of $1,500 or more. A watch on the ez401k.com home page lets an employer see exactly how long it takes them to design a plan and print out announcements for employees.

Newsletters are not inexpensive to produce or buy. A typical newsletter will cost a firm thousands of dollars per year to produce and mail. Make sure you are getting the most bang out of your newsletter buck!Why have one?If you have signed onto the newsletter bandwagon because your competitor had one, step back and analyze whether your newsletter is getting results. Do you hear from your customers more after an issue hits the mail? Do you have a fax-back from that allows your clients to easily reply to an article or other non-urgent subject?

In today's accounting marketplace, more and more CPAs and other professionals are getting further and further away from taxation and advise strategies for the small business owner.Some end-of-year tax planning will indeed help any situation, be it that of the CPA or a client. For example, by gathering together last year's tax statement, along with a projection of 1999, you can adequately take a look at where you may or may not be headed regarding the 1999 tax bill.Some strategies for small business boil down to the calendar itself, such as sending out invoices after Jan.