Business Discussions

Just getting started as QBOA.  What are others using for pricing setup services for new clients? 

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Can someone tell me how to set up my QB for wholesale B&O taxes? We only offer wholesale sales and retail sales of non-taxable items. However, I still owe B&O taxes even though I don't collect any tax from any customers. Can I set this up to automatically calculate what I owe to the state every month? If so, how? Is it done on each invoice? Each item? Help!

How do you respond when a prospective client says that you need to be onsite? Do you agree, open a conversation to influence the prospective client to agree to virtual services, or exit the sales conversation?

I'm the Office Manager of a small land surveying, engineering firm.  I've been using quickbooks, currently (Desktop Pro 2018), for over 20 years.  The owner of the firm thinks there is a better product out there that will help all of the Project Managers keep better track of their budgets, (Deltek).  This will replace my quickbooks, and I wanted to check with you to see if you know of a good, no great, option for us so I can keep quickbooks.On Deltek employees enter their time, assigned to which ever job # they are working on. (We currently use Latitude for timesheets, but Latitude isn't synced with Quickbooks).   When invoices come in they are entered into Deltek by job#, (yes, quick books can do that too), if applicable.  But the bigest benifit to Project Managers, not only can they track all expenses associated with a particular job, they can then create and email invoices directly from deltek.  I see the appeal from a PM's point of view, BUT,

Does any one know where to get check list sheet to start new bookkeeping clients? appreciated in advance. please reply.   QB Community Bookkeeping Checklist (so far...) Daily Accounting Tasks Check Cash Position   Weekly Accounting Tasks Record Transactions Document and File Receipts Review Unpaid Bills From Vendors Pay Vendors, Sign Checks Prepare and Send Invoices Review Projected Cash Flow   Monthly Accounting Tasks Balance Your Business Checkbook Review Past-Due (“Aged”) Receivables Analyze Inventory Status  Process or Review Payroll and Approve Tax Payments Review Actual Profit and Loss vs. Budget and vs. Prior Years Review Month-End Balance Sheet vs. Prior Period Double-check for duplicate transactions after account reconciliation  (@JenPM) Check if there are any uncashed checks older than 6 months (@JenPM)   Quarterly Accounting Tasks Prepare/Review Revised Annual P&L Estimate Review Quarterly Payroll Reports and Make Paym

I'm interested in learning more about Warehouse Management Systems that integrate with QB Desktop Enterprise. We are looking for more depth than what QB is offering in terms of reporting, inventory item adjustments (very difficult to mass adjust items in QB), inventory management, order processing, sales order process, shipping, etc. We've hit a lot of walls with QB Enterprise and I don't see any light on the horizon.  We can't mass edit pricing on items in QB. You have to export the entire item file at one time but I only want to edit pricing of one brand. I'd like to import orders automatically, ship orders automatically, etc.You can only limit permissions in some areas. I'd like more flexibility with areas, pricing.You can't set limits on how low a product can be sold. Any user can edit pricing.I'd like to be able to easily generate estimates without leaving them open forever.  Reporting is weak in QB I've looked at Fishbowl but I've seen positive and negati

Hello there. My uncle has a concrete company but is getting buried with past due payroll taxes as well as other taxes. Someone suggested to him that If he had someone open up a new concrete company (family member or close friend) his employees could be hired under that new company so he doesn't get buried under more taxes than he already is. Is this solution acceptable/allowable? He is currently an S Corp so he would only take his salary and hire the new company as a subcontractor to minimize his payroll expenses and I'm assuming the new company would be compliant with the payroll taxes and other reporting that follow the company's start up and progress. If anyone can let me know if he can hire a subcontractor even if he is a subcontractor and if this is even allowable. I know its confusing so thank you to anyone that can help!

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to treat billable hours as inventory. Example: My client has a number of subcontractors which are assigned a PO (I set each one up as a job). Each PO has a certain number of hours and I am looking for the system to keep track of or deduct from a total of hours as the subcontractors work and are paid each payroll period. Is this possible? Each contractor also has a service item with their cost and billable rate, which is used to pay the subcontractor and bill the client for time.

What works best for you as far as inventory management strategies? Do you have ideas about what to definitely do or definitely do not do? How did your inventory management change as you scaled? What else can you share about inventory management?   Let us know what you know ;-)

I'm searching for some assistance from others that might have this issue.  I would like to add somewhere on my estimates our company recommendation for specific product and also have a place where the customer can acknowledge they have read the recommendation and declined. For example we are a solar business:We give a customer a quote for say 6 panels and 4 batteries but we would recommend that they actually would need 6 batteries not 4 to service their needs.Our goal is to have a signature of the customer so that cannot come back to us complaining  that the system we have installed is not fully supporting theie needs, when we have told them what they needed up front.

  You’re opening a business, hooray! Now it’s time to tell the world about it and start bringing in the customers -- without wasting precious time or resources. You don’t have to learn the hard way. Here are the top five common mistakes that brand new businesses often make when launching their marketing efforts -- and how you can avoid them.   Mistake #1: Marketing as an afterthought. With all the expenses and effort expended to open your new venture, marketing dollars may end up getting swept into the discretionary funds column in your overall business budget. Before you know it, your entire budget is spent and there’s nothing left for marketing. Oops. How to avoid: Setting money aside for your business advertising will definitely pay off. With social media marketing, for instance, the more target customers you can reach with consistent campaigns, the more sales you can take to the bank. According to the 2016 The State of Social Marketing Report, 40% of consumers say they

Hi All: First post here.  I'm curious if others have found a methodology for calculating the number of hours per month it will take to support a client.  I'm thinking there might be a per transaction time estimate or a way to determine hours based on a review of financial statements looking at profit and loss and balance sheet accounts.  I'd like to start this new client hourly until I get a full sense of their time needs, then switch to flat fee.  But I'm struggling with how to give them an estimate of the hours needed to get us started.  Thanx for any guidance you have. Elizabeth M. Weber

Hi There,  I have it from several sources that there is no way to pull a Cashflow Forecast from the reports menu in Quickbooks Desktop that takes into account, or includes, open POs and Estimates. I'm wondering what people are doing in the real world to get a cash flow forecast that utlizes your Bills, Invoices, POs and Estimates, preferably without manually entering data that is already found in QB to create the report. I'm open to upgrading to a different version of QB, or utilizing an app--I just haven't found one that will do what we need it to do. Anybody else with similar needs and a workable solution? Right now, I'm exporting reports to excel, then building a forecast by sourcing/linking cells. What are you doing? Many thanks, Katherine

Have you heard about the Seaside Startup Summit yet? It’s only the hottest startup event of the summer! Seaside Startup Summit is a global platform for transforming entrepreneurship and connecting founders, investors, startup enthusiasts, and all other decision-makers of the startup ecosystem from the region and around the world. It’s the first week-long outdoor startup gathering for intensive learning, genuine relationships, deal-making and immersive conversations about the hottest current topics in entrepreneurship. For SSS19 we have united startups from over 20 countries operating in various fields, to ensure that the investors will find the startups they are interested in. 1000+ startuppers, 30+ VCs and Angels, 10.000+ visitorsWorld-class mentors, Mini-Acceleration, 1:1s, Workshops & Masterclasses$100.000 prize fund & $100.000 investment fundBeach fun, night parties, sports & relax. Dates: July 28 – August 3 / Location: Sevan, ArmeniaFor more in

I'm going to create a website using one of the Wordpress themes by TemplateMonster https://www.templatemonster.com/ . So, I'm also looking for a good web hosting. Recently I've found out that Wordpress sites can be self-hosted, but I'm not sure I should choose this way. Thanks for sharing your experience, guys, I've found several great suggestions here.

Does anyone use Quickbooks at their Biotech/Life Science/Pharma/R&D company? I've spent my career in the space, but this is my first time on QBO. Specifically, I'm wondering what creative ways people have come up with to be able to account appropriately for their clinical trials accruals and prepaids (and/or CRO/CMO/Pre-clin studies). Has anyone found a Quickbook App, bolt-on, system, or other solution that can integrate with Quickbooks? Ideally, I want to get out of Excel for these calculations! Any advice/insights/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! 

I am not an accountant and don't have a background in finance, so please interpret what I'm trying to ask as best as possible.   We have an S Corp with two 50% shareholders. 50% is in the form of a family trust where the owners helped provide the capital to get the business up and running. The other 50% handles all sales, marketing and runs the day to day business. I understand distributions need to be equal to the 50% halves. However, is there a way to pay the 50% that handles sales additional bonuses/ commissions based on how sales are going? We already have a small biweekly salary set up for the sales half, but want to be able to include a performance bonus. The rest of what we'd be willing to pay out would be distributed evenly among the 50% halves.Ideally the payouts would be on a quarterly basis.I'd appreciate any feedback to know if this makes sense, is possible, and how to go about it.

Regina

@lynda11_2  I would like to give thanks today to my favorite QuickBooks Online Community forum Columnist Lynda Artesani today. She sets the bar for elegant and thoughtful ProAdvisor responses and helpful content every day. Thank you Lynda! :)

:) 

Technically speaking, doing research and development or R&D means officially allocating time and resources to a team of inventors or product manufacturers who think of and develop product ideas. This crack team will make prototypes and conduct formal trials with prospective customers to see if a product will fly. If this sounds like it’s well beyond the scope of your budget and resources (both financial and human), you might be right. But small business owners shouldn’t skip the R&D stage of determining if your business idea is solid. Instead, you get to be creative about eliciting feedback from your target market on a product or idea -- without breaking the bank. Here’s how some entrepreneurs in QB Community cleverly approach their R&D: After Erica Liu Williams got rave reviews from family and friends about her healthful granola, she figured the fastest way to test-market her recipe was to sell at the local farmer’s market. She launched her gr8nola business in three month

Dear fellow ProAdvisors, Recently, I was approached by Colonial Life.  As many businesses do not provide insurance to their employees, I have always struggled giving suggestions on what to do.  Now, I can suggest and implement Colonial Life to my small and large clients. Since I manage the payroll, the deduction set up is a no brainer. The clients and employees feel valued with the coverage so in turn, is helping with retention. PLUS, it is of no cost to the Employer, but a tax benefit at the end of the year. ALSO, TSheets! This is an amazing 3rd party app that I love so much I am testing to be a ProAdvisor in that as well.  With these three areas covered, I feel I can offer my clients what they need to the best of my ability.  I am not a CPA but, partnered with a few to cover that area too J Just wanted to share this info with all of you as fellow ProAdvisors. It has solidified my relationship with clients and I am now able to give them a solution be

All I'm looking for a QBO Professional who's got experience with QBO, Etsy, Square, PayPal, and PayPal Credit. These new retail integrations are cool but they create a whole new set of accounting ... er ... issues, and I'd rather not wander into the swap alone. Anyone have a trusted QBO Advisor with whom they've had an excellent support relationship? I'd appreciate any recommendations.

Hi All!  I am brand new to all of this and am opening my store in August!  Very exciting (and terrifying).  I would like to start things the best/easiest way possible (and have not purchased Square OR QB)....should I set up my inventory in QB first?  Or Square?  Any advice so I don't have to redo things? Perspective on which Square and QB products to buy?  A little about me - I plan to sell from a brick and mortar location as well as online (eventually).  Any thoughts would be appreciated!