Entrepreneurs throughout the world, take heed: there’s no better place to set up your business than Alberta, Canada.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has recently released its report on entrepreneurial cities, with five from the top 10 located in Alberta.

The federation has over 107,000 business owner members nationwide, with Grande Prairie reaching first place in its rankings.

Jennifer Ruparell, an entrepreneur based in Calgary, isn’t so surprised.

Her business, BeautyGram, hand-delivers gift boxes containing gift certificates for wellness centres and spa’s, beauty products and luxury chocolates.

“I always think there’s room for entrepreneurs,” Ruparell explained.

“I feel good about it … We’re a wealthy city and I just think it’s a great marketplace.”

According to Ruparell, there are buds of growth beginning to flower throughout Canada following the global economic crisis.

Ruparell elaborated: “I don’t think we were hit as hard as a lot of the other cities in Canada and definitely in the world and I think there’s lots of room for expansion here and for entrepreneurs to grow.”

The CFIB ranked the top 10 entrepreneurial cities in Canada as: Grande Prairie, Lloydminster (Alberta/Saskatchewan), Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Kelowna, Edmonton, Red Deer, Parksville (British Columbia), Saint-Georges (Quebec) and Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray area).

Calgary failed to reach to top 10, settling in 13th place.

The CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president, Ted Mallett, believes that the agriculture sector and natural resources have a large base of small businesses, and therefore, Alberta will have benefited from such.

“Calgary suffers, along with other major cities, with a lack of connection with the governance. It’s the policy area that’s problematic in Calgary and we see the same thing in Toronto and we see the same thing in Vancouver,” Mallett explained.

Director at the CFIB for Alberta, Richard Truscott, feels that many would have expected Calgary to be at the top of the list.

“Small business owners are succeeding in spite of policy-makers rather than because of them,” he revealed.

Truscott believes that one thing that may have held back small business owners in Calgary is the red-tape that can overcome many entrepreneurs from blossoming.

“The surest signs of an entrepreneurial hot spot are the presence of a high concentration of entrepreneurs and a high business startup rate,” the CFIB report detailed.

“It is also important that business owners have high levels of optimism and success in their operations.

“Good public policy is also critical, so we look at the presence of supportive local government tax and regulatory policies.”

The CFIB are firmly behind the country’s small and medium sized businesses, with 53% of workers earning a living through them.

A range of measures is set to give the UK’s small businesses greater ease when dealing with other companies.

The changes will make it simpler for small firms to provide services for the public sector and reduce the difficulties they face in gaining access to finance.

In addition, people looking to start up their own business from home will see changes that aid their efforts and facilitate their decisions, allowing the government to demonstrate their ”entrepreneurial decade.”

The adjustments were announced by Vince Cable (Business Secretary), Mark Prisk (Business Minister), Francis Maude (Cabinet Office Minister) and Lord Young (Enterprise Tsar).

New businesses will be pleased to hear the announcements, as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) Scheme will remain in place for a further four years, with 75% of of the business’ bank loan guaranteed by the government, and the remaining 25% guaranteed by the bank.

An additional £2bn will be pumped into the EFG scheme following the success achieved since its implementation by the former labour government.

Chairman for small business at Royal Bank of Scotland, Peter Ibbetson, is pleased by the progress and ”warmly welcomed the decision to extend EFG”.

“This scheme is hugely important to wider efforts to ensure small businesses get the support they need,” Mr Ibbetson added.

Enterprise Capital Funds will also be boosted when the government pump in an extra £200m, which will allow companies to exchange debt for a stake in their business.

Qualification barriers that prevent small businesses from being granted government contracts will also be scrapped under the new plans, helping small, private companies to compete on a fairer playing field.

Those companies that are granted government contracts will be compelled to pay all their suppliers within 30 days.

Social landlords can also expect greater cooperation from the government, and look ”to tackle the misconception that social tenants cannot start up a business.”

Mark Prisk, Business and Enterprise minister revealed: ”As a former small business owner I know how important our SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] are to the growth of this country.

“I entered government with the goal of making this the most entrepreneurial decade in our history, and I’m confident today’s announcements will make that a reality.”

Those seeking advice on how to run a small business need look no further than Mission: Fun and Games; a small business located in St Albert, Canada.

After two decades of service to the community, the store was given an Enmax 2010 Small Business Week Award of Distinction.

Following the presentation of the award, owner John Engel spoke of the changes that he’s experienced whilst running the business.

“When I started, the fax machine was considered new technology,” he recalled.

“You never could have told me 20 years ago that I’d be shipping games all over the world from my small store and that my daughters would be working side by side with me, helping me stay in business and that we would be hosting provincial championships for a game called Pokémon.”

Their main focus is devoted to selling board, role-playing, card, miniature and trading card games.

The business has seen a 40% increase in total sales over the past three years and employs eight people.

Such is Engel’s love for games, he even proposed to his wife Tracy on the Scrabble board.

“My wife, 20 years later, is still helping to keep the store going and I’m grateful for that.”

The awards ceremony concluded the Enmax 2010 Small Business Week and provided a first class event to mark the evening, with red carpets and spotlights outside the theatre.

Chamber chair, Mike Howes revealed: “I think it was very, very good. Everybody was very happy about it. We had 225 people which is a few more than we had in the other years so that’s a great indication.

“The committee did a great job.”

Howes is confident that next years event will be even more spectacular than this years.

“I like the format, I think people are going to come out in droves next year. It’s going to be ever better well attended once they’ve heard how well it went,” he said.

Mayor of St Albert, Nolan Crouse, feels that the chamber of commerce offers a great service to the community and local businesses.

“Without a strong chamber, you don’t have a strong economic development base,” he revealed.

“You’re seeing a classy event, which is also a tribute to the chamber of making sure that St. Albert continues to be a classy place to do business and a classy place to live.”

The event even celebrated the hard working youth of St Albert, with Crouse especially pleased to see the introduction of the Youth Work Experience Award of Distinction.

“When we see people on stage, often there is grey hair and that’s great because there is a certain amount of wisdom with grey hair, but in so many ways we need to involve youth in our community and acknowledge what youth do,” he said.

MEP’s are being encouraged by UK bosses to vote against increasing paid maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.

However, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), it could cost their members approximately £2.5bn a year, doubling the current costs.

Those in favour have reacted angrily to the lack of support, commenting that policies shouldn’t be restricted by temporary financial difficulties, as a happy workforce is the most important factor.

Kieran O’Keefe of the British Chamber of Commerce feels that very small businesses will be the hardest hit.

“Smaller operators are always the ones that seem to suffer the most from this,” he said.

“Any change like this will be extremely hard for them to absorb - having to cope with the legal changes, having to cover for somebody while they’re out the workplace for an extended period of time - I think is the last thing you want to be doing in the current economic conditions.”

Family campaigner and children’s rights author, Lynette Burrows, feels the move could encourage businesses to employ men over women.

“I think women will just have to take on the chin the fact that there are sacrifices to be made if you want the inestimable pleasure and treasure of having a family that you won’t be able to compete on an equal footing with men,” she revealed.

Government officials are unsure about the changes, with Employment Relations Minister, Edward Davey saying: ”This is a substantial increase at a time when economies across the EU can least afford it.

“In addition to the cost of these proposals - which will double the £2 billion we currently spend on maternity pay - they will be regressive as most of the additional money will go to the highest paid women.”

Commenting on the changes, one mother revealed how it’s “not fair that only well off people are able to choose how long they can spend off work while poorer people have to go back to work”.

MEP’s will have their vote later this week.

Ambitious ‘green’ targets set out by the UK government are giving small business owners an unwanted headache.

Speaking on behalf of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Chris Spies gave credit to the business owners for the “huge part” they could play in the fight against climate change.

He explained how the government could “harness this potential when it publishes its Energy Bill, expected later this Parliament.

“If the correct policies are put in place now, then small businesses will have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions, while also delivering the substantial economic growth that the UK economy desperately needs.”

Mr Spies’ comments follow a report made by the FSB which advises the government to provide small businesses with extra loans and improved incentives to make their buildings more green.

The FSB’s suggestions aim to assist in the UK’s bid to reduce carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

The report, entitled “Making sense of going green – small businesses and low carbon economy,” aims to provide the government and small businesses with ideas to bring their emissions down.

It’s strongly believed by the FSB that in order to get small businesses enthused and behind the governments lower emissions targets, they need to make it economically viable and not be at the expense of their finances.

However, many small businesses are already feeling disincentivised by the proposals, with initial set up costs forcing companies to reconsider adjusting.

The government currently offers a zero per-cent loan to small businesses that are looking to purchase energy efficient equipment.

The FSB is calling for the government to change the current set up and make going green more enticing.

Currently, the government’s scheme gives businesses the chance to “pay as you save,” giving genuine long term benefits to those who take part.

The government will need to work much closer with the private sector in order to take the problem, however.

According to recent statistics, approximately 47 per cent of carbon emissions from the UK comes directly from buildings.

Further setbacks to the reduced emissions plan lies within the leasing sector for business premises .

Approximately 44 per cent of businesses rent their premises for a shorter period than 5 years, so improving the energy efficiency of the building would cease to benefit them, nor the building’s owner.

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Pros

Pay: Small business owners are more likely to have high incomes. If you’re successful, all the rewards will end up with you!

Personal Goals: It’s up to you how successful you want your business to be; how much money you want to make, what hours you want to work, what kind of environment you choose to work in, and who works for you, rather than who you work with. Success is completely in your own hands.

Retirement Funds: In the USA, small business owners can invest up to $30,000 before tax into personal retirement accounts. With this in mind, your invested money can blossom without the burden of taxation upon it. For those who don’t own a small business will only be able to invest a much smaller pre tax amount into a retirement account.

Satisfaction: The owner of a small business can gain real satisfaction in developing services or products and overcoming issues in order to make their business succeed.

Cons

Risk Factor: There is a large amount of risk when choosing to run a small business. When someone starts a business, they almost always have to invest their own personal savings, meaning failure would result in bankruptcy.

Paperwork: There is a great amount of paperwork to deal with for the owner of a small business, such as taxes and insurance. There are a great deal of legal regulations that a small business must contend with, but as a small business doesn’t have the resources or departments set up to handle such issues, it can be a struggle to keep on track.

Long Hours: If you’re serious about making your small business work, you must take into account the massive amount of hours you’ll have to put in compared to a normal job. You’ll have to work much longer than 9-5 just to give your business the momentum to get running.

Personal Impact: Owning a small company will come with great responsibility, as well the liberating feeling that many people search for. Many small business owners will find it difficult to separate their work and home life. The level of responsibility that comes with owning a business can become too much for some people, with stress driving them to failure.

Competition: The success of many businesses is due to finding a niche in the market. If the level of competition is too high, it can be difficult to keep your business afloat. Competition can be the difference between success and failure.

When you decide to start a small business in today’s unstable economic climate, it can be frantic, difficult and highly expensive. Initially, you may think it’s just a case of buying or making products and selling them for a profit, right? Wrong! If you fail to keep your books properly in order, your new company may head for bankruptcy just as it’s gets up and running.

For these reasons, it’s vital to organise your accounting system in order to keep your business on a solid grounding. It should be integral to every financial decision you make, from purchases, sales, inventory and salaries.

If you are lacking in an accounting background, as most people are, you may be wondering where to get started. The first step is to select some small business accounting software. This will help to organise all of your financial records and important for every business, big or small. Some of the main things to look for when selecting some accounting software for your business are:

Simplicity. Choose software that is easy to install, set up and understand. Navigation should be simple and offer a walk-through of the applications.

Accounting Applications. You will need common modules such as accounts payable, accounts receivable. There are some questions you need to think about before you purchase accounting software; does it cover all your basic accounting needs? Can the software cope if your company grows?

Reporting Options. Choose software that allows for creating a range of reports. The software you choose should be able to create at least one report for each module. If you can, choose software that will allow you to create your own customised reports. Reports can benefit you by unveiling areas that are harming and benefiting your business.

Help Facility. Your software should be available with email, phone and live support. A help section should be available with indexed topics and a search facility. The help centre should have qualified technicians and accountants on hand to assist you.

We consider the following three to be the best accounting software for small businesses:

1. Peachtree Complete – 10/10 – Covers almost everything a small business could need from accounting software.

2. MYOB Business Essentials – 9/10 – Plenty of reports available and offers a great deal. Very cost effective.

3. QuickBooks Pro – 8/10 – Another good alround option. Only lacks a little in additional services and miscellaneous features.