Here's the scene: A couple dozen professionals at a big advertising agency quietly type away at computer screens near each other, in an open room devoid of office walls and partitions.

Whether you are pitching your product or service to a multi-national firm or to the start-up down the street, a professional image can make all the difference. In this article, we look at how you can use the formatting features within Microsoft Office to create professional proposals and quotes that put your best foot forward. Using Microsoft Word , we'll walk through some of the formatting tips and tricks used by designers to give documents a professional layout and appearance (and you can do it all yourself for a fraction of the price a designer would charge.)

Time and again, accountants and consultants who specialise in small businesses say that such enterprises don't pay enough attention to cash flow. That's the measure of how much money you really have in the business.