February Update Quicklet


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Hi, I’m Jayne Miller, the QuickBooks Gal. Welcome to another in our series of “Quicklets” –informational podcasts about QuickBooks and related bookkeeping topics. As a side note, I originally intended to name these little podcasts Podlets; however I recently learned that in Russian, PODLETS (Подлец) means SCOUNDREL. So, Quicklets it is!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve recorded a new Quicklet. Our office has been very busy with End of Year, W-2, and 1099 processing tasks. I hope some of my previous tips have been useful. In the coming months, I will address the changes in QuickBooks 2006 and 2007 and we’re going to talk more about QuickBooks Point of Sale 2007 (v 6).

Just recently, The QuickBooks Gal was mentioned on www.thetechgap.com.
I want to say thanks to those folks at that website, and to all of you who have visited my website & listened to my podcasts. I also teleconferenced with the folks at Intuit and am pleased to let you know that they will be carrying our Quicklet podcasts on their community site now.

One more news tidbit before we get down to business, next month The QuickBooks Gal will expand to Peachtree and Microsoft Office Accounting podcasts – PeachPods and MicroPods. I’ll have more information in my next Quicklet and will give you the location of the podcasts & blogs soon.


In my last Quicklet, I mentioned the CPA Technology Advisor magazine. As I continue to explore and rave about the new features in QuickBooks 2007, a recent article in that magazine about the Unit of Measure Conversion comes to mind. I don’t think I could cover this better than Doug Sleeter, owner & founder of the Sleeter Group of QuickBooks Advisors, did in his article. If you would like to find out more about the new features that he addresses, go to www.CPATechAdvisor.com/IntersectionLive/ColumnistCorner.

This month, Doug covers the following new features:
• Unit of Measure Conversion
• Improved Default Chart of Accounts
• Interface Improvements

Last month, he addressed:
• Accountant’s Copy Enhancements
• New Payroll features
• Google Search & Marketing Tools
• Shipping Manager Improvements

I won’t keep referring you to other sources forever, but sometimes a great resource is the best information I can pass on.



Are you backing up your data?


I know I have discussed this before, but it is so important, I have to go there again. If you are a QuickBooks user, it is critical that you get a method of backing up. I use a simple USB flash drive that can be purchased at any office supply store. A 512 MB drive holds the equivalent of 350 floppy drives. If you take a lot of pictures or store a lot of data that you wouldn’t want to lose, or if you are a practitioner with multiple client data files, you may want to purchase an external hard drive (USB connection). I have one with a capacity equal to that of my computer. I just plug it into the USB port and back up every time I access and affect any file on my computer. I can lock it up when I leave the office and know that my back up is complete and secure. When I originally purchased it, I backed up everything on my computer.


Once again, I want to remind you that 1099 and W-3 Federal copies must be mailed next week, February 28, 2007. You must postmark these by midnight.

One point worth mentioning: It’s a good idea to send those forms by Certified Mail; and on a related issue, be sure that you print the online receipt when you submit your 941 tax payments. If you call in the taxes, create a receipt form in Word or Excel that records your payments and the authorization number they give you. If you pay at your bank, get a receipt and keep it with your payment record.

Next time: How to choose a QuickBooks Pro Advisor
Passwords and security

Upcoming:

• What do you need to start a business? (Insurance, license, etc)
• Payroll – Ugh! I have a business with employees– now who wants a piece of me? (Social Security, Medicare, State Unemployment, FUTA, who else?)
• Using Credit Cards to pay bills, make purchases
• Converting Peachtree to QuickBooks
• Creating a new file in QuickBooks from an old one (Import lists vs. deleting transactions)
• Recording cash purchases and owner purchases/contributions

Once a month, I will be dedicating a podcast to your questions. Got a QuickBooks question? Send it to me and I’ll try to include it in our monthly Q&A Quicklet!


Well, that’s it for this week. I appreciate your time and hope you will join us again next week. Don’t forget to visit our websites, www.quickbooksgal.com and www.custmbiz.com for more information about me and our services. You can send me an email at jayne@quickbooksgal.com if you have questions or would like to enroll in our weekly QuickBooks classes. We’ll be expanding our schedule and the classes offered in the Spring, so be sure to check our site often.

I’m Jayne Miller, the QuickBooks Gal. Thanks for listening!

Custom Business Solutions, is a consulting firm in Reno, NV that specializes in providing bookkeeping and software support.

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