25Nov 2014 by Nancy Smyth
Year End Payroll Tasks for 2014 and year beginning 2015

Year End Payroll Tasks for 2014 and year beginning 2015

Business Productivity Tips & Training, Free Stuff
Year-end payroll tasks actually should start on December 1st and really can continue right through the first of April!  Yikes – that’s a lot of time to be spending on additional payroll tasks, especially during the holidays! There are so many things that need to be taken care of; you need to be organized and have a checklist that includes when certain things have to be completed and helps you to prioritize tasks so that you don’t feel so overwhelmed. From simple things – like starting around the first of December you should remind employees that if their has been a change in their filing status due to getting married, having or adopting a baby, or perhaps they have a child that is turning 21, that they should fill out a…
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23Apr 2014 by Nancy Smyth
Free Webinar – Stealing More Than the Secret Sauce

Free Webinar – Stealing More Than the Secret Sauce

Free Stuff, Live Webinars
Free Webinar Stealing More Than the Secret Sauce - Identify and Safeguard Against Business Fraud Wednesday May 14, 2014 - 2-3 p.m. EST A staggering number of businesses falter and even fail because someone on the inside – an employee, vendor or even a partner – steals money, goods, data or intellectual property from the organization. Learning the warning signs can help business owners prevent and detect criminal activity and implement options to avoid future issues. Join a panel of distinguished virtual office business professionals in a free webinar designed to help businesses identify and safeguard against fraud. It will be presented by Kimberly Shannon, President, Off-Site Business Services, Nancy Smyth, President, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc., and Shamese Shular, President, SHU Books on May 14, 2014, from 2pm to 3pm…
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14Apr 2014 by Nancy Smyth

4/9/2014 QuickBooks for Contractors hangout – Time & Materials Billings

Google+ Hangouts, QuickBooks Training
This hangout is an addition to our popular QuickBooks Job Costing from A-Z Webinar, which was held on March 26, 2014, and discusses using Estimates and Progress Invoices when you have Time & Materials or Cost Plus jobs. When you have Time & Materials or Cost Plus jobs and want to use the QuickBooks Estimate function, there is an additional step that you'll need to do in order for your numbers to line up correctly in the Estimates vs. Actuals Report - tips and techniques are discussed in this hangout. Unfortunately, I've found that the screen sharing feature in the Google+ hangout doesn't capture all of the pop up windows in QuickBooks, so I've put together an article that includes screen shots of the windows that weren't captured during the…
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20Feb 2014 by Nancy Smyth
QuickBooks Job Costing from A-Z Webinar

QuickBooks Job Costing from A-Z Webinar

Live Webinars, QuickBooks Training
  March 26, 2014 1-2:30 p.m. EST Job Costing in QuickBooks can be one of the most agonizing tasks that a commercial or government construction contractor and their bookkeepers face on a daily basis. In fact, I talk to folks every day that tell me “I can’t get any job costing reports or information out of QuickBooks!”, and they usually aren’t very happy about the situation. Sometimes that statement literally means that they see no job costing information in QuickBooks – OR –the job costing reports they do see don’t look like the reports that they were used to from their old accounting system, which was industry specific. While I can’t make the reports look the same in QuickBooks, I can show you how to properly set up and use…
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25Oct 2013 by Nancy Smyth
Payroll Deduction Authorization form- Word format

Payroll Deduction Authorization form- Word format

Business Productivity Tips & Training, Free Stuff, QuickBooks Tips, Techniques & Work Arounds
Payroll management isn't an easy task and certainly involves more than just getting paychecks distributed in a timely manner.   One area that businesses seem to have a hard time with is putting a plan in place to ensure payroll deduction authorization forms are properly collected and errors are prevented.  Payroll deduction authorization forms are a must if you are taking money out of an employees paycheck for anything other than required payroll taxes.  Yes, I know - more paperwork!  You can implement a simple system in which the authorization forms can be numbered as they come in and a log may be maintained to help keep track of the forms.  QuickBooks can help you to automate this process and even help you store this information electronically by attaching the authorization…
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09Oct 2013 by Nancy Smyth

HANGOUT: QuickBooks & the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care)

Live Webinars, QuickBooks Training
The Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care) seems to be the main topic of conversation these days. We held a very special QuickBooks for Contractors hangout Wednesday October 9th on Google+ dedicated to complying with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and how QuickBooks can be set up to track the employer contribution so that it will accurately display in Box 12 of your employee's W-2 with the appropriate code of DD. You can watch a recording of the hangout from our YouTube channel Download the slides that are shown in the video.
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09Sep 2013 by Nancy Smyth

VIDEO: QuickBooks 2014 – Payroll Center Improvements

Pre-recorded Videos, QuickBooks Resources & Reviews
QuickBooks 2014 is coming - you'll be able to order it beginning the end of September directly from Intuit - OR - through Authorized Intuit Affiliates.  It will be available at local retailers beginning in mid-October. In QuickBooks 2014, the Payroll Center gets a massive overhaul (one that I feel has been long overdue).  Here is a sneak peak of what the new payroll center looks like. NOTE:  This video was produced with "pre-release" version of QuickBooks 2014 Premier Accountant version - screens may be different in the final release version. Join us on Google+ on Wednesday September 11th from 5-6, for a special QuickBooks for Contractors hangout, for more information about QuickBooks 2014.
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24Dec 2012 by Nancy Smyth

IRS Resources for Contractors

IRS Resources - Construction
  The IRS provides some very good resources for both contractors and the accounting professionals who support them, usually the problem is finding these items on the IRS website.  Below is a list of items that I reference and provide to the contractors and accounting professionals that I work with. These links will take you directly to the IRS website, with hopefully the most up to date information. The Construction Tax Center - https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Construction-Tax-Center Tax Tips - Construction - This section provides important information on topics such as accounting methods, excise taxes, and energy credits. Avoiding Problems - This section contains important information on recordkeeping and warns you of fraudulent schemes. Tax Information for All Small Businesses -This section provides general small business information useful in all industries and professions. It…
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15Nov 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Payroll Due Dates for Year-End 2012 and Year Beginning 2013

Payroll Due Dates for Year-End 2012 and Year Beginning 2013

Business Productivity Tips & Training
Payroll due dates always seem to cause a lot of stress - especially at year end when there is so much to do! The holiday's don't seem to help matters any either with extra time away from the office, it's difficult to concentrate, get things done, and stay organized. Perhaps you are fairly new to payroll in general and this is the first time that you've had to deal with year end tasks and are feeling totally overwhelmed. Year-end payroll tasks start in December and really can continue right through the first of April!  Yikes - that's a lot of time to be spending on additional payroll tasks! There are so many things that need to be taken care of; you need to be organized and have a checklist that includes when…
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26Oct 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Employee New Hire Information & Checklist

Employee New Hire Information & Checklist

Business Productivity Tips & Training
An employee new hire information and checklist will help you to gather all the information your need about an employee once you have made a hiring decision. Congratulations, you've decided to hire your first employee or perhaps your business is growing and you are hiring additional employees. In either case, there is so much more to hiring an employee than putting an ad in the newspaper and arranging for interviews - even though these are both very important. Once you have gone through the interview process with everyone who has applied and you make a hiring decision; you find yourself with a lot of additional information that you need to have keep on file about the employee that you just hired. All of a sudden you are subject to Federal…
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