Business Discussions

Hello,In the Accrued Liabilities line item under Current Liabilities:1.) Should Sales Tax (on sales that have been already made)  that are still due be included?2.) If Income Taxes are included in this line item - Should the number here be the total of prepaid estimated taxes that were paid in the last tax year, as the current year's taxes are still not final? 

I am interested in what types of self-education are you interested and which one do you use? Why? What can you recommend? 

    Many small businesses hire short-term or bring on independent contractors to complete projects. Properly accounting for expenses associated with their work is mission critical.   You can track these expenses and file 1099-MISCs for your independent contractors directly from QuickBooks. It’s essential that you follow the process outlined in this article, not only for good accounting but legal reasons as well. There are also hired-wired 1099 features that only work up if you utilize these workflows.     Why do I need to track 1099 independent contractor payments separately?   The very simple answer: separating regular employee payments from independent contractor payments is crucial due to the nature of their work and their relationship to your business.   Independent contractors, on-demand or self-employed workers, and freelancers are individuals who do work for you but are not your official employees. As such, you need to report independent con

I was wondering if anyone else had better solutions to managing a high volume of security deposits?Right now my team handles about 40-60 security deposits a month. I've heard of some rental property companies with hundreds during a month.These are deposits that our company takes in to cover due diligence costs (appraisal costs and underwriting) and to make sure that the customer is invested in the process. Logging all of these deposits gets pretty tedious to do in QB.It is a lot of creating, managing, refunding, partially refunding, deducting that means a lot of journal entries and manual entry.Our interim solution: My team is using a combination of Stripe, TransactionPro (a QB app), and QB to cut down on manual entries. Does anyone have a better solution? 

1. If I enter vendors bills as checks instead of including them in the Accounts Payable line item of the statement- Does it mean they go into the expenses portion of the Net income (loss)?2. At the point of time of the Statement of cash Flows there is a vendor bill that is unpaid and on hold due to legal dispute that is underway but still not resolved - How do I account for it in the Statement of cash Flows

Hi.We are a transportation company and we take a security deposit from our drivers which we reimburse when they leave the company.I created an account called  Drivers Security Deposits (other current liabilities) where I record the amount received from each driver for security deposit.When they leave, sometimes we need to charge them for damages, repairs, etc.My questions is how I should record the amount that we are not refunding, so the balance for the liability account to be zero? Should I use an expense account?Thank you! 

Hello Everyone, Tax season is right around the corner and I'm interested in  interviewing one or several Small Business Accountants on film. The interview will ask important tax questions for small business owners in the hope to share it with small business owners.  If you are interested please let me know. Taxes can be very overwhelming and as a marketing professional serving small business owners and nonprofits, I get a ton of tax-related questions that I don't feel equipped to answer.  Best Regards, Urina

The big yellow box with this message is on all the time and I am unable to close any windows.  IS there a way to make it disapper??  Thank you so much for your help!

    Being proactive means keeping a close eye on open invoices. Knowing what customers owe you, developing clear policies, and planning accordingly are incredibly for sustaining your business.   In QuickBooks Online, there are a few tools and simple review techniques you can incorporate into your workflow that will help you professionally manage open and overdue payments. Why do I need to review open invoices?   The primary benefit is obvious – you want to get paid. But managing pending payments isn't only about keeping the lights on. If overdue payments pile up, they can become an avalanche that spills over into the rest of your business, stopping your operation dead in its track.   Be proactive with your accounts receivable and get ahead of issues before they impact your cash flow. Designate an individual on your team to handle this process. Establish a regular review process and set policies for how to handle late payment using the available tools in Quick

I had an idea - to create a simple to use ERP that would be ideal for small businesses. My motivation as a business owner, was to create an ERP that is free of charge (or at least affordable) to SMBs, since these kind of tools could only be afforded by large companies.I have then evolved this idea, from being a simple ERP to a platform with multi-tools - an ERP, a business messenger, collaboration tools, project and task management and even a web builder. Then we chose the name - semilimes. Limes are healthy and the green colour also signifies energy, health and positiveness.  The platform is now growing steadily and we are constantly changing and updating our tools, to better much the needs of our users.I invite you to have a look (it's still free of charge but this will change in the next coming months) and let me know your thoughts. Cheers,Mike

The company I am working on is a home flipping business.  As such, it made sense to set up my cost collection accounts as type other current asset in case a sale was not made in the same year as the costs and they needed to be left on the balance sheet.  As it turns out, the property in question was sold in the same year and this left me with an account structure set up as other current asset accounts that for tax purposes need to be classified as cost of good sold.    SInce QB won't let me change the account type I need to set up new accounts of the appropriate type and do a reclassification entry.  There are a lot of accounts so what I'd like to do is export the existing structure to an excel file, change the account type on each account, reimport the accounts with the desired account type, and then transfer the balance with a JE.  All of the articles I've found in the community have to do with exporting from and old company and importing into a new comp

Anyone having issues with Faxing to IRS during the gov shutdown?  I've been trying to fax in our S-corp forms but it keeps getting bounced back.  Not sure if I am the only one.

Re: preparing the State of Cash Flows in the indirect methodSection of Accounts payable - What if the company pays off completely all its bills every month which end up with no bills due at the end of the month. In this case what should be input in this section of the statement. In my company case, it is, though, possible that at the point of preparing the statement, the there will be few bills due, however, they will be all fully paid within 2-3 weeks from that point of time (date)

If during the most-recent year the company paid off a debt that it had received in prior year - Will it adjust the net income in a positive or negative way?I am referring to the Financing activities section of the Statement of Cash Flows

I have QB Enterprise 17.0, due to mess in my previous accounts i have created new company file and want to enter fixed assets ( I am not using FAM feature ). I have entered account receivables and payables but have problem in fixed assets, financed vehicles and long term loans. 

We are a wholesaler and currently sell product to retailers and restaurants within our state.  We are looking to expand to other states as well and will be selling our product to other wholesalers, not directly to retailers.  I know how to set up different types of customers, we currently have 3 different types within our state business.  And I know how to set up different price levels too.  My question is if I should set up a separate company in Quickbooks for our Out-of-state business in order to keep it separate.  I would prefer to do this, but how do I keep track of inventory, outside of doing a virtual transfer?  Trying not to over-complicate things but feel like I should keep the two separate so I have a better picture of volume and margins.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks! Dee  

When preparing the Statement of Cash Flows - If I have open/due invoices at the time (date) when the statement is made, shall I include them in the calculation of the Increase (decrease) in accounts payable line item even if I am going to pay them in less than a month?

Hello! I just started a direct sales company called LeggingGirl and have earned $20+ already. When do I need to report this "side income"? I know most places say to report over a specific amount per year. 

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We use Quickbooks Pro for my construction company at present. We have opened up two offices in other parts of the state and now have three location. I need to connect my people and am looking at Quickbooks Online but have been told by one of my people that is much more efficient at computing that the service is slow? Can anyone commit on this!ThanksLlew

Help! This is the first time we will be filing our own W-2. What do I need to do? I was under the assumption that QuickBooks will do it all for me. Is this true? 

When listing the accounts payable line item in the Balance Sheet - What if at the point when preparing the report I still don't know the amount of the outstanding invoices that my vendors will be issuing. It happens in my case as the invoices are based on the previous cycle performance/consumption and only few weeks into the following month the various vendors issue the invoice. During the waiting time I can not tell and/or estimate the final number.What should I do in such scenario?

As an employer, are we required to report profit sharing contribution on employee's W-2's?

  When it comes to accounting, many believe it’s better to do things right than do them quickly. We’re here to show you how to accomplish both – simultaneously complete comprehensive tasks in the most efficient ways possible.   Follow these guides, check off each step to review your progress, and move forward with complete confidence. We've included links to more in-depth articles throughout so you always have references.   Am I ready to send an Invoice and record sales?Am I ready to reconcile my bank accounts? (Coming soon)Am I ready to run Payroll? (Coming soon) 

Hello,My business sells subscription-based service onlineit offers few plans that varies by time - 3, 6 and 9 months plansWhen client pays for let's say 3-month plan, the business collects the payment upfront (via cc) for the full period. Then, at the end of the period if the client doesn't cancel the subscription renews.Are those future recurring renewals should be included in the Account receivable line in the Balance Sheet.Are those future renewal transactions considered as 'sales made on credit'?Let me know if this question doesn't apply to this section of the community. I couldn't find a section for general accounting/bookkeeping questions.