Accounting is Easy

I was at a clients yesterday and we reconciled her bank account statement with QuickBooks data in 15 minutes. Not even a couple of months ago it took 2 hours per month. It did my heart good to have it go so smoothly now.

Another client today was asking me what happens when he finishes the list of tasks I have laid out for him to do? I told him the accounting would be fast, easy, accurate, and the business more profitable. He looked at me with disbelief. Perhaps he can't imagine a business where accounting isn't a problem? Millions of business owners make their accounting easy. Your accounting can be easy too.

QuickBooks Online Edition Inventory

Shout out to Intuit Technical Support expert Dave for helping me solve an obscure bug in the QuickBooks Online Plus Edition Inventory.

If you want to add a new inventory item, and adjust the quantity on hand, do this process in two steps. 1. First, create your new inventory item with cost and price, and save it. 2. Second, come back into your Product/Services List and adjust your inventory quantity on hand. Otherwise, if you add and adjust in one fell swoop, inventory will be saved with zero cost. When you go to sell, zero cost will be moved into cost of goods sold, so your COGS value will be too low, and your Profit and Loss Report will not be accurate.

Invoices by Date QuickBooks Report

Want to see when orders come in, and when it's slow?

Create a custom report to see "Invoices by Date" in QuickBooks.

Start by selecting the following menu items: 
Reports->Custom Reports->Transaction Detail Report

First thing go to Filters Tab.
Filter will be set at "All Accounts"
Change that to "All Ordinary Income Accounts"

Next go to Header/Footer Tab
Rename the header words from "Custom Transaction Detail Report" to "Invoices by Date" or some catchy report title.
Say OK.

You'll see your report of a list of Invoices. (And maybe some sales receipts and deposits depending on how you note sales).

Change your date range perhaps.
Fix the columns perhaps.

Memorize the Report.

Now you'll know the best time to take a vacation!

eReader Version of Radically Simple Accounting

Radically Simple Accounting has been published as an eReader Book. The print book is highly formatted and includes sample reports, so it was quite a challenge to get this to work. Someone can chose to format an eReader book on their iPhone in a 20 character column width. My thought is "good luck with that" but I see people standing in line doing it all the time. Now they can learn accounting while they wait.

eReader books work with the Kindle, Nook, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kobo Reader. These online stores are carrying it now, or will very soon: Apple iBookstore (32 countries), Barnes & Noble, Kobo (which powers the bookstores of multiple other retailers such as FNAC in France and WH Smith in the U.K.), Sony, Baker & Taylor (Blio.com and the Axis360 library platform), and the Diesel eBook Store.

P.S. The words to the right are a 30 character column width,

Here is the link to: Radically Simple Accounting eReader book at Smashwords. One purchase there and you gain access to multiple formats. 

Ockham's Razor

You hear about this all the time, but hardly any of us knows what it is. Here is what it is.

A razor is a quote.  In the 14th century, a brilliant thinker & Franciscan Friar, named William of Ockham, England, figured something out for which he has been immortalized.

He said, "All things being equal, the simplest solution is the best one".

Today, we say KISS, which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. That's Ockham's Razor. Now we all know.

QuickBooks Corruption Errors

QuickBooks files "hit the wall" so to speak after a few years. A reasonable life-span for one database is 3 years. Some clients are pushing 7 years. I've never seen one last longer than 10 years. Most likely, it will "hit the wall" due to data corruption. Electronic data gets corrupted, that's just a fact of life. You'll probably notice it first when you try to run a backup, which is ironic.

DATA CORRUPTION PROBLEM SOLVING

First you run "Files" -> "Utilities" -> Rebuild to try and fix a data problem. If that doesn't work, send your data file into Intuit for a few days to see if they can repair it. Intuit charges for this service, except they waive fees for Enterprise users, Pro Advisors, etc. If Intuit can't fix your database, your remaining option is to create a new database, i.e. company file. 

CREATING A NEW DATABASE

It's easy to get lists from your existing database to the new shell, but it's harder to get transactions. My way is to purchase 3rd party add-on software, QB Data Transfer Utility  to move transactions from one data file to another. The software wants all the relations between lists intact, so move data first, clean up lists afterwards. The ability to clean up lists, and start payroll new are other compelling reasons to create a new database, or at least a silver lining.

PROACTIVE SOLUTION

Ideally you'll create a new company file for Jan, so that you can start off the year with clean data entry.  In that case, I can use QB Data Transfer Utility to transfer open invoices, unpaid bills, and uncleared checks. And then you can start fresh with all your other transactions! Whatever your needs, I will do whatever I can to help your business run smoothly.

Peachtree Conversion to QuickBooks

Did a Peachtree conversion to QuickBooks this week and here is the latest gossip:

First of all, people get the "software year" and the "year of data they've entered" mixed up. You might have only entered in data for 2011, but you are using Peachtree 2012 (the software). The Peachtree 2012 is what the person doing the conversion cares about, not your tardiness.


Peachtree 2012:  If you've got your data in Peachtree 2012 software, then you'll have to send it into Intuit for conversion. You can pay or hire a Certified Pro Advisor to use his/her credit.  You must convert to a QB 2012 product, (albeit Pro, Premier, or Enterprise.)


Your New Converted QB 2012 Database: I'm very disappointing in Intuit because QB 2012 has been out for over 7 months, and your new data file will only have closing balances--one closing balance for each account---and no transactions. I don't even consider that a data conversion; more like a list conversion. Please complain to Intuit. They're a giant software company; they can certainly make their conversion software work properly as a way to earn your business. It seems as if it would be money better spent than on another TV ad. 


Peachtree 2011 or earlier:  You must convert to a QB Software Product that's the same year or more recent than the Peachtree version you're in. For example, if you're in Peachtree 2011, you can convert to QB 2011 or QB 2012. Intuit offers downloadable software to make the conversion work. Here is the link: Download the Free QB Peachtree Conversion Software.  You have to have the Peachtree software, QB Software, and special conversion software program all on the same computer! Theoretically the transactions will convert. I did this awhile back and the data converted just fine, but it was badly formatted for QuickBooks, It required so much clean-up that my favorite way to do this would be to do the conversion for historical reasons. Get your Peactree data into QB, and then create a new QB data file with all the lists to start the year fresh. What do you think?

Go Payment Merchant Processing is FREE now

Go Payment is the product name for a credit card reader that attaches to your smart phone (Apple & Android's) to swipe credit cards. The product includes the software App too. It was developed by a small business that charged for it. Intuit bought them out and is now giving it away for FREE.

If you have a merchant account---an account whereby your business can accept credit cards---use Go Payment to swipe credit cards in the field with your smart phone.

• If you want a merchant account, please contact me. I work with a specialist who can get you setup so that you can process credit cards inside QuickBooks, which is awesome. 
• If you have a merchant account, and are shopping for better rates, please contact me. So far, my specialist has been able to undercut everyone else's rates, to save your business money.
•  If you don't want a merchant account, you can still use Go Payment this for the occasional credit card processing. 

 Go Payment Sign Up Link

If you have more questions, click on the above link. Have a profitable day!

Shop Locally

Shop locally is usually used in terms of farmers, but it's also appropriate for bankers.

The people at the local branch want to keep their jobs. They are more likely to give you the help you want than someone from another country, or even another state. Go to your local branch office for any problems or questions or to learn new features, such as the following:

• Back bank statements at no charge
• Copies of checks or deposits at no charge
• Bank Fee reversal
• To find out how you can reduce or stop paying bank service charges in the future?
• Setup a new way of paying, like bill pay or an automatic check.
• New deposit and other electronic options.

If you're a local business owner, ask for the branch manager. He or she is a good person to get to know in your community.

Financial Institutions and Email

I've moved again--finally settling down in Issaquah!

I changed my address for all my financial institutions today. The salesrep asked me if I wanted to give my email address so that they could email me important information? I said, "No, thanks. I prefer you use U.S. mail to contact me."

I know if any email coming in "looks" as if it's from my bank or credit card company, it's spam, because none of my financial institutions have my email address. That's one way I protect my security.

WA State B&O Taxes, Small Business Credit

Lots of small business owners will overpay this year, because the first familiar B&O Small Business Credit page has the old credits. The new better credits are on the 2nd and 3rd pages, Table 2.

Here's the deal. If 50% or more of your taxable B & O Income is reported under Service, and your B & O tax is anything up to $841, you get a credit for ALL OF IT. It steps up from there to $1681.

Look for it. You deserve a (tax) break today.