Micropodcast

QB on Call - Live Support

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:29:00 -0800

Stuck on what should be a simple problem?

Tired of calling tech-support for hours of the "run around?"

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Our knowledgeable experts can assist you with many common QuickBooks, Peachtree & Microsoft Office "quick questions."

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We've been doing this for many years locally and now we're going world-wide. Call us between 10 am -9 pm PST with your credit card & your issue.

We'll take an incident report, run your credit card for a flat fee of $49.00 and either call you back or, if you would like to wait while we process your credit card payment, we'll stay on the line and start your "support clock" once payment has been made.

We limit our calls to One Incident - One Topic; limited to 30 minutes. You can't call asking how to create an invoice, then move on to payroll issues. But you can call if you need operational support from real bookkeepers, users & hands-on consultants.

This is QuickBooks, Peachtree & Microsoft Office User support...architectural or software issues that require engineering support are not included. If your questions are not within our field of expertise, we'll tell you and we won't ask for your credit card.

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Microsoft Office Accounting Part 14- Setting Up Accounts

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:14:00 -0700

Next Time: Setting Up Accounts

If you have questions, drop me a line at info@custmbiz.com. I look forward to your comments and questions. Custom Business Solutions supports many software accounting packages such as QuickBooks and Peachtree as well as a variety of Point of Sale programs.

Microsoft Office Accounting Part 13- Setting Up Items

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:02:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners. Today's topic in our series of tips for MS Office accounting users is SETTING UP ITEMS.

Items

Office Accounting 2007 uses items to keep track of goods and services that your company sells. The Items section of the company setup wizard enables you to set up your Items with details and quantity on hand.

Note: Office Accounting Express 2007 does not include inventory functionality and inventory items. The inventory module is only available in the Office Accounting Professional 2007.
Service Items are typically set up work performed (either by a vendor or work performed for customers), but it could also be non-physical items such as shipping or insurance.
Service items are expensed when they are purchased and have no direct cost associated when sold.

Select Yes if your company buys or sells service items and click Next. This will display a list of service items. This list will normally be empty.

To set up a new service item press New. To edit an existing service item, select the item on the list and press Edit. To delete an item, select the item on the list and press Delete. You cannot delete items that have already been referenced on documents.

When setting up a new service item you have to provide the following:

-Item Name The name of the item.

-Sales price (if sold) The price for which the item is sold to customers (can be $0).

-Income account (if sold): The financial account where the income is recognized when the service item is sold.

-Item Tax group (if sold): If the item is taxable or not.

-Purchase price (if purchased) The price at which the item is normally purchased from vendors (can be $0).:

-Expense account (if purchased) The financial account that incurs the expense when the item is purchased.

Notice the two check boxes labeled "I sell this item" and "I purchase this item". These boxes define if the service item is available in sales- and purchase flows.

The standard cost is used for item and job profitability purposes.

When you have completed editing the list of service items click Next to proceed to non-inventory items.

Non-inventory items are typically used for physical items that are sold or purchased but where the business does not want to track the individual items in inventory. These could be items purchased in bulk, but consumed in smaller scale such as piping or wiring.

Non-inventory items are expensed when they are purchased and have no direct cost associated when sold (similar to service items).

Select Yes if your company buys or sells non-inventory items and click Next. This will display a list of non-inventory items. This list will normally be empty.

The non-inventory item list and form are identical to the corresponding service item list and service item form described above.

Inventory items are physical items that are purchased for resale and kept in stock.

Unlike service items and non-inventory items, the cost of the purchase is not incurred until the item is sold.

Select Yes if your company buys or sells inventory items and click Next. This will display a list of inventory items. This list will normally be empty.

To set up a new inventory item press New. To edit an existing inventory item, select the item on the list and press Edit. To delete an item, select the item on the list and press Delete. You cannot delete items that have a quantity or value on hand nor can you delete inventory items that have already been referenced on documents.

Once you have added the inventory items, you can specify the quantity and value on hand as of a specific date (as default your company start date).

When setting up a new inventory item you have to provide the following:

-Item Name: The name of the item.

-Sales price: The price for which the item is sold to customers (can be $0).

-Income account: The financial account where the income is recognized when the inventory item is sold.

-Item Tax group: If the item is taxable or not.

-Purchase price The price at which the item is normally purchased from vendors (can be $0).

-Asset account: The financial account that holds the inventory as an asset on the balance sheet when the item is purchased.

-COGS account: The financial account that bears the Cost Of Goods Sold, when the inventory item is sold.

If you specify a reorder point, the item will appear with a triangle icon on the item list and add a reminder to the dashboard when the quantity on hand falls below the reorder point.

When you have completed editing the list of inventory items click Next.

Click Finish to close the Items section.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next Time: Setting Up Accounts

Microsoft Office Accounting Part 12- Setting Up Cutomers

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:50:00 -0700

Next Time: Setting Up Items

Microsoft Office Accounting Part 11- Recording Vendor Bills

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:25:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants and business owners. Today's topic in our series of tips for MS Office accounting users is RECORDING VENDOR PAYMENTS.

The vendor bill is simply an invoice from the vendor to your company. It can contain products (inventory or non-inventory items), but it can also be a bill for services, such as utilities.
The Vendor Bill is similar to the invoice; however it only contains one address – the address where you want to send the payment for the bill.
You should note the following about a vendor bill:

- A vendor bill can be created either from a blank template or from a purchase order or item receipt.

-Bills can contains item or expense lines (as well as comments lines).

-If a vendor bill is created from an item receipt (in Office Accounting Professional), the item receipt will be voided and replaced by the bill.

-The vendor bill is a financial posting document and will post to accounts payable (and inventory if applicable).

-The vendor bill cannot be printed and sent – it is received from the vendor.

-Similar to the invoice the payment terms on the vendor bill defines the due date and the cash discount of the bill.

-Bills are paid suing the Pay Bills worksheet.

Vendor Bill Postings

The vendor bill updates the accounts payable and inventory (when applicable) the moment it is saved.

The vendor bill will:

-Debit the expense account with the amounts on the lines.

-Credit the accounts payable account with the total on the vendor bill.

If the vendor bill contains inventory items (Office Accounting Professional only) the vendor bill will:

-Debit the inventory asset account with the quantity and cost of the items.

-Credit the accounts payable account with the total on the vendor bill.

-Void the item receipt (including the postings to pending item receipts) if the bill was created from an item receipt.

The vendor bill thus creates postings with the actual amounts billed, as these could differ from the amounts on the item receipt. This will trigger a recalculation of cost of goods sold if the item has been resold on an invoice.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next Time: Setting Up Accounts

If you have questions, drop me a line at info@custmbiz.com. I look forward to your comments and questions. Custom Business Solutions supports many software accounting packages such as QuickBooks and Peachtree as well as a variety of Point of Sales programs.

Microsoft Office Accounting Part 10- Receiving Customer Payments

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:39:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners. Today's topic in our series of tips for MS Office accounting users is RECEIVING CUSTOMER PAYMENTS.

The customer payment form allows you to record payments received from customers and settle them against invoices as well as recording cash discount, write-off invoices fully or in part and settle credit memos against one or more invoices.
It is important to settle the individual invoices with payments, so you know which invoices have been paid and when. When an invoice is fully settled with a payment, it changes status to Paid. If an invoice is only partially settled, its status is Partially paid.
You should note the following:
-The most common practice is to pay the oldest invoice first to avoid finance charges for your customers, but Office Accounting allows you to allocate a payment to any invoice if you like.
-If the invoice has been set up with cash discounts (also known as early payment discounts (see below), and the invoice is paid in full (considering the discount) before the discount date, the cash discount will appear. The amount and the account may be edited (by clicking the link in the Cash Discount column).
-If the customer sent a check for part of the amount (e.g. pays $66.37 instead of $66.57), you can write off the remaining amount to fully settle the invoice (by clicking the link in the Write Off column).
-You can apply one or more credits (from customer credit memos, previous write-offs or journal entries) by clicking the link in the Applied Credits column.
If the customer payment isn’t settled with any invoices, it remains unapplied. A customer payment can also be partially applied or applied.
Cash Discounts
As mentioned above, you give cash discounts by setting a payment term on the invoice that allows a cash discount for early payment. Payment terms can be set up to be due after a certain number of days or at the end of the month/quarter/half year/year plus a number of days (e.g. if your invoices are due on the 15th of the following month).
The cash discount is set as part of the payment term, as the date where you will get a cash discount of a specified percentage (typically 1-2%) for paying your invoice early. Giving cash discount reduces the risk of customers not paying or paying late and it improves the cash flow of the business. However it does come at a cost. The effective APR of improving your cash flow this way could be quite high but it may be preferred over poor cash flow due to late customer payments.
Customer Payment Postings
-The customer payment will post to the underlying financial accounts. The customer payment will:
-Credit the customer on the accounts receivable account with the payment amount, the cash discounts and the write off amounts.
-Debit the deposit account with the paid amount.
-Debit the cash discounts given account with the cash discount amounts.
-Debit the write off account with the write off amounts.
Initially it may seem a bit odd that a customer payment of $490 can pay an invoice of $500 if 2% cash discount is given, but that is the way cash discounts works. You want to be able to compare the payment amount to what is deposited into the bank.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next Time: Recording Vendor Bills

Micosoft Office Accounting Part Nine- Paying Bills

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:35:00 -0700

Next Time: Receiving Customer Payments

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Eight- Making Deposits

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:53:00 -0800

Next Time: Paying Bills

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Seven- Creating a Check

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:25:00 -0800

Make sure that the starting checks number is the same number as on the check in the printer.

The check form provides a similar look and feel as a manual check and it is typically used to write checks for payments that do not arise from the purchase flow. For example, you could issue a customer refund, give an employee an advance, reimburse a petty cash fund, or send a deposit payment to a vendor. You can also use the check form to enter manually written checks into Office Accounting 2007.

This is how it works:

-A check has to be written from a bank account of any type.

-The balance field will show the balance of the checking account before the check is written.

-The payee can be a customer, vendor or employee.

-If the "To be printed" checkbox is checked, the check number will be assigned when the check is printed.

-Checks cannot be deleted, they can only be voided.

-If a check is edited, the original check is voided and reversed and a new check with all the edits is created (similar to other financial transactions).

-If a check contains items or expenses, it is identical to a cash purchase with check as the payment method.

-The posting made by the checks are identical to those of the cash purchase.

-If a check does not contain any items or expenses, it is considered a payment against the balance of the selected vendor (or customer).

-You can purchase pre-printed checks for Office Accounting at www.microsoftchecksandforms.com.

Printing a check is similar to issuing payments to vendors. Click the Print Checks button in the Banking home page and select the bank account and the checks you want to print.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next time: Making Deposits

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Six - Creating a Credit Memo

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:10:00 -0800

Next time: Creating Checks

Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento
916-216-4949
775-348-9225
775-348-9200

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Five - Creating Charts in Excel

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:51:00 -0800

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Today's topic in our series of tips for MS Office accounting users is CREATING A CHART IN EXCEL

Creating a chart in Microsoft Office Excel is quick and easy. Excel provides a variety of chart types that you can choose from when you create a chart. For more information about the chart types that you can use, see Available chart types.

For most charts, such as column and bar charts, you can plot the data that you arrange in rows or columns on a worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.) in a chart. Some chart types, however, such as pie and bubble charts, require a specific data arrangement.

TIP: If you select only one cell, Excel automatically
plots all cells containing data that directly
surround that cell into a chart.

If the cells that you want to plot in a chart are not in a continuous range, you can select nonadjacent cells or ranges as long as the selection forms a rectangle. You can also hide the rows or columns that you don't want to plot in the chart.

How to select cells, ranges, rows, or columns

TIP: To cancel a selection of cells, click any cell on the worksheet.

On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, do one of the following:

Click the chart type, and then click a chart subtype that you want to use.
To see all available chart types, click a chart type, and then click All Chart Types to display the Insert Chart dialog box, click the arrows to scroll through all available chart types and chart subtypes, and then click the the ones that you want to use.

On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, do one of the following:

Click the chart type, and then click a chart subtype that you want to use.
To see all available chart types, click a chart type, and then click All Chart Types to display the Insert Chart dialog box, click the arrows to scroll through all available chart types and chart subtypes, and then click the the ones that you want to use.

TIP: A Screen Tip displays the chart type name when
you rest the mouse pointer over any chart type or chart subtype.

NOTES

The chart is placed on the worksheet as an embedded chart (embedded chart: A chart that is placed on a worksheet rather than on a separate chart sheet.

Embedded charts are beneficial when you want to view or print a chart or a Pivot Chart report with its source data or other information in a worksheet).

If you want to place the chart in a separate chart sheet (chart sheet: A sheet in a workbook that contains only a chart.

A chart sheet is beneficial when you want to view a chart or a PivotChart report separately from worksheet data or a Pivot Table report.), you can change its location.

How to change the location of a chart

1. Click the embedded chart or the chart sheet to select it and to display the chart tools.
2. On the Design tab, in the Location group, click Move Chart.
3. Under Choose where you want the chart to be placed, do one of the following:

To display the chart in a chart sheet, click New sheet.

TIP: If you want to replace the suggested name for the chart,
you can type a new name in the New sheet box.

To display the chart as an embedded chart in a worksheet, click Object in, and then click a worksheet in the Object in box.
To quickly create a chart that is based on the default chart type, select the data that you want to use for the chart, and then press ALT+F1 or F11. When you press ALT+F1, the chart is displayed as an embedded chart; when you press F11, the chart is displayed on a separate chart sheet.

If you are using Microsoft's Office Accounting, you may want to download & print our series for future reference or as a guide to using the new MS Office Accounting software.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next time: Creating A Credit Memo

Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento
916-216-4949
775-348-9225
775-348-9200

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Four - Printing Reports

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:20:00 -0800

Next time: Creating A Chart In Excel

If you have questions, drop us a line at info@custmbiz.com. We look forward to your comments and questions. Custom Business Solutions supports many software accounting packages such as QuickBooks and Peachtree as well as a variety of Point of Sales programs.

Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento
916-216-4949
775-348-9225
775-348-9200

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Three - Creating Your First Invoice

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 12:48:00 -0800

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Today's topic in our series of tips for MS Office accounting users is Creating Invoices In MS Office Accounting.

1. To create a new invoice, click on the New Invoice button in the Start a task section of the customer area.

2. This is the invoice form. The top section has information about the customer, date of the sale and terms, the product and services grid contains the products and services you are invoicing for and at the bottom of the form you can see taxes and totals.

3. Start by typing the customer name and use the tab key or mouse to move to another field. This will open up a dialog that asks you if you want to add the new customer. You can add the new customer by selecting Fast Add, or you can set up the customer completely by clicking Set Up. For your first customer, just select Fast Add.

4. After you have completed the top of the invoice form, continue by adding a line. Notice you can add either an item, a comment, sales tax or an account. Just chose item and type the name of what you are selling in the name field.

5. After you tab out of the name field, Office Accounting will ask you if you want to set up a new item. Click Yes.

6. Now you have to select which item type you want to set up (Office Accounting Express only has service and non-inventory items). In this example we are selling a service. Click OK.

7. Fill in the information on the item form: Item name, description, price, income account and whether the item is taxable. You can also enter a standard cost of the service to be able to calculate your profitability with the customer.

8. Click Save and Close after you have entered the information.

9. Fill in the rest of the information on the invoice, such a quantity, discount and other details. When you are done, you can save the invoice by pressing CTRL-S or by selecting Save on the File menu.

10. When you save the invoice Office Accounting will ask you if you want to save the customer address and payment information. Click Yes to save the information.

11. The invoice is now saved. Notice that a lot of fields are now grayed out and cannot be edited.

12. The final step is to print the invoice. Press CTRL-P or select Print on the File menu. This will bring up the print dialog.

To print a standard invoice, select the printer, leave Basic form as the print option and press OK.

If you are using Microsoft's Office Accounting, you may want to download & print our series for future reference or as a guide to using the new MS Office Accounting software.

I hope these Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

Next time: Printing Reports

Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento
916-216-4949
775-348-9225
775-348-9200

Microsoft Office Accounting Part Two - Sales Orders

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 12:30:00 -0800

Sales orders as similar to quotes, but rather than being a suggested sale, sales orders represent a confirmed sale. Sales orders are often sent to customers as sales order confirmations.

The sales order appears similar to the quote except that it contains shipping information and more information about the products and services. The totals also contain information about what has still to be invoiced.

Like quotes, sales orders are not posted as financial transactions. Rather they represent a future confirmed sale with agreed-upon terms.

The sales order form is divided into several parts:

The toolbar contains the most common tasks you can perform with a sales order. These can also be found in the respective menus (File, Edit, View Actions and Help).
The top of the sales order contains the date, the customer information as well as the sales and shipping terms for the sales order.
The products and services section contains the details of the sales order – what you are offering the customer and at which price. A sales order must contain at least one line. Each line can contain a specific item and a quantity, an amount that will be posted directly to a financial account, a comment or a tax line.
The bottom of the sales order allows you to add an internal memo or document links, a reference to the customer, tax and price level information as well as totals.

There are several noticeable things about a sales order:

Like other customer documents, the customer information is automatically copied to the sales order when the customer is selected, but the information may be changed on the sales order itself. This will not update the customer form.
When the sales order is saved, it will appear in the customer financial history and the sales order list.
A sales order must contain a customer and one or more lines with products or services.
You change the line type by clicking on the icon in the beginning of the line. This will show a dropdown that allows you to select Item, Comment, Sales Tax or Account.
The amounts on each line can be changed. This will not change the underlying item.
Discounts are given per line and can be given either as a percentage (default) or a dollar amount (by typing $ before the amount).
A sales order may be created from a blank sales order template or from a quote, either by accepting the quote (using the Convert to button on the quote) or by clicking the Create From button on the sales order toolbar.
A sales order can be modified until it is fully invoiced.
Sales orders can be invoiced (by clicking the Create Invoice button). This will create a new invoice identical to the sales order (the sales order itself is not deleted). A fully invoiced sales order cannot be edited.
If you do not wish to (or are not able to) invoice the full quantity of any item of the sales order, you can reduce the quantity on the invoice before saving it. This will create a partial invoice and the sales order will become partially invoiced. The sales order will keep track of the quantity invoiced for each item in the Invoiced column.
You can create as many partial invoices from one sales order as you like up until the point where the sales order is fully invoiced.
If an item is not available in inventory when the sales order is created, the item is on back order and the missing quantity will appear on the Back Order column of the sales order.
There is a reminder on the Company Dashboard listing all sales orders with back ordered items.
Back ordered items may still be invoiced (e.g. if they have arrived but just haven't been entered into inventory), however Office Accounting will display a warning when trying to invoice a higher quantity than available.
From both sales orders and invoices you can print Packaging Slips for your products.
A sales order that has not been invoiced may be deleted. If the deleted sales order was created from a quote, the quote is now again open, and may once again be accepted by converting it to a sales order or an invoice.
Sales Orders show up in the Forecast Cash Flow tool as part of the sales forecast.
A sales order can also be sent directly to the customer via email. This feature also uses the customizable Word template.

Next time: Creating Your First Invoice

Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento
916-216-4949
775-348-9200

MS Office Accounting Part One - Purchase Orders

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 13:33:00 -0800

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Today is the first day of our new series of tips for MS Office accounting users. Our Topic today is Creating Purchase Orders

Purchase orders are often the first step in the purchase flow in Office Accounting Professional by providing the vendor with a written order for products or services.

The purchase order is in many ways similar to a sales order, except that it does not contain tax information. It tells the vendor what you want to order and the prices and terms you expect to get.

Like quotes and sales orders, purchase orders are not posted as financial transactions. Rather they represent a request for a purchase at desired prices and terms.

There are several noticeable things about a purchase order:

Purchase documents do not contain sales tax information.
A purchase order can be modified until it is fully received.
Only service- and non-inventory items that have the “I sell this item” box checked can be selected on purchase documents. Inventory items (Office Accounting Professional only) are always available as they are defined as items purchased for resale.
When you receive the items on the purchase order, you can create an item receipt (or more item receipts if the order arrives in batches) directly from the purchase order (using the Receive Items button).
Just like sales documents, the purchase order can be printed and sent or emailed to the vendor.

Tip: If you want to create a drop-ship purchase order where the items ordered are shipped directly to your customer (or a construction site), simply type the customer name and address into the shipping address and the order will be sent directly to your customer.

Next time: Sales Orders

Microsoft Office Accounting Tips - New Series

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:41:00 -0800

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Today I want to tell you about our new series of Microsoft Office Accounting Tips. Our company, Custom Business Solutions supports many software accounting packages such as QuickBooks and Peachtree.

Now we are supporting Microsoft's Office Accounting. Since many of our clients are new to this program, we'd like to offer some tips to make the process a little easier. In addition, we're changing our format to eliminate the audio portion of the blog. You can download & print our series for future reference or as a guide to using the new MS Office Accounting software.

I hope you like these format changes and hope the new Microsoft Office Accounting tips are helpful. If you are using QuickBooks, check out our new QuickBooks series or visit The QuickBooks Gal podcasts.

If you have questions, drop us a line at info@custmbiz.com. We look forward to your comments and questions.

Custom Business Solutions
The QuickBooks Gal
Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento

New I-9 Employment Verification Form

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 00:13:00 -0800

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Today I want to tell you about the New Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification Form, that employers are required to use effective December 26, 2007. There have been some significant changes, especially with regard to the acceptable identity documentation.

Employment Eligibility Verification

Purpose of Form :

All U.S. employers are responsible for completion and retention of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and non-citizens.

On the form, the employer must verify the employment eligibility and identity documents presented by the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9.

The list of acceptable documents has been amended in the 2007 version of the Form I-9 and can be found on page 4 of the forms.

Where to File :

Do not file Form I-9 with U.S.Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or USCIS.

Form I-9 must be kept by the employer either for three years after the date of hire or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later.

The form must be available for inspection by authorized U.S. Government officials (e.g., Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Office of Special Counsel).

Special Instructions :

You should have the latest version of the free Adobe Reader to download and use the 2007 version of Form I-9.

Please note the following changes to the Form I-9 process:

Five documents have been removed from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)
Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)
Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151)
Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

One document was added to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766)

All Employment Authorization Documents with photographs have been consolidated as one item on List A:

I-688, I-688A, I-688B, I-766

Instructions regarding Section 1 of the Form I-9 now indicate that the employee is not obliged to provide his or her Social Security number in Section 1 of the Form I-9, unless he or she is employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify.

Employers may now sign and retain Forms I-9 electronically. See instructions on page 2 of the Form I-9.

Note: The Spanish version of Form I-9, available below on this page, may be filled out by employers and employees in Puerto Rico ONLY. Spanish-speaking employers and employees in the 50 states and other U.S. territories may print this for their reference, but may only complete the form in English to meet employment eligibility verification requirements.

Follow these links to download the English or Spanish versions:

I hope you find this information helpful. If you have questions or comments, please send me an email at jayne@quickbooksgal.com.

You can also visit our website: http://www.custmbiz.com/. Well, that’s it for now. I appreciate your time and hope you will join me again next time for another in our MicroPodCast series.

Daylight Savings Time - Is Your Computer Ready?

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:55:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Hello and welcome to another in our series of MicroPodCasts. I’m Jayne Miller, your MicroPodCast host. Today I’d like to remind you that the new Daylight Savings Time takes effect next week...November 4th. Are you ready?

Your computer may not be affected by this change, but if you are not sure or want to read about the changes or need support, you can visit Microsoft's Daylight Savings Time Support Center for information and assistance. Just go to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst. I've put a link on the blog at micropodcast.custmbiz.com and on my website at www.quickbooksgal.com.

I'll be back again soon with more in my series of MicroPodCasts. If you have questions or comments, drop me a line at jayne@quickbooksgal.com. You can find this and my other podcasts about QuickBooks and Peachtree at blog.quickbooksgal.com.

That’s it for now. Look for discussions on the new Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale software in future MicroPodCasts. I appreciate your time and hope you will tune in again.

I’m Jayne Miller, The QuickBooks Gal and your MicroPodCast host…..thanks for listening.

Jayne Miller is the owner of Custom Business Solutions, a firm in Reno Nevada that specializes in bookkeeping, payroll and small business accounting software support.
"Got A QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!"

©2007 Custom Business Solutions, Reno, NV

Microsoft OneNote 2007

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:49:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

Hello and welcome to another in our series of MicroPodCasts. I’m Jayne Miller, your MicroPodCast host. Today I’d like to talk about Microsoft’s One Note 2007. I have been using MS Office 2007 for some time and I love it! Now, there's a new feature built right into the Office Suite called OneNote. My office has been using for several months....it's great!

OneNote is a wonderful tool for small business - a digital notebook for organizing notes, information, audio clips, video, graphics, and so much more. Office OneNote can help you become more productive by keeping the information you need at your fingertips and reducing time spent searching for information across e-mail messages, paper notebooks, file folders, and printouts.

Microsoft has posted a list of the top 10 benefits of OneNote on their website that I think are worth repeating here. With Microsoft’s New One Note 2007, you can:

1. Gather your notes and information in one place.
Gather, store, and manage your notes and information — including text, pictures, digital handwriting, audio and video recordings, and more — in a single location. Having all your important information at your fingertips can help you make more informed decisions and be better prepared.

2. Back up your valuable information.
Office OneNote 2007 automatically saves and backs up your notebooks, whether stored locally or on a network file share, so you’re less vulnerable to data loss.

3. Find information more quickly.
Powerful search technology with optical character recognition helps you find what you’re looking for more quickly — whether you’re searching handwritten notes, text in pictures, or spoken words in audio and video recordings.

4. Work together more effectively.
Shared notebooks give everyone access to the same information at the same time, online or offline. Office OneNote 2007 manages changes for you so that multiple users can work simultaneously in the same notebook—there’s no need to keep track of versions and changes.

5. Avoid duplicate work.
Office OneNote 2007 makes it easy to collect, store, and search information about projects in a central location. Capitalize on ideas, notes, and best practices when briefing new project teams or team members. Take advantage of OneNote archives to avoid duplicate work.

6. Organize your way.
Organize information in the way that works best for you. See all your open notebooks in a single view, and easily arrange and rearrange your notes with drag-and-drop functionality. You can add hyperlinks to other pages in your notebook so you can quickly find content relevant to the task at hand.

7. Prioritize and manage tasks and your to-do list more efficiently.
Use note tags to mark and easily track actions and important items. Note tags can be customized according to your needs and quickly viewed in a summary pane. Tasks created in Office OneNote 2007 synchronize with Microsoft Office Outlook tasks so you can manage your projects more efficiently.

8. Make meetings more productive.
Office OneNote 2007 gives you the flexibility to capture all of the information presented in meetings, including status updates, presentations, documents, typed and handwritten notes, and more. With all meeting notes stored in one location, everyone has access to the same information, helping ensure that all team members are on the same page and that everyone walks away with a consistent set of action items.

9. Get up to speed quickly.
The familiar look and feel of other Microsoft Office system programs and an intuitive user interface make it easy to get started using Office OneNote 2007 right away. Integration with the 2007 Microsoft Office system means you can share information between Office OneNote 2007 and other Microsoft Office system programs easily.

10. Improve productivity away from the office.
Synchronize your Microsoft Windows Mobile–powered devices with Office OneNote 2007 so you can take contents of your notebook with you and view them on your mobile device. In addition, information you capture on your Smartphone or Windows Mobile–based Pocket PC, including photos and text, can be transferred to Office OneNote 2007 and made text-searchable.

This is a great program that you can use as a stand alone or from within your new Office 2007 software. You can go to blog.quickbooksgal.com for a transcript of this podcast and a link to Microsoft’s One Note page.

I hope this gets you excited about this cool product. If you have questions or comments, drop me a line at jayne@quickbooksgal.com. You can find this and my other podcasts about QuickBooks and Peachtree at blog.quickbooksgal.com.

That’s it for now. Look for discussions on the new Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale software in future MicroPodCasts. I appreciate your time and hope you will tune in again.

I’m Jayne Miller, The QuickBooks Gal and your MicroPodCast host…..thanks for listening.

Jayne Miller is the owner of Custom Business Solutions, a firm in Reno Nevada that specializes in bookkeeping, payroll and small business accounting software support. "Got A QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!"

I Hate My Website!

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Sun, 7 Oct 2007 13:10:00 -0700

MicroPodCast – Podcasts for Microsoft Office Accounting Users. Useful bookkeeping, software, and business tips for MS Office Accounting users, consultants, and business owners.

I recently received a wonderful guide from Microsoft called "I Hate My Website". It's a great document full of tips, tricks and links to resources that are great for those of us who have a web presence.

Today, I would like to discuss some Do's and Don’ts excerpted from this guide. In addition, I will put a link to this guide on my blog at blog.quickbooksgal.com.

Microsoft's Do's:

1 - Make your site easy to navigate.
2 - Create a consistent look & feel throughout your site by using similar fonts, colors, & layouts.
3 - Make sure your website works on more than one browser; for example Internet Explorer and Firefox (Mozilla, Netscape).
4 - Put the most important information near the top of the page so users don't have to scroll down to find it.
5 - Use headlines, icons, bullets, boldface words & color to draw attention to important information or content.
6 - Include your phone number on every page.
7 - Use high-quality graphics and photos, including your logo. Make sure the images are crisp and don't take too long to load.

Microsoft Don'ts:

1 - Use text and color combinations that are too busy or include distracting visuals that make the site hard to read.
2 - Let the content, especially the links on your website, become outdated.
3 - Include graphics or other design elements that slow down site performance.
4 - Put too much clutter on any one page.
5 - Put too much personalization on the homepage.
6 - Be too flashy.
7 - Create option overload.
8 - Neglect to fill security gaps.
9 - Include obtrusive advertising.
10 - Use Jargon.
11 - Forget to keep it real.
12 - Chatter too much.

Don't forget, you can listen to our podcasts about Peachtree and QuickBooks....just go to blog.quickbooksgal.com.

I'm Jayne Miller, The QuickBooks Gal and your MicroPodCast host...thanks for listening!

Jayne Miller is the owner of Custom Business Solutions, a firm in Reno Nevada that specializes in bookkeeping, payroll and small business accounting software support. "Got A QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!"

10 Tips for Preventing Fraud

noreply@blogger.com (QuickBooksGal) — Mon, 3 Sep 2007 23:08:00 -0700

Hello and welcome to the first of what we hope will be many “micropods” presented by Custom Business Solutions. What is a micropod, you might ask? Quite simply, it is a podcast devoted to Microsoft software as it is used in small business applications.

As a business bookkeeping and consulting firm in Reno, Nevada – Custom Business Solutions not only boasts certifications in industry leader QuickBooks, but we are also certified as Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting consultants.

We are particularly excited about the emergence of Office Accounting as another excellent option for small businesses looking to move their bookkeeping from the old paper or shoebox method to the computer.

Aside from all of the standard features we’re used to finding in Peachtree or QuickBooks, Microsoft Office Accounting has ADP payroll built right in (a real plus for small businesses who are tired of the headaches of doing payroll themselves and hoping to get it right). Additionally, the ability to associate any kind of external file (images, Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, etc) with each vendor, customer, or employee has the potential for some really interesting uses that the other major small business accounting packages don’t currently offer.

Today's podcast is a great tip sheet for preventing fraud. Accounting professionals, office administrators, consultants, and small business owners should find this quite useful. I have printed the tips on my blog at micropods.custmbiz.com if you would like to get a copy for future reference.

Top Ten Tips to Help Prevent Fraud (in Order of Effectiveness)

1. Send Bank and Credit Card Statements to a Separate Address. Do not send your bank statements to your business address. Have your bank statement sent to your home, PO Box, or lockbox address. Review each check both front and back for payee, signature, and endorsement. Even if you don’t allow your employees to use your credit card, make sure those statements sent to an alternative address too. Examine each statement carefully. Review each and every line item of both payments and charges.

2. Do Not Let Anyone Misrepresent Themselves as You. Do not let them use your password, sign your name, or use your credit card, ever. Never let an employee sign your name, use your credit card, or misrepresent themselves to your bank or credit card company. Reimburse their expense. Don’t reveal sensitive passwords. If you allow your employee to sign your name even on credit card purchases, it could compromise your legal recourse in case of fraud or embezzlement.

3. Reconcile Bank Accounts and Review Statements. Review every statement. Make sure all bank accounts and credit cards are reconciled. Afterwards, take time to review every reconciliation report. Notice stale checks or deposits that have not cleared the bank. Check for missing deposits. An increase in the number of reconciled items may also reveal mischief.

4. Assign Administrative Rights Effectively. Use the Administrative rights in QuickBooks to protect your data. The first person to set up QuickBooks is by default assigned as Administrator. This role has unique permissions. So the administrator should be designated to either an outside party, i.e., a CPA, a QuickBooks Certified Consultant, or the savvy owner. Make sure that every user is set up separately and that passwords are used. Lock down permissions to change or delete transactions. Especially important: Use passwords for closing dates.

5. Use the Audit Trail in QuickBooks. If you don’t have the latest version of QuickBooks, make sure you turn on the Audit Trail. Go to Preferences > Accounting and click on the box Audit Trail. Caution: the Audit Trail won’t tell you if a vendor name has been changed or merged. It is wise to maintain a strict paper trail. Supporting documents need to be readily accessible in your files and then archived according to the type of document.

6. Use the Voided/Deleted Transaction Report. After you have turned on the Audit Trail, and made its review part of your routine, periodically review the Voided/Deleted Transaction Report to see which entries which have been modified.

7. Establish Accounting Controls. The principle of countervailing power is the fundamental reason to use checks and balances in accounting. Split the responsibilities between staff members or outside accounting professionals. Warning Sign: If only one person writes the checks and reconciles the account, there is no double check. Separate the duties. Consider another person to do reconciliations so it is done by a person other than the staffer generating the checks. Perhaps a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor® or CPA can provide these services.

8. Adhere to a Numerical Sequence. Use a numerical sequence for all transactions. Invoice, bills, and checks which are numbered fall in a logical and chronological order. The reason: To identify missing documents. Look at the bank statement for large gaps. Secure paper checks. If you keep voided paper checks, remember to tear off the signature area to keep it from being misused. If your bank sends paper checks, sort them numerically.

9. Review Receivables and Payables. Look for adjustments to Receivables or Payables. Such adjustments could indicate subverted payments or vendor checks.

10. Back up Your Data. Repeat after me – Back up, back up, back up. Think redundant backups as a contingency plan for disasters of all sorts. Make scheduled copies. Rotate the media (tape drive or portable storage). If you use CDs, better buy the read-only variety. Store your backups at another location. Such diligence can come in especially handy if there is a disaster. In some fraud cases, the bookkeeper may delete all of the QuickBooks files to avoid detection. In such cases the business has to pay a large sum for data retrieval, in hopes of capturing any shred of evidence. Be smart; back up. It only takes a few minutes.

Are you backing up your data?

I hope you find this discussion helpful. If you have questions about this topic, just drop me a line at jayne@quickbooksgal.com. If you are a QuickBooks user, check out blog.quickbooksgal.com for our podcast series about QuickBooks and other related bookkeeping topics. Peachtree users can visit peachpods.custmbiz.com for tips and news about Peachtree products.

We are now serving Incline Village and Lake Tahoe. We have two great consultants in the area that will be happy to assist with QuickBooks or Peachtree training & support. Visit our website at tahoe.custmbiz.com.

If there are topics you would like me to cover or have questions, send your email to jayne@quickbooksgal.com. Don’t forget to visit our website, http://www.quickbooksgal.comor www.custmbiz.com to learn more about me and our services.

Remember, you can read or listen to past podcasts at blog.quickbooksgal.com or peachpods.custmbiz.com.

That's it for now. Join me next time for another Micro Pod and more tips and information I hope you will find helpful.

I'm Jayne Miller. Thanks for listening.

Custom Business Solutions is a consulting firm in Reno, NV that specializes in providing bookkeeping and software support.