4.Don’t burn bridges. What happens to relationships when you place blame? You are unlikely to earn forgiveness. You are more likely to alienate yourself from your coworkers, peers, vendors and others by pointing fingers. Not only will you ruin relationships, but you will also lose trust of people who you work with.

5.Be a good role model. When others see you accepting responsibility for your actions – and when they see extraordinary results you are getting – you make statement that blame placing is not acceptable behavior. By doing so, you help promote an atmosphere of harmony and integrity.

6.Have a positive and grateful attitude. Being a progressive leader means being a highly effective leader, and accepting nothing less than excellence from yourself and others. If you are grateful for all things that happen in your life (good and bad) you simply cannot hold angry feelings toward others, or place blame where it does not belong. It takes practice to reach that level but progressive leaders understand that payoff is high!

Accepting responsibility for your actions, and those of your team, sends a loud message to others. “I am a strong leader, capable of handling my own actions and those of my team. I do not play games. I am fully prepared for challenges of my job, and additional responsibilities that come with all future promotions.” Now isn’t that better than, “But James said he was going to…?”

Carole is President and Executive Coach of Progressive Leadership, offering executive coaching, organizational development consulting and leadership development training. Improve your business relationships, communication, team performance and bottom line starting now. Visit http://www.progressiveleadership.com for more info & subscribe to Carole’s FREE Ezine.

Since 1980, Small Business Tax and Management has been providing services to business owners. Lots of resources on this site. www.smbiz.com/

Bookkeeping and Tax Programs: Quicken, QuickBooks, Turbo Tax www.intuit.com/products_services

Taxes and Accounting www.quicken.com/small_business axes_and_accounting http://www.peachtree.com/

The Top 10 Essentials for Making a Hobby Into a Business http:/ opten.org/public/AA/AA82.html Dealing Effectively with IRS http:/ opten.org/public/AN/AN23.html

CPA or Bookkeeper? Besides trading on Wall Street, I was an Operations & Accounting Manager. At one point, I had bookkeepers and a few CPA's working for me. I was able to sign off on work performed by bookkeepers but I wasn't unable to sign off on any internal audits. Why? Because I didn't have a CPA License!

So you can see, there is a difference between a CPA and Bookkeeper. Now-a-days, with Quicken and Peachtree, many of us can set up our own bookkeeping and send out invoices - if that is how we choose to use our time.

If you are a sole proprietor, you can 1) hire a CPA firm that will also do your monthly bookkeeping 2) hire a CPA firm that will help you set up your monthly bookkeeping system and then you can do your bookkeeping or hire a bookkeeper 3) hire a bookkeeper to do your monthly bookkeeping 4) do it yourself.

Personally, I did my own bookkeeping for many years (I was an accounting manager) and then brought my records to a CPA yearly. I keep up with as many tax laws etc. as I can, I guess because I like that sort of thing. Many folks don't though! Know which you are!

As my business grew, I hired a bookkeeper and worked with them to set up a monthly bookkeeping system. The system was set up as suggested at IRS Tax Class I attended - with categories names and in close order to tax forms I'll use as a sole proprietor (Schedule C & Form 8829). I'll choose names of sub-categories based on how I spend money. They also suggested that you set up your file cabinet with similarly named files.

Enjoy my article on CPAs. It's called "10 Ideas To Help You Choose a CPA" http://www.coachmaria.com/articles/cpa.html

Maria Marsala, Business & Life Coach-Consultant. Maria works with successful individuals as they take their success to an even higher level. They're designing, and grow their lives, professionally and personally around what they love to do. Subscribe to "Helping You and Your Business Grow" our free weekly online newsletter. http://www.CoachMaria.com