Author: dawnbrown

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Resolve to Do These 3 Things in QuickBooks Online This Month

‘Tis the season for making resolutions and setting goals. Try exploring these three areas to dig deeper into QuickBooks Online.
By now, many New Year’s resolutions have already been made – and broken.Though they’re usually created with the best of intentions, they’re often just too ambitious to be realistic.
For example, you might decide to learn more about QuickBooks Online and keep up with your accounting chores more conscientiously in 2019. That’s hard to quantify. How will you know if you achieved that goal?
Instead, why not pick three (or more) specific areas and focus on them this month? We’ll get the ball rolling for you by making some suggestions.
1.) Explore the QuickBooks Online mobile app:
Yes, QuickBooks Online itself is already mobile; you can access it from any computer that has an internet connection and browser. But you probably don’t always lug a laptop around when you’re away from the office, and you’re sometimes at locations where using it wouldn’t be practical. But you can always pull out your smartphone and fire up the QuickBooks online app, available for both iOS and Android.
 
No matter how small your smartphone (this image was captured on an iPhone SE), you can still do your accounting tasks using QuickBooks Online’s app.
 
QuickBooks Online’s app replicates a surprising percentage of the features found on the browser-based version. You can create, view, and edit invoices, estimates, and sales receipts for example, as well as see abbreviated customer and vendor records. Your product and service records are available there, including tools for recording expenses on the road.
2.) Create a budget for one month:
Budgets are intimidating. That’s one reason why some small businesses don’t create them. So instead of trying to estimate what your income and expenses will be for an entire fiscal year, just build a budget for one month. In QuickBooks Online, you’d click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Budgeting. Click Add budget in the upper right to open the New Budget window.
Give it a name, like “February Budget,” and select FY2019. Leave the Interval at Monthly, and open the Pre-fill data? menu to click on Actual data – 2018 (if you have data from last year). Then click Create Budget in the lower right corner. Look at last year’s February numbers and estimate how they might change in 2019. Replace the old numbers with your new ones.
 
Creating a framework for a budget in QuickBooks Online is easy.
 
We’re suggesting you try it for just one month, so you get a feel for how this tool works. And that experiment will probably leave you with some questions. We can help you go further and complete an annual budget.
3.) Customize your sales forms:
Every piece of paper and email you send to your customers contributes to their impression of you. Are you presenting an attractive, consistent image of your business to them? QuickBooks Online can help with this. It offers simple (for the most part) tools that allow you to modify the boilerplate forms offered on the site – without being an experienced graphic designer.
Start by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right and selecting Your Company | Custom Form Styles. Unless you’ve done some work in this area before, the screen that opens will have just one listed entry: your Master form, the one that comes standard in QuickBooks Online. To see what you can do, click Edit at the end of that line. Your four options are:
  • Design. This section contains links to modifications you can make to your sales forms’ visuals. You can, for example, add a logo or color and change the default fonts.
 
Want to change your logo or other elements of your sales forms? QuickBooks Online has the tools.
 
  • Content. Do you want to add or remove the standard columns (Date, Quantity, etc.) displayed on your invoices? You can do so by checking and unchecking boxes.
  • Emails. QuickBooks Online sends email messages with forms; you can edit them here.
  • Payments. This is a reminder that QuickBooks Online supports online payments, which can help you get paid faster.
There’s more you can do to make your sales forms look professional and polished. We can help you with these tools – and any others you want to explore to expand your use of QuickBooks Online. It’s a new year, and who knows what might come your way over the next 12 months? Contact us if you want to prepare for the new accounting challenges that 2019 might present.
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July Quickbooks Tip

5 QuickBooks Online Reports You Should Run Regularly 

 

There are numerous QuickBooks Online reports that you should be consulting at regular intervals. But you need these five at least every week. 

 

QuickBooks Online’s Dashboard, the first screen you see when you log in, provides an effective overview of your company’s finances. It contains at-a-glance information about your recent expenses, your sales, and the status of your invoices. It displays a simple Profit and Loss graph and a list of your account balances. Scroll down and click the See all activity button in the lower right and your Audit Log opens, a list of everything that’s been done on the site and by whom. 

 You can actually get a lot of work done from this page. Click the bar on the Invoices graph, for example, and a list view opens, allowing you access to individual transactions. Click Expenses to see the related Transaction Report. Below the list of account balances, you can Go to registers and connect new accounts. 

 Other Pressing Questions 

 The Dashboard supplies enough information that you can spot potential problems with expenses and sales, accounts, and overdue invoices. But you’re likely to have other tasks that require attention. How’s your inventory holding up? Are you staying within your budget? How about your accounts payable – will you owe money to anyone soon? 

 QuickBooks Online offers dozens of report templates that answer these questions and many more. If you’ve never explored the list,  I suggest that you do so. It’s impossible to make plans for your company’s future without understanding its financial history and current state. 

QuickBooks Online has many reports that can provide real-time, in-depth insight    into your company’s financial health. 

 

Comprehensive and Customizable 

 When you click Reports in your QuickBooks Online toolbar, the view defaults to All. The site divides its report content into 10 different sections, including Business Overview, Sales and Customers, Expenses and Vendors, and Payroll. Each has two buttons to the right of its name.  

 Click the star, and that report’s title will appear in your Favorites list at the top of the page. This will save time since you’ll be able to quickly find your most often-used reports. Click the three vertical dots and then Customize to view your customization options for that report (you’ll have access to this tool from the reports themselves). 

 Necessary Knowledge 

 You can, of course, run any report you’d like as often as you’d like. Most small businesses, though, don’t require this frequent intense scrutiny. But there are five reports that you do want to consult on a regular basis. They are: 

  1.  Accounts Receivable Aging Detail. Displays a list of invoices that haven’t yet been paid, divided into groups like 1-30 days past due, 31-60 days past due, etc.  
  2. Budget vs. Actuals. Just what it sounds like: a comparison of your monthly budgeted amounts and your actual income and expenses. 

 

Warning: Some reports let you choose between cash and accrual basis. Do you know the difference and which you should choose? Ask Me. 

You can customize QuickBooks Online reports in several ways. 

 

  1. Unpaid Bills. Helps you avoid missing accounts payable due dates by displaying what’s due and when. 
  2. Sales by Product/Service Detail. Tells you what’s selling and what’s not by displaying date, transaction type, quantity, rate, amount, and total. 
  3. Product/Service List. An accounting of the products and/or services you sell, with columns for price, cost, and quantity on hand. 

 Customization, Complex Reports 

 Note that there’s a category of reports in QuickBooks Online named For My Accountant. That’s where we come in. The site includes templates for reports that you can run yourself, but that you’d have difficulty customizing and analyzing. These standard financial reports—which, by the way, you’ll need if you create a business plan or try to get funding for your business—include Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and Trial Balance. 

 You don’t need to have these reports generated frequently, but you should be learning from the insight they provide monthly or quarterly. I can handle this part of your accounting tasks for you, as well as any other aspect of financial management where you need assistance. Contact me, and I’ll see where I might help provide the feedback and bookkeeping expertise that can help you make better decisions for the future of your business. 

 Social media posts 

 QuickBooks Online reports pick up where the Dashboard leaves off, providing dozens of templates ready for your company data. Do you know how to best use them? 

 You can create some QuickBooks Online reports using either cash or accrual basis. Do you know the difference? Ask me if you don’t. 

 Overwhelmed by the number of reports QuickBooks Online offers? Click the star next to the ones you run most often, and they’ll appear in Favorites. 

 QuickBooks Online contains several reports in a section titled For My Accountant. These are complex financial reports that I can run and analyze for you. 

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for taxes)!

While we are all thinking of presents and sugar plums (what are sugar plums anyway), it’s easy to forget about all those taxes, statements, and other fun mandatory filing requirements that come at the end of the year.

Here’s are just a few of the items for your “to do” list:

  1. Gather information for 1099’s – That means sending a form W-9 (here’s the link IRS form W-9) to all your vendors who perform services for you.  Common examples of these are landscapers, cleaning folks, graphic designers, accountant, lawyers, etc.  Any vendor that your pay $600 or more during the calendar year who is unincorporated gets a 1099.  They are due to the recipients by January 31st, so get that information now!  Having trouble sleeping?  Here’s a link to the IRS Instructions for Form 1099.
  2. Check all your employee information for accuracy – W-2’s are due to employees by January 31st and 4th quarter payroll forms are due by January 15th.  You should make sure that you have up to date address information and information on benefits (if you are required to report them) so that this process will go smoothly.  Also, start gathering new withholding forms from employees and check to make sure that all the employee files are up to date (I-9’s completed, correct emergency contact information, etc.)
  3. Make estimated tax payments for the 4th quarter – Unless you are a non-profit, remember to make your 4th quarter estimated tax payment by January 15th.  In most cases, you must have paid in at least 90% of your total tax liability by this date in order to avoid underpayment penalties.

Non-profits have additional reporting requirements like sending out annual giving statements (officially called “gift acknowledgement”) so you might have to add this to your list if you run this type of organization.  Have questions about what is required for this?  Here’s another fun IRS publication for late night reading.

Quickbooks has many tools to help with these tasks and make your life a little easier.  If you need help, be sure to contact us or your accounting professional.  It’s better to ask us for help now so we can make sure you are on track to meet all your filing requirements and not incur penalties!

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Apps, Apps, and more Apps – which ones are right for me??

As the universe of apps that integrate with QuickBooks Online seems to expand exponentially on a daily basis, how do you pick the right one?  I recently attended a session on this very topic at #QBConnect.  The presenter, Byron Patrick, did a great job of identifying the steps in this process:

  1.  Identify the reasons & goals
  2. Determine the must haves
  3. Identify the options
  4. Filter down the choices
  5. Do your research
  6. Make your selection

Download Byron’s presentation here: Taming the Wild West of Apps

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Hello world! Welcome to the mind of a QB SuperGenius!

My passion is teaching people about how to best use their QuickBooks to solve problems and deliver information about the money side of the business so that they make good decisions and spend more time doing what they love! If you are successful, I am successful.

So I created this blog to keep you up to date on the changes constantly being made in the Intuit universe and what products and services are available to help you do your job better, faster, and cheaper. I want to help you stay out of trouble from an accounting and tax perspective. And I want to help you grow your business!

Let me know what issues you’d like to hear about. QuickBooks questions? Accounting questions? Pictures of my cats? This blog is for you so what would you like to know? P.S. I’m always happy to post pictures of my cats!