Complex Financing

— Houston-based CPL Retail Energy has installed a new prepaid electricity plan, which helps customers save money and monitor their electricity usage.

As part of the plan, users can get daily text messages or emails notifying them of their electricity use and their account balance.

The plan is designed for the budget-conscious consumers, company vice president and general manager Jim Steffes said.

“Summertime doesn’t have to mean higher electricity bills,” Steffes said in a news release. “Prepaid service allows customers to choose when they pay, how they pay and what they pay.”

The plan does not require a credit check or a deposit.

For more information, visit www.cplretailenergy.com/prepaid.

BOSTON – Rhode Island had the third-highest jobless rate, at 10.9 percent, in the nation in May.

In contrast, New Hampshire reported the third-lowest jobless rate, at 4.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vermont, at 5.4 percent, Massachusetts, at 7.6 percent, and Maine, at 7.7 percent, also recorded notably lower-than-average jobless rates.

Rhode Island was among five states that had unemployment rates “significantly higher” than the national average, at 9.1 percent; Connecticut mirrored the national trend.

The New England unemployment rate remained at 7.9 percent in May, unchanged from a month earlier. The area’s over-the-year change was “not statistically significant,” said BLS Regional Commissioner Denis M. McSweeney.

Of

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The National Association for Moms in Business says that moms have $1.3 trillion in spending power, with 80% of them making most of the household decisions. So, if a company chooses to ignore the mom market, they face hurting their income.

Stacy DeBroff noticed many of the issues these companies seemed to have trying to reach women like her. Determined to help brands reach the mom market, she launched her own business, reports Fox Business.

“Moms have always been word of mouth, conversation driven,” DeBroff said.
“What used to be [conversations] over the picket fence or in the pick-up line in kindergarten now was happening online and could get very specific and niche.”

Customers can now demand companies come to them on their social networks to get their business, versus companies forcing them to come to their Web sites. Companies also realized they needed to listen to feedback in order to really connect with their customers. Brands

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What is the profile of an accounts payable clerk? Accounts payable is a blanket term that is used to refer to the payments that need to be paid and debts that need to be cleared with creditors. As an accounts payable clerk or a bookkeeping executive, you are responsible for maintaining a proper record of all the payments and debts that need to be paid off by the company and the services that needs to be paid for and cleared with other corporate organizations. In an accounts department, this is just one of the many transactions that need to be taken care of. As an accounts payable clerk, you will be expected to have a through knowledge of accounting softwares. You will also need to have in depth knowledge about tax payment processes and also be able to create new processes to increase work efficiency. Read more…

PROVIDENCE – Ranking 49 out of 50 was bad, but Rhode Island managed to do even worse in this year’s CNBC Top States For Business study.

Rhode Island is the worst state to do business, the fifth annual study found, basing its ranking on data from the federal government, RealtyTrac, the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, Federation of Tax Administrators and Moody’s Analytics.

The Ocean State bumped Alaska out of the No. 50 spot for the first time.

The best state to do business is Virginia, boosted by an “improved” tax burden and a diverse economy, followed by: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Colorado.

West Virgina, at No. 46, Mississippi, at No. 47, and Hawaii, at No. 48, rounded out the bottom five with Rhode Island and Alaska.

CNBC used 10 categories to rank the states ranging from cost of doing business to technology and innovation to access to capital.

B

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