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02Jan 2017 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks – Print function disabled for W2’s, 1099’s, etc.

Meeting an earlier W-2 and 1099 deadline (now January 31, 2017) just got a little more complicated and time-consuming. A recent QuickBooks payroll update has disabled the print function for W's, 1099's, 941's, 940's, and other year-end payroll tax returns. NOTE: I'm pretty certain it was a payroll update and not a normal QuickBooks maintenance release that did this - mainly because I have not installed the most recent maintenance release so that should not be the cause. First the really bad news. If you planned on printing your W-'s on pre-printed forms - forget about it. If you need to export W-2 and 1099 information to a 3rd party (such as Mag-Filer) - forget about it - as the Print to Text export has also been disabled. Now for…

03Nov 2016 by Nancy Smyth

Someone literally stole our content!

"Stuff" that drives me insane

Maybe you've noticed (and maybe you haven't) that it's been mighty quiet around here and I've been an absent blogger for well over a year, so I thought I'd hop in here and let you all know what is going on ---- finally! First of all, let me assure everyone that: I haven't stopped supporting QuickBooks I haven't stopped supporting contractors using QuickBooks I haven't run out of tips and tricks to write about and I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth :-) What has happened (and I'm going to be REALLY blunt here) is that I have become very aggravated and disillusioned by the people who are supposed to be my "peers" - namely other so-called "QuickBooks professionals" and I use that term quite loosely. Now,…

09May 2015 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Desktop vs Intuit Online Payroll – Free Webinar

Webinars & Training

WHEN: Wednesday May 13, 2015 TIME: 2 pm Eastern (1 pm Central) WHERE: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5365558835222259970 General Overview: Most businesses think the only choices they have regarding payroll management is paying employees by cash or direct deposit. But there are a variety of ways to manage your payroll and the best option should be made based on which is right for you, your business and your skill set. Payroll is one of the most important tasks for any business, you need to make sure that you keep your employees happy by making certain that they are paid correctly and on time! And if you are thinking of using a payroll software product or subscription, you need to identify which payroll method is right for YOUR business. Your hosts: Kim Shannon, President of…

19Mar 2015 by Nancy Smyth

Tips for Effectively Using QuickBooks Purchase Orders

Job Costing Tips, Vendors & Accounts Payable

Using Purchase Orders and running the Open Purchase Orders by Job report in QuickBooks are excellent tools for General Contractors as well as Subcontractors who sub out a portion of the job to someone else. Purchase Orders can also be customized and used to record a verbal bid for materials from a supplier as well as using them to create an Invitation to Bid, which will ultimately be sent to several subcontractors at once. Using Purchase Orders in QuickBooks can help you to ensure that your Subcontractors or Material Suppliers do not charge you more than what they originally quoted you for a price and the Open Purchase Order by Job Report can help you to see how much in committed costs there are left on your jobs. Both very…

10Dec 2014 by Nancy Smyth

The Great Debate – QuickBooks Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Corner

There seems to be an incredible debate going on between QuickBooks Desktop vs QuickBooks Online; and it’s really beginning to bug the heck out of me. Let’s start at the top, with Intuit. If you visit the Intuit QuickBooks website at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ what you see advertised is the QuickBooks Online version and unless scroll all the way to the bottom of that page and look under the Products column, you don’t see the desktop versions of QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, QuickBooks Accountant or even the QuickBooks for the Mac versions! Everything on that page points you to the “all-new QuickBooks” which is the QuickBooks Online product. [caption id="attachment_5316" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Right click to enlarge this image[/caption] The same goes with Payroll, it’s almost impossible to find information…

12Nov 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Business Apps Shouldn’t Be THAT Hard to Use – Free Webinar

Webinars & Training

New software and apps are introduced weekly, designed to make life easier for the small business owner. Most are very powerful, but many find they don’t always do everything their business needs--or don’t do it well. Instead of working faster and more efficiently, some business owners spend more time re-entering data or sitting in a help desk chat room. They will identify some of the more efficient and effective apps and software that can help small businesses with fine-tuning strategy to automating aspects of inventory management to paying the vendor on-time, and more. Most are either free or reasonably priced. During this webinar we will be discussing: Bill.com - Shoeboxed FreshBooks TSheets Qbox QXpress This webinar is presented by Kimberly Shannon, President, Off-Site Business Services, Nancy Smyth, President, Sunburst Software…

23Sep 2014 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2015- The Good, Bad and Ugly, Part 1

QuickBooks 2015 - What's New?, QuickBooks Reviews

QuickBooks 2015 became available for purchase, beginning yesterday. Most years I spend hours writing about the new features in the upcoming version – but this year has just gotten away from me and while I did beta test QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2015 – time has simply gotten away from me. Plus the fact that no matter how many notes, screenshots, and comparisons you make during beta testing; the final product is often quite different. So what I’ve decided to do this year is a three part series called The Good, The Bad, and the UGLY and just highlight things in bullet points with a brief description. I may raise a few eyebrows over some to the things that I end up putting in each of the three categories, but so…

19Sep 2014 by Nancy Smyth

“Overstating” the Importance of Cost Reporting-Free Webinar

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Webinars & Training

"Overstating" the importance of cost reporting is a free 1 hour webinar, to be held on Wednesday September 24, 2014 from 2 to 3 EST. Register now to reserve your seat! Kimberly Shannon, Shamese Shular and myself are teaming up once again to offer another free webinar. In this webinar, "Overstating" the Importance of Cost Reporting, we will be discussing how business owners rely on accurate, timely, and relevant status reports from their management team in order to make key decisions. Procedures for project controls and record keeping become indispensable tools to managers and other participants in the process. However, cost reporting is often inadequate for this purpose because there may be too much or too little information; or data may be misrepresented, incomplete, unrecognized, not validated, or simply inaccurate.…

09Sep 2014 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2015 Announced – Important System Requirements

QuickBooks 2015 - What's New?

QuickBooks 2015 was announced and release to Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors yesterday - which means that end users will have it made available to them either the end of this month or the beginning of October; there are no firm dates as of yet. Before I start talking about some of the new features that I think are ok, good, or great - I want to address system requirements, which I feel is very important. QuickBooks 2015 does not support Windows XP As Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and 3rd party desktop developer, I still have clients and customers using Windows XP and I'm betting that you do too - and that's why I think this is important. Also, if you are running QuickBooks 2012 and need payroll or access to online banking…

05Sep 2014 by Roxanne Brown

How do Amazon Merchants Reconcile in QuickBooks? Webinar

From Our Guest Bloggers, QuickBooks Corner

One of the biggest struggles for merchants that sell on Amazon Seller Central; or participate in Amazon FBA is how to reconcile their orders with the payments received. Amazon pays their merchants either weekly, bi-weekly, or in some rare cases daily. The majority of merchants I work with are paid bi-weekly or weekly. They also combine all types of payments in your settlement; making it almost impossible to truly see the details behind Seller Central versus FBA sales. I can’t stress how important it is to understand what’s going on with your Amazon accounts; however it’s definitely not an easy task – until now. Many merchants take it on faith that they are getting paid for everything and they try their best to understand what is selling and how profitable…

18Aug 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Happy 14th Birthday Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.

"Maad" Rants & Other Stuff

14 years ago, on a sailboat in the middle of Flathead Lake in Montana, Ben proposed and we formed Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. (Of course I had no choice but to say yes to the marriage proposal because I was scared to death he’d throw me overboard! LOL) Seriously though, I feel very blessed. One of the first things that we did, before we got too carried away, was to call the Office of the President at Intuit, where we explained what we wanted to do and asked how we could market our software as an “add-on” without getting into trouble. This led to a couple of very lengthy calls with Scott Cook and several Intuit attorneys, before they told us that as long as we stressed that we were…

04Jun 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Simple Controls You Can Put Into Place to Discourage Fraud

News You Can Use

As a business owner, there are many simple controls that you can put into place to discourage fraud from happening. Small business owners never intend to leave their doors wide open to theft and white collar crime – it just sort of happens; and unfortunately, small businesses have every reason to be concerned about fraud. Fraud is often a cost of doing business that is hidden from view and unfortunately most business owners only know about fraud only when it's discovered; after the fact and then it is sometimes too late to do anything. Eliminating fraud completely isn't possible, but with reasonable actions made by the business owner, it's impact can be limited. Preventing fraud from occurring in the first place, however, is a win-win situation. This final article in…

28May 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Business Susceptibility to Theft and White Collar Crime – Are You a Target?

News You Can Use

Small businesses are very susceptible to theft and white collar crime, as a matter of fact, a staggering number of businesses falter and even fail because someone on the inside - an employee, vendor or even a partner - steals money, goods, data or intellectual property from an organization. Our first article in this series discussed the Early Warning Signs or "Red Flags" of Fraud. For small businesses, the median loss due to theft and white collar crimes is greater than what has occurred in Fortune 500 companies. In fact, one third of all business bankruptcies are due to employee theft and American businesses lose 7% of their annual revenues to fraud. According to a 2012 study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a vast majority of fraud is…

21May 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Warning Signs & Red Flags of Fraud – Are Your Employees Stealing From You?

News You Can Use

Learning the warning signs and red flags of fraud can help business owners prevent and detect fraudulent activity. A staggering number of businesses falter and even fail because someone on the inside - an employee, vendor or even a partner - steals money, goods, data, or intellectual property from the organization. In fact, one third of all business bankruptcies are due to employee theft and American businesses lose 7% of their annual revues to fraud! I recently had the opportunity to participate in a webinar called, Stealing More Than the Secret Recipe - Identifying and Safeguarding Against Business Fraud, with two really great ladies; Kimberly Shannon of Off-Site Business Services, Inc. and Shamese Shular of SHU Books. Each of us had specific topics relating to business fraud and I've…

06May 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Is Managing QuickBooks Purchase Orders Driving You Insane?

Questions from our readers, Vendors & Accounts Payable

Implementing the QuickBooks Purchase Order function can speed up data entry and ensure accurate job costing, because you don’t have to worry if you are selecting the correct cost code from the QuickBooks Item List; BUT knowing which Purchase Order belongs to which Vendor Bill can be quite a task – see this question from a reader. Hi, We are a growing construction business and we have recently starting creating Purchase Orders to our Subcontractors and Materials Suppliers from our QuickBooks Estimates – this feature works great and I love it. It makes data entry so much easier and allows us to easily see if our costs are increasing without our knowledge. We have one vendor that we buy the majority of our materials from, so we have a lot…