Nancy Smyth
Top 10 Thursday features 10 of the most interesting articles that I found the previous week. There is so much news and information available on the web – it’s difficult to read everything and stay up to date. As I read articles on the web – I’ll share some that I feel are important.
General Business:
- Guarding Against Fraud: How to Protect Your Organization
- Business-driving technology worth considering in 2012
Bookkeeping, Accounting, Payroll & Taxes:
- Committee to start work on payroll-tax cut in mid-January
- Taxpayers Warned of Changes for Tax Season
Construction:
- Top 10 transportation issues for 2012, including texting and cell phone usage while driving
- Indian considers right-to-work legislation
- Understanding General Liability Insurance for Contractors
- The Science of Bidding
- New York state plans to invest $15B in infrastructure improvements
Marketing & Social Media:
Well, there’s our Top 10 most interesting articles for last week – do you have some interesting news that you’d like to share?
So how do you find a “good” bookkeeper and test their knowledge before hiring them? Or, perhaps you are ready to hire a CPA to help you with your business and your books. Congratulations! We all know what a struggle it is to “try to do everything” yourself, and it almost goes without saying that as a busy contractor, we also know that time is best spent on the job and not in the office handling paperwork.
Welcome to Tuesday Training!
Tuesday Training is a new feature here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog. While everyday focuses on training of one sort or another, Tuesday’s are dedicated to more in-depth training.
We’ll teach you the things you need to know about using QuickBooks, that you won’t find in the QuickBooks Help file, in order to successfully run your construction business and obtain accurate job costing reports; from eBooks, live webinars, and recorded training sessions.
You’ll find high-quality (budget friendly) training without having to leave the comfort of your home or office.
Construction Bookkeeper Test – $25.00
So how do you find a “good” bookkeeper and test their knowledge before hiring them? Well, we have scoured the internet searching for a “good” QuickBooks and Construction Bookkeeping Test, and while we have found some that would test an applicant’s basic knowledge of QuickBooks as well as some basic accounting knowledge, none have addressed any construction related functions. Being disappointed in what we have found, we’ve designed our own – somewhat based on issues that we deal with on a day to day basis supporting our own software which integrates with QuickBooks – and we are happy to offer you a copy {complete with the answers}.
Our Bookkeepers test asks applicants to answer a total of 145 questions, covering 5 different areas of knowledge.
Purchase your copy today for $25.00.
Hiring a Bookkeeper or CPA
We all know what a struggle it is to “try to do everything” yourself, and it almost goes without saying that as a busy contractor, we also know that time is best spent on the job and not in the office handling paperwork.
Before you hire someone to handle your books or your taxes, check their skills and lay the ground rules to make sure that you are getting the right person for your business and never make the big mistake of just “turning” it all over to someone (no matter how enticing that idea may be). Always keep an eye on what is going on.
FREE eBook – click here to download.
Additional Resources from the IRS
Even the IRS feels that this is an important subject, and the IRS urges you to choose that preparer wisely. Most return preparers are professional, honest and provide excellent service to their clients. But it is the taxpayer who is legally responsible for what’s on his or her tax return even if it is prepared by someone else.
We hope that you’ve found today’s Tuesday Training items to be helpful to your business – if so please take a moment to leave a comment or share this with others on your favorite social media network using the buttons below.
The QuickBooks Weekly Timesheet can cause a lot of confusion for users who are implementing employee time tracking for the first time, mainly because the timesheet contains both a Service Item and a Payroll Item. This article will explain what each column is used for and some common pitfalls that can happen.
Job costing and employee time tracking are important aspects of many businesses – not just construction businesses. However, when you initially set up timetracking there are many things that can cause confusion.
About Service Items:
The Service Item column represents the type of work that is being performed and allows you to select/enter/choose the name of the service item/cost code from your Item List that you want to use when your charge/bill your customer for this work – OR – when you pay a subcontractor/non-employee for this item.
Even if you do not intend to charge anyone for this work, entering a service item provides a record of the amount of time spent on this specific type of work. This information will then flow through the the various “Time by” reports as well as your job costing reports..
When a Service Item is brought into an Invoice, it tells QuickBooks which accounts to use to track the income you receive and what Cost of Goods Sold/Expense account to use to track the money your company has spent – so it’s important that your items are set up to capture both Income and Expenses. This provides you with the ability to analyze which types of work/services are the most profitable and how much company time is spent on producing them.
About Payroll Items:
Payroll Item column allow you to select a Payroll Item {that also exists in the employee record} which determines how much the employee should be paid for doing the work that you selected in the Service Item column. This information will then flow through into employee paychecks and perhaps any invoices that you create that are based on billable time and costs.
What if the Payroll Item Column isn’t displayed?
When the Payroll Item column doesn’t appear in the Weekly Timesheet, for one or all employees, it usually means that the employee’s haven’t been setup to utilize timetracking, and you’ll need to check the setup in the employee record to be sure that the “Use time data to create paychecks” option has been checked and that Time tracking has been turned on in the Preferences.
We hope you’ve found this article to be helpful, if so please take a moment to leave a comment or to share it with others on your favorite social networking site using the buttons below.
Friday is Free eBook day, here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog it’s better known as Freebie Friday! Each Friday we’ll tell you about a free eBook that we’ve found or one that we have created. Look for eBooks on a variety of educational topics.
Free eBook – An Introduction to Lead Generation
By now, many businesses understand that lead volume is based on a wide array of factors, ranging from social media presence, to blogging frequency, to online content.
Learn how to effectively generate traffic and leads for your business.
Download HubSpot’s 39-page ebook, which will walk you through the basics of lead generation and discuss techniques for optimizing your lead gen strategy.
In this free ebook, you’ll learn:
- The fundamental tactics for lead generation
- Techniques for maximizing your reach and lead flow
- Methods for improving lead generation results
Get started by completing the request form on Hubspot’s website to download the “An Introduction to Lead Generation” eBook today!
We hope you find today’s eBook to be helpful, if so please take a moment to leave a comment or to share this post on your favorite social networking site.
Have a great weekend
Top 10 Thursday features 10 of the most interesting articles that I found the previous week. There is so much news and information available on the web – it’s difficult to read everything and stay up to date. As I read articles on the web – I’ll share some that I feel are important.
General Business:
Bookkeeping, Accounting, Payroll & Taxes:
- Misclassifying Workers as Independent Contractors Carries a Steep Price
- New Tax Provisions for 2012
- Where Do Payroll Taxes Go?
- Tax Relief and Health Care Acts Shape 2011 Returns
Construction:
- Defense Bill Includes at $400M for Colorado
- Allowances in Construction Contracts – Avoiding Misunderstandings and Disputes
Marketing & Social Media:
- The Power of Permission in Using Email Marketing
- Using Social Bookmarking to Improve Your SEO
- How Small-Business Owners Can Cast a Social Safety Net
Well, there’s our Top 10 most interesting articles for last week – do you have some interesting news that you’d like to share?
