Many small businesses use Quickbooks to make their accounting easy. It is so effective and easy to use that it currently dominates the market for small businesses. The fact that it is straight forward and does not require extensive accounting knowledge has made it the first choice for the majority of small business owners.
If you have a small business that is growing, you can take it to the next level with Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0. This is a software platform that is predicated on the ideas that made Quickbooks such a success. It has all of the same functionality and more, while retaining its ease of use and flexibility. This is now the standard for medium size businesses.
If your small business is starting to outgrow Quickbooks, moving to these quickbooks is a seamless transition for your company. Intuit knows that you would not want any disruption in your business simply to move to another accounting program and like so many things that it does, it has made this easy as well. Once you have installed Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0, all you need to do is open your Quickbooks company file and it will automatically be converted. Everything is brought along including inventory lists, vendor lists, transactions and user permissions.
There are options in Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0 that you won’t find in regular Quickbooks. When you move up to this software, you’ll have the ability to use inventory management for multiple locations. Having more than one base of business is one of the challenges that many small firms have when they start to grow. This software has the ability to grow with you.
Once you have installed this, you will then have advanced user permission capabilities. It will also allow users to access the system from remote locations in real time. This functionality is important for any business that wants to grow, and it takes the worry out of doing business from multiple locations.
If your small business has been using Quickbooks in the past, there will be little training involved in order to move to Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0. This is part of the seamless transition that is offered, and it helps to reduce costs. Having to train yourself and your employees on a new software system simply does not offer any profit. This problem is eliminated with a switch from Quickbooks to Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0.
If you have done any comparative shopping, you’ll know that it is very expensive to move to a different kind of software in order to do your accounting, inventory management and employee tracking. There is the cost of licenses, the almost inevitable problems that will arise from data conversion and the training that is involved when new software is used. You can save yourself all of these headaches by simply making the switch to Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0. Many small businesses have already made the transition from Quickbooks so that they do not have any disruption to their business as they are growing and moving up the ladder.
By: Mike Smith Faraone
Posts Tagged ‘Small Business Owners’
Four Easy First Steps to Small Business Accounting
January 30th, 2010
When starting a new business one of the most daunting tasks the entrepreneur will face is that of accounting. Many small business owners neglect this important area of business, particularly during start up. Making this mistake can be fatal and many companies fail because of a lack of knowledge of the business’ finances. Keeping good records and having good accounting practices from day one is paramount. There are many simple, yet effective techniques that can help the small business owner get their finances on track.
The first, and most important thing, you can do is to set your business up as a legal entity separate from yourself. This means setting up some type of corporation, or LLC. This simple step is overlooked by too many entrepreneurs. Keeping your personal and business finances and taxes separate is the main reason for this, but there are other benefits as well. Which of the different entities is right for you will depend on many factors of your business, and you should consult a CPA and an attorney to help you with the process.
Once you have decided on which entity you will use and have followed your state’s guidelines to set it up you will need to file form SS-4 with the IRS to obtain your EIN, which will be your business’ federal tax ID number. As soon as you have set up your business entity your next step will be to visit your bank (be sure to check out the competition’s offers as well) to open your business checking account. Most banks offer free small business checking accounts with no minimum balances. If the bank is going to charge you for small business checking, or a debit card, find another bank.
When choosing a bank be sure to ask the sales representative if the statements are cut on the last business day of the month, so that each statement represents an individual month. If the statement is cut on a floating 30 cycle, or if the cycle begins on the day of the month on which you opened the account find another bank. This simple thing can save hours when settling your account each month.
It is also a smart idea to have multiple accounts dedicated to different portions of your business as well. This may include a payroll account, an account that receives payment deposits and an operating account to name a few. If the bank only allows one free account per business find another bank. You may find that you need multiple accounts and keeping up with them all is starting to get confusing. If this happens ask your banker about the Cash Management services they offer. These services will normally include fees, but can help save you time, energy and headaches.
Once you have your new business set up and you are starting to see some cash flow you must make sure to keep your business and personal finances completely separated. This means that only revenue from the business should be going through the business checking accounts, and more importantly that no personal purchases be made through the business.
It is crucial that you take a salary from your business, rather than spending the business’ money on yourself. There are several different ways to take a salary including taking a fixed amount and/or a percentage amount based on the business’ performance.
My last point is also on the list of things often overlooked by the small business owner. Make sure you hire a bookkeeper. This point bears repeating – Make sure that you hire a bookkeeper. Even if your business is small it will be a tremendous benefit to hire someone to keep the books. Most new businesses fail to do this because they are trying to save money, but the fact of the matter is that you can get a bookkeeper for around $25 per hour depending on where you do business. Your time can be better spent on other aspects of the business that are your specialty and others can’t do. Make sure you are leveraging your time properly. There are thousands of bookkeepers out there but only one you! These types of services will usually save you a lot of money in the long run.
These are just a few points that all new business owners should make sure to focus on during start up. This was by no means an exhaustive list of accounting procedures, but only a few of the most important first steps. Finance and accounting are some of the most important aspects of business, but are so often overlooked by the new business owner.
By: Danielle Niesz