Finance Guide

Trade protectionism is a policy that protects domestic industries from unfair competition from foreign ones. The four primary tools are tariffs, subsidies, quotas, and currency manipulation. Protectionism is a politically motivated defensive measure. In the short run, it works. But it is very destructive in the long term. It makes the country and its industries less competitive in international trade. Four Protectionist Policies The most common protectionist strategy is to enact tariffs that tax imports. That immediately raises the price of imported goods. They become less competitive when compared to local goods. This method works best for countries with a lot of imports, such as the United States. The chart below shows the share of tariffs collected on U.S. imports since 1790. Tariffs hit a record 57.3% in 1830 due to the Tariff of Abominations. They hit a record low in 2008 at 1.2%. Protectionism fell out of favor after the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930. It was designed to pro...

You will make accounting errors from time to time, so knowing how to detect these problems is an important skill to develop regardless of what accounting software application you use in your small business. You will be able to detect many errors by reviewing your company’s trial balance. However, you will find that not all accounting errors affect the trial balance. For this reason, it is important to learn about these types of accounting errors so you can find and correct them. You should note that these types of errors are the most difficult to identify and resolve. Omission An error of omission occurs when a transaction is completely omitted from the books of your company. You may forget to enter an expense transaction or enter the sale of a product or service. These transactions are difficult to detect. Therefore, you need to make sure you have a solid routine for entering these transactions timely. The most common reason that these transactions are not entered is that the document...