Tag: bookkeeping

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Setting a Proper Foundation: Getting Started with QuickBooks

Businesses exist to make money, so it is no wonder that new business owners focus on the things that impact cash flow, like invoicing customers and making payments. These processes, involving getting and spending money, are among the first accounting-related things a new business owner generally addresses, yet they aren’t where the accounting should actually begin. The strongest foundation for any business begins with accounting, and proper setup and treatment is everything.

When most small business owners begin their operations, they get a business license, a computer, an email address and, more often than not, QuickBooks. Even if the owner isn’t fully prepared to handle the accounting for the business, they understand that they must do something to collect money and pay bills. QuickBooks is the standard for small business bookkeeping and has been for years, so this is where most begin.

Keeping a check register in QuickBooks, at the minimum, lets the business owner know how much money is in the bank. For a small business person, it’s all about cash flow and cash availability. Focusing on the checkbook and managing activities by counting payments going out and receipts coming in may help calculate the bank balance, but it doesn’t guarantee that the accounting is correct.

If the foundation isn’t solid, everything built on it is at risk.

To establish a proper foundation for business bookkeeping and accounting, there needs to be an understanding of basic accounting principles and how they are applied to this business. With the help and guidance of experienced accounting professionals or accounting software consultants, businesses will start out not just with the right chart of accounts, but also with knowledge of how to use the software properly. This enables workflows which utilize the capabilities of the software to handle the transactions properly at the back end, where data becomes information that provides insight into the business activities and results.

Whether the business is just getting started or has been operating for a while, there’s no time like the present to review the fundamentals and make sure you’re on solid ground. Mendelson Consulting, backed by CPAs and with years of business accounting software experience, is there to help businesses get the most from their accounting solutions. From initial setup to operational reviews and workflow re-design, you need a team that provides the services businesses need to build up their capabilities and grow the enterprise without compromising the structure supporting it.

jm bunny feetMake sense?

J

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Why Small Businesses Need Proactive Accounting

It has been demonstrated time and again that businesses working with experienced accounting professionals can benefit from the strategic financial guidance and compliance support they may provide. Yet these factors alone are often not enough to make the business owner happy. For most small business owners and growing enterprise stakeholders, the lack of proactive advice compounded by slow responses to business requests are the primary reasons for leaving their CPA.

Even if they don’t know how to ask for it, small businesses want proactive attention from their accounting professionals. Small businesses want and need to get information when it matters, and they need help deciphering what the information really means.

It is common for professional accounting firms to simply wait for their clients to provide after-the-fact information from which reports are prepared and delivered long after their relevance has passed. These firms often see no sense of urgency in helping clients address the business issues facing them in real-time.

Business owners attempting to grow a small enterprise from their budding small business especially need the benefit of experienced insight into operational metrics, cash flows and overall business performance. Without this meaningful data and advice delivered in real-time, stakeholders don’t really know what is going on or if they’re on the right path.

Advice on business planning and financial strategies should come to business owners from their accounting professionals, but it often does not. It is interesting that so many firms list business planning and strategy among the services promoted on their websites, yet they just sit back and wait for clients to ask for help.

Regulatory and reporting requirements for businesses are ever-increasing, so it makes some sense that many professional practices continue to focus on taxes and compliance work. Firms may find it challenging enough to keep up with changes to these core services provided. Yet this is why practitioners should take notice and accept that their ability to meet changing market and customer demands is wrapped in their ability to leverage technology to do what people and process can’t do alone.

Information technology is needed to speed up the bookkeeping, accounting and reporting processes, and it takes even more technology to help turn data into relevant and useful information. This is where Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services can help.
Working with businesses of all sizes and encouraging participation by the accounting professional, Mendelson and Noobeh help businesses implement the technology that facilitates faster collection of information throughout the business and then applying solutions that reflect those numbers in ways that helps users visualize the meaning of the data.

Mendelson and Noobeh help CPAs and accounting professionals remove threats of competition and irrelevance by helping them work closer with and deliver greater value to their small business clients. Applying proven, innovative technologies with improved processing methods and controls leads to better information provided in a timelier manner, which returns to the client as a better result offering greater insight. This is what small businesses want from their CPA, and Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh Cloud Services helps professionals deliver it.

jm bunny feetMake sense?

J

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Deadline Approaching for QuickBooks Desktop Users

All QuickBooks Desktop Users Are Required to Upgrade to a Current Subscription Model by Sep 30. Yes, the time has come to buy in to the software subscription model or lose access to your books. But at least you get to keep using QuickBooks desktop software, which is worth a lot of you’re already invested in QuickBooks.

Effective Sep 30, 2024, all existing users of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, Mac, and Enterprise Solutions v21 (and earlier) must transition to the annual subscription model. For Pro and Premier users, this is a short reprieve. Previously Intuit had announced a July deadline for renewing Pro/Premier licenses. After the now-September deadline, there won’t be any new sales of Pro or Premier licenses. With some of the recent price increases it almost becomes a moot point, as QB Enterprise is now priced similarly (less?) than Premier.

Something notable in all of this is that versions sold under non-subscription one-time licenses will be discontinued entirely. That is just fine for many users, however, as the much older versions don’t “phone home” to authorize the license, so they can keep working. The downside to that is vulnerability. Outdated and unpatched software is more vulnerable to risk than software that is actively updated to protect against various exploits. Best practices demand keeping software updated and patched. Being out of support with your business financial and accounting software is not a position you want to find yourself in.

Starting Oct 1, 2024, QuickBooks Enterprise will be the only QuickBooks Desktop version available for new purchases. For very small businesses, this is going to be a challenge as QB Enterprise is not as affordable as Pro was. These businesses may find that QuickBooks Online works for them, but they will not only miss out on a great deal of QB Desktop functionality that is not present in Online, but they will also be locked into the QuickBooks Online service model of receiving product updates without announcement, not having a backup of your company data, getting bombarded with a revolving door of add-on apps, and having literally no control whatsoever of where your data lives and how Intuit and its companies are accessing it.

If you are using an older version of QuickBooks Desktop, upgrading to the subscription model before the deadline is crucial to avoid any interruption of services.

What does this mean?

  1. Service Discontinuation:
    Failure to upgrade will result in the discontinuation of services such as QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, Payments, Online Backup, online banking, system updates, security patches, and live support. This could potentially disrupt your business operations.
  2. Immediate Action Needed:
    To ensure uninterrupted business operations, we strongly recommend planning your upgrade without delay.
  3. Advantages of Upgrading:
    Intuit encourages existing Desktop subscribers to upgrade to the current version (Desktop 2024) to benefit from the latest features, improvements, security updates, and bug fixes. Updated software also improves compatibility with current versions of Windows, Microsoft Office applications, Gmail services and other solutions that use modern methods of account protection and authentication.

At that time, you may also want to consider your alternatives to how and where you run your QuickBooks Desktop software.

Intuit offers “cloud access” with their QuickBooks Enterprise licensing, but this option is not your only or best option for running your QuickBooks Desktop/Enterprise software in the cloud.

With the bad guys (hackers) and malware being as prevalent as they are, businesses must be vigilant in securing their business and financial information. Shared hosting platforms where service providers allow many users from many businesses to operate on the same servers simply cannot provide the level of security or protection most businesses need.

Noobeh QBonAzure offers some limited shared hosting, but only for customers that have limited requirements and only for a few users. When a company needs more than just “vanilla” hosting for their valuable financial data, we strongly recommend going the private route and having your own cloud server.

Not just a “dedicated” server in a service provider’s network, Noobeh works only in the private Microsoft account of each customer, ensuring that there is absolutely no sharing of any resources with other customers. This allows us to build a system that works specifically for your business, with all the applications and services needed to support all aspects of operation. There aren’t different levels of service or service packages; each system is built and sized for the customer’s unique requirements, and we don’t charge per-application or silly things like that. You need what you need to run your business, and we host that.

Connect with us if you have any questions or need assistance during this transition. We will help you navigate the changes and understand how best to proceed for your business and circumstances, engaging with the right products and services to ensure continuity and set you up for greater future success.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Better QuickBooks Hosting with Noobeh

QuickBooks hosting is a type of service that allows small businesses to access their QuickBooks Desktop accounting software and data from anywhere with an internet connection. QuickBooks hosting fits into the modern cloud computing world by providing small businesses with a flexible and cost-effective way to manage their accounting and financial operations.

In the past, small businesses would need to install QuickBooks software on their own computers and maintain their own IT infrastructure to manage their accounting and financial data. This requires a significant investment in hardware, software, and IT staff, and makes it difficult for the business to scale their accounting operations as their business grows.

With QuickBooks hosting, small businesses can avoid these challenges by moving their accounting operations to the cloud. Yet not all QuickBooks hosting providers offer the same level of service or protection for your data.

Most QuickBooks hosting providers run the QuickBooks software and store the QuickBooks data on their own servers, renting space on the servers to its business customers. In most cases, many businesses will share the servers, which increases risk.

Noobeh works only with private environments where customers do not share servers or other resources. Each customer has their own private account and environment which is accessible to only their users via the Internet. This eliminates the need for small businesses to maintain their own IT infrastructure and allows them to scale their accounting and business operations up or down as needed.

QuickBooks hosting from Noobeh provides businesses with a number of other benefits, including:

Increased Security: Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure deliveries have advanced security measures in place to protect customer data from unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats.

Enhanced Collaboration: Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure allows multiple users to access and work on the same QuickBooks data at the same time, which can improve collaboration and productivity.

Automatic Backups: Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure performs regular backups of customer data, which can help ensure that important financial data is not lost in the event of a disaster or system failure.

Anytime, Anywhere Access: Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure allows small businesses to access their accounting data from anywhere with an internet connection, which can be especially useful for remote or distributed teams.

Totally Private: Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure runs on the Microsoft Azure platform and uses private Microsoft accounts, keeping things absolutely private for your business.

Noobeh’s QuickBooks on Azure hosting is a modern cloud computing solution that can help small businesses streamline their accounting and financial operations, reduce costs, and improve their overall efficiency.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Cloud Hosting Benefits for Business Owners and Their Accountants

Two-TallThe concept of running applications in the cloud is not at all new.  In fact, there are literally millions of business users accessing hosted applications and cloud app services every day, and adoption didn’t reach those numbers overnight. While the value of running software such as QuickBooks in a cloud model may differ from business to business but the underlying benefits are there for all to achieve.

The main value for some business owners is in being able to access information and data while traveling out of the office or when working from home.  Using almost any portable computer or mobile device, business users are able to get information on customers, orders, payments, and other valuable data regardless of the work location.  Being able to keep tabs on the business even when they aren’t there is very important to some business owners and secure remote access has become essential for today’s mobile workforce.

Where mobility motivates some to move to the cloud, collaboration is what drives others. For public accountants and small business bookkeepers this benefit becomes essential to effectively delivering services to clients. Because small businesses and the professionals that serve them do not operate in the same locations, the ability to work in the same software and data at the same or different times allows business owners and their accountants and bookkeepers to work seamlessly together in support of the business.  Business owners benefit from better financial data in real-time, and the accounting professionals are able to deliver results without time-consuming travel and doing the work on-site.

Business owners and the accounting professionals supporting them end up realizing the benefits of improved IT, where greater predictability in performance and cost matters. Businesses need to focus on their business and not on the IT which supports it, and outsource professionals such as accountants and bookkeepers need to be able to work with clients efficiently and without having to invest in expensive tools and services to make it happen.

When a cloud platform is deployed for the client business it can not only deliver benefits to the business owners and operation. A cloud-based approach can also provide tangible benefits in worker efficiency and productivity through improved access to information for the professionals who support the business.

Businesses need technology to support their operations, and the requirement generally spans far beyond pure accounting and finance. Unfortunately, many outsource bookkeeping and accounting professionals focus only on the accounting or financial systems when considering a cloud-based implementation, failing to consider the critical aspects of the operational level applications which support the various functions of the business.

This is often where a cloud hosting approach meets business needs better than a single cloud app. With a cloud hosting model, the existing business software and data can be “enabled” to allow accounting professionals access to the complete realm of business data, putting them in a far better position to ensure that the information resulting in the accounting system is of high quality and may be trusted.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Robots are just automation you didn’t know you needed

tall-tower-vancouver
There is a big trend in software integration these days which involves automation – turning connected systems into free-flowing conduits for data to move intelligently into and out of with ease.  Well, maybe not quite that, but the key is the unattended and intelligent movement of data from one system to another.  People don’t have to get involved in order for the information to flow from one system to another… it just goes by itself.  Like a robot.

Having software and systems connect to one another isn’t new at all, and businesses have for many years recognized the value of being able to have information entered in one system available in another.  Entire ERP frameworks have been created based on this concept of entering data once and using it in many ways.  The trick is when there is more than one system or software product involved.

A simple example might be someone who owns a web store and does their bookkeeping with QuickBooks Premier.  The webstore isn’t running QuickBooks; it is running an e-commerce solution or shopping cart system that allows customers to buy things online.  However, the webstore does create sales orders and charge transactions, and may even have to manage an inventory of saleable items.

Getting the information from the webstore to QuickBooks and vice versa is often a task business owners take on, either by entering the information manually themselves or hiring and employee to do it.  This manual re-entry of information introduces a large potential for errors in the data entered and is time-consuming and costly.

“It was just awful,” said David Clothier, treasurer of the Knoxville, Tenn., company, which operates more than 500 Pilot Flying J truck stops nationwide. “There were humans everywhere.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-bookkeeper-is-a-robot-1430776272

Rather than having a person re-type the information from one system into another, software-based integration programs may be available to help users map the data and move it from one solution to the other.  Using a software program to transfer the information is much faster and reduces the error rate, increasing the overall value and usefulness of the information.

Automation isn’t the only requirement that makes this all robot-like.  The additional requirement is the intelligence.  If people still have to get directly involved in order for something to happen, then all the happening is still based on human performance. No robots here.

Intelligent integration of information occurs when the systems on both ends are capable of making decisions and acting on them.  For example, a business might use a solution that allows vendors to submit their invoices electronically.  Through a base of rules that match invoices to requests and approvals, the system is able to issue payment and record the transactions automatically and without human intervention, saving hugely on personnel and processing costs.  Robots (the automation solution) wouldn’t make up all the rules, but could follow them repetitively and without question once established.

…software can help businesses operate more effectively. “If you think like a human, there are only certain things you can do. When you think like a robot, many things are possible.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-bookkeeper-is-a-robot-1430776272

It isn’t a new paradigm for building businesses – this doing of things a bit smarter than before and leveraging technology to get more done in less time.  The difference is that the pace of change is increasing, giving businesses less time to stand by and rub the chin and consider whether or not this new fangled technology makes sense. Robots, you say? Meet your new part-time bookkeeper.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J