BTACT – Woodland Hills Quickbooks Enterprise, Pro Consulting & Training

Remote Access and using Accountant’s Copy Transfer Files is the way to go these days, when travel time to and from a client can be more time and money consuming.  More and more, I am conducting training and support with people geographically far removed, using Remote Access tools like “Gotomypc,” “GoToMeeting,” and/or “LogMeIn.”  The three previously mentioned are several of the more commonly used tools to access a client’s computer remotely, and are tools I use personally to assist my clients.

Additionally, within the last couple years’ releases of QuickBooks, one can even send their Accountant’s Copy Transfer file to their accountant directly through a transfer utility Intuit has created.

For those that aren’t sure of what an Accountant’s Copy does, it allows the company (you) to send a “restricted” file to your accountant to review, make postings or adjusting entries into, and other related accounting activities, to produce clean financial statemtents.  For example:  You pick the date 6/30/11, as your cutoff date.   You can work on anything after that date, so your business doesn’t have to stop while your accountant is working on the file.  Meanwhile, the accountant has access to everything BEFORE the cutoff date of 6/30, allowing the accountant to make adjusting postings, run reports, etc.

Once you use the “Send to Accountant” feature, via an Intuit utility a copy of your data file will be sent to the accountant with some restrictions.  When the accountant is done, they simply send the file back via the same Intuit utility, and Import Accountant Changes.  This ‘blends’ the files back together, and removes the date restriction from the business owner.  Now, the business owner can work on anything prior to the cutoff date if they would like to.

Cons

-The business owner cannot work on or change any transaction prior to the cutoff date, thus restricting them if a change is needed.  However infrequent this issue may be, I have seen a few instances of a business owner needing to modify a form or doc in an accountant’s copy, and have to wait until the file has been returned.  Or if unable to wait, the owner would Remove Restrictions, modify the form, and re-do the whole procedure of submitting another accountants copy file.

Pros

- The business owner can operate their business going forward day-to-day, and can process transactions, reports, lists, as needed.

- The accountant can make the needed adjustments to clean up erroneous or omitted entries.

- The transfering of an accountants copy file is MUCH faster, and saves you time, than a normal backup file, as it is smaller overall.

- Combining the use of an accountant’s copy, and remote access software tools, can allow much more efficient and productive work to be done between the business owner and the accountant – it saves one countless hours of driving and non-billable time.

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Below is a copy of the fake QuickBooks Security Update.

You will not be able to access your Intuit QuickBooks account without Intuit Security Tool (IST) after 10th of April, 2011.

You can download Intuit Security Tool here.

After a successful download please run the setup for an automatic installation, then login to Intuit Quickbooks online to check that it is working properly.

This is the end of the fraudulent email.

Information

On the Internet, “phishing” refers to criminal activity that attempts to fraudulently obtain sensitive information. There are several ways a scam artist will try to obtain your social security number, driver’s license, credit card information, or bank account information. Here is our QuickBooks Online commitment to you, as well as some steps you can take to make sure your data is safe and secure.

Our commitment to you:

What we won’t do

1. We will never send you an email with a “software update” or “software download” attachment.

2. We will never send you an email asking you for login or password information to be sent to us.

3. We will never ask you for your banking information or credit card information in an email. We will never ask you for confidential information about your employees in an email.

What we’ll do

4. We will provide you with instructions on how to stay current with your Intuit product, and we will provide you with information on how to securely download an update from your computer.

5. If we need you to update your account information, we will request that you do so by logging into your account.

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from a phishing attack:

6. If you suspect you have received a phishing email from Intuit, please forward it immediately to spoof@intuit.com. We will look into each reported instance.

7. Make sure you subscribe to an anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date.

8. Make sure you have updated your web browser to one that includes anti-phishing security features, such as Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox version 3 or higher

9. Make sure that you keep up to date on the latest releases and patches for your operating systems and critical programs. These releases are frequently security related.

10. Do not respond to emails asking for account, password, banking, or credit card information.

11. Do not open up an attachment that claims to be a software update. We will not send any software updates via email. < and number account your enter a call you ask that voicemails or messages respond not>

12. Make sure you have passwords on your computer and your payroll files.

Here are 3 common methods that phishers use in their emails

13. Spoofed email address.Don’t reply to unsolicited email and don’t open email attachments. It’s easy to fake a From or Reply To address, either manually or with spam software, so never assume an email is real by looking at its header. You might be able to spot fake addresses by checking for domain name misspellings, but this isn’t foolproof. Some email service providers combat the problem of spoofed addresses by using authentication techniques to verify a sender’s integrity.

14. Fake link.When in doubt, never click on a link in an unsolicited or suspicious email. Scam emails can contain a hidden link to a site that asks you to enter your log on and account information. A clue: if the email threatens you with account closure if you don’t log on soon, you could be the target of phishing. You may be able to tell if a link is real by moving your mouse over it and looking at the bottom of your browser to see the hidden Web address – it will look different than the one you see on the surface.

15. Forged Website.If you must visit a financial site, like your bank or credit card company, enter its known address into the browser location field manually. Use a browser with an anti-phishing plug-in or extension, like FireFox version 3 or higher or Internet Explorer 7. These browsers warn you about forged, high-risk sites. Phony Web sites mimic real sites by copying company logos, images, and site designs. Malicious webmasters can also use HTML, Flash or Java Script to mask or change a browser address.

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Collections Center

QuickBooks will now allow users to delete a Customer Note before sending emails from the Collections Center. (R6)

File Operations

The setting “Set number of previous companies” in the File menu will now also change the company files listed in the No Company Open screen. (R6)

Form Templates

Importing and customizing sales form templates will no longer cause the unrecoverable error 14867 99905. (R6)

Help

Enhanced the way Help displays when changing the default Windows 7 font to a larger font. (R6)

Enhanced display issues when loading graphics in Help. (R6)

Intuit Data Protect

The Intuit Data Protect System Tray icon will no longer load for unsubscribed users. (R6)

Intuit Payment Network

Batch invoices will now have a selection to add the Intuit Payment Network link to them. (R6)

QuickBooks will no longer become temporarily unresponsive when selecting Allow Online Payment and Send Invoice Via Email while creating an invoice. (R6)

Inventory

The build point of an Assembly Item will now reflect properly on the items Reorder point. (R6)

QuickBooks will now display the “You don’t have enough quantity to sell” message when appropriate while generating an Invoice from an Estimate or Sales order. (R6)

Added the ability to remove line items from Inventory Adjustments after the document has been saved. (R6)

Payroll

The Print checks window now correctly show payroll checks in the print queue. (R6)

QuickBooks should no longer incorrectly display Error PS036 when you try to validate your payroll subscription. (R6)

PDF

The XPS Document Driver will now install properly if .Net is already installed on the computer. (R6)

QuickBooks Support

Send troubleshooting information to your support agent

• Sends data from QuickBooks in-product browser and makes the data immediately available to agents.
• Data sent includes OS, disk space, options in use, size of tables and more.

Built in Password Reset

• QuickBooks can now reset your company file admin password from within the program.
• Correct registration and license information is required to complete the process (to verify your identity).

QuickBooks File Manager

You will no longer see the “Files Assignment May Change” dialog when you remove your client list and then update it. (R6)

QuickBooks Online Services

• Intuit Data Sync (Sync Manager) will no longer fail to connect to company files that have special characters in the Company Name inside QuickBooks. (R6)
• Launchpad Improvements
  • The launchpad feature can now be updated without a QuickBooks release patch.
  • Launchpad can track unique users within QuickBooks Desktop based on the company file name.
  • QuickBooks can now detect new Connected Services Applications that have not been setup yet and prompt the user to set them up.

Reminders

Inventory Items without a description will no longer display the description of the item above in the Inventory to Reorder section. (R6)

Reports

When you combine multiple Profit and Loss reports, inactive accounts will no longer appear on the report. (R6)

Custom field views for MLI will now be available in OBDC reports. (R6)

Multi Location Inventory (MLI) views are now available when creating reports using ODBC. (R6)

New columns have been added for ODBC reporting. (R6)

The transaction journal report now displays the Debit and Credit columns automatically in more cases. (R6)

SDK

Unit of Measure will now correctly import when there are more than 2 digits to the right of the decimal point in the conversion ratio. (R6)

Tags:   Accounting Tips · Advanced Inventory · QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions · QuickBooks ReportingNo Comments.

3/25/2011 – Intuit Newsflash –

QB POS v10, r9 Software Patch now released.

Intuit has just released a patch that addresses some of the top features we heard from you that were missing from POS V10, in addition to a few others.  The recent patch includes:

1. Customer Orders

2. Customers

3. Financial Exchange

• Fixed an issue which caused an Unbalanced Payment error during Financial Exchange if shipping is taxed and receipt discount is used on a Receipt.

4. General Functions

5. Inventory

6. Receipts

7. Receiving Vouchers

• Added enhanced functionality when printing tags from vouchers and voucher history.

8. Reports

• Changes made to memorized reports will now reflect the updates immediately instead of showing upon the next launch of Point of Sale.

And there you have it, all of the updates released in the patch for QuickBooks Point of Sale, v10.0, r9 update.

NOTE: If you do not know where to go for to update QuickBooks, go to the drop-down menu “Help” from across the top of the screen.   Under this menu should be an option for you to “Check for Updates” – although the version you are on may very well be current, this is where you go to find out for sure.

Tags:   BTACT · QuickBooks Point of Sale · QuickBooks Reporting1 Comment

Advanced Inventory is an optional module offered in the newest version of QuickBooks Enterprise, v11.0.  Advanced Inventory allows for multiple locations to be tracked in QuickBooks, for those companies that have more than one location.

Advanced Inventory is built inside QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions v 11, and requires that the user have a Full Service Plan active in effect.  Cost is only $699/yr.  Advanced Inventory is built into QuickBooks Enterprise v11, similar to how the Layout Designer functions for Templates, so you don’t have to learn some ‘new’ program with a whole different set of rules and process flows.

Once Advanced Inventory is enabled, functions can be accessed via the Homescreen, or via drop-down menus.

A company can run reports by location, combined reports, transfer items between physical OR virtual locations, and have all of these features located in one place.  For example, one can see the Value and Quantity on Hand in each location, and make a decision to transfer inventory from place to place, as needed.  If a particular product seems to not sell in Location A, but in Location B the company keeps selling out, then the user would know to transfer more stock over to Location B, as it will sell faster, thus generating more revenues – faster.

With Advanced Inventory,  one can setup locations inside one warehouse for RMAs, for Repair/Warranty work, for a Shipping/Receiving staging area, or different ‘virtual warehouses’ within that one physical building.     This works wonderfully for the company with salespeople in the field, who are selling units of product direct. If your company has trucks that carry inventory, each truck can be setup in Advanced Inventory to better track what inventory is in each vehicle. The company can track the sales by each rep, and appropriately plan ahead to keep higher performing reps stocked better, and lower performing rep stocked lighter.

If a company is a wholesale distributor, and has vendors sending product via a shipping courier overland or oversea, a location can be setup for the stock to be placed in those “warehouses” to track them until they reach the main location.   This is just one more way to use Advanced Inventory for purchasing and sales forecasting and planning.

If a manufacturer has multiple stages in the assembly line, sub-locations within the warehouse, or “virtual” warehouses, can be used depending on what stage the product being manufactured is in.  For example, if it is done being assembled, but not painted.  Location one, “unpainted, assembled” – Location two, “Painted, Assembled” – and so on.  The possibilities can be endless…

Check back more as I implement more systems with Advanced Inventory, to see what tips and tricks I can provide you and your business.   We are currently implementing Advanced Inventory at an average of 2/month, for reference, so there will be many lessons shared in the near future.

Tags:   Accounting Tips · Advanced Inventory · BTACT · QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions · QuickBooks ReportingNo Comments.

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Today, February 4th, Bruce and I are attending the Intuit Solution Providers, West Coast Road Show.

It is at the Westin San Francisco, in the wonderful Bay Area.

Today’s topics revolve around the Intuit Solution Providers program, developments in various products, dialogue on various changes or desired changes, and so on.  If you can think of it, we, the ISPs, are bringing it up.

And, as I type this post, we are reviewing Marketing, and what different people do and don’t do for marketing techniques.

Its nice to come and bring our stories to the table, in such a forum as this.  We can share our experiences with others in my capacity, and hear their experiences as well.  This is a great experience, and a nice event.

Not to mention, we got a load of promotional materials to share with you, our clients.  QuickBooks T-Shirts, Mugs, and associated goodies.  If you want any, just ask.

We’ll post again when we return from the show, and let you know of the highlights.  Stay tuned…

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Currently, we have been evaluating and supporting a new bolt-on, third-party application to provide Serial Number tracking capabilities to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.  The product is called SMARTSCAN, and it comes in several variants.

SmartScan, specifically the Sales Order Verification app, is by Baus-Systems Inc, an outfit out of Seattle, WA.  Their applications allow for different levels of serial number tracking, lot number tracking, and bar coding abilities.  WWW.BAUS-SYSTEMS.COM/SmartScan

The version best suited towards manufacturers and light assemblers, during the shipping and distribution of products, is the Sales Order Verification program.  This program captures Serial Numbers on the Sales Order Form.  So, product that has a serial number assigned as the product is shipped can have it assigned, scanned, and put on sales forms as the product is shipped.  These numbers are tracked in a seperate database, for tracking/reporting purposes.  There is a scanner tethered to a computer for scanning numbers, and there is a provision for a mobile scanner.

The entire app costs $375 for the Sales Order Verification, and the tethered scanner is about $200.  A mobile license comes with the purchase of the software, and so a mobile scanner (approx $1600) can be utilized.

There are other applications offered by Baus Systems as well, such as the Barcoding Essentials.  This will allow for the printing and assigning of serial number and/or lot number control.

We like it, and are implementing this product in several current QuickBooks Enterprise v11 implementations.  All involve manufacturers and/or wholesale distributors.

Stay tuned for more reports on this product, as we demo it more for clients.

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Document Management, of course this is electronic, for all versions of QuickBooks 2010.  This is a really huge item for so many reasons.

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What makes an accounting/management program unique to the specific company?  The ability to customize the way a program can gather data.  Enterprise Version 10 is now able to make the claim that is can make the program unique.  This is clearly a homerun for users of Enterprise.  This greatly expands the capabilities of the software.

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