05Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Back Charges After a Job is 100% Complete

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers
A QuickBooks question and tip about handling back charges or other changes after a job is billed at 100%. First...I love your blog...totally! My question: I've got a client who uses estimates and prepares their progress billings from the estimates.  They have had a couple of jobs in which the job is 100% billed out (but not yet 100% collected - there is outstanding A/R) and then the owner disputes something and they have to do a backcharge, therefore, reducing the total amount of the project.  We change the estimate with a change order to reflect the decrease in the overall contract amount. We would like to "connect" that change to the invoicing/progress billing cycle on the job but since the job is all billed out, the only "invoice" that…
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22Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – One Payroll Wage Item With Different Rates

Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers
  A payroll tip that discusses the hazards of having one payroll wage item in the QuickBooks Employee Record multiple times - with each entry having a different rate of pay.  This question was originally submitted through the "Ask the Expert" form. I have employees who have several different pay rates and, therefore, I have the same payroll item in their QuickBooks employee record multiple times but with different rates of pay.  When I generate Payroll Summary Report, it might show that I paid 20 hours at $60.00 (one of the rates) when I really entered the hours in the Pay Employees Screen at the $30.00.  How can I get the reports to match the hours to the rate that I entered.  I'm so frustrated! Any help or suggestions that…
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20Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Handling 1 Employee with 2 Union Benefit Packages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers
  A payroll tip for handling one employee with two different  wage rates and union fringe benefit packages on a single paycheck.  The following question was submitted through our "Ask the Expert" form. How do I setup one employee to be paid weekly, with two entirely different wage and benefit rates, depending on the customer or item; through a single paycheck?  I would like to set it up to just select one rate or the other and have the appropriate wage rate, benefits and contributions be automatically selected.  This is for one employee working with two different unions, so the fringe benefit liabilities go to different parties on different liability checks. Any suggestions would be appreciated. A.  While the expensive construction specific software programs can handle this easily, QuickBooks will…
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15Nov 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Dealing With Special Invoicing Requirements

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers
Dealing with special customer invoicing requirements can be a royal pain!  Sometimes it feel like each customer you deal with says "if you don't invoice me like THIS you aren't going to get paid".  While QuickBooks is a very flexible software program, sometimes it's very difficult to meet the requirements of specific customers or clients.  Below is a perfect example, submitted by a reader of just how difficult billing requirements can be. I use QuickBooks Contractor version as a self-employed contractor with a hospital.  The problem is I get the job on a P.O. from the hospital, say it's for $80,000. As I do different stages of the job I bill the hospital for that stage and they send me a check.  When I do the next stage the hospital…
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25Oct 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Easy Access to Employee Payroll Forms

Payroll Tips
This QuickBooks tip explains where you can easily access employee payroll forms; including the Federal I-9, W-4, and W-9's. Having used QuickBooks for many years, I can remember when needing an I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification), a W-4 (Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate), or a W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) meant a trip to the appropriate website to obtain the most current form - and depending on how busy I was at the moment, that could be a royal pain! The I-9, Federal W-4, and W-9 are now available to anyone with a current payroll subscription using QuickBooks Pro/Premier 2009-2012 or Enterprise 9.0-12.0 from the Employees menu -> Employee Forms option; you'll also find a Direct Deposit and Pay Card Authorization form. [caption id="attachment_2728" align="aligncenter" width="283" caption="Right click on…
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05Oct 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – How Often Do I Have to Pay My Employees?

Payroll Tips
Many business owners feel that they can pay their employes "whenever" they want and that is true to a point.  Business owners can pay their employees whenever they want as long as the "whenever" meets the laws of the state their business resides in. As a business owner you probably feel "in control" when it comes to setting a payroll schedule for the people you hire.  Certainly you have options, you can issue payroll on a: weekly bi-weekly {every other week} semi-monthly {twice a month, perhaps on the 1st and the 15th} or a monthly basis While there is no federal laws that require how often you pay your employees, the payroll schedule you choose MUST conform to the requirements of the state that your business is located in. Most…
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27Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Be Prepared for Wage & Hour and IRS Audits

Payroll Tips
This payroll tip discusses being prepared for Wage & Hour and IRS Audits - what records have to be kept, how long you need to keep them, etc.  From the General Ledger, a complete newsletter for Professional Bookkeepers published by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers. Break out the trusty old metal/wooden file cabinets and wipe off the dust --- or maybe it's time to invest in some virtual file cabinets where documents are scanned in and stored off-site but accessible if you need them.  Either way you are in for a shock! We've mentioned previously that the U.S. Department of Labor is making a major push on wage-hour enforcements and that the IRS has also beefed up enforcement efforts - but what we didn't include at that time was…
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22Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks for Contractors Tip – Receiving & Applying Joint Checks

Vendors & Accounts Payable
A QuickBooks for contractors tip about receiving and applying joint checks from a general contractor to pay a lower tier subcontractor or material supplier for work completed  or materials on a construction project. Quite frequently, in the construction industry, a contractor will receive a joint check from a General Contractor to pay their lower tier subcontractors or material suppliers for work completed and/or materials delivered to the construction project’s job site. Unlike many high-end construction accounting packages, QuickBooks doesn’t have a way to handle this automatically — or easily. This QuickBooks for contractors tip provides what we consider to be a best practice when a situation like this arises. Problem: Your company, Sam Subcontracting, received a $10,000.00 joint check from Joe's General Contracting; which is made out to both your…
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16Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – File Size & DB File Fragments What Do They Mean?

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks, General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
The size of your QuickBooks file and the number of DB File Fragments determines the health of your QuickBooks company data file. Most people don’t periodically check the health of their QuickBooks file to help prevent data corruption – mainly because they don’t realize that they should or even how to go about it. Monday's blog post - Basic File Maintenance Before & After You Upgrade - talked about checking your current file size and health before before you upgrade to a new version of QuickBooks.  In reality, you should periodically check this information just to see how healthy your file is or isn't. To check the size of your own QuickBooks file – with QuickBooks open press the CTRL and the 1 keys at the same time OR press…
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06Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – How To Rebuild Your QuickBooks Data File

General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
This QuickBooks Tip provides instructions for how to rebuild your QuickBooks data file.  The rebuild function will help maintain the overall health of your file. Is your QuickBooks file very large?  Is it running slow?  Are you in a multi-user environment where 2 or more people are inputting a lot of information on a daily basis?  If you answered yes to any of these questions you would probably benefit from rebuilding your data file on a regular basis. The QuickBooks Rebuild Data function is like a cleaning lady.  When you access the rebuild function it looks at all of the information in your file and makes sure that it has been filed correctly.  Think of your desk, covered in piles of papers that need to be filed.  Before you actually…
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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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15Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks for Contractors Tip – Issuing Joint Checks

Vendors & Accounts Payable
A QuickBooks for contractors tip about issuing joint checks to a subcontractor and a lower tier subcontractor or material supplier for payment for work completed on a construction project. Quite frequently, in the construction industry, a contractor needs to issue a joint or two-party check to a subcontractor and a lower-tier subcontractor or material supplier for work completed and/or materials delivered to the construction project's job site. Unlike many high-end construction accounting packages, QuickBooks doesn't have a way to handle this automatically -- or easily. This QuickBooks for contractors tip provides what we consider to be a best practice when a situation like this arises. Problem: Joe's General Contracting, Inc. needs to issue a $10,000.00 joint check to Sam Subcontractor AND O'Fallon's Gravel for sand, gravel, and crushed rock which…
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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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