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,…
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24Jul 2013 by Nancy Smyth
Experts And Those Who Would Like You To Think They Are

Experts And Those Who Would Like You To Think They Are

"Stuff" that drives me insane
There are self proclaimed experts everywhere when it comes to QuickBooks.  As business owners you should use caution and interview your candidates carefully. Just for giggles, I did a Google search using "quickbooks expert" it returned about 83,200 results; that's a lot of experts! The point to this blog post?  Well to be honest, part of it is a rant and the other part a warning. The Rant: At a recent nationally recognized QuickBooks conference there were two people who were asked/hired by the conference host to provide training sessions to other QuickBooks accounting professionals: one person gave three, one hours sessions on payroll.  This person had stolen (word for word) blog posts not only from my blog but from another bloggers site as well - and claimed them as…
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16May 2013 by Nancy Smyth
Is Someone at Work Wearing Too Much Perfume or Aftershave?

Is Someone at Work Wearing Too Much Perfume or Aftershave?

"Stuff" that drives me insane
Do you have a hard time with people who wear too much perfume or aftershave?  You know, the people who you swear just opened the bottle and poured it over their head, rather than having taken a shower in the morning - the ones that walk by you and leave a trail of overwhelming SMELL behind them?  Whether this happens in  your work environment or when you are in the grocery store or out having dinner at your favorite restaurant - this can certainly be annoying.    While I love perfume, perfume oils, fresh flowers, etc.  I also am VERY sensitive to those same smells - and I'll be the first to tell you that having a fragrance sensitivity can be downright painful!  For me it starts with a burning…
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24Apr 2013 by Nancy Smyth
You Get What You Pay For – Do Cheap Bookkeepers Save Money?

You Get What You Pay For – Do Cheap Bookkeepers Save Money?

"Stuff" that drives me insane, Be A Better Bookkeeper
As a business owner it’s important to watch how much money you spend.  When it comes to bookkeeping though you tend to get what you pay for.  When you hire a cheap bookkeeper, ten-to-one it’s what they don’t know that is going to cost you big time! As a contractor would you go to the dollar store to buy hammers? Probably not – you’d want your employees to have the best possible tools to perform their job.  Hiring a bookkeeper and paying them minimum wage is no different than getting those dollar store hammers! If your bookkeeper (or potential bookkeeper) say they know QuickBooks because: they’ve taken a one-day seminar, watched some videos on YouTube, spent a tax season working in an accounting firm, or worst of all is “self-taught”…
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20Sep 2012 by Nancy Smyth
QuickBooks 2013 – Where Have the Colors Gone?

QuickBooks 2013 – Where Have the Colors Gone?

"Stuff" that drives me insane, QuickBooks 2013 - What's New?
QuickBooks 2013 has an entirely new look and I have to admit there are many things about the product redesign that I really like, however, the biggest issue that I have with the redesign is the fact that Intuit has removed the ability to change the color scheme of the software. Where oh where can my QuickBooks colors be, Intuit took them away from me…….ya, I know that sounds like a really bad rendition of an old song that went like this – “Where oh where can my baby be, the lord took her away from me, she’s gone to heaven I’ve got to be good so I can see my baby when I leave this world”. Color is an important part of our daily lives.  Did you know that…
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04Oct 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2012 – Turning Off Annoying Pop-Up Messages & Ads

"Stuff" that drives me insane, QuickBooks 2012 - What's New, QuickBooks Corner
NOTE: These instructions also work in QuickBooks 2013 and 2014 QuickBooks 2012 has both good and bad pop-up messages - just like any other version of QuickBooks, but there is nothing more annoying than having an ad pop-up when you are working in QuickBooks.  Let's be honest, getting rid of the message is another mouse click that you have to make and if messages and ads are popping up frequently we get into the habit of not reading what they have to say and miss something that could very well be important.  This article discusses how you can turn off most of them in QuickBooks 2012. Ok, I get it - Intuit is a business that makes it's money selling software and services to it's customers; but as a customer/business…
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17May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Experiencing Some Technical Difficulties

"Stuff" that drives me insane
It seems that we are experiencing some technical difficulties - since Sunday I have been receiving an "error connecting to the database" when attempting to create a blog post; yesterday I noticed the same type of problems on our main website. I've spent the last two day trying to track down the cause of the problem, with the help of our hosting provider - and we are not getting very far. He's rebooted our server, which usually solves the problem, but it hasn't seemed to clear it up this time. We've started to look at other things - like traffic to the blog and our main site, and it seems like our server is under a pretty heavy load - meaning lots of visitors!  Now you would think that's a…
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16Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip: User Permissions & Third Party Applications

"Stuff" that drives me insane, General QuickBooks News, New Technology, QuickBooks Add-Ons, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
User permissions  issues can occur especially when dealing with third party QuickBooks integrated applications and the Enterprise edition where user permissions can be highly customized.  In some cases, it appears that all users need to have the same administrative rights when they sign into QuickBooks as when the software was installed. Better understanding of the process may help reduce some of the frustration and allow you to assist your clients in installing the third party application satisfactorily. When a QuickBooks third party integrated application is initially installed, and sends its first request for data, the person who is the QuickBooks Administrator must be logged into the company data file in single-user mode to grant the application permission to access the company data file. Example: Larry is the QuickBooks Administrator and…
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31Dec 2008 by Nancy Smyth

ProAdvisor Certification “testing”

"Stuff" that drives me insane
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…
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12Dec 2008 by Nancy Smyth

I want unlimited free training…

"Stuff" that drives me insane
but I'm charging my client Ok, this one just totally drives me "INSANE"! We come into contact with some ProAdvisors and the like that have never dealt with a commercial construction client and know absolutely nothing about certified payroll, aia billing, or using QuickBooks in the commercial construction industry. Ok, so I know that there isn't much in the way of QuickBooks training out their for this kind of situation - what I know I learned the hard way with lots of long, hard unbillable hours....but PLEASE don't call us up wanting free training and for us to teach you everything we know for FREE while you bill your customer for your "training time"! That is just so wrong! If you want to become knowledgeable about using QuickBooks in the…
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12Dec 2008 by Nancy Smyth

Playing games….

"Stuff" that drives me insane
Most Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors (CQA), Intuit Solutions Providers (ISP), Enterprise Solutions Providers (ESP), Certified Public Accountants (CPA), what-have-you's are really decent people---but the ones that drive me crazy are the ones that "play games". What do I mean by playing games?  Good question, let me explain! On our main website I'm pretty clear (ok BLUNT) about "How Sunburst Works with ProAdvisors, CPA's, etc."; as a matter of fact sometimes I feel I've been pretty harsh and really need to tone it down a bit.  Well every time I get to feeling like this, something like this happens: Ben, Linda, or I get an email or a phone call from one of these folks asking for a commission or referral fee for recommending our software.  We go through the "sorry, we…
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