30Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Paycheck/Payroll Frequencies by State

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips
Minimum payroll frequencies are determined by each state and can be quite confusing.  I'm often asked "How often do I have to pay my employees" during a Certified Payroll Training Webinar.  State minimum paycheck frequencies are shown below - this information comes directly from the U.S. Department of Labor's website. It's difficult to thoroughly cover the requirements of all 50 states in a 2 hour webinar, but it has crossed my mind that a series of blog posts on the differences between what State Laws are for how often payroll must be generated and how that can effect the generation of a certified payroll report would be a good thing to do.  While I could have simply started this series and talked about the complexities of generating certified payroll reports…
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16Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Weekly Timesheet – Service vs. Payroll Item

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips
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 -…
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21Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Join Us for a Day of QuickBooks with the AGC San Diego Chapter

Webinars & Training
We are teaming up with the Associated General Contractors {AGC} of America San Diego Chapter, Inc. for a day of QuickBooks for Contractors on Tuesday November 8, 2011; 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM . QuickBooks is the leading small-business accounting software on the market today.  But when it comes to knowing how to use QuickBooks in the commercial/government construction industry and dealing with complexities such as AIA Billing and certified payroll reporting, finding help becomes difficult.  Join us {Nancy Smyth - Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.} as we team up with the Associated General Contractors {AGC} of America San Diego Chapter; for an intensive day-long training session for using QuickBooks in the commercial/government construction industry.  Below are some of the highlights of the course. Morning Session - Job Costing, Estimating, Purchases…
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24Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Report for hours worked before creating paychecks

Payroll Tips, Reports
This QuickBooks payroll tip discusses how to create various reports for hours worked before creating paychecks - to ensure that your employees are being paid correctly and that your job costing will be accurate. An important part of running any business involves keeping track of how many hours your employees work on a specific job and/or task and then accurately paying your employees for those hours.  This is especially true for accurate job costing - no matter what type of business you run. The amount of time spent on record keeping for payroll can be overwhelming for anyone and usually involves multiple people. This is especially true if you are still using mostly manual methods; for example back when I used to do the payroll for a contractor who had…
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10Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Relying on “At-Will” in Terminations Can Be Dangerous

Payroll Tips
A payroll tip about relying on "At-Will" in employee terminations can be dangerous from HR Matters E-tips, an HR Policy & Compliance Expert since 1972. If an employee is “at will,” you don’t have to tell him why you are firing him, right? Technically, yes, but if you handle terminations this way, you could find yourself facing a number of legal claims. Find out the five steps you should always take when terminating at-will employees. Have you ever been tempted to terminate an at-will employee without providing him with a reason? Maybe you did not properly document the employee’s performance problems or are so fed up with his attitude that you feel like you have to take action immediately. After all, the “at-will” concept, simply put, allows you to terminate…
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04Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Personnel Records and Former Employee Access

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Payroll Tips
A payroll tip about personnel records and former employee access from HR Matters. You may be willing to provide your current employees with access to their personnel files, but what about former employees? Find out why HR and legal experts do not recommend access for former employees unless required by law. Personnel records are the property of the employer. Therefore, you generally have discretion over whether to give employees, or former employees, access to their personnel files unless a state law, court, or other government agency requires access. Federal law does not require you to give employees access. However, many organizations such as yours, as a good will gesture, allow current employees to see and even copy their records. This openness usually reduces employee mistrust and concern about the information…
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18Jul 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Wage Underpayments & Wage Restitution

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips
This QuickBooks payroll tip discusses underpaying employee wages and wage restitution, after paychecks have been created and cashed. Paying your employees the correct rate of pay is one of the most critical portions of your business; and if those employees are subject to multiple pay rate or have frequent pay rate changes, ensuring that everyone is being paid the correct rate can be a tedious and potentially error prone process. In today's busy workplace, business owners and payroll administrators are faced with numerous challenges which sometimes result in employee wage underpayments.  Often times a wage shortage isn't discovered until after paychecks have been created and cashed; which then requires wage restitution to the employee. Quite often this situation puts the business owner or payroll clerk in a quandary about how…
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11Jul 2011 by Nancy Smyth

How to Correct Payroll Hours Incorrectly Charged to a Job

Payroll Tips
This QuickBooks payroll tip discusses how to correct payroll hours incorrectly charged to a job after paychecks have been created and cashed. Accurately job costing payroll hours and wages is critical for many business types, not just contractors.  The information that is entered in QuickBooks Weekly Timesheets and paychecks is only as good as the information that is received from those who are responsible for providing the payroll clerk with the original employee hours spend on various jobs.  However, we are all human and, therefore, make mistakes, some mistakes can be corrected more easily than others. A common mistake that can occur is the reporting of employee payroll hours on one job - -  when those hours really should have been reported on another job; for example it was originally…
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13Jun 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Workers Compensation Based on Hours Worked

Payroll Tips
A QuickBooks payroll tip for calculating Workers Compensation when it is based on hours worked. Workers Compensation Insurance is usually calculated as a rate which is applied to gross wages; and that's how the built-in QuickBooks Worker's Compensation feature calculates it.  Last week, on the Intuit Community Forum, someone asked how you would set QuickBooks up to track Workers Compensation when it was a rate based on hours worked. I gave a brief overview on the forum, but thought that it deserved a more detailed "how to"  here on our blog. Before you begin, you'll need at least three accounts in your Chart of Accounts to track your Liability and Expenses: one to track the accruing Worker's Compensation Liability {an Other Current Liability Account} one to track job or field…
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02Jun 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Replacing a Lost Employee Paycheck

Payroll Tips
A QuickBooks payroll tip for replacing a lost employee paycheck. I'm sure that you've all run into this situation at one time or another: an employee sheepishly comes to you and tells you that he's lost his paycheck, it was run through the washer, blew out the car window on his way to the bank, he can't find it, etc.  - and he NEEDS his money! This situation can create quite a quandary for some business owners and their payroll clerks about how to replace this lost check.  The immediate need is to reissue the paycheck. Follow these easy steps to replace a lost employee paycheck: Go the Employee Center, click on the Employees tab and click on the Employees name to display his payroll history Write down the Number…
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31May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Voiding Paychecks

Payroll Tips
A QuickBooks payroll tip about voiding paychecks - you should be very careful when choosing to void a paycheck because payroll checks have associated tax and other liability calculations and payments that need to be taken into consideration and it will result in changing payroll year-to-date amounts. A common, and acceptable, reason to void a paycheck would be if the employee or someone else in your company notices an error on the check before it is cashed - in this situation voiding the check is acceptable because it will not have a negative impact on payroll liability calculations - because those liabilities have not yet been paid. Be VERY careful about voiding a check if the employee has never picked it up - or it cannot be delivered to the…
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11May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip-Tracking Employee Advance/Loan Repayments

Payroll Tips
Tracking employee advance or loan repayments can easily become part of your normal QuickBooks payroll function and is a must for companies that do have a policy that allows giving employees advances/loans for personal reasons. Earlier this week, in our post QuickBooks Payroll Tip - Tracking Employee Advances or Loans, we discussed three different ways in which to record an advance or loan that was given to an employee.  Today we will discuss how to track repayment of that loan through an agreed upon payroll deduction that will continue until the loan is paid in full by the employee. Create a payroll deduction item to record the loan repayment If your payroll item list doesn't currently have a payroll deduction item to record loan repayments, you will need to add…
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