MBS Bookkeeping Blog

Use QuickBooks' Tools - and Common Sense Procedures - To Prevent Financial Fraud

2013-02-19T13:42:00.002-08:00

You work hard for your money. Strong internal controls can keep it from disappearing unnecessarily.

You trust your employees or you wouldn't have hired them. That's what everyone says as they watch a valued staff member being hauled off in handcuffs. But I trusted him.

Whether your accounting tasks are done on one PC or you have multiple users working on different screens, it's critical that you make use of all that QuickBooks offers in terms of internal controls. You'll also need to establish some common-sense rules.

First Stop: Audit Trail

An audit trail is a very large report that displays every addition, deletion, and modification of every transaction. In older versions of QuickBooks you could turn it on and off, but it's permanently on now.

Because of its size, you'll probably have to use QuickBooks' filtering tools to zero in on the user and/or date(s) you're looking for. Go to Reports / Accountant & Taxes / Audit Trail. Click Customize Report / Filters to set up your search.

Your audit trail won't alert you when someone tries to enter a prohibited area, and it won't detect changes to lists. Setting up permissions will help (Company / Set Up Users and Passwords / Set Up Users), but you need more than that.

Figure 1: Be especially careful when granting user access to areas that contain customer, vendor and employee information.

Run the Right Reports

Other QuickBooks features can help prevent fraud. Review these reports regularly:

Closing Date Exception. Why were those changes necessary?
Voided/Deleted Transactions. Is there supporting documentation? Should you be reviewing these daily?
Expenses by Vendor Detail. Look for irregularities, especially multiple payments made to a vendor in a short period of time.
Check registers. Use the Balance Sheet for this. Go to Reports / Company & Financial / Balance Sheet Standard and customize the report for the correct period and - if necessary - for specific customers, vendors, and/or jobs.

Adhere to Best Practices

You undoubtedly implement financial best practices in your personal life. You reconcile your accounts. You don't give your online banking password to anyone. And you glance through your recently-posted transactions on your financial institutions' websites.

If your company is large enough that you have multiple accounting employees, you probably can't be as hands-on as you are at home. But you can still set up internal control procedures.

Figure 2: Debit? Credit? Reverse the transaction? No one should be making General Journal entries but you. It's easy to err here; talk to us before using this feature.

For example, if your company has grown to the point where you're removed from the daily workflow, you may still want to have approval rights for some procedures, like bank balance adjustments, refunds and credits, printed checks (you should still be signing them), timesheets and expense reports.

It goes without saying that you should password-protect your QuickBooks company file and change the password regularly, even - and especially - if you're the entire accounting department. And protect yourself from external fraud. We can do a review of your security procedures and make suggestions.

Reinforce the Rules

Figure 3: Anyone in your company who has access to accounting data should have a background check.

Know who your employees are (consider running background checks) and, if you can, rotate the duties assigned to accounting staff. If you have only one person managing all of your bookkeeping work, conduct an even more thorough background search: credit, references, criminal activity, etc.

Finally, make sure that all employees understand the definition and consequences of fraud. Let them know about the steps being taken to prevent it, but do some unannounced auditing on your own. Include a session on fraud in orientation and get current staff up to speed. Explain that this is necessary for their protection, too. Make it easy to report fraud anonymously, with no fear of repercussions.

This may seem like a lot of extra tasks in your workday, but imagine the time you'll lose tracking down fraudulent activity if it occurs. So spend a fraction of that time upfront.

For more information, or to hire a full-charge bookkeeper to consult your financial information for your CPA, contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

Mark’s Bookkeeping Services Is Seeking New Office Space!

2013-02-14T09:03:00.001-08:00

Here at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services, we’re happy to announce that we are rapidly expanding. As
our business continues to grow, we’ll need new office space to keep providing you the same reliable
bookkeeping services comfortably and efficiently. So we’re putting the word out:

We’re looking for a space:

Around 2,000 square feet, in or near the Flatiron District
From 14th St. to 30th St. / Broadway to 7th Ave. preferred
Brokers respected

If you know of any available space that meets our needs, please let us know! You can reach us at
info@marksbookkeeping.com.

And as always, if you’re looking for a full-charge bookkeeper to organize your financial information for your CPA, visit us at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services.

Get A Free Hour Of Bookkeeping From Mark's Bookkeeping Services

2013-01-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

Tax season is here, MBS is your resource to get ready to file your taxes. Take advantage of the Free Hour Of Bookkeeping!
The Full-Charge Bookkeepers at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services can help you to organize your transactions so that you can present your CPA with a clear and concise record of what has happened to you financially this last year.
Some examples of how MBS can help you and your business:
Working in your Accounting Program (QuickBooks, Peachtree, MAS 90 or any Accounting Program) we will:

Reconcile all bank, merchant and credit card accounts
Reconcile Petty cash, expense out your receipts against ATM withdrawals
Categorize uncategorized transactions.
Review and confirm your income and expenses.
Make unused vendors and customers inactive.
Confirm all transactions have a class if your company uses the class function in QuickBooks –
Enter year-end accrual adjustments if provided by your CPA. .
Reconcile physical inventory and QuickBooks inventory. If your company has inventory, request a manual count at the end of the year so your bookkeeper can enter any adjustments.
Provide reports or a copy of the QB file (or any accounting program you use) to your company’s CPA.
Close your books (if your fiscal year matches the calendar year).
Work with your CPA to make sure your Accounting File is GAAP compliant.

Professional and efficient bookkeepers from Marks Bookkeeping Services can assist you to make sure your records are well prepared to be given to your CPA. We can do this as a year-end project or provide an ongoing solution to your bookkeeping needs.

You will never be afraid of tax season again!

Call MBS at : 212 243 5757 or fill-out the form online to enjoy a Free Hour of Bookkeeping*

* Terms apply

Is 2013 The Year You Finally Go Mobile With Financial Data?

2013-01-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

Using QuickBooks Mobile, you'll improve business relations, put out fires before they start and unchain yourself from your office computer.

There are only a few reasons why you wouldn't be using QuickBooks mobile on your smartphone. Maybe you don't have a smartphone. Or when you're out of the office, you don't want to be available for accounting work. Or you might not think that it has enough features to make it worth using.

While the first two reasons are matters of personal preference, the third just isn't true. QuickBooks Mobile automatically - and almost instantly - synchronizes the data from your desktop or laptop computer copy of QuickBooks. While it's only focused on sales, not payables or payroll, you can manage receivables quite nicely whether you're in a customer's office or at a trade show or community event - or sitting on the couch at home.

Figure 1: You can see this screen no matter where you and your smartphone are (the recently-upgraded Android version is pictured here).

Countless Scenarios

There are numerous scenarios where you might want to access, add or edit customers, estimates, invoices, sales receipts or payments when you're not near the PC where QuickBooks is installed, like these:

You do a half day of onsite training and your client wants to pay you cash right then to qualify for a discount. You can record the payment and email a sales receipt.
You're on the road and you want to see how well your bookkeeper is managing receivables. QuickBooks Mobile displays three views: recent activity, today and upcoming.
You're with a client who would like to give you a check to get current, but he or she can't find the invoice. Rather than calling your office and sitting on hold until someone has time to look, you can pull up the form on your smartphone to discuss it.

You can record sales receipts and payments on your smartphone - even schedule appointments that move to your Google calendar.

The Perils of Payroll

QuickBooks Mobile doesn't support payroll, but Intuit Online Payroll does. Like QuickBooks Mobile, the app itself is free (of course, you have to pay for the service itself). You can view the most recent payroll run and employee information, as well as preparing, previewing and approving the current payroll.

Neither app is available yet for the iPad, though QuickBooks Online is.

Paper or Plastic?

If you've been in business for very long and still don't accept credit cards, you have an idea of how many sales you've lost. And QuickBooks Mobile won't let you do so, anyway. You'll need to get a merchant account from Intuit Merchant Service for QuickBooks (fees apply). A merchant account allows you to accept plastic through QuickBooks itself, your web browser, your web storefront - and on your smartphone or iPad.

Missed your flight and afraid you'll miss the current payroll run, too? Intuit Online Payroll gives you access from your Android or iPhone.

To do so, you'll need to apply for a merchant account and download Intuit's free GoPayment app. You can either swipe cards on the free mobile reader or type numbers in. Your customers sign their names on the surface of your mobile device, and you can print or email a receipt.

Figure 2: You'll need to get acquainted with the Intuit Merchant Service Center to work with credit card payments.

It would be nice if those credit card payments were just instantly zapped into the right places in QuickBooks, but alas, it isn't so. You'll need to do some setup and processing both within QuickBooks and in the online Intuit Merchant Service Center. We can help you with setup and your initial transactions to make sure all of your payments get through and are deposited and/or credited correctly.

We think you'll find that once you start using all of the mobile payment services that Intuit offers, you'll wonder what took you so long.

For more information, or to hire a full-charge bookkeeper to consult your financial information for your CPA, contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

2013 Is Coming, Be Ready For Your Tax Forms

2012-12-18T09:38:00.003-08:00

January 31st is the due date for all businesses to give their annual information statements to recipients of certain payments made during 2012. If you haven’t already begun to collect and prepare this information for your tax return, you may want to start now, as the IRS will be enforcing new rules regarding 1099 forms.

This year, keeping organized will be extremely important because the IRS has decided to take a strong approach to enforcement of 1099's in particular (See our previous article about the IRS 1099 enforcement rules). However, they are also very concerned about the proper filing of W2 information, as well as the many year end and new year filings that are necessary and must be planned for as the year comes to a close.

The preparation for the Employee Reporting Requirements (W2 forms) and Vendor Reporting (1099 forms) are important activities to worry about at this period, as well. The list of Payments that may be covered and will appear in the Form 1099 include the following:

Cash payments for fish (or other aquatic life) purchased from anyone engaged in the trade or business of catching fish.
Compensation for workers who are not considered employees (including fishing boat proceeds to crew members).
Dividends and other corporate distributions.
Interest.
Rent.
Royalties.
Payments of Indian gaming profits to tribal members.
Profitsharing distributions.
Retirement plan distributions.
Original issue discount.
Prizes and awards.
Medical and health care payments.
Debt cancellation (treated as payment to debtor).
Cash payments over $10,000. See the instructions for Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business.

You can find the form on the IRS website,

Our professional full-charge bookkeepers can help you to organize your entire payroll sheets, fulfill the forms, and get your accounts ready for your CPA before it’s too late! Do not hesitate to contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

Upgrade to QuickBooks Accountant 2013

2012-12-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Intuit has announced the release of QuickBooks Accountant 2013, the latest and most powerful version of their popular accounting software. It comes equipped with all of the features users have come to depend on from previous versions of QuickBooks, as well as a number of new and upgraded features to help you manage your business with ease. If you don’t use QuickBooks, or even if you use the software and just have an earlier version, you’re missing out on these numerous new features and upgrades that make using QuickBooks easier than it’s ever been.

Some of these new and improved features include:

Paste and save 1000+ transactions from Excel
E-Mail journal entries in just three simple steps
Powerful tools to find and fix client errors even faster
Set up new clients more quickly
A new design makes QuickBooks easier to navigate and lets you focus on the task at hand

The new features are designed to streamline workflow, save time, and increase efficiency for your business. If you’re already using an earlier version of QuickBooks, you’ll be able to take advantage of the ease and efficiency of the new features. And if you aren’t using QuickBooks yet, now is the perfect time to organize your business’s finances with this popular and effective software.

If you act now, you can save on the new version of the software with our special offer. You can purchase QuickBooks Accountant 2013 for just $299.95 and experience the ease and convenience of all the new and improved features. Just contact us at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services (212-245-5757) to get started.

IRS To Enforce Form 1099 Compliance

2012-11-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has increased their vigilance in inspecting annual 1099 reporting regulations. The IRS is using new methods to enforce compliance with their 1099 rules in an attempt to close the $450 billion tax gap created by small businesses that don't comply with these 1099 rules. If you're required to use 1099s as part of your business, you may want to be aware of them.

Two important questions were added to tax returns in 2011 in an attempt to close the tax gap. They are:

1. Did your business make any payments that would require filing form(s) 1099, and...
A2. If yes, did your business file or will it file form(s) 1099?

When you fill out the form, you are required to check either the "yes" or "no" box under penalty of perjury. And if you don't properly follow the IRS regulations regarding 1099s, your answer here may get you into significant trouble.

The role of the 1099 form is to notify the IRS of any income taxpayers receive. The IRS enters the 1099 data it receives into their computers, which then match the data against income reported on taxpayers' returns. Any shortage in income results in a letter and/or a bill for taxes due, plus penalties and interest. However, small businesses often don't report correct or complete 1099 information, which is why the two new questions were added to the tax return.

If a business states they they made payments that would require a 1099 form but they fail to file one, they have intentionally disregarded the reporting rules. If a business reports that they were not required to file a Form 1099 and it is later shown that they were, that business has intentionally disregarded the reporting rules and lied on its tax return. If you are caught in this trap, you may be liable to pay the greater of $100 per return or 10 percent of the total amount that should have been reported. This could be a significant financial setback for your small business.

Avoid these penalties by working with your accountant in advance to ensure that you comply with the most current 1099 regulations. Conferring with your accountant is invaluable, as they will have the best knowledge of your particular business and accounts, and they'll be able to provide the most relevant and helpful advice.

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Are You Defining Items in QuickBooks Correctly?

2012-11-07T09:52:00.001-08:00

Create item records in QuickBooks carefully, and QuickBooks will return the favor by running useful, accurate reports.

Figure 1: Clearly-defined items result in precise reports.

Obviously, you're using QuickBooks because you buy and/or sell products and/or services. You want to know at least weekly - if not daily - what's selling and what's not, so you can make informed plans about your company's future.

You get that information from the reports that you so painstakingly customize and create. But their accuracy depends in large part on how carefully you define each item. This can be a laborious process, but it's a critical part of QuickBooks' foundation.

QuickBooks' Item Lineup

You may not be aware of all of your options here. So let's take a look at what you see when you go to Lists / Item List / Item / New:

Service. Simple enough. Do you or your employees do something for clients? Training? Construction labor? Web design? This is usually tracked by the hour.

Inventory Part. If you want to maintain detailed records about inventory that contain up-to-date information about value, quantities on hand and cost of goods sold, you must define these items as inventory parts. Before you start creating individual records, make sure that QuickBooks is set up for this purpose. Go to Edit / Preferences / Items & Inventory / Company Preferences and select the desired options there. QuickBooks needs to know that you're planning to track at least some items as inventory parts.

Inventory Assembly. Just what it sounds like; it's sometimes referred to as a Bill of Materials. Do you sell items that actually consist of multiple individual products, services and/or other charges (though you may also sell the parts separately)? If you're planning to track the compilations as individual units, then you must define them as assemblies.

Non-Inventory Parts. If you don't track inventory, you can set up items as non-inventory parts. Even if you do track inventory, there may be times when you'll want to use this designation. For instance, you might sell something to a customer that they asked you to obtain, but you don't plan to stock it. In that case, QuickBooks only records the incoming and outgoing funds. The New Item window looks a bit intimidating, but it's critical that you complete it thoroughly and correctly. We can help you get started.

Other Charges. This is a catch-all category for items like delivery charges or setup fees. You can't designate a unit or measure here; they're just standard costs.

Groups. Unlike assemblies, these are not recorded as individual inventory units. Use this designation when you sell a combination of items together frequently but you don't want them tracked as one entity.

Discount. This is a fixed amount or a percentage that you subtract from a subtotal or total.

Payment. Normally, you would use the Receive Payments window to record a payment made. But if your customer has made a partial or advance payment upfront, use this item to subtract it from the total when you create the invoice or statement.

Figure 4: Use the Payment item to record an upfront remittance.

Sales Tax Item. One sales tax, one rate, one agency.

Sales Tax Group. If a sale requires two or more sales tax items, QuickBooks calculates the total and displays it for the customer, but the items are tracked individually.

Additional Actions

The Item menu provides other options for working with items. You can:

Edit or delete
Duplicate
Make inactive
Find in transactions and
Customize the list's columns

Let us know if you're not confident about items you've already created or if you're just getting started with this important QuickBooks feature. Some extra work and attention upfront can save you from hours of back-tracking and frustration - and from reports that don't tell the truth.

5 Bookkeeping Differences Between For Profit and Not For Profit Organizations

2012-10-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

For-Profit and Not-for-Profit organizations have two ways of thinking. The bookkeeping elements will be different as well . Learn how ratio, balance sheet, taxes, income statements are handle differently for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

5 Differences Between Bookkeeping For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations from Mark's Bookkeeping Services

QuickBooks 2013 Gives You A Reason to Upgrade

2012-10-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

Tired of QuickBooks' cramped, claustrophobic screens and uneven interface? You'll be pleased to see the 2013 version.

You chose QuickBooks for a variety of reasons, a major one being its simplicity and usability. But the software is more than 20 years old now, and hundreds of features have been added over the years. QuickBooks looks old, tired, and in need of a makeover.

Not anymore. Intuit has totally redesigned the program's interface and navigational tools, providing a more consistent, streamlined, state-of-the-art look and feel. For the first time in a few years, there's a compelling reason to consider moving up.

Figure 1: The QuickBooks 2013 home page.

Clean, Efficient, Customizable

What Intuit heard from customers was that they wanted a clean, simple experience. They wanted QuickBooks optimized for efficiency, and they wanted to be able to customize quickly.

So Intuit built a brand new interface, one that offers:

An across-the-board, consistent look and feel
A minimal learning curve, aided by familiar software conventions
A clearer, more obvious workflow

QuickBooks 2013's dramatic changes are evident from its first screen. The home page has been cleaned up, and many icons removed (with their functions available elsewhere). But the interactive flowchart graphic is still there, along with icons for other commonly-used features.

You can still use the software's standard drop-down menus. But you now have a choice between the old horizontal Icon Toolbar and a new vertical navigational panel (or neither of the latter two). You can customize the new panel to give you quick access to the functions and reports you use most often, saving time and unnecessary clicking.

Figure 2: The new vertical navigational panel can be customized to display the icons you want.

Familiarity, and Clear Signals

Whether you just handle a subset of your company's financial data or you're the only one working with QuickBooks, your workflow will be faster and more intuitive.

QuickBooks 2013 uses colors and other visual cues to provide helpful hints and speed up your work. If the same option occurs within more than one screen, its always the identical color. When you're completing an invoice, for example, the Save & New button is a bright blue color, as it is on many other screens. The Save & Close and OK icons are the same shade within the forms and records where they occur.

Color is also used to signify related actions in the new navigational Ribbon, a familiar interface convention that replaces the mismatched icons that used to be displayed at the top of transaction forms. In QuickBooks 2013, the icons for related tasks are the same color, and the graphics themselves are much cleaner and well-positioned.

Figure 3: QuickBooks 2013's new navigational Ribbon is designed to accelerate workflow.

A Pleasure to Use

No area of QuickBooks remained untouched in this massive overhaul. Every screen has been modified to enhance readability and speed. Fonts look larger and clearer, and the overall design is more aesthetically pleasing.

So besides making your accounting chores zip along faster, the new look and navigation have a positive psychological effect: It's simply more enjoyable and less frustrating to interact with QuickBooks 2013. It's more modern, attractive look has a lot of appeal.

There are a few new things under the hood in this new version - it's not just an interface update. For example, customer and vendor records are more flexible and thorough. You can attach to-do's to them, assign multiple contacts and store more contact options, like Facebook addresses and Twitter handles.

Figure 4: Contact records in QuickBooks 2013 are more readable and thorough.

Starting Fresh

There are other changes that will make your work life easier, like one-click access to both the Intuit App Center (where you'll find hundreds of integrated QuickBooks add-ons) and your most often-accessed reports.

The last few versions of QuickBooks have been rather ho-hum in terms of new usability and functionality. But we encourage you to seriously consider upgrading to QuickBooks 2013. We'd be happy to help you get up and running with it. Together, we can take a fresh look at your workflow to see if you and QuickBooks can build a better accounting experience.

Five Tips for Paying Part-Timers

2012-09-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Many small business owners employ a number of part-time employees in addition to full-timers. However, these small business owners may not be aware of all of the intricacies involved in categorizing these employees, and their businesses might be improved if they made a few changes. If your business employs part-time employees, be sure to follow this advice for maximum reward.

Withhold FICA on part-timers. If one of your part-time workers also has a full-time job where they've had 100% of their FICA withheld for the year, you'll have to withhold the full amount from their pay as well. These workers can get a refund of any overpaid FICA on their 1040.

Length of employment foes not determine worker status. Even those employees who work just part of one day are still employees, and all employment taxes apply.

Define who is "part-time" and who is "full-time." Official company policy is what determines who is a part-v.-full-time employee. Federal wage and hour law restrict only the number of hours worked in the workweek, when overtime must be paid (for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek), and the number of hours that children can work. Be sure that your company policy, handbook, and any contracts are clear on full-v.-part-time workers.

Former employees who return to your employ are most likely employees. They're not independent contractors. If they do the same job they did before they left, especially in the same tax year, they are employees.

Giving part-timers benefits is optional. You generally won't have to pay part-time or seasonal help for holidays and you won't need to include part-timers in health, pension, or other benefits. Just be sure that you have a written plan stating which benefits are and are not available to these workers.

For more information on classifying full-vs.-part-time employees, or to have one of our full charge bookkeepers consult your financial information for your CPA or HR Advisor, contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

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QuickBooks Payroll Runs: Easy, Fast, Accurate

2012-09-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

If you've already set up your QuickBooks employee and company payroll files, the hard part's over.

It's not just a catchy ad slogan: It's true. Unless you have dozens of employees or numerous exceptions each payday, you can literally process a payroll run in just a few minutes using the employee compensation tools in QuickBooks.

No matter which version of desktop QuickBooks you're using, payday chores are similar. Even if you've subscribed to Full Service Payroll and are having most of the work done by Intuit, you still have to enter the number and type of hours worked for each pay period.

If you're doing payroll manually or through a payroll service, you might be surprised at how quickly and easily your payroll tasks can be completed once you've finished entering information about your company and its employees, taxes and deductions.

A Simple Process

When you get a reminder that it's time to run payroll, go to Employees / Pay Employees and choose Scheduled Payroll to get to this window:

Figure 1: No matter how many payrolls you've run, it's important to verify that these dates are correct.

When you click Start Scheduled Payroll, a new screen displays your employee list in a spreadsheet grid. By default, QuickBooks displays several columns, including Employee, Regular Pay and Sick Hourly; you can opt to include others, like Employee Number. If you hide columns that contain information, that data will still be used in paycheck calculation. Then:

Verify that the information at the top of the screen is correct (Payroll Schedule, Bank Account, etc.).
Make sure that all employees to be paid have check marks next to their names.
Enter the number of hours worked for each hourly employee, placing them in the correct pay type column.

Select one and click Open Paycheck Detail to see a complete breakdown of compensation and withholding - all calculated automatically by QuickBooks based on your setup data - within the Preview Paycheck screen. Close the window when finished.

Figure 2: The Preview Paycheck screen shows the numbers behind the check amount.

Checking Your Work

If you're satisfied that everything is correct, click Continue. In the next screen, you'll verify Payroll Information again and check a box to indicate whether checks will be printed or handwritten (you can assign a starting check number to the latter). QuickBooks displays a grid containing each employee's total gross pay, total taxes and deductions, net pay, employer taxes, contributions and total hours. The Direct Deposit field will be checked if the individual is signed up.

If you're at all unsure that your payroll information is correct, you can click Finish Later. Otherwise, select Create Paychecks.

The Final Step

QuickBooks will then display your results:

Figure 3: Once you've previewed and approved a payroll, you can simply click to print any paper checks and pay stubs.

Check the box at the bottom of this window next to Do not advance the dates of this payroll schedule in the Payroll Center if you still have employees to process for this run. If the box isn't checked, QuickBooks will change the dates in the Pay Employees window to reflect your next pay period.

When you select Print Paychecks or Print Pay Stubs, the selection window opens. You can toggle among views of Paychecks, Direct Deposit, or Both. Select the ones you want to dispatch and click Print or E-Mail. You'll have the option to reprint any checks if you need to; otherwise click OK.

Figure 4: Click Preferences in the print selection window to customize paycheck vouchers and pay stubs.

No Room For Errors

Sounds simple, and it is - as long as your setup was error-free. As you well know, you can't make mistakes running payroll or you'll initiate a whole series of incorrect numbers, making employees, benefits providers and government agencies unhappy.

So do not proceed if something doesn't look right; QuickBooks always gives you an out. And let us know how we can help with setup taxes, or payroll runs - or anything in between.

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Idealist Grad Fair This Thursday, 9/13

2012-09-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

At Mark’s Bookkeeping Services, we’re proud to support not-for-profit businesses. We like to share opportunities related to non-profit causes and charities when we come across them, and if you’re considering a career in that field, we think you’ll be interested in an event happening this week here in Manhattan.

The Idealist Grad Fair, organized by Idealist.org, will provide representatives from over 200 schools offering graduate programs in nonprofit management, international affairs, social work, and many other careers. These representatives can be an invaluable resource for information and advice if you’re looking to begin or further your social impact career. They’ll be on hand to provide advice and detailed information about the graduate programs at their respective schools.

The Grad Fair will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion this Thursday, 9/13 from 5:00-8:00 PM. The fair is hosted by the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and will be helpful for undergrads, professionals, and anyone else who might benefit from applying to graduate school to further their social impact or non-profit careers.

Additionally, a Q&A will be held on the subject of “Admissions and Financial Aid” earlier in the day, from 12:00-1:00 PM in the Puck Building.

The fair is free and open to the public, though if you’re interested in attending, be sure to RSVP so you don’t miss out on this opportunity. To do so, visit the event page, where you’ll also be able to learn more about the fair and the panel, as well as view a list of participating schools.

http://www.idealist.org/view/fair/ZbcDWDXk6W4/

QuickBooks Can Do Much More Than You Think

2012-08-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

No, you'll never max out all of its features, but here are some tips on tools that extend QuickBooks' usefulness - and save you time.

Zero In On Key Report Figures

You've undoubtedly created reports that were so lengthy that you got tired of scrolling up and down to find totals for each individual section. QuickBooks lets you collapse and expand reports to see primary totals only, but this command affects the entire report.

If you want to just collapse a section or two, here's how you do it. As an example, go to Reports / Company & Financial / Balance Sheet Standard. In QuickBooks 2012, you'd click the Excel button (your version ma say Export). Indicate that you want to create a new worksheet and click Advanced. This window opens:

Figure 1: The Advanced Excel Options window displays the formatting tools you can carry over from QuickBooks and the features in Excel that you want to be active.

Make sure that Auto Outline (allows collapsing/expanding) is checked, then click OK and start the export. When your report opens as an Excel spreadsheet, you'll notice that there is a series of vertical lines to the left of your data, and a group of numbers that corresponds to them running above horizontally.

Figure 2: Excel's Auto Outline feature adds tools to the left of your data that let you collapse and expand subsections.

To collapse a section so that only the totals show, click on the minus (-) sign next to the line that should remain (in this example, it's Total Checking/Savings). Do the same for Total Accounts Receivable and Total Other Current Assets. Then scroll down and do the same thing for the other asset subtotals. Here's what you'll see:

Figure 3: As you can see, the minus (-) signs have turned into plus (+) signs, which allows you to expand the rows back to their original states.

Auto Outline is a very useful feature, but there's more than one way to implement it. And its availability and operation can vary in different versions of both Excel and QuickBooks. We can help you master this, as well as other QuickBooks-to-Excel tools.

Hidden Gems

Here are some other less-commonly-used QuickBooks features that you may want to try:

Getting ready to send an invoice but want to check a related transaction from the same job a few months ago? You could use the Find tool, which is a seriously underused feature that can often answer a question quickly. But that takes a few clicks. Instead, just hit Ctrl + L, and that Customer/Job screen pops open in the Customer Center. Click Ctrl + E from that screen to see the Edit Job dialog box.
CTRL + Y on transaction screens opens the Transaction Journal, which shows you the behind-the-scenes debits and credits. If the Account column is truncated, click and drag the little diamond symbol to the right.
QuickBooks offers numerous helpful payroll reports, but it also transfers your data into Excel for more comprehensive views of your employee compensation information over customizable date ranges. Go to Reports / Employees & Payroll / Summarize Payroll Data in Excel and More Payroll Reports in Excel.

Figure 4: Summarize Payroll Data in Excel is actually a series of reports, available by clicking this navigational bar at the bottom of the screen.

Allowing multiple windows in QuickBooks and tired of clicking the little x repeatedly to start with a clean slate? Click Window / Close All. This drop-down menu also displays the list of open windows; click on one to go there.
There may be no more frustrating task than reconciling your bank accounts. If you're using online banking, consider doing this more than once monthly. Also, don't let QuickBooks do an automatic adjustment for a considerable discrepancy unless it was a mistake made by a financial institution: Click the Undo Last Reconciliation button and try to find the error. And don't forget about the Leave button. You may do better attacking it later.
If you occasionally need to enter a transaction for an entity that isn't a customer, vendor or employee, go to Banking / Other Names List. You can add, edit, and delete these, as well as converting them to customers, vendors or employees.

There's more than one way to do a lot of things in QuickBooks. We can tell you about more, and evaluate your workflow to see how else we can improve your accounting experience.

Related Post:

Payroll Tax Cut to Expire

2012-08-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

As Congress continues to fight over the details of the nation’s budget in an attempt to reduce the deficit, one item under consideration seems to be expendable to both parties: the Payroll Tax Cut. Despite almost constant disagreement between the two parties, both Democrats and Republicans seem to be prepared to agree to let this tax cut expire.

Congress instituted the payroll tax cut in order to give wage-earners some extra income with each paycheck, lowering the tax from 6.2% to 4.2% in 2010. According to the Independent Tax Policy Center, the tax cut saved working families an average of $934 per year. Though Republicans in Congress argued that the tax cut would only raise the deficit, Democrats maintained that the added income would help about 122 million people. The tax cut was passed, then extended in 2011, and again in 2012.

However, the White House isn’t pushing for another extension this year. Opponents of the tax cut point out that money the government would be earning from the payroll tax would fund Social Security, and that difference isn’t being made up by any spending cuts or tax increases. Congress avoided shorting the Social Security Trust Fund by diverting money from general funds to make up the difference, but the tax cut has cost the federal government $120 billion per year. Additionally, the AARP has appealed to Congress to end the tax cut, wanting to ensure that Social Security is protected.

While the White House hasn’t ruled out an extension of the payroll tax cut, there hasn’t been any discussion to keep it, or how to make up the difference in revenue without cutting into Social Security. White House spokesman Jay Carney didn’t provide any concrete answer on the matter, telling the press that a decision on the tax cut will depend on the administration “evaluat[ing] the strength of the economy as we move closer to the end of the year.”

There currently aren’t any plans for an extension, but rather a replacement of various tax cuts with a broader overhaul of the tax code that lawmakers think may help to better reduce the deficit. But if you were expecting some extra income as a result of the payroll tax cut, you may want to prepare yourself and your business for a higher tax rate.

Related Post

Definitively Classifying Independent Contractors

2012-08-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

One place the federal government can find more cash without raising taxes is payment of existing ones. To protect your company against substantially expanded IRS investigation of unpaid employment taxes, here’s good advice from Robert Woods, a tax lawyer experienced in employment-tax issues.

To back up classifying a worker as an Independent Contractor instead of an employee, have a written agreement that includes the following key terms:

Names and titles. The agreement should clearly state that the worker is an IC and not an employee and avoid any terms indicating an employment relationship.

Training and employer instructions. ICs largely obtain their own training and determine when, where and how work is done. The contract can specify expected work standards, but there should be no ongoing instructions from the employer.

Delegation. An IC permitted to delegate some or all work to his/her own workers and to train them and who is responsible for their results is more likely to hold up as an IC.

Work periods. It is preferable that an IC contract be for one year or less, with renewals. The longer the term, the more likely the worker will be deemed an employee (Caution: A contract that states employer-set work hours indicates employment).

Exclusivity. People who work exclusively and full-time for one firm are likely to be deemed employees, regardless of other facets of the relationship. ICs make themselves available to the public for work (AIPB Tip: The IRS looks for noncompete clauses in IC contracts. By definition, independent contractors should be allowed to offer their services to other customers).

Location. Unless the IC is servicing employer machines or equipment, designating work locations, especially on employer premises, indicates employment. ICs choose and pay for their own work location.

Periodic reports. Requiring progress reports indicates control and an employment relationship. With an IC, you should be concerned only with the final product.

Compensation. Time-based compensation, hourly or other, generally indicates employment, but not always. When possible, base compensation on output.

Expenses. ICs generally pay their own overhead and expenses (except perhaps travel expenses) – i.e., they should pay for their own equipment and supplies. Make this clear in the contract. If needed, increase the contract price instead of paying an IC’s expenses.

Risk. It should be possible for an IC to lose money – at least theoretically.

Termination. Either party should be able to terminate the contract with 30-days’ notice for any reason.

The following article appears courtesy of The General Ledger, the newsletter for the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

The 10 Most Common Payroll Mistakes

2012-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

To help close the deficit, the IRS is zeroing in on employment taxes – especially worker misclassification, untaxed taxable fringe benefits and executive compensation. Is your firm making one of these ten common payroll mistakes?

1) Classifying workers who are employees as independent contractors.

2) No travel or commuting reimbursements reported as income. Some reimbursements may be taxable – e.g., travel to a permanent work site in a different location from the employee’s permanent residence or a short-term assignment that lasts longer than one year.

3) Not getting W-9s from vendors. Failure to obtain W-9s for payments may subject the amounts to 28% backup withholding and to failure-to-deposit penalties on amounts that should have been withheld.

4) Not including in income the FMV of cash or cash equivalents. Cash equivalents, such as a gift card for a Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham, are never de minimus. However, the gift of a turkey or ham is de minimus.

5) Not including in income taxable fringe benefits. Examples of taxable fringes include spousal travel, company-provided autos when not driven for business or when driven for business but not properly substantiated, and country club dues and housing that is not substantiated for business use.

6) Not including in income unsubstantiated expense reimbursements. Reimbursements are nontaxable only if they meet accountable plan requirements: substantiation of the amount (e.g., a receipt), date, business-related person or place and date when the expense was incurred. But if your company uses the per diem method for travel or cents-per-mile for driving, no receipts are required.

7) Not including nonqualified deferred compensation in executive income. If your deferred compensation plan was not amended to company with IRC 409A, Inclusion in gross income of deferred compensation under nonqualified deferred compensation plans, you need to see what your options are.

8) Failure to timely deposit withheld taxes. Late deposits can incur a penalty of 2%-15% plus interest.

9) Failure to timely deposit withheld taxes on vested restricted stock and on exercised stock options. Deposit withheld employment taxes on exercised stock options within one day of the settlement date (which should be no more than three days after the exercise date). Generally, income on restricted stock is recognized upon vesting and subject to FITW and employment taxes on the difference between the shares’ FMV and what the employee paid for them. Deposit the FITW and withheld taxes on the next business day.

10) No 1099s when over $600 was paid in the year to ICs and vendors (corporate ICs or vendors are not included in this requirement).

The following article appears courtesy of The General Ledger, the newsletter for the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

Related Post:

QuickBooks Reports Help You Maintain Balanced Inventory Levels

2012-07-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Running out of products too frequently? Having to sell cheap because inventory is overloaded? Use QuickBooks' reports.

It seems so simple in theory. Don't overstock goods because you'll tie up too much money and perhaps need a clearance sale to get rid of the excess. On the other hand, don't let yourself run out of anything and lose orders.

In practice - especially if you stock dozens or hundreds of items - it's impossible to ensure this if you're managing your inventory manually. Guesswork can be costly.

It's a complex element of accounting, but QuickBooks comes equipped with a handful of reports that can keep you on track. They don't teach you how to balance your inventory to improve profitability, but we can help with that.

Figure 1: Be sure to enter a figure in the Reorder Point field so QuickBooks can remind you to reorder.

Building Precise Records

There's a critical number in your item records that must be completed: Reorder Point. You'll see it at the bottom of the Edit Item window (click Lists / Item Lists and double-click on the correct entry or click New in the Item drop-down list). Without it, QuickBooks can't alert you when you're running low.

QuickBooks also tells you how many items are currently on hand. If you had reached the reorder point and created a purchase order, you'd see a number under On P.O.

Ideally, you would do this when you're first adding item records, but you can go back at any time and add it.

Rigorous Reporting

Running reports regularly will keep you apprised of your inventory status. To see what QuickBooks offers, click Reports / Inventory or go to the Report Center. Select Inventory Valuation Summary. You can also see this report in detail, but if you carry a lot of inventory, it's difficult to get a birds' eye view. Do run it, though, if you want to see the transactions that affected your inventory's value.

Figure 2: The Inventory Valuation Summary does just what the name says.

In addition to what's pictured here, this report displays columns for Sales Price, Retail Value, and % of Total Retail. As always, you can click Customize Report to change the date range.

Figure 3: This report provides a real-time update of the status of every inventory item.

Precise Tracking

The Inventory Stock Status by Item report should be consulted frequently. It tells you exactly where all of your items are in the pipeline.

Watch for checkmarks in the Order column; they appear when you've hit or exceeded your specified reorder point. Three other important figures populate columns in this report: the number on purchase order, the date the next shipment should arrive and average sales per week.

Reminders can come in quite handy here. To set them up, go to Edit / Preferences / Reminders / Company Preferences. And you'll find the most comprehensive view of your items in the Inventory Center. Go to Vendors / Inventory Activities / Inventory Center. This screen also provides quick access to commonly-used reports.

Figure 4: The Inventory Center tells you everything you want to know about your items.

Automate Your Inventory Reporting

Here's a quicker way to grab your reports:

Go to Reports / Memorized Reports / Memorized Report List.
Click the down arrow next to Memorized Report at the bottom and select New Group. Type in Inventory and click OK.
Open an inventory report and click Memorize. The Memorize Report window opens. Check Save in Memorized Report Group and select Inventory from the drop-down list. Click OK. Repeat for others you want in this cluster.
Click Reports / Process Multiple Reports. Select Inventory from the drop-down list and make sure that there's a check mark next to the reports you want. You can click on the dates in the From and To column to change them.
Click Display or Print.

If you operate a product-based business, the success of your company depends in large part on your ability to find the sweet spot: neither too much nor too little inventory. It's an ongoing, daily challenge. Let us know if we can provide guidance on this critical balancing act.

For more information, or to hire a full-charge bookkeeper to prepare your financial data for your CPA, contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

QuickBooks 2012: When to Upgrade?

2012-07-10T11:42:00.002-07:00

Late last year, Intuit released QuickBooks 2012, the latest version of their accounting software, and they’ve released numerous patches and updates since then to improve its functionality. If you’re still using a previous version, you may be wondering about upgrading. There are benefits to updating your software, as QuickBooks 2012 comes with a number of new features, including:

Lead Center. This feature will help you to keep track of prospects. Sales leads are easily moved to the Customer Center when they convert.
Free Document Center storage. You can now store receipts and bills for free on your computer (In previous versions, these had been stored on a QuickBooks cloud server for a fee).
Industry-Specific Report Templates created by QuickBooks users. You’ll be able to access industry-related Contributed Reports from other users and sort by rating and popularity. You can select a template you like and QuickBooks 2012 will fill in the data automatically.
Batched Timesheets. With QuickBooks 2012, you’ll be able to create and use the same timesheet for employees who work the same hours in the same department.
Calendar View. You’ll be able to see at a glance when invoices and payables are due.
Preformat Spreadsheets for Excel. The new software will preformat your spreadsheets, so you don’t have to reformat after exporting.

Whether or not you decide to upgrade will likely depend on what version of QuickBooks you’re currently using. QuickBooks 2010 and 2011 users can decide whether these extra features are worth the upgrade. However, if you’re using QuickBooks 2009, you may want to be aware that as of May 31, 2012, Intuit no longer supports features on this version of the software that include:

Assisted Payroll/Basic Payroll/Enhanced Payroll/Standard Payroll
Online Banking and Bill Pay
Billing Solutions
Merchant Services
QuickBooks E-mail
Terminal Download
Intuit Support Plans and Services

If these features are integral parts of the way you do business, it might be best to upgrade to the new software. You’ll still have all the features of QuickBooks, as well as the new additions listed above.

For more information, to upgrade to QuickBooks 2012, or to hire a full-charge bookkeeper to consult your financial information for your CPA, contact us at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services.

Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare

2012-06-28T10:58:00.002-07:00

The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate for President Obama's Affordable Care Act. The decision was 5 - 4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberal justices and writing the majority opinion. The court ruled that the federal government does have the power to require all Americans to acquire insurance if the "fine" imposed on those who don't is considered a tax.

Read the court ruling (.PDF)

The law requires all individuals to have health insurance, either through their employers or a state-sponsored exchange, or face a fine beginning in 2014. It also bans insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, bars insurers from setting a dollar limit on health coverage payouts, and requires them to cover preventative care at no additional cost to consumers.

Supporters of the health care law danced in front of the court and shouted, "Yes we can! Yes we can!"

QuickBooks Accountant 2012: One-Day Sale!

2012-06-26T09:55:00.002-07:00

If you’ve been looking to purchase QuickBooks Accountant 2012 for your business, or even just upgrade from a previous version of QuickBooks, now is the time. If you contact us to purchase this software before June 27^th, you’ll save 50%. Regularly priced at $499.95, you’ll receive the software for just $249.95* if you take advantage of this one-day sale.

QuickBooks Accountant 2012 will allow you to serve more clients, more efficiently. The software comes with brand new features, including:

Multi Instance, which will allow you to streamline workflow by working on two files simultaneously.
Period Copy, which will help you to easily create a shareable copy of a QuickBooks company file for any specified date range.
Statement Writer, which will allow you to edit and format custom statements using familiar Microsoft Word and Excel functions, and keep them updated automatically.

To order your copy today, contact us at Mark’s Bookkeeping Services – 212-243-5757.

*For $249.95 you’ll receive the QuickBooks Accountant 2012 software for one user. If more than one person in your office will be using the software, you can purchase a three-user version of the software for $549.95, still a significant savings.

(VIDEO) 4 Ways To Cut Business Cost and Expenses

2012-06-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

Learn ways that you as a small business owner can reduce your business expenses

Backup or Portable Company File? How to Decide

2012-06-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

QuickBooks provides two ways (actually, three) to create a copy of your QuickBooks data file. When is each appropriate, and how do you proceed?

When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that Intuit is able to pack the lion's share of your financial data into one giant company file. Certainly makes it easier to separate from QuickBooks and move when necessary.

There are actually three options for saving and relocating that file. You know about backups, since you should be producing them religiously. You generate them so that if QuickBooks - or your computer itself - stops working or your file becomes corrupt, you can re-create the entire environment. Portable company files are more limited, and are best used when you want to save your file to a temporary location and/or e-mail it to someone else.

You would only use an Accountant's Copy, of course, when you want us to check your progress. We'll work with you on setting this up.

Figure 1: Once you save and send off an Accountant's Copy, you can't work on transactions created before the dividing date.

The Critical Backup

We can't emphasize this enough: Losing your financial data can be the beginning of the end of your company. You won't know what you're owed, so you'll be unable to collect. You'll miss vendor payments. Payroll will be impossible to reconstruct, and you won't be able to submit payroll taxes. And how will you know what your income tax obligation is?

It can happen to you.

QuickBooks simplifies this process. Click File / Create Backup... You'll be asked whether you want to back up locally - to a network folder or thumb drive, for example - or to the cloud, using Intuit Data Protect (fees apply). If you select the local preference, click on Options to designate a location in this window:

Figure 2: Choose from options in this window to create a backup profile.

Click OK, then Next. QuickBooks will ask when you want to save your backup copy and offer scheduling options. When you're done, click Finish.

Warning: If you're using Intuit Sync Manager, there are special rules about copying the company file. Let us help you handle this safely.

Just The Facts

Portable company files are more compact than backup files, so they can easily be e-mailed as attachments or copied onto another computer. But they don't contain everything that backups do. They lack, for example, letters, logos, attachments, images, and templates. Don't use this option if changes will be made, since they can't be merged back into the file.

Be sure to create a current backup before you begin to move your file.

To save a portable company file, click on File / Create Copy (you can do this to copy any kind of file, actually). This window opens:

Figure 3: Click File / Create Copy... to access any of QuickBooks' three options.

Select Portable company file and click the Next button. In the following window, you'll browse to a location for your file. QuickBooks will already have entered the name and will save your data in .qbm format. Click Save, then OK when QuickBooks tells you it must close and reopen your file first. Click OK again when you're told that the file has been created.

Opening the File Elsewhere

When you're ready to open the file at another location, click File / Open or Restore Company... In the window that opens, select Restore a portable file. The Open Portable Company File window opens; make sure that the file's location in displayed in the Look in: field. Click Open. QuickBooks then asks where you want to restore the file.

The following step is critical. Rename your file unless you want to overwrite your current company file. You can add a date or some other identifying information like a version number.

Click Save. QuickBooks will convert your portable file to a standard company file with a .qbw extension.

QuickBooks makes it easy to create copies of your data, but an error here can threaten your company's future. We can help ensure that that doesn't happen.

For more information, or to hire one of our full-charge bookkeepers to consult your financial information for your CPA, contact us at Mark's Bookkeeping Services.

Rules for Summer and Vacation Hires

2012-05-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

With summer less than a month away, you may have some new employees working during the season. Here are some rules that you need to follow:

Obtain W-4s from all summer employees, even the owners’ children, students working part-time and foreign students
Withhold FITW from all employees, including the owner’s spouse/children, unless a W-4 claims exempt.
Withhold FICA from all employees, even high school students and those who receive SS benefits. Exception: Employees under 18 working for sole-owner parents.
Pay overtime for hours actually worked over 40 hours in the workweek. You are not required to include as hours worked paid time off (holidays, vacation days). Do not substitute paid nonwork hours for work hours to make all hours straight time, thus avoiding overtime pay.

Example: Julia works 12 hours a day the first 4 days of the workweek, but not on the 5th day, a holiday, for which she is paid for 8 hours. She is correctly paid 40 hours’ straight time + 8 hours’ overtime + 8 holiday (nonwork) hours. Julia’s employer cannot substitute the 8 hours’ holiday pay for the 8 hours’ overtime to avoid paying the overtime rate.

Paid holidays and vacations

Under federal law, paid holidays for part-time and summer help are always optional, but check state laws.
No paid vacation is required—but if you provide paid vacation, some federal and state laws apply.

Benefits

Temps and part-timers. Benefits are optional, but if offered, should be explained in a written benefits plan.

*Always check your state’s laws.*

For more tips like this, please visit AIPB.org.