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.
We’ve been testing, debugging, and documenting numerous certified payroll and AIA billing updates for the last few weeks – I’ve posted some of the information behind the changes here in our blog.
Today, I just send out a newsletter to over 2,000 construction companies (in all 50 states) who use our software – Glad I use Constant Contact to keep everyone up to date, otherwise they would get me for spamming 
Below are highlights from the newsletter.
Certified Payroll Solution Updates:
There are several new enhancements, changes, and requirements available for Certified Payroll Solution; some at the State level for certified payroll reporting and others at the Federal level for EEOC Reporting – each item has a link to our website where you will find complete instructions. Be sure to visit our website to obtain the instruction on how to download & install the updates and implement any new changes that you will need to make.
- California DIR established Compliance Monitoring Unit and requires electronic certified payroll reports via a Labor Compliance Program (LCP) developed by TRS Consultants, Inc. Click here for details.
- New FHWA 1391 & 1392 Annual EEO Reports for Federal Highway Contractors – the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration revised both the 1391 & 1392 in June 2010. The new forms print on LEGAL SIZE paper and require that you report employees who are of two or more races separately. Click here for details.
- Texas DOT Requires Electronic Certified Payrolls {E-Payrolls} – The Texas Department of Transportation, like many other state agencies, is requiring electronic submission of certified payroll reports, through its Electronic Project Records System (EPRS). We have worked closely with representatives of Texas DOT to ensure that CPS will create the required .CSV file. The electronic upload has been tested and approved by Texas DOT. Click here for details.
- Revised Mississippi CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms – Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT) has revised their CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms and updated forms are available to download. The Certified Payroll Report now includes the Race & Gender of each employee. Click here for complete details.
- New York City Housing Department Form Update – The New York City Housing Department is requiring that ALL certified payroll reports submitted on the Federal WH-347 form include the”Public Burden Statement”. Click here for complete details.
- Wisconsin Bug Fixes – corrects DOT Statement of Compliance check boxes and Department of Workforce Development Electronic upload error. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download Wisconsin DOL forms.
- More Missouri revisions – including the ability to print the certified payroll report forms on either standard or legal-sized paper. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download new State of Missouri forms.
- Alaska Electronic Certified Payroll Upload News – Over a year ago we were contacted by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development to provide an electronic upload for their new on-line certified payroll filing. We worked closely with them to provide them with the correct information and upload type. A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted again and the system is now live. Download this brochure from the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, download this article for setting up CPS to generate the required files.
Construction Application for Payment Solution (AIA Billing Updates)
We’ve also been working on the Construction Application for Payment Solution (for AIA Billing). We’ve added new functionality and forms that have been requested by YOU, our customers. Each new item is listed below, if there are “special” instructions for implementing the new feature – be sure to click the link to visit our website and download ALL of the download & setup instructions that are available.
- Quantities on the Continuation Sheet – Currently this is a tested ALPHA release (Version 5.0.219), which provides Quantity Tracking (estimated, previous, current, stored, previously stored quantities and unit price can be tracked and printed with CAPS). New forms have been added with quantities. In some cases, prior form selection on jobs may be incorrect – check the Form Printing Options for each Job (Edit menu -> Jobs -> select Job -> Edit -> Printing tab -> check selection in the Select a plain paper form for this job. CAPS now provides 22 different plain paper invoicing formats for you to choose from.
- Contractor Qualification Statement – In April we released in BETA a Contractor Qualification Statement as part of the Construction Application for Payment Solution Program. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.1.214) and it is currently in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
- Plain Paper 706, 706A, 707 & 707A forms – In March, we released in BETA the ability to create complete 706, 706A, 707, & 707A forms using plain paper – rather than having to purchase AIA originals. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.0.184) and it is currently still in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
August 7, 2009
Earlier this week I reported that I was unable to get my Windows 7 machine to recognize the XP machines in our network and vice versa………well I was finally able to do it! YIPEE!
Basically, it’s like this:
- On the Windows 7 machine (logged in as the computer Admin) I had to go into Control Panel -> Security & System -> System window. In the computer name, domain, workgroup settings section there is a button named Change Settings - click on that button and follow the prompts on the screens to where it asks you for your WorkGroup name. Enter the name of your current workgroup. You will need to reboot your computer in order for the changes to take effect.
- On the XP Machine -> My Network Places window -> click Add a network place. Click Next on the Welcome to the Add Network Place Wizard window, click the Choose another network location option and click Next. Click the Browse button -> Entire Network option -> find your workgroup name and double-click on it (mine was under the Microsoft Windows Network BUT YOURS MAY HAVE BEEN SET UP DIFFERENTLY) so you can see the names of all the computers in your network. Select the name of the Windows 7 machine and JUST BE PATIENT as it takes a few minutes for it to “think” (you’ll see the hourglass). The “Users” folder on the Windows 7 machine should appear, click on it and click the OK button.
- If this works correctly you’ll be asked for a user name and password – I entered the Windows 7 Administrator user name and password. Again there will be a delay while XP “thinks” about all this; but once it’s through thinking the Windows 7 machine showed up in the My Network Places window.
- My laptop, which runs Vista business automatically found the Windows 7 machine when I clicked on Start -> Network, and I can access the Windows 7 machine from Vista without an issue.
Whew!!! I made some progress today and it was POSITIVE progress so now I’m quitting while I’m ahead!
For those of you that are “more technical” you can download a .pdf of the instructions that I found in the Windows 7 Help from the Technical Support Area of our main website, by clicking here.
Over the last few months I’ve been reading everything I could get my hands on about Windows 7, in order to prepare myself for supporting yet ANOTHER version of the Windows Operating System. (Can you tell I’m just thrilled?)
Windows 7, according to all the “techie magazines” will start appearing pre-installed on new computers beginning October 22, 2009. Read this article for more information.
So with the news, I’ve decided that I need to jump on the band wagon and build a “test” machine using the Windows 7 Release Candidate (a “Release candidate ” is the version that is the last beta or test version that is released prior to a “final release” for the general public”. )
I’ll be posting updates as I work with the new version of Windows. But as always; we recommend that you do not run right out and buy the newest or latest & greatest version of anything.
I’m anticipating trouble with obtaining drivers for some of my existing equipment (which really isn’t all that old) and I’ll tell ya, I’m NOT looking forward to this; so be on the look out for “rants” in the upcoming weeks.
Well, I’ve finally found some quite time to go take my ProAdvisor Certification “test” – I’ve been a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor since 2000, when the program first was established by Intuit.
I’ve taken this test 8 years in a row now, and I swear it’s changed little – oh sure, they do put in a few questions about new features found in QuickBooks each year, but overall it’s the same darn test I’ve taken since the inception. How sad!
I “used” to think that being a “Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor” actually meant something, now I feel that it means that somebody was able to pass the test (open book format), with less than 20 attempts. Yup, that’s right, you can take this open book test 20 times before you absolutely, positively have to pass it in order to be “certified”.
The unfortunate thing about the test is that it’s all “theory” and we all know that in “theory” everything is always perfect.
I understand that the testing for the Advanced ProAdvisor status is more difficult and at least provides some practical application……….guess I’ll give that a whirl next……
So as a business owner, I’d like to leave you with this tidbit to file away…next time someone tells you that they are a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor; think open book test, 20 attempts to pass – and ask them how long they have been “certified”.
