Focus CPA Group, Inc. (562)281-1040

The financial management and controls of businesses and not for profit organisations tend to come under the spotlight at times of economic difficulty.

When business is increasingly competitive and cashflow tight it is important to make sure you are making best use of your investment in your accounting system.

Many businesses view their accounting software as a tool for creating invoices and to provide information for the accountant. Little, if any use is made of the data on a day to day basis to assist with Financial Control and Financial Planning.

Driven by the changing business environment we are seeing an increasing number of requests for assistance in optimising the investment made in QuickBooks.

Request can include assistance in:

1.    Developing New Reports

The reporting function in QuickBooks has always been a strength. The software provides 120+ standard reports available at the click of a button. New users of QuickBooks will often ask ‘which reports should I focus on?’

The Standard Profit & Loss Report, Standard Balance Sheet report, A/R (Debtor) summary report and A/R (Debtor) detail reports are often cited as a good start point.

QuickBooks can of course provide much more. The question should not be ‘which reports should I focus on’? But ‘I need to find a report that will tell me ….

…which customers have not ordered from me recently?

…who are my most profitable customers?

…how does my turnover this month/ quarter compare to the same month / quarter last year?

…how am I performing against budget?

…who is my best salesman?

…who have I invoiced this month?

I am sure you can think of a few more relevant to your business

2. Refining Existing Reports

A simple refinement of a standard report can provide valuable information to business owners.

The Profit and Loss standard report can be amended by selecting an option from the columns box (to the right of the date field) to transform the reports, Try selecting a date range of ‘This financial year’ and column ‘Monthly’ to view a Profit & Loss Report per month for your current year.

Too much detail? Perhaps a ‘Quarterly’ view would be better.

Other popular refined reports can let you view

Invoice in sequential numbers

Purchase Orders / Sales Orders with the outstanding balances detailed

3. Consolidating Systems to Improve Efficiency

QuickBooks is primarily an Accounting package and many businesses use other systems to perform non accounting tasks (and sometimes accounting tasks).

A review of system usage may lead to an increased use of QuickBooks functions and improve efficiency

Businesses who have previously produced an invoice in one system e.g. word may find it more efficient to generate invoices in QuickBooks (printed on letter headed paper or with a logo added).

QuickBooks can take customer data to create standard letters replacing a mail merge in word.

Data held in excel or access detailing customers by group / type may also be held in QuickBooks. Depending on the requirement for the data duplication could be removed with resulting operational efficiencies.

Whilst QuickBooks cannot provide all the functions of a true CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system the data held in your QuickBooks file can be extracted for non accounting usage. e.g. sending out marketing letter or producing address labels. 

Summary

If you do not have the financial data to manage your business and to plan for the future it is likely that you are not making full use of your investment in QuickBooks.

Financial Management & Financial Planning are critical for business success (or even survival). It’s time to consider the untapped potential of your QuickBooks software, to extract the information you need and to improve efficiency in your data management.

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.

For several years now, the Quickbooks accounting solution has been the most successful accounting solution in the market. Through it, businesses have enjoyed several advantages that have made their accounting department more efficient and able to function better for the benefit of the company. Things have even become better with the Quickbooks Enterprise 10.0.The Enterprise software is basically the same package that you have enjoyed with the old versions of the program.  Of course, there are improvements. The Enterprise solution have put in some add-ons to the Quickbooks program to further enhance its capabilities and the advantages that it can give the business. In short, it is the same old Quickbooks program with the enhancements that Enterprise has afforded it. Easy to UseThe user-friendliness that the basic Quickbooks builds are known for still exists with the Enterprise version. With this ease of use and the added features of the Quickbooks Enterprise 10.0 will be only one of the things that you love about the Enterprise Quickbooks, however.Seamless TransitionBecause they are more or less the same software suite, the transition to the Enterprise Quickbooks will no longer be a hurdle. There will be minimal training involved, allowing your company to proceed as usual even with the new software that you have installed in your accountants’ workstations. Your company cannot afford to spend a lot of money and time in training as this does not translate to profits. With Enterprise Quickbooks, however, you get to convert to the new software and go on like nothing has happened.Support for Multiple Users and Multiple CurrenciesThe Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0 can now accommodate up to 30 users, all of which have their own customized configurations to make the software easier to use for them. The more users who use the software, the more fluid the accounting process would be for your department. This would eliminate backlogs and take the burden off your accountants’ shoulders. Not only that, the Quickbooks Enterprise 10.0 is able to support transactions in different currencies. If your company or store has transactions with customers worldwide, you’d be pleased to know that with the Quickbooks Enterprise 10.0 it is easier to record transactions and do business with international costumers. International Payment ServiceFurther complementing its support for multiple currencies is the international payment service that the software offers. With this international payment service, transactions with international customers are smoothened and very easy to do. Statement WriterThe statement writer, originally from Intuit, has been reengineered by Enterprise and further improved. The Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0 will allow you link and produce Excel versions of your Quickbooks files as well as create PDF and Microsoft Word statements with ease. Easy Referencing of ReportsWith the amount of reports your accounting department generates everyday, it will be understandably difficult to make references to individual books without having to sift through a lot of information. With Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0, however, you can tag a report that you frequently use by “favoriting” it.

There are still many myths regarding Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions and Point of Sale, despite the fact that over thousands and thousands of companies have switched from other supposedly more complex software to these business management programs by Intuit. As with most misconceptions and myths, they are somewhat rooted to the truth. However, when you look at them closely, they reveal whether they diverged from the real and took a truth to what isn’t. Needless to say, businesses need to know these misconceptions concerning Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions and Quickbooks Point of Sale. After all, one needs to know truth, especially when choosing the perfect accounting and business management programs.

One of the biggest misconception regarding Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions and Point of Sale: they are only suitable for small and middle market businesses. The truth here is, the key features of these two software are specifically meant for these markets. However, this does not mean that their usefulness stops outside the small and middle market realm.

Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions, for one, is advised to be used for companies with 20 to 500 employees, for one, making it suitable for mid-sized businesses. And it is also true that Quickbooks Point of Sale up to 20 stores in a single office (through a consolidated multi-store data system). This is where the idea that these Quickbooks software can only be used for these market stemmed. However, these do not mean that the functions of these programs are limited; they aren’t. Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions can do several functions beyond its core accounting features. And Quickbooks Point of Sale is more than just a technologically advanced cash register since it also stores information on vendors and inventory, among others.

It also isn’t true that Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions is not flexible. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. This flexibility stems from the fact that it offers more features beyond the usual from an accounting program. For instance, it offers more than 100 report templates—allowing one to create any of these reports with just a simple click of a button (provide the necessary information are provider for, obviously). As for Quickbooks Point of Sale, it was already established that it is not just a simple Point of Sales program since it offers a lot more—far more than any could ever expect from it.

Lastly: the myth regarding the price. Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions and Quickbooks Point of Sale definitely aren’t cheap change. They cost a considerable amount of money. But, of course, this is expected. However, what matters is the fact that these programs cost far less compared to the other similar software available in the market. The most basic package for the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions costs less than 3,000 dollars. This includes the license for five simultaneous users. Other programs cannot even match that kind of price and service, mainly because they are very expensive.

The bottom line here is, Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions and Quickbooks Point of Sale offers unbelievable service and value for a very competitive price.

Let us say you have been implementing the excellent Quickbooks software solution for your accounting needs. You are very much satisfied; for good reason. Quickbooks did not dominate the market it has set its sights on if it has not been performing satisfactorily. There is a reason why a lot of firms are preferring the Quickbooks solutions for their companies and that is because it gives what it promises to do. It totally delivers.If you loved Quickbooks, then you will certainly love the new Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0. This is a build based on the original Quickbooks solution from Intuit. Same old Quickbooks, but with more features to make your accounting department operate a lot better than before. With a lot of money at stake, you’d ask, “why should I switch over to the Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0?”No Need to Train and Retrain AccountantsMost entrepreneurs are hesitant to invest in new software simply because it is very expensive. We’re not talking about the cost of the software alone, but also in the costs involved in training your accounting crew to get used to the new software. However, the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0 does not require you to implement further training if you have been using the Quickbooks solution for some years now. The new version is simply similar to the old Quickbooks, but with a few new perks for the company. This means that you change to the Enterprise Quickbooks, and have your accountants function normally in at least a day. You don’t have to spend any time or cash for training; it would just be like adding a program unto your workstations and walk away without a thought. All a firm needs is profit and you cannot risk to lose that due to expenses in training, and that is what the Enterprise Quickbooks can offer you.Support for International TransactionsNowadays, no matter how small or big a business may be, chances are it is global. That is because of the Internet: the Web has allowed small businesses to operate on a global scale thanks to e-commerce. These enterprises need an accounting solution that will allow them to operate seamlessly even when transacting with international customers.Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0 does exactly that. It has support for international currencies, so you can transact and keep records in different currencies with ease. When you need to, you can generate a single report in a chosen currency: it will automatically convert the other currencies when consolidating the report. The solution also features an international payment service as well to further enhance your capability of making global transactions.With Enterprise Quickbooks 10.0, you will have the means to turn your company or business into a smoothly running and efficiently. The key to succeeding is efficiency, as an efficient business is easy to manage and to steer towards the right direction. With Quickbooks Enterprise 10.0, you have that tool with which you can aim for success and make it big in today’s competitive world.

Every good thing has to start somewhere, and even QuickBooks Enterprise, the number one financial management software for mid-sized companies, originates from humble beginnings. As an introduction, QuickBooks Enterprise is a business software designed to automate and streamline various business processes to make things easier and work faster within a company. But how did it get to be the number one of its kind? It all begins with Intuit The humble beginnings of the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions as well as other popular QuickBooks products such as QuickBooks Point of Sale can be traced to the history of Intuit. Intuit is the company that created and developed the QuickBooks Enterprise financial management software. The company was founded back in 1983 by partners Tom Proulx and Scott Cook. Intuit started out in Mountain View, California. Its first product was Quicken, a financial management software targeted to individual users. After the success of the product, the company thought to extend the same benefit to business owners and managers like you. That was when QuickBooks was created, and soon, other business solutions followed such as the QuickBooks Point of Sale. These products touched not only on accounting matters but also streamlined the entire structure of the business. Now, the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions package has played a key role in the success and growth of several mid-sized businesses. When QuickBooks Enterprise was introduced Upon the introduction of QuickBooks Enterprise, it was immediately greeted with a warm welcome especially from business owners who do not have formal training in in-depth accounting. The QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions took that responsibility off their shoulders. It did not take long for the system to claim up to 80% of its target market, focusing mostly on small businesses. To this day, the same dominance can still be attributed to the software, only this time, it has moved to the mid-sized businesses. QuickBooks Enterprise: Further developments The rise to fame of QuickBooks was not without stumbles. Professional accountants, unlike the business owners and managers, critiqued the system for deviating from traditional accounting purposes. In order to develop further, Intuit used these critiques to turn the product around. Intuit responded to the accountants’ feedback by using them to improve the QuickBooks products. Thus, several other accounting features were added. Some of these were audit trail capabilities, double-entry accounting, industry-specific reports, and several other great features, most of which were added in the period between 2000 and 2003. During this time, a basic and a pro version of Enterprise QuickBooks were released to cater to varying levels of needs. Now, however, several specialized versions are on the market, responding to even more needs. There are versions designed specifically for:

On paper, the Quickbooks Point of Sale system is supposed to be like a more advanced version of the cash register. However, it isn’t just that since it offers a lot more. The Quickbooks Point of Sale software allows you to ring up sales more efficiently, in addition to a number of more uses that can help your business grow. A number of companies think that they can make do without the amazing features of Quickbooks Point of Sale. But once you witness and experience its power, there is simply no going back. No business will ever thrive as fast without the benefits of Quickbooks Point of Sale.

But what indeed are the benefits you can expect from Quickbooks Point of Sale?

Its core function is in ringing up sales, and the Quickbooks Point of Sale does this function so effortlessly that you would astonished how you ever managed without it before. The Quickbooks Point of Sale software can ring up sales through the scanning of bar codes, as well as handle various accounts on discounts and store credits. And Quickbooks Point of Sale does not only handle cash transactions; it can process debit card and credit card transactions with no problem at all. It can also issue (as well as accept) gift cards

Beyond cash transactions from the customers, it also deals with internal affairs of the company as well. For instance, it can track the working hours of the employees in order to compute sales commissions. Needles to say, this is very beneficial in industries were in such employee compensation is used; the financial manager no longer has to manually compete this since the Quickbooks Point of Sale will do it at a click of a button. Work and sales orders are so within the function of the powerful Quickbooks Point of Sale.

Also, Quickbooks Point of Sale can even help the business stay in close contact with its customers. For instance, it can store and track customer purchase information and contact information. This is an essential tool when looking up for information regarding the customers. After all, any type business cannot afford to exist in a bubble. In order to survive, it has to be in touch with its customers. And this becomes even more convenient, since Quickbooks Point of Sale has template letters for customers. With an integration with Microsoft Word, making a letter has never been easier. A business opting or planning to have a rewards program can definitely take full advantage of Quickbooks Point of Sale.

And beyond customers and sales, Quickbooks Point of Sale offers more. Since it can track inventory and manage vendors, Quickbooks Point of Sale is can be an essential tool in managing the stocks of a store. It even has pictures of the items in the inventory to make the whole process more convenient. It can be integrated with Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions, and it can serve for remote hosting up to 20 stores in just a single office.

Clearly, Quickbooks Point of Sale is the tool no business can do without.

Wondering what QuickBooks Hosting has to do with small and medium business? Let  me explain. Small and Medium Business  are undergoing transformation in terms of technology but at the same time facing stiffer competition fro their big and powerful Large business competitors.This is on two counts. First large businesses are eating into the traditional base of Small business due to improved technology which has made contact with diverse and scattered clients easier.Second, Small and Medium Business has to invest in same type of technology which larger counterparts use which is, disproportionate to the total investment in their business.So what is the way out? Technology itself provides the answer .That is precisely one of the reasons why Cloud Hosting Services and Application Service Providers are gaining acceptance by the Small and medium business.

Consider the example of QuickBooks Hosting services. Bookkeeping is one of the integral part of any business .But the investment for this for Small firms as well as CPAs, can be greatly minimized if we tale the help of a Hosted QuickBooks service provider such as  Real Time Data Services http://www.myrealdata.com

Without a QuickBooks Hosting Facility the client has to provide for in-house personnel for maintenance of its entire IT infrastructure and provide for extensive backup facilities. Also technical expertise may be inadequate to provide complete trouble shooting support as well as if data is lost the firm can incur heavy loss in terms of cost and records. This is because data is not constantly but occasionally backed up.

But QuickBooks Hosting by Application Service Providers such as RTDS can allow you to get an effective solution for all this infrastructure procurement and maintenance cost towards Bookkeeping. At the same time it also makes the process of your bookkeeping process very easy and reliable. How? An Application Service Provider such as Real time Data Services allow you to run the version of QuickBooks selected by you on their remote servers  and you avail the services at your end just like a desktop application thus relieving you of the infrastructure maintenance problems. Now think what would happened if you had different versions of QuickBooks. Obviously you will need to maintain different infrastructural requirements for different versions.Hosted Services can run any version on their servers so you need not worry about this any more.

QuickBooks Hosting increase the cost effectiveness of your business in other more important ways as well. These are saving time on your non core interests and always- on- anywhere connectivity. Both the client and their CPA s can access the service from any where and at any time and make changes to it. Also since both of them can work on the QuickBooks Hosted Software simultaneously, it is now a lot easier to exchange files so that you save your transportation cost as well as your precious time. Also it provides you with the option of multiuser facility without taking individual licenses for all.

QuickBooks Hosting services such as those provide by RTDS are also very reliable .With 256 grade coding for data transfers and provision of dual backups much time a day your data is guaranteed to be more secure than your in house facilities. An Application Service Provider which provides Hosted QuickBooks also guarantees 24 hour technical support so that all your troubles are sorted out in real time thus making your Hosted Bookkeeping functions run smoothly.

Small businesses as well as CPA firms can greatly enhance their competitiveness by using Cloud Hosting services such as Hosted QuickBooks and other Application Hosting. It would be much beneficial if you see the profile of Application service providers such as Real Time Data Serviceshttp://Myrealdata.com/ to get the range of services available under the Hosted Services.

Intuit’s Quickbook products are among the efficient tools when it comes to financial management. In particular, Quickbook Enterprise Solutions proves to be one of the most reliable software when it comes to creating financial reports and consolidating business data. However, creating financial reports is not the only thing you will have to do in order to keep your business steady and on top of everything. You will also need a program that can help you manage sales and track customers, as well as manage inventory, among other store operations.

In this area, Quickbooks Point of Sale can be of great use.

Quickbooks Point of Sale is like a powerful cash register that pretty much does what a cash register can do—and more. In essence, it is a tool used in the area of a store called the point of sale, better known as the checkout counter. This is where the sale transactions occur. Today, it is used to refer to the hardware, such as the Quickbooks Point of Sale. The technology used by Quickbooks Point of Sale is somewhat new, since web based point of sales systems were only developed during the early 2000s. The system uses the Internet in order to store back up data as well as create a centralized system, making data consolidation easier.

In any case, businesses in the retail, hospitality, and restaurant industries, among others, use point of sales programs—and they can benefit from the functions and features of Quickbooks Point of Sale.

But what makes Quickbooks Point of Sale better compared to the other point of sale programs available in the market?

For one, the Quickbooks Point of Sale can be used in consolidation with the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions software. This software is used for storing and interpreting financial data, as well as creating various financial reports. With their connectivity, data from the Quickbooks Point of Sale can be used for reports done on Quickbooks Enterprise, and vice versa.

But, of course, the more important part of this connection is what Quickbooks Point of Sale can actually do. In this case, it can pretty much help you ring up sales and, ultimately, become closer to your customers through a customer tracking system. It can even integrate with Microsoft Word for letters to be written for the customers. Obviously, Quickbooks Point of Sale is not just a software that financial managers can use. It is an all-around software that can be used by anyone within the company hierarchy. Just like the Quickbooks Enterprise, Quickbooks Point of Sale can help company heads get a clear view of the company’s stating in terms of sales and day to day store operations.

It also helps company heads create a better focus for the company by removing a significant chunk of the workload while still ensuring proper management of sales and inventory—among others. What’s great with Quickbooks Point of Sale is that it does not only work for physical stores; it can also be used for web-based stores as well. Obviously, Quickbooks Point of Sale is a great tool not only to help manage sales in the company.

Are you a business leader? A financial manager? An IT manager? Holding a management position of a company is not an easy task. If you are in such a position, what you need to help with your tasks is a program like QuickBooks Enterprise. What is QuickBooks Enterprise?

•    QuickBooks Enterprise is a finance-oriented software designed to provide automated accounting and business management practices for businesses. •    The program is offered by business solutions provider Intuit.•    It can help you expedite your various business processes such as inputting sales, recording expenses, tracking tax payments, processing purchase orders, managing payroll and inventory, and preparing business documents such as invoices, reports, and financial statements. •    With the QuickBooks Enterprise, you can do all your business processes online but without deviating from your actual processes. In a nutshell, the QuickBooks Enterprise can hold your entire business in one reliable and accurate program.The QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions PackageThe basic Enterprise QuickBooks program also integrates with a series of other useful functionalities that make up an overall QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions package, which includes:•    web-based features •    remote tracking capabilities•    integration with third-party providers such as:1.    Google Maps for remote mapping2.     Outlook Express for e-mail connectivity3.    Microsoft Excel for various recording needsAside from that, the package includes other key factors that make up the overall strengths of the QuickBooks Enterprise offer. •    Flexibility. The QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions are designed to run on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. So whatever system your company is using, you can easily insert the Quick Books Enterprise into the process. •    Ease of Use. The program, though highly functional and full-featured, is affordable, exceptionally user-friendly, and streamlined, so it is easy and economical to maintain and operate unlike other more complex systems that can be quite taxing for you to operate. •    Customizable. Availing of the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions package gives you access to a free needs assessment procedure to check whether the program can work for your business.•    Capable. The Quick Books Enterprise system can be used by up to 30 users simultaneously. It is also capable of tracking up to 100,000 inventory items, customer purchases, and vendors. •    Up-to-Date. The package also automatically affords you with special upgrade packages and data conversion in case you need to switch from other systems such as Net Suite, Microsoft, Timberline, Oracle, SAP, Acc Pac, Peachtree Quantum, Dac Easy, and so on.•    Supportive. You can also avail of additional products and services such as remote hosting, consulting, and bookkeeping. Why QuickBooks Enterprise is No. 1There are several business and accounting software that work similarly as the QuickBooks Enterprise package, but QuickBooks is a leading program mainly due to its flexibility and upgrade capability. Thus far, QuickBooks Enterprise is the number 1 business-oriented solutions software, especially in the market segment comprised of mid-range firms with up to 50-500 employees. The system is now in use in more than 50,000 companies, most of which are mid-size companies at the peak of their growth who would like to capitalize on the massive growth level of their business by entailing the help of QuickBooks. If you are running such a business or company, having the QuickBooks Enterprise on your side will definitely make it easy for you to manage your business efficiently and further the growth of your business.With such a system in place in your company, you, as a business leader, can easily determine the state of your business and keep all your business records in check. You can be sure that all your business documents are accurate and organized, as well as every business transaction recorded well. The streamlined and efficient system can also save you a lot of resources, such as time, labor, and money – savings that can translate to profits. You can help cut down costs and keep your business in top shape all the time. Having the QuickBooks Enterprise around is just like having a business partner.