Back 2000 who would have thought that developing a QuickBooks integrated add-on would become a very popular trend among software developers?
Heck, there wasn’t even a widely known, let alone an “Intuit approved method” of accessing QuickBooks data at that time, so WHY would anyone want to form a company that would read QuickBooks data to generate certified payroll reports for construction contractors?
Yet, on August 16, 2000 that is exactly what Ben & Nancy Smyth of Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. decided to do – write QuickBooks integrated software that would produce Certified Payroll Reports for government construction projects.
Ten years and almost 4,000 contractors using QuickBooks later; Sunburst is still going strong.
We would like to say “thank you” to all of our current and past customers for their support and feedback; you’ve only helped us provide more functionality than we initially planned for.
As we all know, having an accounting system is a vital piece of any successful business. An accounting system provides an automated and easy way to track how much money you are making vs. how much money you are spending.
Creating proper accounts in your accounting system to track your businesses Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, Cost of Goods Sold and Expenses will allow you to see an overall picture of your company’s worth or value from a financial standpoint – not only for yourself but also when you apply for a loan or have to be bonded.
A construction company, like any other company, has numerous responsibilities – to their employees, customers, vendors, subcontractors, investors and even the government.
This is where the similarities end!
The construction industry has some very specific accounting requirements. In addition to payroll, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable functions, they need to be able to have systems to handle job costing, overhead, billing and/or invoicing, and if you use QuickBooks for your basic accounting you’ll also need integrated applications to handle project management, scheduling, customer management, etc.
No two contractors will have the EXACT same need for functionality OR use the exact same cost coding system for billing. So don’t let anyone tell you that every contractor uses a specific Chart of Accounts or Cost Coding system.
A typical construction specific accounting program (which carries a big price tag) includes Accounts Payable, Job Cost management, Accounts Receivable, payroll (including Union payroll), detailed job budgets, time and material billings, general ledger, AIA billing, subcontract status, custom job reports, certified payroll, over and under billings, purchase orders, Union reports, inventory, equipment tracking, work in progress, Retainage Receivable, Retainage Payable, etc.
There are many software packages available for the construction industry – ranging from $5,000.00 to $50,000.00 in price with expensive annual updates that do not include any support. Because of this, especially in this tight economy, more and more contractors are looking at switching to QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise to fulfill their bookkeeping and accounting needs.
QuickBooks, while not specifically developed for the construction industry is:
- extremely user-friendly
- can provide a very strong accounting structure “backbone”
- can be operated by personnel who have little computer knowledge (bookkeeping and accounting knowledge, however, is important – you need to know your “debits from your credits”)
- and with the use of reasonably-priced QuickBooks integrated applications to provide some of the higher level functionality
All of these items combined make QuickBooks when used in conjunction with 3rd party integrated applications a viable and cost-effective choice for most contractors.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact
Nancy Smyth
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.
(888) 348-2877 phone
(866) 684-5157 fax
sales@sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
SUNBURST SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. RELEASES FEDERAL WH-347 COMPLIANCE UPDATE FOR “CERTIFIED PAYROLL SOLUTION” AND CONTRACTORS USING QUICKBOOKS.
“Certified Payroll Solution” Integrates with QuickBooks to Help Contractors Working on Government Funded Construction Projects Comply With Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements, Saving Them Time And Money.
West Charleston, VT – January 16, 2009
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc., an Intuit Gold Developer, is pleased to announce the release of a compliance update, on January 14, 2009, for their flagship QuickBooks integrated application “Certified Payroll Solution.” This compliance update meets new Federal WH-347 certified payroll reporting requirements which become effective January 18, 2009, as mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor on December 18, 2008.
“Certified Payroll Solution” utilizes QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions timesheet, employee, job, and payroll data to automate the creation of Federal and/or State mandated certified payroll reports, statements of compliance, “No Work” performed payrolls, EEOC Reports and Union/Bona-fide Plan Fringe Benefit Reports. This exchange of critical data helps contractors working on prevailing wage construction projects to manage their compliance reporting more efficiently – saving them valuable time, money and resources.
“Manually creating certified payroll reports is simply a horrendous, time-consuming, error-prone process and if your reports aren’t accurate, you simply don’t get paid in a timely fashion. Before developing ‘Certified Payroll Solution,’ I created my certified payroll reports for years using an Excel spreadsheet and several reports from QuickBooks, and no matter how careful I was, there was always a mistake somewhere,” says Nancy Smyth, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. President, also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. ”I knew there had to be a better way and that way involved using data that I had already entered in QuickBooks.” She continues, “Essentially, without having to re-enter data manually into another program, errors were eliminated. Although this left the middleman – me – out of the picture, the savings to the small and mid-size business owner was tremendous!”
There are more than 12 million small businesses currently using computers in the United States (TowerGroup, 2001). Developing a QuickBooks integrated certified payroll program, and later an AIA type billing program, made sense to the husband and wife team, Ben & Nancy Smyth, principals of Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. Nearly three million small businesses (and almost 200,000 are contractors) use QuickBooks and 80 percent of those users want QuickBooks to integrate with other software and devises (QuickBooks 2000 User Study).
The “Certified Payroll Solution” updates provides compatibility with new WH-347 reporting requirements, which no longer require the reporting of full employee social security numbers and home address; but rather just a unique employee identification number, usually the last 4 digits of the employee social security number. Additionally, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. has built in the ability for current users to easily change these reporting requirements on State specific reports and/or electronically filed reports as new requirements are announced.
About Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. has been providing contractors using QuickBooks Financial Software with a fully automated, integrated means to generate certified payroll reports and AIA type billings since October 2000. For more information, visit http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit, the Intuit logo, Quicken, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, Turbo Tax, ProSeries, and Lacert, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties’ trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.
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Important Note: As of January 16, 2009 there was no new or revised WH-347 form available from the U.S. Department of Labor, we will continue to monitor the site for the availability of a new form, if applicable.
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View this PRLog.org http://www.prlog.org/10168568-wh-347-compliance-update-for-certified-payroll-solution-and-contractors-using-quickbooks.html
