I Just love this link! Very Informative Regarding Bookkeeping Errors!!

Common problems people have in bookkeeping

QuickBooks Download Tools for Credit Cards and Banking Downloads

Happy Friday!

I find this information extremely useful so I though I would re-post it:)

Have you ever gotten so frustrated with the download methods available to you with using QuickBooks?

Quicken products have been programmed  for very simple and easy use with downloading credit cards and bank accounts for some time now.

However QuickBooks downloads have been a bit of a challenge for most people. When you download from most banks and credit cards in IIF format, once you are back in QuickBooks, you have to click on each item one at a time to enter it into your QuickBooks registers which wastes precious time.  With that method there is no button to click “accept all” for them to import all at once…

NOT ANYMORE!!

I have found the most wonderful tools that have saved me countless hours of time re-entering client’s data into Quickbooks. A company called Big Red Consulting, has a multitude of tools for downloading and copying transactions for QuickBooks.

My most favorite is the QIF to IIF convertor. You can download data, seamlessly into QuickBooks this way and it just flows right into your QuickBooks banking or credit card registers so smoothly,  like butter!!

Another great tool is the Transaction Copier, which can copy entire general ledgers or invoices, etc from one QuickBooks for to another.

Each tool runs about $59, and is a fabulous investment that will pay for itself many times over!

www.bigredconsulting.com

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Diane Letulier

The QuickBooks Guru

www.gotquickbooks.com

Accounting Tips 101

Whatever the industry your business falls under, its sole purpose is to earn maximum profits. The question is what are those actions you can implement to earn profits and have highest returns? Simple, either by increasing revenue or by reducing costs! Increasing revenue demands a lot of brilliant strategies put into practice, whereas cutting costs will require a much little effort on your part. Here are some simple tips that can be extremely useful in cutting costs.

Cost cutting approach for small or newly setup businesses: Being a small business, your goal should be to stretch your dollars as much as you can, so you could embrace all the activities within those financial limits. You have to stop your money from flowing outside the door as much as possible. The following actions may to help you avoid overspending:

� Spend your money only on items that you need most, avoid expenses on unnecessary items.

� You may have many expenses, but know when to spend and when to save.

� Always try to get things at the most economical rates. Bargain before settling on a certain price. Sometimes, getting things in bulk can be a good way of lowering costs.

� Prefer using fax and email to disburse important information, this will save you from costs of paper.

� Monitor the correct usage of office supplies, such as electricity, telephone, stationery etc. this may save you the extra buck too!

Outsourcing accounting tasks

Outsourced accounting services can be a great help for businesses. They are not only cost-effective but also makes businesses gain more accountability and transparency and better manage their overall labor resources. With the latest accounting software in use, accounting tasks can now be easily and safely outsourced by any company. It has been noted that the savings companies make and the costs they reduce through outsourcing are extremely amazing.

Increase accountant efficiency:

Another thing you can do to lower your accounting costs is by organizing and properly arranging all the data that needs to be handled by the accountant. Many companies pay accountants on hourly basis-so the less the fuss, the less will be the hours, and ultimately lesser will be the costs. You can manage the data on the computer in form of tables, spreadsheets, charts etc.

Hire professionals:

Many would suggest you to hire temporary bookkeepers and accountants because it will not cost you much. The fact on the other hand is totally opposite! It’s always better to let professionals handle your numbers. Firstly, it will avoid you from wrong calculations and secondly, it will save you from many legal penalties which in case of latter might cost you too expensive.

CREATING THE PERFECT PITCH WHEN NETWORKING

I found this on Ning and it inspired me so much, thanks to all the fabulous social networking advice, but this stood out among the rest…

Selling Ice to the Eskimos- from Women Entrepreneur
These 4 steps will help you craft a perfect product pitch so you’ll stand out among the crowd.
By: Pattie Simone | 05/07/2009

You’ve come up with the most amazing product or service. Now what? In order to be successful, you have to understand a few things about selling, so you can connect with and engage eager buyers. Insiders’ tip: It’s not about convincing anyone of anything.

When you consider the clatter–e-mail blasts, regular e-mail, radio, internet radio, direct mail, newspaper ads, networking, small business workshops and events, trade shows, billboards, mobile ads and social networking spaces, niche-market teleseminars, webinars and TV–it’s a wonder any of us makes a sale. The good news is that people are selling their wares, rising above the clatter through a combination of tools and initiatives. And while the major brands have robust budgets to play with, there are some tried and true (and thrifty) things every entrepreneur can do to achieve a healthy bottom line.

Selling Ice Everywhere
This is not rocket science, really. Whether you are running an online business or a local pizzeria, selling is about doing four things better than your competitors:

Tangibly communicating your value/benefits
Spreading the word in a bunch of smart connection portals
Making it personal
Avoiding one-night stands

Let’s start at the top. Because of the internet, iPods and new cell phone technology–all featuring swift search and delivery mechanisms–it’s more important than ever to perfect your pitch, or your prospects might end up doing business elsewhere. With the abundance of research and communication portals–not to mention the advertising spaces already listed–we are so distracted that we’re becoming an ADD society, says Laura Allen, co-founder of 15secondPitch.com, a New York City coaching and sales training business. According to Allen, the situation is complicated by the fact that most people end up pitching the wrong things, due to nerves, vagueness or non-specific info.

Not to worry! Allen has developed a four-step formula to create the perfect swift pitch, which can be easily implemented in a variety of direct networking spaces. A side perk: Strong, clear communications can serve you well in diverse promotional spaces. Tweak each point to suit the portal you’re using, and you’ll see better returns, whether you are crafting an ad, tweeting, blogging, cold calling or sending out direct mail.

Laura Allen’s Perfect Pitch Tool Kit
Step 1: Be clear about you, stating your name and your business name when you start your pitch.

Step 2: State what you do. Be specific so folks can easily understand your unique area of expertise, i.e., financial planner, business marketing professional, interior decorator, organizer, Realtor, etc. Remember to avoid one important pitfall, what Allen calls “the kitchen sink pitch.”

“You’re lucky if people can remember one [business or title], let alone three things, so do not lump together a bunch of disparate titles or services in the same pitch.” Allen’s advice: Go with whatever you believe in at the moment, but be especially strategic about what you pick. While you may hawk vitamins or skin-care products in addition to being a Realtor, Allen advises that you pick the one thing that will make you the most money.

Step 3: State in two sentences (or less) why you are the best at what you do. This is arguably the most challenging step, because the shorter the message, the more carefully you have to choose your words for the best effect. This is where lots of folks fall flat, and winging it often produces disastrous results. While perfect pitches sometimes outline benefits, Allen says it’s not always the best approach. That’s because benefits can be too specific to the person on the receiving end. Allen prefers the pitch that’s all about you, rather than what you can do for the person in front of you. To provide maximum impact, Allen says, the pitch should reflect the unique voice of the speaker–taking into consideration tone, pace, vocabulary and personality.

Beware: You can craft something that looks good on paper but is too wordy or, worse, trips up your tongue. That’s why Allen has clients practice their pitches out loud, so they can discover and fix pitch glitches.

Step 4: The call to action. This is what it’s all about, Allen says, and should answer the question, “What happens next?” A good call to action can include plans to meet for coffee to continue your conversation, set up a date to chat via phone, or schedule a follow-up meeting at your office.

All these elements should be decided beforehand, Allen says, so she encourages clients to have the perfect pitch ready before they make a cold call or go to a networking event. In light of so many people having highly specialized expertise or dabbling in diverse services, Allen also offers a Pitch for Every Niche coaching component because, as she says, it’s good to be prepared for “on-the-fly” situations.

Two Samples of the Perfect Pitch
Here are two examples of terrific pitches that Allen developed for a small business owner in the gourmet food business and for a photographer:

“Hello, my name is ______and I’m the founder of Bel Biscotto. For 10 years I searched for the perfect biscotti and when I couldn’t find it, I decided to make my own. I’m looking for cafes and stores that will appreciate our exceptional product. To arrange for a free sample of our Coco Hazelnut biscotti, please give me a call. You can also learn more by visiting: http://www.belbiscotti.com.”

“Hello, my name is _______ and I am a freelance photographer specializing in high-end fashion. I photograph clothing, cosmetics and jewelry. I have over 15 years of experience, and my clients include Versace and Kenneth Cole. Please give me a call to set up an appointment to see my book. You can also see samples of my work at http://www._______.com.”

These are rockin’ pitches because they’re personal, they’re authentic and they resonate on an emotional level.

With a perfect pitch in hand, you can sell like mad. So once you’ve got your pitches polished, make sure you’re testing and getting the word out through a bunch of online and traditional portals, including your website, e-mail, e-newsletters, blogs, face-to-face networking spaces and targeted direct mail, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Understand that your end consumer is driving the conversation, and these savvy buyers respond to meaningful info with a human story attached. In this super-connected, viral age, you can reap great rewards by avoiding a “one night stand,” quick-sale mentality like the plague.

The new sales giants will capitalize on compelling communications and ongoing conversations, because that approach will help produce raving fans you crave (which in turn will help you propel sales).

As president of Write-Communications.com and Marketing-Advantage.net, and founder of WomenCentric.net, Pattie Simone empowers execs and entrepreneurs around the country, sharing her sales and marketing savvy and communications expertise as a mentor, speaker and writer.

QuickBooks Download Tools – Cuts Endless Hours of Time Downloading Credit Cards and Bank Statements

Happy Friday!

Have you ever gotten so frustrated with the download methods available to you with using QuickBooks?

Quicken products have been programmed  for very simple and easy use with downloading credit cards and bank accounts for some time now.

However QuickBooks downloads have been a bit of a challenge for most people. When you download from most banks and credit cards in IIF format, once you are back in QuickBooks, you have to click on each item one at a time to enter it into your QuickBooks registers which wastes precious time.  With that method there is no button to click “accept all” for them to import all at once…

NOT ANYMORE!!

I have found the most wonderful tools that have saved me countless hours of time re-entering client’s data into Quickbooks. A company called Big Red Consulting, has a multitude of tools for downloading and copying transactions for QuickBooks.

My most favorite is the QIF to IIF convertor. You can download data, seamlessly into QuickBooks this way and it just flows right into your QuickBooks banking or credit card registers so smoothly,  like butter!!

Another great tool is the Transaction Copier, which can copy entire general ledgers or invoices, etc from one QuickBooks for to another.

Each tool runs about $59, and is a fabulous investment that will pay for itself many times over!

www.bigredconsulting.com

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Diane Letulier

The QuickBooks Guru

www.gotquickbooks.com

REMOTE QUICKBOOKS SUPPORT

QuickBooks Remote Access gives you the flexibility to work on a client’s QuickBooks company file from

almost any remote location.

Using Remote Access, you can view, remotely control, and annotate you client’s QuickBooks file to train,

analyze and solve problems.

You might want to use Remote Access to show a client how to use a feature, or to troubleshoot a problem

directly on his or her computer. You can also transfer files to and from a customer’s computer using the

Remote Access feature.

 

One of my favorite sites to use to dial into a Client’s computer is http://www.LogMeIn.com

 

 

Many smart business owners are getting excellent advice from SCORE

SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” announces the
May toolkit, “Accelerate Your Start-up,” at www.score.org/accelerate.
SCORE is offering the new toolkit as part of the “Accelerate Your
Success” Campaign to help entrepreneurs start up and make it
through the recession, keep Americans employed and create new jobs.
Visit SCORE for this great series to help your business today!:
http://www.nationalbusiness.org/NBAWEB/Newsletter2009/2666.htm

Independant Contractors vs Employees

TAX AND OTHER BENEFITS OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR CLASSIFICATION
Businesses that hire employees are responsible for payroll taxes, employee benefits, and the related administration and compliance tasks arising when wages are paid to employees. Businesses generally do not have these responsibilities for independent contractors—they need only file a Form 1099-MISC for the payments they make to the contractor.

Example: Key Differences Between Employees and Independent Contractors
Hi-Tech Corporation is restructuring its product lines and needs production and design engineers to oversee the process. Hi-Tech is investigating whether to hire these individuals as full-time employees or independent contractors. There is enough work for three more-or-less full-time positions for a period of at least three years. Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper studies the employee versus independent contractor issue. He concludes that, by hiring independent contractors, Hi-Tech:

1. would not have to withhold federal, state, or local income taxes,
2. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to withhold and pay matching FICA taxes,
3. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to pay federal and state unemployment or disability taxes,
4. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to meet federal and state overtime or minimum wage laws,
5. <!–[if !supportLists]–> may exclude the workers from retirement plans and fringe benefits, and
6. <!–[if !supportLists]–> may exclude the workers from workers  compensation coverage.

Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper perceives all of these as significant advantages for hiring independent contractors. He concludes that the company would be significantly ahead dollar-wise to contract out for the services. Accordingly, Hi-Tech will recruit potential applicants as contractors, not employees.

For some businesses, the reduction in human resource paperwork and compliance administration is sufficient motivation to have work performed by independent contractors. If potential payroll tax and employee benefit savings are also factored into the equation, it is easy to see why many businesses prefer to hire independent contractors for specialized tasks and jobs of relatively short duration.

Example: Calculating the Tax Savings Associated with Independent Contractor Classification
Assume the same facts above. Before making a recommendation, Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper decides to run the numbers on potential tax savings. He estimates the wages and related benefits for a production and design engineer and then compares the payroll tax and benefit-related costs for this average worker on an employee versus contractor basis. His results are tabulated as follows:

Accounting Category	Hi-Tech’s Books as Employee	Hi-Tech’s Books as Contractor
Pay for time worked	$50,000	$50,000
Pay for time not worked (vacations, etc.)	5,000
Base wages	55,000	50,000
Employer’s FICA (7.65%)	4,208
Employer’s FUTA (0.8% on first $7,000)	56
Worker’s compensation (1.2% of base wages)	660
Retirement, fringe and welfare benefits (estimated) at 35% of base wages)	19,250
Total	$79,174	$50,000

In preparing this table, the bookkeeper assumes that (1) the hourly wage rate remains fixed (in reality, an independent contractor may try to increase the hourly rate to recover some lost benefits); and (2) all retirement, fringe, and welfare benefits are funded solely by Hi-Tech.

As the table demonstrates, the estimated cost of hiring a person as an independent contractor can be significantly less than hiring such person as an employee—and this is strictly tax and benefit savings. The value of other factors, including administrative time and compliance efforts, and state unemployment tax, are not included in this comparison.

In today’s competitive marketplace, companies are looking for ways to reduce the cost of doing business. Understandably, the opportunity to cut total labor costs by half or more often proves irresistible. Classifying a worker as an independent contractor can simply be too good to pass up.

The IRS estimates millions of workers are misclassified as independent contractors, depriving the federal government of huge sums of tax revenue because of underreported income and related unpaid employment taxes. To combat this, worker classification is a primary issue in most payroll audits.

Negative Aspect of Using Independent Contractors
For tax years beginning after 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 authorizes a deduction equal to a percentage of the income earned from manufacturing and certain other production activities within the U.S. (IRC Sec. 199). The deduction equals 3% (for 2006 and 6% for 2007) of the lesser of the taxpayer’s (1) qualified production activities income for the tax year, or (2) taxable income, determined without this deduction. However, the allowable deduction may not exceed 50% of the taxpayer’s Form W-2 wages for the year that are property allocable to domestic production gross receipts. Therefore, using independent contractors instead of employees can limit the taxpayer’s deduction under IRC Sec. 199.

Strengthening the Case for Independent Contractor Status
Independent contractor relationships must be closely monitored to ensure they will withstand IRS scrutiny.

Caution: The IRS feels that the improper classification of employees as independent contractors has made the problem of unreported income a significant one and, therefore, it recently reminded businesses and employers to classify workers correctly to ensure that all tax obligations are met. The IRS recently announced that it is moving ahead with initiatives in several employment tax areas to increase collection amounts—especially with worker classification. IRS officials have indicated that worker classification cases will be a major area of emphasis in 2008. The IRS has shifted more resources to address the problem of payments made to nonemployees to determine if they are legitimate and has entered into data-sharing agreements with several state workforce agencies to refer employment tax cases for audit.

The QuickBooks Guru – Happy to be blogging at last!!

Thank you for subscribing to my page. I provide QuickBooks support and Bookkeeping services. An excellent opportunity to get free QuickBooks 2009, and a free terminal with new merchant service, and very competitive rates! Also I am studying up on my social networking skills to promote business, check out this excellent resource! Great for you men out there too! www.socialnetworkingforbusinesswomen.com

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