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Printers and scanners for QuickBooks users
By Accounting Solutions | July 18, 2018 at 06:43 PM EDT | No Comments

Wayne’s rules to achieve office machine bliss: 

1. Never buy inkjet. 

2. Never buy multifunction. 

3. Always buy commercial quality, never consumer products. 

4. Wired, not wireless. 

Most printers come with wireless, but you should choose to use either USB or Ethernet. If you want wired network sharing, pay extra for a printer with an Ethernet port. If its just a single user, save money and buy one without...connect via USB. 

If two PCs want to share a single USB printer or scanner, get an A/B Switch like the StarTech 221SS 2 Port 2-to-1 USB 3.0 Peripheral Sharing Switch

 

Wayne's choices:

Canon® imageCLASS® LBP6030W Monochrome Laser Single-Function Printer $145

Canon imageFORMULA DR-C225 Office Document Scanner $338. This works nicely with QBO and many document apps



Closing the books in QuickBooks
By Accounting Solutions | April 06, 2018 at 04:10 PM EDT | No Comments

QuickBooks does not require "closing entries" in the way that paper ledgers and old-school software does. Instead, after you have reconciled, cleaned up and adjusted the books, it is best to password-protect the transactions up to that date. Here's how:

Suggested procedure when closing the books for the year:

  1. When submitted to accountant, change Closing Date to Dec 30th (the day before year-end)
  2. After the taxes are filed, enter any adjustments submitted by the accountant, then update the Closing Date to Dec 31sth (or your year-end)

In QBO this is done in Settings > Advanced > Accounting > Closing Date 

In QB Desktop it is in Preferences > Accounting

Questions? Contact me. We'll make QuickBooks sing and dance for you!

Wayne


5 Shortcuts for QB & QBO
By Accounting Solutions | February 20, 2018 at 01:33 PM EST | No Comments

Shortcuts:
  1. Add a subaccount while creating a transaction = colon :
  2. Close a window = ESC (or for QBO List screens use ALT + Back Arrow)
  3. Quick math = + - / *
  4. Move backwards between fields = Shift Tab
  5. Keyboard shortcut to Save = CNTR + A (close) or + S (new)

Here are the details from Intuitive Accountant....

https://goo.gl/bZTYBf

Should you attend a QuickBooks seminar?
By Accounting Solutions | January 19, 2018 at 03:21 PM EST | No Comments

"Coming to your town: a one-day QuickBooks seminar. Only $149" 


Several national companies do this; I just received a flyer from one. Don't fall for it! 

That type of training is good for Word or Excel but not QuickBooks. I've talked to a dozen people who've gone to QuickBooks seminars; none have been satisfied.

Why? Do you want to sit through the first couple hours of "how to set up for the first time and write your first check"? Mind numbing! Do you want to listen to audience questions from contractors, nonprofits, retailers, doctors, etc etc ?Everyone uses QuickBooks differently.

In a one-on-one session we'll teach you more, targeted toward your needs and abilities, in less time, for just a little bit more dough. Ask me. 

We'll make QuickBooks sing and dance for you!

Job Costing from an outside payroll service to QuickBooks Desktop
By Accounting Solutions | September 28, 2017 at 04:26 PM EDT | No Comments

This introduction describes two popular options for QuickBooks Desktop users who track costs by Job (projects, matters, etc.) and/or by Class (program, department, funding source, etc.).  This is common in industries like construction, contracting, professional services, and nonprofits.

I’ll briefly describe the benefits and work required for two techniques: Zero-Dollar Check and Manual Paycheck. Both of these options assume that you want to use Service Items in QuickBooks job costing reports. If you don’t need QB Items you will have a third option: a general journal entry. [Why? Journal entries cannot use Items, so you need one of these work-around techniques]

Time-based or percentage allocations used to calculate the cost:

If you use Timesheets in QuickBooks Desktop, the time entries will feed the allocation

If not, you’ll calculate the allocation outside of QuickBooks. Time can be entered easily…you’ll need a summary of the time per job for each employee. If using percentages, you’ll need to convert them into hours.

Is this the right solution for me? Zero-Dollar Checks

·         Job costing utilizing a calculation of an average employee’s total payroll cost plus estimated burden. Burden can include an estimate of payroll tax costs, plus any other benefits you want to include. (It’s your estimate…you can do what you want with it!)

·         P&L will have a new line for Payroll Job Costs. A single line containing all types of employees (eg not broken down as laborers, supervisors, estimators, executive). On a financial report it will appear as $0. On Job reports it will show the total allocated to that job, which you can zoom in to see costs per each employee name.

This can be done either per pay period for each paycheck, or monthly per employee, or any other time period. You’ll enter one Write Check per employee or crew.

You will need: the average burdened cost of an employee (or you could do it by crew). You’ll program it as the cost of each Item. (Whatever items you use on timesheets and want to see on job cost reports: Design, Labor, Oversight, etc.)

[The Zero-dollar check technique should also work in QBO but you would use Bill instead]                             

Is this the right solution for me? Manual paychecks

QuickBooks calls them “manual”.  I call them “mock paychecks”. If you’ve ever made Ritz Mock Apple Pie like I have, you’ll understand.

·         Detailed job costing, including gross pay plus payroll taxes allocated exactly (SS, Med, FUI, SUI)

·         Individual Net Pay checks. Depending on how your payroll service withdrawals hit the bank, the net pay of the mock paychecks can either be pointed to hit the bank account or a clearing account.

·         Summary tracking of payroll taxes managed by the payroll service (“impounding”). Each mock

·         Detailed tracking of benefit deductions – for things like retirement and insurance contributions by withholdings - each employee’s names will appear under liabilities, enabling filtered reports to verify that the correct amount was withheld as compared to payments over a period of time

·         Company paid benefits are not typically included. It can be done, but is so awkward that most chose not to.

You will need to enter each paycheck to match the payroll service’s journal, and you’ll use a payroll liability check to record the payroll service withdrawal of the tax money. Depending on how these transactions hit your bank – each payroll service is different – you may need one or two more simple entries to record the movement of money.

[Not available in QBO]

Summary

Zero-Dollar Checks is simple but less precise method.

Manual paychecks offer more detail and precision for a little more work.

Contact me for assistance in deciding and implementing one of these solutions so you can get the critical information your business needs. 

I’ll make QuickBooks sing and dance for you.

Wayne Higdon wayne@25thhour.biz

 

Don't lose sleep over a lost thumb drive
By Accounting Solutions | July 29, 2017 at 08:27 AM EDT | No Comments

I and my team use only USB flash drives with a password keypad on the cover - Aegis Secure Key. Aluminum housing with hack defense. Although used much less these days thanks to the Cloud, I was able to sleep the night I lost one containing several client files.

Getting old data into a new QBO
By Accounting Solutions | June 30, 2017 at 01:48 PM EDT | No Comments

Getting old data into a new QBO 


I'm becoming an expert in importing transactions into QuickBooks Online edition (QBO). 

QBO Banking "Upload" command imports CSV (many bank downloads, or Excel) , QFX (designed for Quicken), QBO, and OFX (a generic financial format). These will come into the Banking feed, ready for your review.

But what if you've only got access to a PDF, or worse yet, a paper bank statement? I just did this for a client. He had statements from January to June 2015. I moved them from PDF into the Banking Feed, ready for his review. In the Banking screen the existing Rules are being applied to speed data entry (both user-created and behind-the-scenes rules).

I use tools from MoneyThumb software for importing from bank statements. For other types of transactions like invoices or bills there are tools like Transaction Pro Importer that import from Excel, Access, text, OBDC and other formats.

Need help? I'll do projects like this for my clients, businesses that might become my client, bookkeepers, accountants, IT and tax preparers; nationwide but especially in a radius around Albany in Upstate NY and western Mass. Thanks to Hector Garcia of dataentryus.com for introducing me to MoneyThumb...if I can't help you, he's the man.

Nearly 400 transactions imported and ready for review. Happy client, happy life!

Wayne

Form 1099 excludes debit transactions in QB Desktop
By Accounting Solutions | June 29, 2017 at 01:57 PM EDT | No Comments

A new-ish feature in QB Desktop allows “Write Checks” to exclude debit/credit transactions when printing 1099s

If you enter the following words in the check number field in QB Desktop Write Check, QB will automatically exclude the payment from 1099 amounts:

Debit - Debitcard - DBT - DBT card - DCard - Debit cd

 

Visa - Masterc - MC - MCard - Chase - Discover - Diners

 

PayPal

What? QB will recognize those payments from a Checking account, if you put the right word in the Ref. No. field, and exclude them from 1099 reporting. 

Why? They should not be included in our 1099-MISC because they will be reported via the bank's 1099-K. 

Oops! Notably missing from this list is "EFT" or "ACH". This is because a true bank-to-bank EFT / ACH is not reported on 1099-K. But if you use these initials more loosely, like I do, you must change your ways in QB Desktop. A vendor paid with a company debit card should be listed as "Debit" or similar, not ACH or EFT.

Result: Form 1099s accurately printed from QuickBooks Desktop. Happy client, happy life!

Wayne

Remote access options for accountants
By Accounting Solutions | March 21, 2014 at 03:52 PM EDT | No Comments

Remote access options for accountants - a very brief summary:

  1. Occasionally access and remotely control client’s desktop PC: LogMeIn.com ($50 per year per client PC) or Teamviewer.com (free for private use), or Remote Desktop Connection if they have a network server. 
  2. One-time access to remotely control of client PC: Join.me screen sharing (free, or annual fee for extra features)
  3. Constant access & sharing - your desktop in the cloud: cpaasp.com, unidata.com, novelaspect.com, etc…typically $50/mo/user for basic access, plus the option to rent QuickBooks and other software.  These come in two flavors: a complete Windows desktop in the cloud, or a single application that acts like its on your local desktop but is actually hosted in the cloud.
  4. Constant access & sharing: Web-based SaaS version of QuickBooks Online $30-$40/mo for 3 client users and 2 accountant users. This is a very affordable option when two or more people need access to a file. But understand that QBO is very different in appearance from the desktop version.
  5. A professional tech support product like TeamViewer Premium for $1500 one-time purchase fee, or LogMeIn Rescue $129/month
Contact me if you need help deciding.

Wayne Higdon
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor




Please Contact Wayne or Micki for more information. QuickBooks and QuickBooks ProAdvisor are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc., used with permission                                                                  Bookmark and Share