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Best practices for maintaining accurate books so financial data stays reliable, timely, and useful.
How to change a date on a QuickBooks transaction Changing a date on a QuickBooks transaction is an easy task. Simply click the date field in the transaction, then choose the correct date from the calendar that pops up. But wait, before you change the date on a transaction, you need to consider a much …
Your QuickBooks Chart of Accounts is the foundation for your critical company reports. What unfortunate events can occur when it is NOT set up in the best way? Your QuickBooks Chart Of Accounts How you set up your Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks is one of the most important decisions you can make! It determines whether …
Let QuickBooks online training help you like it’s helped millions of others. Are you one of the many small-business owners taking on your own accounting? In recent years, many small- and midsize-business owners have been steering away from using trained accountants for their financial needs. Instead, they’ve assumed the responsibility themselves. They’re either doing the …
What might you be able to accomplish for your company if you create employer or employee shadowing teams for a couple of hours? Or even a couple of days? Employer or Employee Job Shadowing – Could It Work For YOUR Company? A client recently told me that she wasn’t as pleased with the performance of a couple …
As a small or mid-sized business you only need one cost-effective, integrated accounting system to effectively manage your financial operations… Have you made the jump to manage your own accounting? If so, have you found yourself lost in a sea of financial software? In fact, you really don’t need those five or six manual systems …
Have you ever wondered how financial & accounting software could benefit your business? Learn to manage your own finances with QuickBooks… Every business faces the challenges associated with accounting. But for mid-sized and small businesses especially, the challenges associated with managing money can mean the difference between success and failure. As a small-business owner, you …
When you make it easier for your customers to buy from you – and pay you – two things typically happen: your sales increase, and you get QuickBooks payments faster. That means enhanced cash flow and fewer collection calls. Plus, a side benefit is that customer satisfaction is often higher when goods or services have been …
Construction accounting is a unique type of accounting that requires specific financial management tools. Here’s what you need to know. Construction Accounting… As the owner of a remodeling or custom building company, you likely bring a huge list of abilities and talents to your daily work life! From the tangible job skills to the energy …
Month-End Closing Workflow: Why It Matters (More Than You Think) A strong month-end closing workflow helps you Catch missing costs Protect profit, and Make decisions based on numbers you can trust The story… A bookkeeper closes the month and the numbers look fine. A week later, a $15,000 flooring bill shows up. At that point, …
Paying your QuickBooks Bills can be easier (even pain-free!) – when you use your software to its fullest capacity… QuickBooks Pay Bills with a Credit Card Company owners and bookkeepers often use credit cards to pay QuickBooks bills. Those who appreciate the convenience of purchasing items or paying bills using credit cards often ask how …
One of your responsibilities as a payroll administrator, or when you convert to QuickBooks Payroll, will be to establish payroll schedules in QuickBooks for your employees. Here’s how. Setting Up Payroll Schedules in QuickBooks Payroll administration can be complex and time-consuming. It requires precision and tremendous attention to detail. Because your employees are counting on …
Close your books without chaos… Why a comprehensive month-end close protects your profit If your month-end close feels like a mad scramble, you’re not alone. Most businesses don’t have a “real” close. They have a monthly cycle of patching, guessing, and hoping the reports are close enough. But here’s the truth: your reports are only …
Using MakersHub AI to Reduce Accounting Costs Diane and MakersHub founders Charley Howe and Phong Ngo demonstrate how you can reduce the time your company spends on accounts payable – by 90%! This live demo with Diane, Charley and Phong reveals how you and your company can wave goodbye to detailed manual entry for Bills, Approvals, …
What Does a Broken Month-End Close Do To Your Business? Messy financials aren’t just a nuisance — they’re a risk. Every month that ends with guesswork, missing reports, or last-minute scrambles leaves your company flying blind. Learn why getting your books right isn’t optional — and how it impacts your entire team. Let’s be real. …
Cybersecurity Best Practices: Protect Your Construction Business from Bad (Digital) Actors Why this matters to you: Although this webinar has a holiday-themed title, every season is “The Season for CyberSecurity” because cybersecurity threats persist year-round. Protecting your financial and operational data isn’t just a technical issue – it’s critical for maintaining trust with your clients and …
Jake Reeves (Cloud Productivity Expert – Summit Hosting) joins Diane Gilson to illustrate innovative ways to use “anytime/anywhere” cloud access services. Why this matters to you: You’ll see how “elastic scalability” and “resources-on-demand” can help you collaborate between team members, securely share data and company information, and grow your business. Watch this seminar to see …
Key Points QuickBooks Online Payroll provides three plans with different features to suit various business requirements. Payroll setup is easy with automatic tax calculations and simple employee data entry. Users can run payroll as often as desired and enjoy features like same-day direct deposit and tax filing. Complying with federal and state laws is made …
Bulletproof Accounting for Long Term Business Survival Diane and host of The Best Business Podcast, Daryl Urbanski, reveal proven “success habits” that small and medium-sized business owners can use to leapfrog the competition and thrive. Why this matters to you: In this podcast, Diane delivers some simple (and high-value) startup and accounting system tips that …
3 Innovative Options to Conquer Construction Chaos Whether you’re a trade contractor in the electrical, plumbing, or HVAC specialties, a remodeler or custom builder, or in charge of dispatching technicians, this session is designed with your needs in mind. Discover how to Conquer Construction Chaos using three cutting-edge software solutions (ECI BuildTools, Bolt, and Thermogrid.) …
QuickBooks Project Management Apps – Pros, Cons & Insights Managing construction projects can be complex, and finding the right tools is key to your success. Have you ever wondered if a project management app (plug-in) might be right for you? (You may have already heard of apps such as JobTread, CoConstruct, BuilderTrend, BuildTools, and ECI’s …
In this interview, you will learn about an AI tool that will help companies reduce accounting costs and errors by automating the process of entering bills, approving invoices and making payments. Why this matters to you: In most companies, a large percentage of accounting efforts goes into the tedious and error-prone process of manually entering …
In this video, you will learn the power of cloud hosting for QuickBooks Desktop and see a demonstration of how easy and effective it is to manage QuickBooks using a cloud hosting service. Why this matters to you: If you are a QuickBooks Desktop user, cloud hosting is a powerful service that enables essential functions …
In this video, Diane Gilson is asked a series of questions about job costing, its importance for construction companies, and how to implement it. Why this is important: Job costing is the foundation of effective construction projects and company management. Without effective job costing systems that provide accurate and detailed job costing information, companies will …
In this interview, Diane and Dave Sullivan (host of The Roofer Show podcast) dive into what Diane calls the “Gross Profit Rollercoaster.” They explore why ‘highs and lows’ happen in a business (when the numbers aren’t lining up) and how to avoid those ups and downs. Why this matters to you: As Dave says, “You …
Yes, your initial QuickBooks payroll setup can take some time and requires attention to detail. BUT manual payroll processing requires even more work – and you have to do it over – and over – and over… Which sounds like the better choice? QuickBooks Payroll Ask any 10 small and mid-sized business (SMB) bookkeepers and …
Fixing Data Damage in QuickBooks Company Files to Prevent QuickBooks Crashing How to Locate and correct damaged data and transactions in your QuickBooks data file. From time to time, QuickBooks data files become damaged or corrupted, which could cause QuickBooks to crash when opening or working in the company file. We know from experience how …
The QuickBooks Data File Verification Feature Re-sorting Your QuickBooks List The first step in repairing QuickBooks data links in your QuickBooks Desktop or Enterprise files is to re-sort your QuickBooks list. Learn how here. Once you have re-sorted your QuickBooks list, if you are still suffering from broken database links in your QuickBooks data file, you’ll …
Diane and Bracken Anderson (from busybusy) recently had a great interview-style meeting where we explored why job costing is critical for construction companies. Why this matters to you: When you understand what job costing is and how to get started with it, you can then focus on your winning jobs. And that means more profits for …
Company owners sometimes ask me: “Should balance adjustments arising from account reconciliation problems cause me any concern?” Do QuickBooks Account Reconciliation Discrepancies Matter? Account reconciliation is crucial; here’s why… You want to be certain that you and your bank, credit card companies, and lenders agree on the amounts shown in your books. (If not, you …
Labor Burden: If you’re struggling to understand and measure your Labor Burden and its effect on profit, these articles by Diane Gilson will teach you how to do it. We’ll start with some quick definitions of labor burden and how to calculate it, followed by a real-life example so you can see how it’s done. …
Download your Choosing a QuickBooks ProAdvisor eBook… Recently, a participant in one of the online forums that I like to ‘attend’ asked “What should I look for when I choose my next accountant?” As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor who’s worked with many different clients within the construction, manufacturing, and various other industries (and ‘in the wake’ …
QuickBooks Desktop Assisted Payroll is our payroll service of choice at Info Plus Consulting. Because we ‘eat our own (QuickBooks) dogfood,’ we know the quality of this product. And we nearly always recommend Assisted Payroll to our clients. Why do we typically recommend this product to our clients? Here are my top seven reasons: 1. …
Here’s our video with Corey Monson – Director of Partnerships at busybusy In this webinar, Corey and I help peel back the curtain on WHY “truth in timekeeping” is so crucial to increasing your company’s earnings! (Hint: It’s critical in finding your company’s accurate labor costs.) You’ll get some new perspectives, unique insights, and a …
Job Costing In QuickBooks QuickBooks is designed to help you plan, measure, and monitor company and job results. You can even use QuickBooks Job Costing Features to Achieve Your Gross Profit Goals! Use its management reporting tools to immediately SEE operating and financial results. Proactively correct problems – before they spin out of control – …
How do QuickBooks’ Memorized Transactions relate to pizza? Join Sheila as she experiences an eye-opening and rewarding “Pizza-Lunch-n-Learn” with her friend, Gail… Overwhelmed With Bills and Emails and P.O.s and Invoicing… Sheila sat at her desk, staring at the stack of emails, Purchase Orders, and Bills she’d need to sort through and enter before she could …
How To Solve the Tax Time Nightmare If you’re someone who dreads January, February, March – and beyond – because those months seem to turn into “Franken-tax” time, you may be asking yourself: “How do other companies do it? What would it be like if I was ALL DONE with tax-related chores by the middle …
… My Canadian friend and colleague, Bryan Kaplan of Construction Consulting, recently sent an email about an experience with Purchase Orders that was so insightful I asked if I could share it with you. This quick read will provide you with a handful of Quick Wins! The Saturday Text… It was 11 pm on a …
… Increase Your Profits On Every Job (Part 2) How do you locate and charge for lost or invisible costs? Use these tips to be sure you find (and charge for!) lost or invisible costs. If you DON’T do job costing, it’s easy to miss various Time and Materials (T&M) costs that accumulate on a job. …
… Increase Your Profits On Every Job (Part 3) Job costing helps you spot (and eliminate) your low-profit and loser jobs! Every low-profit and “loser” job is wiping out the profit you’re making on other jobs! When you replace projects that lose money (or only yield minimal profits) with jobs that achieve your gross profit …
… Increase Your Profits On Every Job (Part 4) Here’s how to add 10% (or more) of your gross sales to your bottom line! The biggest mistake so many roofers make is to think that they’ll make more money if they sell more. BUT if you don’t have a stable and substantial gross profit on …
Increase Your Profits On Every Job (Part 1) Why Use “Estimate vs. Actual” Reports? Many company owners wonder why they should bother with job costing. They think they can simply watch their checkbook and wait until tax time to see how they did LAST YEAR. Unfortunately, by then, it’s too late to fix the problems …
What is Job Costing? Job costing, also known by some as job order costing, is an accounting method used to track the costs associated with a specific job or project. This method is typically used in industries where goods or services are produced based on a specific customer order, and each order or job has …
Hierarchical View in QuickBooks Do you have QuickBooks lists structured to show in a Hierarchical View? (Think “outline” with headers and sub-elements.) For instance: In your Customer:Job list, do you have a “header” as a Customer and sub-elements as Jobs? (If not, you may want to do so…) Open your Item List. Do you have …
To run any profitable business (including roofing), you have to understand the basics of accounting, how to organize your Chart of Accounts, and the basics to set up your business financials. Find out how understanding your accounting system and making a few proactive updates can lead to increased profitability. Here’s the podcast: Organize your Chart …
Want your company to be more profitable? Almost all business owners are constantly working to make their company more profitable. And that’s a good thing, right? It probably is, as long as you achieve it morally and ethically. But is it worth it? Here Are 12 Benefits of Running a More Profitable Company These benefits …
It’s That Time of Year Again – TAX TIME! And guess what? I’ve been working with clients who have been turning their numbers over to their tax accountants starting the middle of January! Do you dread January, February, March – and beyond – because those months seem to turn into “Franken-tax” time? Are you asking …
This post about QuickBooks’ Items is excerpted from our more extensive training video that’s included in our Construction Accounting & Management Program (CAMP). QuickBooks Items: Automating Job Costing for Construction Companies QuickBooks Items enable construction companies to automatically track and report on the financial detail underlying what’s REALLY going on within the financial side of …
No one wants to find out that they lost money on the job (or only made a gross profit of 1.5%!) – two or three months after a job is completed.
Ever wondered if you could receive more useful and meaningful reports from QuickBooks? Good financial information is not just a matter of convenience! Nick is finding out that what he DOESN’T know about his financial system could pose a major setback to his business… Nick’s “Unique” Profit & Loss Statement “Wow, this is about the longest …
New to QuickBooks? Feel like you’re all alone? Well, you’re not! Every new user could use tips to get them started in QuickBooks… You’ve started your new business from scratch and know you need to really get a handle on your numbers. Maybe you’ve been recruited by a family member – or hired by a business owner …