You might have heard of businesses that have stopped taking cash. Paying by credit card or plastic is becoming the norm, even as dollar bills are defined as "legal tender for all debts, public and private," according to Slate. The Federal Reserve measured the amount of actual physical cash (M0) at $688 billion in 2004, according to Wikipedia.

Private businesses can accept or decline cash for their goods and services. They can also choose to accept goods or services in lieu of payment. Barter is becoming an increasingly popular method of commerce, with 20 to 25 percent of world trade currently occurring under a barter system, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce (D0C).

When another company wants to trade its goods and services for yours, you agree on a price together, authorize the transaction and the barter network system tracks transaction details for you. Ezine Articles reports that statements for your barter activity are generated monthly and a small commission is paid on the amount of transacted barter dollars, similar to an interest rate on a credit card.

There is no need to value or declare goods and services transacted between network participants on income taxes, but they must be valued at fair market value, according to Small Business Notes. The fair market value must be recorded by each business and reported on their taxes in the year the goods and services were received. The costs incurred in performing the work involving a business or trade, may be deducted.

For more on small business payment options visit: "Small Business Payment Options: Cash and More", Click Here.

Flexibility is important to businesses today. They need to be able to respond to changing external and internal needs quickly and efficiently. One way many see of increasing their flexibility is through the use of wireless networks.

When properly planned and implemented, a wireless allows a business to add or reduce staffing, reorganize work flow and even change locations with minimal interruption and expense. A recently published white paper, "Planning A Wireless Network" from ProCurve Networking by HP, explores three popular wireless networking standards, IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11a, along with two Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), standalone access points and centrally controlled coordinated access points. In addition, the paper also looks at the forthcoming IEEE 802.11n standard.

Read "Planning A Wireless Network", Click Here.

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