by Joyce M. Washington, CPA
Not literally a change, per se, but more like an expansion of focus…
As I have grown as a business owner and grown as a blog writer, I have found that I’d like to write more about growing a small business, as a whole, instead of just the accounting/financial aspect of it. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’ll still write about accounting, finance, tax preparation/planning issues, payroll vs independent contractor issues, etc but going forward, I plan to write more about the journey of building a business and the things/tools that can help us along the way.
So why the change? I started my business 7 years ago with the primary aim of providing affordable accounting solutions to small business owners. That expanded to tax preparation for businesses & individuals…then that expanded to payroll services for small business owners. Now, I haven’t expanded because I think I know everything or can do everything, out of vanity or any desire of my own. In the past, as now, I have expanded because i took the time to listen to my clients & fulfill their needs. As their trusted advisor, I have been asked to point them in the right direction. So I will use this blog, this platform to do just that… point my aspiring entrepreneurs, microbusiness owners, small business owners in the right direction. It is my hope that you will look to my blog & my website as an invaluable resource and that you will visit often.
With my expansion of focus, I look forward to having guest bloggers in the near future. If you have an area of expertise that can help growing small business owners & aspiring entrepreneurs (especially law, marketing & branding)… I want to hear from you!
Cheers!
Joyce
Questions & Comments… as always, are welcomed!
by Joyce M. Washington, CPA
I tend to read a lot (or at least I try to). Lately, I have been reading more thing online instead of off-line but I wanted to remind my fellow entrepreneurs and business owners that learning does not stop when you get a diploma or a degree. Learning continues until, well… you know. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites that I thought would be helpful to others as they begin/continue their journey of independence.
The E-Myth Revisited – Michael E. Gerber
Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch
Get Clients Now – CJ Hayden
How To Sell Without Being A Jerk – John Klymshyn
Successful QuickBooks Consulting – Michelle L. Long, CPA MBA (this one is good for consulting in general)
These are books that I have read and re-read…hope you find them as helpful as I have.
Do you have a small business, marketing or branding resource that you have read & refer back to over and over again? Please share your literary choices. Thanks & Enjoy.
by Joyce M. Washington, CPA
Q: I have a client who has asked me to help him prepare financial statements. In looking at his books, they are completely a shambles. He has 7 (!) checking accounts, and not one of them can I reconcile in Quickbooks because it appears deposits were randomly recorded, or not recorded, checks were recorded with incorrect check numbers or not recorded, transfers were not recorded, etc. Soooo….. my thought, since they’ve been in QB for only 7 months, I might start from scratch and just record everything fresh. My question is, is there any way I can do this while they’re still working in QB? This job will take me a few weeks to complete, and I don’t want to tie their hands while I’m working on straightening out their financials.
A: Before I respond, I have a question for you: will this be an ongoing client where you will review their file and prepare financial statements on a monthly or quarterly basis going forward? The answer to this seemingly benign question will dictate part of how you move forward and the type of engagement you have.
In my opinion a few things need to happen.
First: train whomever is doing their data entry so that it is done correctly going forward. If they are not trained adequately, you will find yourself in the same boat in a few months. The only difference is you will have the added pressure of getting it done quickly because the client will need the year-end statements done for tax time.
Second: decide if anything in their file is salvageable. Was anything set up correctly (vendors, clients, COA)? Can you make heads or tails of any of the transactions? If not, you may need to throw in the towel and start afresh.
Third: the client can work in the file while you review historic information. If you are setting up the new file, set it up, create an accountant’s copy for yourself and send them a copy, make sure the dividing date is one where they can still work and input transactions. Keep in mind there are a few limitations for you (mostly payroll related). I’m not sure if that will create a real problem for you or not since you didnt’ mention if he had payroll transactions for you to reconcile.
Fourth: is there any reason they have SEVEN bank accounts??? If they don’t have a ready explanation, you may want to advise them to cut back on that. Even if they are all free business checking accounts, it’s costing them time & money in the long run. Trying to keep them all straight is obviously creating a problem for their staff person handling the input of deposits and processing checks and may be the source of a lot of the reconciliation/messiness of the client file.
Hope this helps,
Joyce
Post asked & answered on Quickbooks Forum
by Joyce M. Washington, CPA
Q: We have a software division that charges people monthly on subscription plans. It’s all done automatically. What’s the FASTEST way for me to manage this? I don’t really want to manually enter thousands of monthly charges into QuickBooks every month, but at the end of the year, my accountant will want detailed records. any suggestions?
We’re using authorize.net and cybersource. I can look into importing them. I can import them from the bank, but that seems to a big pain too, as QuickBooks asks me to do each one individually pretty much.
A: Look into what your choices are available regarding the various formats that you can download the information from authorize.net & cybersource. A lot of companies offer a way to export your transactions in a way that’s ready to import them directly into your QB file. It may take some effort on your part to set it up correctly on the front end but will be well worth it not to post transactions one at a time.
I use another payroll provider that allows me to do exactly what I’ve described to import the information with no problem.
If you have additional questions regarding setup, I really think you should seek the advice of your accountant. If they aren’t available or versed in this kind of set up, shoot me an email. (remind me of our forum discussion)… I’d be happy to help.
Good luck! ~Joyce
originally asked & answered on QuickBooks Forum
by Joyce M. Washington, CPA
- Freedom: outsourcing to a service provider allows you to concentrate on income generating activities, increasing your income…
- Reduces overhead: if you don’t have an accounting department, you don’t need the office space, telephones, cubicles, chairs, filing cabinets, etc. You can reallocate that budget to other areas or eliminate it altogether.
- Real time accessibility: offering you real-time accessibility to reports, you know what your cash position is at any given time that is up to date. Up to date information allows you to easily manage your cash flow… and manage your business.
- Secure, off-site storage/backup: not that anything catastrophic will happen but just in case, all your financial information is safe and secure. The cost and time it would take to recreate your finances could be prohibitive, if that were ever necessary. With off-site storage & backup, you don’t have to worry about that.
- No more hiring headaches: it’s hard to find and supervise the work of a bookkeeper when realistically, you have no idea what they are supposed to be doing and turnover is costly.
- No more training headaches: if hiring is a headache, training is too. And if you’re a small business owner training those coming and going through the revolving door of the employer-employee relationship can get expensive. That disappears with outsourcing.
- No more continuity/consistency issues: because an outsourcing provider is there for you day in and day out, you don’t have to worry about the “new person” and their learning curve.
- Less stress: you can relax knowing that your finances are taking care of by competent professionals and concentrate on driving your income and growing your business.
- Internal privacy: eliminate talking about the company’s financial health around the water cooler. Having an independent outsourcing service firm gives you, the owner, more privacy when it comes to the companies overall finances.
- Fixed monthly fee: like you, Common Cents is a small business and we don’t particularly care for hourly billing either… so we do a detailed review of your files to derive a fixed monthly fee for you.
Are you ready to drive your bottom line… upward? Let’s make it happen. ~Joyce
