The tax planning season is just around the corner. Most small businesses are more focused on the end of summer and gearing up for the fall season. What they should focus on is getting their ducks in a row for the year end and beyond. Here's a reason why small business owners should avoid the SALY (Same As Last Year) and start planning now.
Showing posts with label QuickBooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label QuickBooks. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Monday, December 06, 2010
Form 1099's and You
Here is the topic that just won't go away....at least maybe not this year. Due to the lame duck Congress not reaching a compromise, the Form 1099 reporting requirements look like they will be a reality in the coming years.
Still confused about the new Form 1099 reporting requirements, feel free to watch this short video to fill you in on the details.
The Tech Accountant
Still confused about the new Form 1099 reporting requirements, feel free to watch this short video to fill you in on the details.
The Tech Accountant
Monday, November 22, 2010
The New Smart Vault
Cloud vendor SmartVault has come out with some great new features in their update release that are sure to be on the holiday list for small biz owners. Be sure to view the video below to see the new features in action.
I will be testing the new feature this week (since this will be a slow week) and will be sure to post some feedback regarding them. I will say that I am glad to see the product expanding more into other markets and not just the QuickBooks market. Smart....very SmartVault.
The Tech Accountant
I will be testing the new feature this week (since this will be a slow week) and will be sure to post some feedback regarding them. I will say that I am glad to see the product expanding more into other markets and not just the QuickBooks market. Smart....very SmartVault.
The Tech Accountant
Thursday, August 05, 2010
3 Ways to Take Small Business Accounting to the Clouds
Small business owners (SBO’s) who use any kind of technology in their business will have undoubtedly heard someone mention “cloud computing” or “SaaS” and how this new technology will be the future of their business operations. Due to tighter budgets and a bit of misunderstanding of what the cloud has to offer, many small business owners continue with the “if it ain’t broke…” way of doing things. When speaking to small business owners about how they can streamline operations and save money, the topic of cloud computing seems to come up a great deal. I usually hear reasons for resisting the cloud to include security issues, control of data, and learning curve.
If a small business owner is not ready to fully jump out the airplane and into the clouds, they have three basic ways they can move to the clouds. These solutions also address some of the many issues that small business owners have about the cloud way of doing things.
Remote Access
Test your current accounting system using remote access. Remote access allows a SBO to still control their data by having it located on one of their computers and gives bookkeeping personnel the ability to login to the system from anywhere there is an internet connection. The bookkeeper can access accounting information at their leisure and can cut down on in office expenses. Remote access works best when there is a dedicated computer for accounting and only one person is accessing the data. Some remote access vendors include LogMeIn and Citrix.
Software Hosting
Hosting your accounting data is an even closer step towards the cloud. When an SBO “hosts” their accounting software bookkeeping personnel will login to the hosting company’s servers and complete their tasks over the internet. The data will reside on the hosting company’s computers and updates will be done by the company. Hosting also allows simultaneous users allowing more than one person access to accounting functions. SBO’s must use due care when setting up permissions to various functions of the accounting software to ensure that proper controls are in place. Some hosting vendors include CPAASP and Right Networks.
SaaS Solution
When an SBO uses a SaaS accounting product, all of their mission critical data is in the clouds. Bookkeeping personnel will login to the accounting system just like accessing an online banking module. Changes are updated in real-time and updates are usually done during non-peak hours. Simultaneous users can also access the system at once and the control functions are integrated into the module. Since the data is completely online, there is no data file to share or provide to outside parties. Some SaaS vendors include Netsuite and AccountantsWorld.
As a SBO, taking your accounting processes to the cloud can be done in many ways. Depending on the SBO’s resistance, one solution is sure to fit your business operations. Embracing the cloud can be tough for many SBO’s thus it is important to speak with cloud vendors, map out a plan, and test the systems before going full speed with a cloud accounting solution.
The Tech Accountant
If a small business owner is not ready to fully jump out the airplane and into the clouds, they have three basic ways they can move to the clouds. These solutions also address some of the many issues that small business owners have about the cloud way of doing things.
Remote Access
Test your current accounting system using remote access. Remote access allows a SBO to still control their data by having it located on one of their computers and gives bookkeeping personnel the ability to login to the system from anywhere there is an internet connection. The bookkeeper can access accounting information at their leisure and can cut down on in office expenses. Remote access works best when there is a dedicated computer for accounting and only one person is accessing the data. Some remote access vendors include LogMeIn and Citrix.
Software Hosting
Hosting your accounting data is an even closer step towards the cloud. When an SBO “hosts” their accounting software bookkeeping personnel will login to the hosting company’s servers and complete their tasks over the internet. The data will reside on the hosting company’s computers and updates will be done by the company. Hosting also allows simultaneous users allowing more than one person access to accounting functions. SBO’s must use due care when setting up permissions to various functions of the accounting software to ensure that proper controls are in place. Some hosting vendors include CPAASP and Right Networks.
SaaS Solution
When an SBO uses a SaaS accounting product, all of their mission critical data is in the clouds. Bookkeeping personnel will login to the accounting system just like accessing an online banking module. Changes are updated in real-time and updates are usually done during non-peak hours. Simultaneous users can also access the system at once and the control functions are integrated into the module. Since the data is completely online, there is no data file to share or provide to outside parties. Some SaaS vendors include Netsuite and AccountantsWorld.
As a SBO, taking your accounting processes to the cloud can be done in many ways. Depending on the SBO’s resistance, one solution is sure to fit your business operations. Embracing the cloud can be tough for many SBO’s thus it is important to speak with cloud vendors, map out a plan, and test the systems before going full speed with a cloud accounting solution.
The Tech Accountant
Monday, June 21, 2010
Using your “INTUITion”
Well one of the worst weeks for Intuit the makers of QuickBooks software is behind them (not without another “outage” on Saturday)and although I did get a chance to read all the comments from various media and social media outlets I will not provide an opinion regarding what happen. I will only provide questions/comments on how Intuit can possibly use their Intuition in the future to create better transparency and show that they actually care about their customers.
According to Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit in a statement from their website:
“I want to share with you what we know at this time about what happened. The disruption occurred during a routine maintenance procedure. An accidental but severe power failure during that procedure affected our primary and backup systems, taking a number of Intuit’s websites and services offline.”
Question Mr. Smith, would your intuition tell you not to setup redundant servers in the same location as your primary server? This is still the main question that is on everyone’s mind.
Some also feel that Intuit did not handle the outage in a manner befitting a large corporation. Specifically many individuals felt that they were left to find out information on their own since calls and e-mails to Intuit only provided canned statements that they were “working on” the problem. Personally from what I saw on social media, there was more “support” there than via taking the corporate route. Again intuition would tell one to handle P/R in a more efficient manner.
Well those are some of the issues that Intuit has to deal with at the present time. All in all their products work for most small businesses owners but as for recommending their cloud based offerings at the present time would require more research. Bottom line….cloud computing is here to stay. Small business owners interested in moving to the clouds should do their due diligence before selecting a cloud vendor.
Be sure to voice your opinion or check out the comments on Intuit’s website.
The Tech Accountant
According to Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit in a statement from their website:
“I want to share with you what we know at this time about what happened. The disruption occurred during a routine maintenance procedure. An accidental but severe power failure during that procedure affected our primary and backup systems, taking a number of Intuit’s websites and services offline.”
Question Mr. Smith, would your intuition tell you not to setup redundant servers in the same location as your primary server? This is still the main question that is on everyone’s mind.
Some also feel that Intuit did not handle the outage in a manner befitting a large corporation. Specifically many individuals felt that they were left to find out information on their own since calls and e-mails to Intuit only provided canned statements that they were “working on” the problem. Personally from what I saw on social media, there was more “support” there than via taking the corporate route. Again intuition would tell one to handle P/R in a more efficient manner.
Well those are some of the issues that Intuit has to deal with at the present time. All in all their products work for most small businesses owners but as for recommending their cloud based offerings at the present time would require more research. Bottom line….cloud computing is here to stay. Small business owners interested in moving to the clouds should do their due diligence before selecting a cloud vendor.
Be sure to voice your opinion or check out the comments on Intuit’s website.
The Tech Accountant
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Intuit and Sage not ready for SaaS?
I was initially going to post a video today about ways to use Sage’s Peachtree small business accounting software for your small business, but their rival Intuit and their problems will put that post to the back burner for awhile. Now back to Intuit’s problems. Today I received an e-mail from Intuit that stated the following:
“I wanted to make you aware that there is currently a large outage in the San Diego Data Center and as a result many of our sites such as Intuit.com, Quickbooks.com, Intuitwebsites.com, Payroll.com, Payments, TurboTax, etc. are down. Intuit is actively working the problem. I'll send out an update when I hear about a resolution.”
The outage is surely affecting millions of small business owners (since QB has the largest share of the small biz market) who can’t have their businesses grind to a halt. The question is when will Intuit have the problem resolved and is this something we can expect from Intuit in the future?
Earlier in the month Sage (the makers of Peachtree) also had an outage of their online systems that affected their e-mail, order entry system and customer relationship management (CRM) software. The outage lasted 22hrs and according to the e-mail that I received they isolated the issue and are working to fix the problem. You can find more information here.
With a vast majority of small business vendors taking their products/services to the clouds (online) via software as a service (SaaS) will these “outages” make small businesses push away from using cloud based solutions?
Feel free to let us know if you are losing time and money due to the Intuit's or Sage's outages.
The Tech Accountant
“I wanted to make you aware that there is currently a large outage in the San Diego Data Center and as a result many of our sites such as Intuit.com, Quickbooks.com, Intuitwebsites.com, Payroll.com, Payments, TurboTax, etc. are down. Intuit is actively working the problem. I'll send out an update when I hear about a resolution.”
The outage is surely affecting millions of small business owners (since QB has the largest share of the small biz market) who can’t have their businesses grind to a halt. The question is when will Intuit have the problem resolved and is this something we can expect from Intuit in the future?
Earlier in the month Sage (the makers of Peachtree) also had an outage of their online systems that affected their e-mail, order entry system and customer relationship management (CRM) software. The outage lasted 22hrs and according to the e-mail that I received they isolated the issue and are working to fix the problem. You can find more information here.
With a vast majority of small business vendors taking their products/services to the clouds (online) via software as a service (SaaS) will these “outages” make small businesses push away from using cloud based solutions?
Feel free to let us know if you are losing time and money due to the Intuit's or Sage's outages.
The Tech Accountant
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Windows 7’s “Intuit”ion is Broke
I recently had a client that upgraded their computer systems to Windows 7 and as I was moving over their accounting system (they use Intuit’s QuickBooks) and going through all the problems with compatibility the client and I thought we had everything ready to go for 2010. Well hold on a minute there, we attempted to test the Remote Access with WebEx and found out that there was an issue with accessing the client’s computer. Thinking that this would be a simple fix I contacted support only to find out that QuickBooks Remote Access Service does not work on the Windows 7 operating system. One would think that two mega corporations like Intuit and Microsoft would be on the same page when it comes to systems and compatibility but as with most new software/operating systems releases, one does not know what the other is doing. We were provided with a workaround, but that “solution” did not work also.
Problems like the previous make me wonder why many small business owners use boxed accounting software instead of a true technology driven accounting solution. The majority of the issues that occur can be alleviated since the data is in the clouds (similar to online banking) and updates are done behind the scenes. There are rarely problems with an online accounting solution and many small businesses may need to investigate these solutions to compete effectively in the new decade.
B. N. S.
Problems like the previous make me wonder why many small business owners use boxed accounting software instead of a true technology driven accounting solution. The majority of the issues that occur can be alleviated since the data is in the clouds (similar to online banking) and updates are done behind the scenes. There are rarely problems with an online accounting solution and many small businesses may need to investigate these solutions to compete effectively in the new decade.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
QuickBooks Updates and Downgrades
In a recent post, I mention the problems many QuickBooks users were having with the new R9 update for QuickBooks 2009. The problem with the update was so bad that many QuickBooks users decided to downgrade their software back to the R8 update and work from there. The problem caused a great deal of frustration for many of the accountants that use QuickBooks to service their client’s books due to many accountants upgrading their system, only to find out that they could not use the data sent from clients on their system.
QuickBooks did however, respond to the issues with the R9 update (see their response here) and made available a new update (R10) that should fix the issue. Actually the R10 update is more of an oops we screwed up and here is our solution, instead of an update. Now that the R10 update has been released, some accountants on the discussion boards seem to be having similar issues as the R9. One particular issue is the compatibility with earlier versions. We tested the R10 update in our office and noticed that it is not backwards compatible with earlier updates (i.e. R8) as we were not able to open client files from R8. Maybe the update issue is not completely over QuickBooks so there may be some late evenings for all of us trying to fix this problem.
This is just another example of why a cloud based accounting solution may be the best fit for your small business. There are no updates to be done since the software is on the internet and updates are completed at the enterprise level and do not affect your day to day operations. Let me know what you think.
B. N. S.
QuickBooks did however, respond to the issues with the R9 update (see their response here) and made available a new update (R10) that should fix the issue. Actually the R10 update is more of an oops we screwed up and here is our solution, instead of an update. Now that the R10 update has been released, some accountants on the discussion boards seem to be having similar issues as the R9. One particular issue is the compatibility with earlier versions. We tested the R10 update in our office and noticed that it is not backwards compatible with earlier updates (i.e. R8) as we were not able to open client files from R8. Maybe the update issue is not completely over QuickBooks so there may be some late evenings for all of us trying to fix this problem.
This is just another example of why a cloud based accounting solution may be the best fit for your small business. There are no updates to be done since the software is on the internet and updates are completed at the enterprise level and do not affect your day to day operations. Let me know what you think.
B. N. S.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Software Bowl Championship Series
The end of the college football season is near. This weekend marks the start of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) selection with the conference championship games beginning. There are a lot of great teams out there that have worked very hard to get to their conference championship games and the day is sure to be a very exciting one. Many of the coaches that have been in the driver’s seat all year have to continue to coach at a high level to ensure that their teams don’t get complacent and think that they are entitled to the champion crown (as I write this post Pitt is beating the favorite Cincinnati).
The same can be said for many of the small business accounting software vendors that are vying for the small business accounting market. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn their offering from the small business accounting market, the major player Intuit’s QuickBooks may feel that the battle is all but won. If I were the head coach for the QB team I would have to tell the troops to hold on one minute and don’t get complacent. There is still a great deal of competition out there (the major competition is Sage’s Peachtree Accounting) and although QB is a great product, they still have problems with executing software updates (see R9 update issues) and compatibility issues with the new Windows 7 operating system.
Makes a small business owner wonder if there is a small business software title that can execute processes virtually flawlessly and not give the small business owner problems every year. I did come across a SaaS product (software as a service) that may provide small business owners with everything they need to operate their business from anywhere and efficiently. I will be test driving the product called WorkingPoint and provide a little more insight into how well it works versus a problematic off the shelf software product. More on that next week but until then back to the football games at hand.
B. N. S.
The same can be said for many of the small business accounting software vendors that are vying for the small business accounting market. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn their offering from the small business accounting market, the major player Intuit’s QuickBooks may feel that the battle is all but won. If I were the head coach for the QB team I would have to tell the troops to hold on one minute and don’t get complacent. There is still a great deal of competition out there (the major competition is Sage’s Peachtree Accounting) and although QB is a great product, they still have problems with executing software updates (see R9 update issues) and compatibility issues with the new Windows 7 operating system.
Makes a small business owner wonder if there is a small business software title that can execute processes virtually flawlessly and not give the small business owner problems every year. I did come across a SaaS product (software as a service) that may provide small business owners with everything they need to operate their business from anywhere and efficiently. I will be test driving the product called WorkingPoint and provide a little more insight into how well it works versus a problematic off the shelf software product. More on that next week but until then back to the football games at hand.
B. N. S.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
QuickBooks Problem….Solved??
Recently I did a post announcing the newest release of QuickBooks 2010 and according to a news article I came across today, this may be a good time to upgrade your software if you have not done so already. According to the article there is a security issue with older version of QuickBooks (2006 and Enterprise 6.0) that is related to Microsoft’s Active X technology. According to Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, the security issue has been fixed (even though older versions of QB’s are not supported by Intuit) and the 2010 product has been updated also. Kind of makes a person wonder if there is a better way of keeping your small business books? If there are security problems with off the shelf software, I wonder if using an on-demand internet based accounting solution would be more efficient.
With an on-demand accounting solution gone are the days of upgrading your software every year (or three years) because the software maker no longer supports your version, gone are the countless software updates that have to be completed so that your software can operate efficiently. Also gone are the days of working around your accountant’s schedule so that they can make their adjustments to your books and then send them back to you. An on-demand solution may be in your future if you are ready to make the change to the newest technology available with possibly a lower cost of ownership. Be sure to find out the pros and cons of the new technology for yourself with the following article. Enjoy.
B. N. S.
With an on-demand accounting solution gone are the days of upgrading your software every year (or three years) because the software maker no longer supports your version, gone are the countless software updates that have to be completed so that your software can operate efficiently. Also gone are the days of working around your accountant’s schedule so that they can make their adjustments to your books and then send them back to you. An on-demand solution may be in your future if you are ready to make the change to the newest technology available with possibly a lower cost of ownership. Be sure to find out the pros and cons of the new technology for yourself with the following article. Enjoy.
B. N. S.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
New Product or New Way of Working
There were two events that happened this past week that are really the driving force behind this blog post, one is the introduction of Intuit’s newest QuickBooks 2010 offering. The marketing e-mails that I have received have promised that the QB2010 version is the best yet and it will save accountants more time when working with their clients due to the enhanced features. For small business owners that are interested in how QB2010 will make them work faster and smarter be sure to take a look at this web review of the product. At the end of the review there is also a way for QB2009 purchasers who bought their software 60 days before the QB2010 release to upgrade their product to the newer version for free.
A free webinar (for my CPE credits) is the other driving force that provided me with a viable option and a new (possibly better) way of performing accounting functions for clients, that allows accountants and small businesses both to work collaboratively. The webinar was titled “How to Transform Your Client Accounting Services Practice through Cloud Computing and On-Demand Accounting” and it explained how accountants and small business owners can use online accounting services instead of boxed software that would allow each to work virtually anywhere, have instant access to current numbers, and the piece of mind that the data is secure. Although the webinar was geared for accountants, small business owners may gain some insight into how cloud computing/on-demand accounting is different (and maybe better) than boxed software or a hosted box software solution.
So as a small business owner which strategy fits your business model? Feel free to post your comments.
B. N. S.
A free webinar (for my CPE credits) is the other driving force that provided me with a viable option and a new (possibly better) way of performing accounting functions for clients, that allows accountants and small businesses both to work collaboratively. The webinar was titled “How to Transform Your Client Accounting Services Practice through Cloud Computing and On-Demand Accounting” and it explained how accountants and small business owners can use online accounting services instead of boxed software that would allow each to work virtually anywhere, have instant access to current numbers, and the piece of mind that the data is secure. Although the webinar was geared for accountants, small business owners may gain some insight into how cloud computing/on-demand accounting is different (and maybe better) than boxed software or a hosted box software solution.
So as a small business owner which strategy fits your business model? Feel free to post your comments.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Accounting Software Myths
Many small business owners use accounting software to run their businesses so that they will have the necessary information they need to make business decisions and file their taxes. Most software companies that advertise their products make the products appear to be so easy to setup and operate that they make claims that anyone can take the software right out the box, load it, and they are off and running. From an accountant’s standpoint, this is typically not the case.
Doing “clean up” work has become a lucrative area of specialization for many accountants and that got me to thinking about how software companies market their products to small business owners. I came across an interesting article about the myths of QuickBooks (although you could place any small business software title in its place) that I found interesting. The main point of the article is that if the software is not setup correctly from the start by a person with an accounting background, the end reports will be useless to the small business owner. Be sure that if you are a small business owner planning to use accounting software that you have it setup properly from the start. Proper setup will ensure that less dollars are spent down the line.
Keeping Your Business N Synergy
Doing “clean up” work has become a lucrative area of specialization for many accountants and that got me to thinking about how software companies market their products to small business owners. I came across an interesting article about the myths of QuickBooks (although you could place any small business software title in its place) that I found interesting. The main point of the article is that if the software is not setup correctly from the start by a person with an accounting background, the end reports will be useless to the small business owner. Be sure that if you are a small business owner planning to use accounting software that you have it setup properly from the start. Proper setup will ensure that less dollars are spent down the line.
Keeping Your Business N Synergy
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