Does Your Business Collect Sales Tax?

A big challenge many small businesses make is incorrectly handling sales tax, whether it be with collection, adjustments, payment to proper tax authorities, and reporting.  Common problems are associated with:

• Having some customers who are taxable and some who are exempt
• Different rates depending on customers location
• Having some products/services that are taxable and some that are not

QuickBooks provides a wonderful system to handle these details, making activities related to sales tax easy to maneuver making roper set-up, transaction recording, payments, and reporting less intimidating for many business owners.

Resources and Links – My favorite apps and tools

I have included a page of all my favorites ~ visit www.backstagevirtualassistant for the full list.
What are some of your favorites?

Backstage Virtual Assistant’s New Website

Visit my new website for Backstage Virtual Assistant ~ links are not up at this time.

Please feel free to E-mail me with any comments or questions.

~~Kim

Chrometa ~ Capture ALL Your Billable and Non-Billable Time With Little Effort

As a virtual assistant and QB ProAdvisor, I spend much of my day on the computer or phone and have tried many time tracking tools.  Many did an OK job but required you to manually start and stop your time by project/job – completely not practical for many multi-taskers.  I found myself not getting an accurate portrayal of where my time was allocated during the day, and thus, was unable to capture all my time that was actually billable.

With Chrometa, PROBLEM SOLVED!  Chrometa records your time by application, Email, web page, and document. It allows you to view total times for each item by day or date range for easy reporting.  Also, if your away from your computer (client phone call, switching laundry, tending to the kids, etc) Chrometa automatically starts tracking and prompts you to log time away from the computer. How many times have you told yourself “I’ll remember and log this time later” – well, if you’re like me this happens many times per day and eventually becomes impossible to capture every activity.

With an easy to use, drag and drop interface you can begin to completely and accurately track your time throughout the day.  I have found Chrometa to be an overall winner in the time tracking tool category and encourage you to give it a try with their free trial.

Which QuickBooks Edition is Right for Your Business?

QuickBooks has a range of products to meet the needs of a variety of small businesses based on their individual needs.  Here, I’ll explain some of the key features of each edition that will help you choose the edition that will best suite your requirements.

Simple Start

• For businesses just starting out and need only simple financial requirements
• 14 customizable reports
• Allows only 1 user to access the file at a time
• Paperless document management
• Create estimates, invoices, sales receipts
• Track sales and customer payments
• Create and print checks
• Track tax related income and expenses
• Limited item and list functionality compared to higher editions

Online Plus

• Up to 25 simultaneous users
• Over 65 customizable reports
• Company snapshot to instantly view your bottom line
• Sample reports
• Does not have the paperless document management feature

Pro

• Companies who have fewer than 20 employees and annual sales of less than $1 million
• Allows up to 5 simultaneous users
• Over 100 customizable reports
• Paperless document management
• Track job costing and inventory
• Progress invoicing
• Tracks time and vehicle mileage
• Produces 1099 and 1096 forms
• Allows for multiple price levels
• Ability to export data to Microsoft Word and Excel
• Allows you to synchronize list information with Microsoft Outlook
• Allows your bookkeeper, accountant, or ProAdvisor to review, troubleshoot and correct your QB file with a feature called Client Data Review

Premier

• All the features of QB Pro
• Over 150 customizable reports (and industry specific reports)
• Allows up to 5 simultaneous users
• Create sales orders
• Create a business plan
• Forecast sales and expenses
• Industry specific chart of accounts, reports and other features
• Allows you to set billing rates by employee, customer/client, position, or service

Enterprise Solutions

• All the features of Pro and Premier
• Allows up to 30 simultaneous users
• For businesses with a greater number of employees
• For businesses with annual revenue greater than $1 million
• Advanced security
• Advanced features such as Fixed Asset Manager and Intuit Statement Writer
• Connects multiple locations and remote workers
• Ability to host QB files on a terminal server

Contact me with your Email address and I will gladly send you a questionnaire to aid you in choosing the right QuickBooks solution for your business.

Get Instant Support From Your QuickBooks ProAdvisor via Remote Access

As long as you have a high speed internet connection,  QB ProAdvisor can assist you, hands on, at any time using QB’s built in Remote Access feature.  QuickBooks Remote Access functionality is based on technology available from WebEx. All that is required to use this functionality is that both the remote and host computer have an Internet
connection available and Web browser software installed. WebEx is firewall-friendly, meaning sessions can be established quickly with no need for interaction from network administrators. Further, the sessions are secured by 128 bit Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. While connected via WebEx, remote users have full control over the desktop and are able to remotely execute any command that they would be able to execute locally.

QB ProAdvisors can use Remote Access to assist you by providing a variety of support services, including training, data file backups, generating reports and analysis, preparing your information for your tax tax preparer, performing internal control reviews, bookkeeping, and correcting errors. These services can be performed in real-time on the “live” QuickBooks data file without the ProAdvisor being physically present at the your location.   This translates into a more efficient use of time; for the you and it also allows for a faster response when questions come up or troubleshooting is needed.

Remote access sessions can be either attended or unattended depending on your needs and preferences.  With a few simple clicks of your mouse, you and your QB ProAdvisor can decide on the option that fits your needs best.

Accounts Payable ~ Keep Them Clean

Here are some tips to help ensure your A/P is clean.  Even if you don’t normally have your financial statements audited, you will need one if you apply for a bank loan or credit.

• Require all checks have proper back up – using QuickBooks Document Management will ensure all documentation is just a click away.
• Require invoices to be approved before writing checks
• If you have duplicate invoices, make sure the original was not paid and mark the second ‘Duplicate’
• After a check is written, mark invoice Paid with check number and date – QuickBooks will do this automatically for you!
• Keep signature devices (electronic/digial signatures, stamps, etc) secure along with any checks you keep in stock.
• Have systems in place that ensures that the person who writes checks is not the one who has access to the stock for accountability sake.  Segregation of duties will help prevent fraud.
• Cross train employees and require accounting and bookkeeping staff take vacations or assign to a different department on a regular basis.  If there is fraud, it will most likely be discovered while another employee takes over the books.

Source:  AIPB Bookkeeping Tips June 2010

Can Your Small Business Afford NOT to Outsource?

Are you and your key employees spending too much time (and therefore money) on tasks that someone else can do?  You should be concentrating on tasks that only you can do and that are your money-makers.  To get an idea of how much money you are not making by doing such tasks, take a few minutes to calculate how much your time is worth.

1. Take your annual income and divide that by 2080 hours (52 weeks times 40 hours) to get an hourly value of your time.
2. Divide that figure by 60 to see what your time is worth per minute

Now, if you use a time tracking system (I use Chrometa) add up your time spent on non-income producing tasks such as bookkeeping, database management, client mailings (birthdays, anniversaries, holiday mailings) and other operational tasks.  Is the time you spend on such tasks worth the value of your time?  Most likely, the answer is no.

By outsourcing these types of tasks you can reduce your overhead by saving employee costs, office space, and equipment.  This will give you back the gift of time – time you can use to focus on what you do best!

Save Money, Save Time – Go Paperless With QuickBooks

Going green is easier now by using paperless tools available in QB.

1. Send and receive documents electronically
   • Estimates
   • Sales orders
   • Invoices
   • Credit Memos
   • Statements
   • Purchase orders
   • Use QB Online Billing and Bill Pay Service
   • Download bank statements into QB
2. Use a paperless filing system
3. Use electronic fax service
4. Save reports to PDF
5. Go paperless withPayroll
6. Use QB remote access to access your data when away from your desk/traveling rather than printing reports

Contact a BVA to learn more about implementing procedures to go paperless and help the environment.

Copy Machines, a Security Risk?

With identity theft at an all time high, I’m sure all of us are careful to shred personal documents before recycling and even wiping out hard drives on computers. But have you even given a thought to your copy machine and scanners??

This CBS segment gives shocking facts on digital security.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go