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It’s vital to practice cyber safety especially when small businesses are a huge target for cyber scams and hacking (they account for almost half the attacks). All it takes is one click on the wrong Facebook ad and your computer is infected. Being that it’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month, let’s go over some ways your business can establish safe online practices. 

Running a business doesn’t mean sitting in a chair 24/7. We know some days you’ll be cool, calm, and collected, while others you’ll be running around like a chicken with your head cut off. You’re up and moving, and you need your resources to be, as well. Accessing QuickBooks on-the-go is not something you need to worry about. We’ve got you covered with three recommendations on how to safely and accurately open and edit your books from anywhere, at any time.  

QuickBooks Online

Part of growing your small business is putting yourself out there and making new professional connections. These connections can lead to the success of your business. More than that, these connections can become your co-workers, clients, mentors, or friends. It really boils down to some simple etiquette and people skills. 

Tax season is just around the corner (seriously, just one quarter left in 2019!) and it’s time to get down to business. Call us crazy, but we prefer the term proactive. You can roll your eyes at us now or thank us later. One of the first things to do is find a good, reliable tax preparer that you can trust. As always, please contact us for a list of recommended qualified and trusted tax preparers. Some questions to ask when looking for a tax preparer…

The software programs Quicken and QuickBooks have a couple things in common, including being founded by Intuit and beginning with the word “Quick.” However, the similarities end there. Let’s discuss the differences. 

Quicken

Quicken was released in 1983 as a personal management tool for individual users. It uses the single-entry accounting method and assists with your personal accounting needs, like recording your transactions. It categorizes your expenses to show where your money goes, and has budgeting features to help you take control of your finances. There are a variety of Quicken software programs available: Starter, Deluxe, Premier, and Home & Business.

Have you considered outsourcing before? If not, don’t dismiss it just yet. Outsourcing is a convenient, effective way to make sure the work for your business is getting done and being done well. You can rest easy knowing you’re handing your work off to someone who is an expert in the field. When exactly is the right time to outsource your bookkeeping? You’ll find the answer in your own day-to-day work life. 

Let’s talk cash flow statements. When is the last time you looked at one for your company? If you’re cringing right now because you just can’t remember, it’s time to change that. Your cash flow statement, or statement of cash flows, shows you where your money is going. The money coming in, the money going out. It’s vital to know where the company’s money is going, and where it’s coming from. 

Your cash flow statement is based on cash basis accounting rather than accrual, which means you will record every time money is exchanged. Always keep in mind that your cash flow is not the same as your profit and vice versa. The relationship between the two will vary from business to business, and fluctuations will occur due to the type of business. For example, cider mills will see fluctuations in their cash flow because they’re a season business. 

If you do your own bookkeeping with QuickBooks, you may have noticed the pesky little Undeposited Funds account along the way. This account confuses people, but we promise it’s for a good purpose! If you’ve just happened to ignore this feature of QB, you’re doing yourself a disservice. 

Your Undeposited Funds account will act as a middleman between your invoices and your bank deposits. When you receive payments from invoices, they’ll be held in this temporary Undeposited Funds account until they’re deposited into your bank account. When you receive a payment, you’ll simply choose Undeposited Funds from the “Deposit to” dropdown menu, this way you know which payments need to be deposited (it should already be the default option). 

When using the Undeposited Funds account, you can enter single or group payments. However, it’s vital to remember that your QuickBooks account should match what’s happening in real life in your bank account. If your bank recorded group payments as one single deposit, then your books should match this. For single invoice payments, the Undeposited Funds account may not be necessary and you can easily skip this step without causing issues in your books. But, to ensure everything is right, it’s never a bad idea, even if it is a couple extra steps. Come time to reconcile your accounts, you’ll be thankful when everything matches up. 

The Undeposited Funds folder isn’t as mysterious as it seems. It’s purpose is to streamline and make for a more efficient invoicing process. It keeps track of all

Doing the same thing day after day can become monotonous and boring, but carrying around a negative attitude can be detrimental to your business. The 9 to 5 life may not be thrilling, but how much harder are you making your job just by having a poor mindset? 

Let us ask you this: Would you rather be the positive light in the office, or the negative shadow? You can bring light to your workplace or you can carry around a dark cloud always on the brink of a torrential downpour. It’s up to you. 

Summer is a time for fresh and new, and QuickBooks Online is keeping up with that by releasing five refreshingly cool updates and features to make your books an absolute breeze. We’re certain you’ve noticed at least one of these while working on your books this summer, and maybe you’ll discover a new feature today to implement tomorrow. Let’s dive in! 

While running a business, you may run into the issue of one of your vendors not receiving your payment, although you sent it and it was deducted from your bank account. Regardless, where the money went, your vendor wants to be paid. Here’s how to make this work in your books so they don’t turn into a disaster. 

Let’s say your vendor is Ashley’s Apples. Pull up their information via the Vendors tab in QuickBooks. You’ll see in your records that the $500 payment you made ACH (Automated Clearing House - basically, they take care of transferring mass amounts of money for vendor payments, payroll, and direct deposit) and that Ashley’s Apples never received it. Your bank register says the money was cleared from your account, so voiding the check isn’t an option. 

Cut Ashley’s Apples a check for the $500 in the current month. In the memo section, explain the reason for the payment. Try to make your check identical to your first payment by using the same account and paying their same account. Now, Ashley’s Apples will finally be paid, and we can deal with fixing our books. 

When you look at your Check Register, you’ll see two payments for Ashley’s Apples - the original payment via ACH and the check you just cut. Once the bank confirms that the first check (the one Ashley’s Apples did not receive) has not been cashed, you’ll get your money back after X number of days, according to the bank’s terms and agreements. Knowing you’ll get this money back, you need to make a deposit in your books using the same date as

The truth is, somebody has to do the bookkeeping for your small business, or else it won’t get done. If you have made the decision to do the bookkeeping yourself, it can be overwhelming until you get the hang of it. We have six reminders for you when it comes to getting your books done accurately and efficiently. 

Let’s go through how to run a report for your vendors using the checks that have been issued to them, whether they be bill payment checks or regular checks. You can also run this kind of report on customers to see the invoices that have been created or payments, but let’s focus specifically on vendors today. You may run this report to see how much you’ve been spending or to compare costs from month to month. 

To begin , click on “Vendor Center.” On the left, select the vendor you would like a report on. Next, you’ll click “Quick Report” toward the upper right. A box will pop up to set the logistics of your report, you’ll choose your date range, and a generated report will appear. It will likely give you more results than you’d like to see, but you have the option to choose what you see. Click “Customize Report” in the upper left and customize your filters by choosing the “Filters” tab. You can search for the filter you’re looking for. 

In this case, we want to filter by “Transaction Type” and we’re going to assume there are bill payment checks and regular checks, so you’ll choose both options in the filter settings. Once you’ve finished, confirm your choices, and there you have it - all of the checks that have been issued to the chosen vendor will appear. 

To watch us do this, watch our video tutorial. Happy quick reporting!

Scoping out prospective clients and winning them over may seem like the hard part of getting new business, but that’s only the beginning. You also need to keep that business, which is done by keeping your clients happy. How can you do that? There are some very simple things you can do to keep your clients content and satisfied. 

As a business owner, there will be times when you’ll need to give an employee a cash advance. This could be for one of two reasons: you purchased something for an employee with the agreement they will pay you back, or you’re giving an employee an advance on their check. Let’s go over how to do record these in QuickBooks Online. First, you’ll want to create an Employee Advance account (unless you already have one). If you often give out employee advances, creating sub-accounts would be helpful, using the employee’s name. 

To Set-Up Employee Advances Account

When you’re in the Accounting tab of QB, click “New” and the Account template will pop-up, which you’ll set up accordingly:

Category Type → Other Current Assets

Detail Type → Employee Cash Advances

Name → Employee Advance

If you paid for something for an employee’s personal use, with the agreement that the employee would pay you back, you’ll need to start by recording it as an Expense. Under “account,” you’ll need to select “Employee Advance” using the drop-down arrow. Include a memo with the employee’s name, stating it was a personal purchase/loan. 

When the employee pays you back, you will list this as a Deposit. Select who you received the money from and choose the “Employee Advance” account. Under description, it would be helpful to say this is a repayment of the advance. 

If an employee asks for a cash advance on their paycheck,

Throughout the course of your working life, you’ll get to work with a variety of people. While working in the same space, you’ll have to overcome obstacles together and endure the chaos of everyday life. This can either go smoothly…or not. Personalities can clash in the workplace (and likely will), and you’ll find that not everyone responds to conflict in the same way. It’s important to understand that not everyone thinks the same, feels the same, or reacts to situations the same. You may not like it, but you have to find a way to deal with it.

How long should you keep important papers?! Some of us hold onto every little document for far longer than needed, while others regret not saving theirs longer. So, the pressing question is, how long should you hang onto papers for before shredding them? Let’s break it down.

Keeping track of stray receipts is messy, and logging them come tax season is time consuming. QuickBooks Online had previously allowed you to add attachments of receipts, but now it completely captures them for you with their latest feature.

New to QBO this month is a feature called Receipt Capture, and it does basically what it sounds like - it captures screenshots of your receipt. You simply snap a photo of your receipt and upload it to QBO where it will be stored digitally. Beyond that, QBO will sort your receipts into categories.