Question: What is the difference between cash and accrual accounting? Answer: Cash or accrual accounting refers to the timing of when income and expense events are officially recorded. Cash basis means income is included in your income statement when you actually receive payment from your customer. Similarly, the expenses are recorded the date you actually…
Read MoreChannel: Ask the Accountant
Have You Heard About OrderMaster?
Question: Have you heard about OrderMaster? Answer: I’ve been asked this question quite a bit over the last few months by distributors whom I have helped convert from OrderMaster to a QuickBooks-based solution. With their help and a fair amount of detective work, I found the owner. I learned that OrderMaster is no longer being…
Read MoreBe Careful Before You Upgrade to Windows 10
Question: I have QuickBooks Premier 2015. I want to upgrade to Windows 10. Will that work? Answer: I’m so glad you asked before upgrading. Technology is both a blessing and a curse, and making changes in one program can impact older programs negatively and cause them to stop working. That would be the case in…
Read MoreDo I Need to Collect Sales Tax on Web Sales?
Question: I have online stores. Do I need to collect sales tax on web sales? Answer: It used to be that you only had to collect sales tax in other states if you had some sort of presence or “nexus” in that state. Everything changed with the Supreme Court decision South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc.…
Read MoreCan An Off-Site Employee Enter Invoices With Partial QuickBooks Access?
Question: I wanted to know if I could have an employee off site do some entering of invoices without having full access to the other financial parts of QuickBooks. Answer: When you set up users in QuickBooks Premier, you can set up certain restrictions that limit the access of each user. This is a helpful…
Read MoreCan I Integrate SAGE Online With QuickBooks on the Cloud?
Question: Can I have SAGE Online integrate with QuickBooks Premier if my QuickBooks is in a cloud-based storage platform? Answer: The SAGE Online system integrates with QuickBooks well—saving time and effort; recreating orders, customers, vendors and items in QB without having to reenter the data. Unfortunately, at this writing, SAGE cannot integrate with QB when…
Read MoreWhen to Convert from One Accounting System to Another
Question: Is there a good time to convert from one accounting system to another? Answer: Actually, you can convert at any time of the year, but there is a “best time” that makes things as fast and easy as possible. If your fiscal year is Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, the best time to convert…
Read MoreDo I Have to Enter All Data Every Time in Quickbooks?
Question: I am new to the business and to QuickBooks. Do I have to enter all of the data each time with each order? Answer: QuickBooks runs on lists. The major lists are Customer, Vendor and Item lists. There are a few others, too. True to all QB lists, once you create a list entry,…
Read MoreHow Should You Mark Shipping on Orders?
Question: Should I put the real shipping or in-hands dates on the orders I send to suppliers? Answer: I always built in a cushion of a few days to prevent 11th hour heroics and to be prepared for client ignorance, like neglecting to tell me the event is at 8 a.m. or that they need…
Read MoreHow Many QuickBooks Users Do You Need?
Question: How do I know how many QuickBooks Users I need to start? Answer: My advice is less. I prefer to err on the side of saving money and minimizing the number of users until knowing exactly how many users are needed. And it’s wise to have as few people as possible inside your accounting…
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