By Ben Kinsey
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| Image courtesy wikimedia |
While it’s true that the American Dream is still alive
and well, when it comes to realizing your dreams by owning a small business, you
sometimes have to wear a lot of hats. If
one of those hats you are forced to wear is as the company bookkeeper, let me
show you how QuickBooks can help make the task not more efficient, but more
profitable.
1. Job #1 for successful business owners
is getting paid. – But when it
comes to sending and tracking invoices, it’s not always such an easy job. That’s one of the first ways QuickBooks can
come to the rescue. If you’re still
mailing invoices to clients, there’s a much better way. QuickBooks lets you create invoices that you
can email to clients. Better still, it
allows them to pay you via credit card or eCheck with a simple point and click
of their mouse. Last but not least, the
system automatically keeps track of who has paid and who has not, which makes
keeping tabs on customers a snap.
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| Image courtesy Picryl |
3. Do you work harder for your employees
then they work for you? – QuickBooks can help you schedule and
monitor employee activity by creating calendar events or timesheets. Then it provides in-depth reports that will measures
employee productivity and job costs that help you make your business more
profitable.
4. Manage your payroll in-house. – If you’re currently paying a third party to manage
your payroll, did you know you can process your payroll directly in
QuickBooks? Even if you choose to keep
your current payroll provider, QuickBooks makes it a snap for your provider to export
files to your computer to properly record all payroll transactions for tax
purposes. Think of how much time and
trouble that could save you every month.
5. How would you like another way to get
paid? If you aren’t
already accepting online payments, QuickBooks is one of the easiest ways to
access Intuit’s payment network. With
it, you can give customers the option of paying online for as little as fifty
cents per transaction, no matter how high the invoice amount. If you’re currently paying through the nose
for credit card transactions, this could save you a bundle.
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| Image courtesy Pixabay |
6. Would quick, accurate financial
reports help you get a bead on the bottom line?
Of course, they would.
The problem is, if you’re forced to wait until you next see your
accountant to see your financials, you could wind up out of business. QuickBooks is a demon when it comes to
crunching numbers and creating financial reports, flowcharts and graphs that
can show you the metrics of your business in real time. Want to know cashflow, profit & loss or
sales figures? Need to get a bead on
expenditures and payroll? QuickBooks
makes generating a report as simple as point and click. Not only are these reports a great way to
keep tabs on the pulse of your business, they are invaluable when it comes time
to pursue a business loan, woo an investor, or sell your business.
7. Does keeping track of inventory wake
you up in the dead of night in a cold sweat? – If your business relies on keeping track of
inventory, the manual method is a lot like manual labor. QuickBooks can help you automate your
inventory much more efficiently than either the manual method or an Excel
spreadsheet. You’ll be able to
automatically track and update inventory on hand in real time every time you
make a transaction. You will save tons
of time every month by eliminating the time-consuming task of manually auditing
your inventory. Best of all, keeping the
right amount of inventory on your shelves at the right time will no longer be a
hit or miss guessing game, since you’ll be able to view past sales trends by
creating an instant report.
8. Is the IRS your best friend? – They aren’t if you’re receiving notices from them
warning you of fines, penalties or a dreaded audit. QuickBooks can help make sure you keep the
IRS happy by making your accountant’s job a lot easier and more accurate while saving
you the cost of hiring a bookkeeper. If your idea of keeping track of expenses is
to have a shoe box full of receipts, QuickBooks could change your life by
allowing you to scan and organize receipts. While QuickBooks won’t make you
love tax time, it can simplify tax preparation.
9. You don’t have to be a bookkeeper to
use QuickBooks. – It was designed from the ground up to be
user-friendly. This includes an easy to navigate
interface that’s easy for business owners to understand. It’s also easy to customize the interface to
your liking without having to hire a programmer.
10. Does the thought of learning a new
accounting system make your head spin? – It shouldn’t. Because the learning curve on QuickBooks is short
and simple. Aside from online tutorials
and videos, we at Small Business Group offer QuickBooks training that’s
designed to help you maximize its uses while minimize the time it takes to
learn and use this outstanding accounting package.
Ben Kinsey, CPA of Small Business Group works with owners of closely
held corporations in the Northeast Florida region. If you work in the
North Florida area we offer a FREE initial Consultation at our office, please
contact Small Business Group if you would like to know more about strategies
for your business.
We've been using QuickBooks to help manage our business financials for the past 8 years. I wouldn't have it any other way.
ReplyDeleteI've been using Quickbooks since it was launched in the DOS days and it was the best accounting decision I ever made. The next best decision was finding a great CPA to help me understand what the numbers mean. A CPA, Like Ben Kinsey is what every business needs.
ReplyDelete