quickbooks | Jason Palmer, CPA, CITP

Can a Small Business Windows PC User move to a Mac?

July 29, 2013 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Admit it. You’ve looked at them. We have all looked at them. Apple has spent millions in advertising so that we cannot miss them: The New Mac Book Air and Mac Book Pro notebook computers. The Mac Book Air is ultra light. The Mac Book Pro has an amazing screen. And the iMac and Mac Mini desktops are more like sculptures than computers.

But you live in a Windows world with Microsoft Office and Quickbooks and probably feel like all you can do is longingly gaze at those sleek aluminum cases and dream about the day that you might be able to run your business on a Mac.

Well someday may be today for you.

There is a good chance that Microsoft Office for Mac and Quickbooks for Mac versions may just set you free from Microsoft Windows. Especially if you are not using any of the advanced features of the Windows version and you have limited sharing needs for your Calendar and don’t need to share you Quickbooks data file with other users.

There are a few key differences in Microsoft Office for Mac:
The keyboard short cuts will be a little different due to the differences between the Windows and Mac keyboard command structure. For example, PC’s have a “Windows” key and Mac’s have a “Command” key.

The fonts may be slightly different so you may have to substitute or purchase fonts for a close or exact match. However, if you use the standard font in the Windows version there is a very similar Mac version so spacing and document layout should be maintained without issue.

Macro support is not as comprehensive on the Mac version. If you have extensive use of Macros, you will want to test your documents and spreadsheets before fully committing.

Outlook sync to other services, such as Google, is not as strong in the Mac version and some calendar/event tagging is handled differently.

If you predominantly write letters and simple reports, create basic spreadsheets with standard formula tools, and use Outlook as an email client with a Contact address book and Calendar, you should be fine. Both Windows and Mac versions can open and save each other’s Microsoft Office files without issue.

Here are some key differences for Quickbooks for Mac:

Quickbooks for Mac does not offer the Premier Specialized Editions. One key benefit of a Premier Edition is the predefined reports. However, you can easily duplicate most of those reports through the report writer.

The only Intuit Payroll option is “Quickbooks Complete Payroll” which is Intuit’s version of a payroll service. (You report the hours, Quickbooks Complete Payroll takes care of the rest including direct deposit or mailing checks and all tax filings.) If you presently use a third party payroll service like ADP or PayChex, then there is no issue at all as nothing changes.

If on your Windows version, you use the Basic Payroll (Tax Tables Only) or the Enhanced Payroll (Tax Tables plus Federal and State Tax Forms Printing), you are out-of-luck.

There is no multi-user version of Quickbooks for Mac. It is a single install, single user program.

If you are the only user of your Quickbooks program, do not do payroll yourself and don’t need predefined advanced reports, the QuickBooks for Mac will certainly do the job without issue.

Quickbooks has a one-time conversion process to move the data file from the Windows to Mac version. After that, once you Start Quickbooks for the first time on a Mac, the layout, look, and feel are pretty much the same – only cooler – because it is on a Mac.

Quickbooks & The Hartford Pay-as-you-Go Workers Compensation

July 25, 2013 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

When Quickbooks Payroll by Intuit partnered up with The Hartford to offer “Pay- as-you-Go” Workers Compensation Policies, I decided to investigate.

If you use Quickbooks Full Service Payroll, which is a comprehensive service that includes direct deposit of employee paychecks, automatic preparation of payroll tax forms and payment of taxes, with The Hartford, you can pay your Workers Compensation with each pay period.

If you use Basic (Paycheck Calculations Only) or Enhanced Payroll (Paychecks and Tax Form Preparation) you can still use The Hartford, but you have to make the periodic Workers Compensation payment directly through The Hartford web site. It is not an automatic deduction. This is still a better option than having to make one big Workers Compensation payment each year on the anniversary date of your policy. (As of this writing, Disability Policies at The Hartford are not available on the “Pay-as-you-Go” billing platform and must be paid in full annually.)

I contacted The Hartford and was able to obtain quotes almost immediately. For Workers Compensation, the annual premium was a significant savings. For Disability, the annual premium was higher but the combination of the two policies was still a savings. When I asked my commercial insurance broker his opinion of The Hartford, he had only good things to say. Specifically he mentioned that their customer service is very responsive and that they pay their claims in a timely manner.

True to form, I had a number of questions for The Hartford about the quotes presented and they were extremely responsive. This included their ability to put the new policies in place almost immediately should I decide to proceed. However, if you read my last post, “Leaving NYSIF – New York State Insurance Fund – Not So Easy”, it was all for naught as I was unable to exit my NYSIF policies. [I will be looking at The Hartford again and perhaps some other Carriers as my NYSIF renewal date approaches.]

Important Safety Tip: Absolutely check with your current Workers Compensation and Disability Insurance Carriers to determine your ability to cancel your policy and leave prior to term BEFORE you obtain quotes or complete any applications. It will just save you a great deal of time and aggravation. Penalties for early departure can be severe.

NOTE: The degree to which you can actually “Pay-as-you-Go” with The Hartford will vary with the specific Quickbooks Payroll Service you have selected and the amount of your policy premiums. In the case of some Policies, the Premium may be so small that it makes more sense, or the only option may be, to pay annually.

More Information on The Hartford at:
http://www.thehartford.com/worker-compensation

More Information on Intuit Payroll at:
http://payroll.intuit.com

Disclaimer: The information presented above is my personal experience and current as of the date of this article posting as it applied to my specific situation. I am a licensed Certified Financial Planner and Certified Public Accountant (licensed in the State of New York.) I am not licensed to sell or represent any insurance product in any State. Insurance Carrier rules and regulations vary by State and change frequently. You must check with your own Agent, Broker, or Insurance Carrier directly to verify the information as it may apply to your specific situation.

Software Licensing Cost – Understanding the Value

July 10, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The first rule of computing is to never do anything by computer that you can do faster by hand.

Frequently, when discussing the cost of Software Licenses, business owners grumble at the prices charged per copy by the usual suspects such as Microsoft, Intuit, Salesforce, or Sage ( – to name a few.) They proclaim that it is like pouring money in to a hole and that they don’t understand why they need to have the latest versions nor do they understand why they would want to make sure that every employee has a copy of the Software.

I ask why they feel that there is no value or not as much value as the developer of the software assigns to the per copy license. In some cases I get a legitimate complaint that not every employee fully utilizes the software, but in most cases the business owner just has an arbitrary value assigned to the software based on their own perception of what they think it is worth or should cost.

Let us use a copy of the Quickbooks Premier Small Business Accounting Software with a single seat/copy price of approximately $400 as an example. First, I ask the business owner what is he paying is bookkeeper – the person using the Quickbooks software? For simplicity we will use $45,000 (which is the average salary for a bookkeeper in New York City.)

I ask the business owner what did his bookkeeper use before Quickbooks? The answer, as one would expect, Green Ledger Pads and a large number of mechanical pencils with gum erasers and a Check Register provided by the Bank. I then go on to ask how were financial reports such as daily cash receipts, cash flow, sales, interim income statements, accounts receivable, and accounts payable produced. The obvious answer of course – all by hand – and it took a tremendous amount of time. I would be remiss if I did not ask if there were ever any math errors in the ledgers and reports – again – of course a few would crop up here and there.

Now, for the small sum of approximately $400 all of the reports mentioned above are available at the click of a mouse in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days. Assuming the original transactions are entered correctly, the math errors have been virtually eliminated. Now, your bookkeeper can process more transactions in less time because recurring transactions can be memorized and re-entered as needed within seconds. Reports can be memorized as well and refreshed quickly with current data at will.

In short, the bookkeeper is saving dozens of hours per month by automating tedious data entry and reporting tasks. In keeping with our example, if $45,000 translates in to approximately $22.50/hour based on a 2,000 hour work year then in less than 18 hours, the Quickbooks Software has paid for itself in increased productivity, all within one month of purchase.

To validated this savings, Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks did a survey and found that in the most conservative responses, 25% stated that they saved up to five hours per week by using Quickbooks.

My point is that any software product that makes you or your staff more productive, allowing greater efficiency and the ability to generate higher output which translates in to revenue for your company is usually well worth the nominal per user/copy/seat charge.

Software licenses do not cost, they pay.

Technology English IS Plain English

July 8, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The English definitions of words do not change simply because they are said in the context of something related to Technology.

Recently I was at a client demonstrating how to start the Quickbooks Accounting Program and open a company data file. (This client had two separate company data files for Quickbooks for two completely separate businesses.) I made the following statement: “Quickbooks will automatically open the last company file used or you can select ‘Change Company’ from the menu and manually select your other company data file.”

She replied, “I don’t understand anything about Technology. Why do you IT People always make it so difficult to understand everything?”

Sadly, this is a response I have heard hundreds of times before. I replied to her, “Exactly what was unclear about my statement?” She replied, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘automatically open’ or ‘manually select.” Trying to remain as polite as possible as my frustration level grew, I simply asked, “Why do you think the words ‘automatically open’ and ‘manually select’ have any different meaning here than they do anywhere else?”

I stated that the definition of “automatically” is operating in a manner essentially independent of external control or influence. And the definition of “manual” is done by [one’s own] hand.

Expanding my original statement, “Quickbooks will open the last company data file used without any additional action on your part – as in automatically open, or if you want to work with your other company file, you must select the menu option to change company and choose it from the list, as in manually.”

I then went on to ask what she thought the English dictionary definition of “automatically open” and “manually select” meant in any context, not just a Technical one. She really had no answer as she completely agreed that the definition and word usage were consistent with exactly what she thought they were. As in, “The door will automatically open as you approach it.” And, she had to “Manually open the door by grabbing the handle and pulling on it.”

After some thought, she realized that she had just completely tuned out of the training and conversation. She was predisposed to tell herself that Tech Speak was NOT Plain English and that she could not possibly understand it so she did not even try to make sense of what was being said.

There are certainly some specific “Terms of Art” in Technology that might require a little more explanation or analogies to understand but the majority of the conversations that I observe, fall apart because the listener assumes that for some reason English words take on a completely different meaning when a Technology person says them or are in a Technology context.

The next time you have a conversation about Technology, remember that we are all speaking Plain English and that in most cases, the definition of the words, especially when presented in context will mean exactly what you think they mean.

In short, this classic childhood riddle explains it perfectly:

“What color was George Washington’s White Horse?”

Answer: George Washington’s White Horse was White.

Office Applications in the Cloud – Google Apps for Business and Office365

June 10, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Traditional software applications like Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Quickbooks, and Contact Management, like ACT! are installed locally on the Computer. One downloads an installation program or inserts a CD/DVD to load the software application to the computers’ hard drive.

Slimmed down versions are available via “The Cloud” in a format called “Software as a Service” or SaaS for short. Examples of Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Presentation, and Email applications, entirely web based would be Microsoft Office365, Microsoft Live and Google Docs. SalesForce and SugarCRM are examples of full featured Contact Management and Sales Cycle software that are entirely web based. Quckbooks and TurboTax have complete Online Versions as well.

There are definite advantages to both types of offerings depending on the circumstances. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications are usually completely inaccessible if there is no Internet Access. For the true “Mobile Warrior” traditional, locally installed applications may still be the way to go as they guarantee access to applications and data at all times. Many SaaS offerings have or will have shortly, applications which can be installed locally that will provide the ability to access data when not connected to the Internet.

If one has a number of desk based employees coupled with a number of incidental technology use employees such as shop floor personnel, call center staff, and anyone else who should have Corporate Email and perhaps some Word Processing capability to stay connected, but the cost of a dedicated computer is prohibitive, then Software as a Service may be the optimal solution. If the average Office Application Suite costs approximately $300 (Microsoft Office Standard Edition) per seat, then it starts to make economic sense to look at a Software as a Service Online Application Suite in either the Free or Nominal Monthly Subscription cost basis.

A number of factors affect the pricing but many Small Businesses can get by with the Free Editions of the Suites (Google Docs and Microsoft Live) and for those that need more features prices start as low as $4 for Email or $6 or $8/month for a Basic Suite and go up to $22/Month for a Microsoft Premium Suite which include a fully licensed copy of Microsoft Professional 2010 and Voice Integration with the Microsoft Communications Server. All Microsoft plans include access to a custom RIM Hosted version of the Blackberry Enterprise Server for seamless Blackberry Connectivity and full Active-Sync support for Android and Apple IOS (iPhone/iPad/iTouch) devices.

Google Docs (Apps) are free for individuals and small teams while Google Apps for Business start at $5/month ($50/year) for the Full Featured Suite (Gmail, Docs, Calendar) or $10/month which includes the addition of email archiving, retention policies, and E-discovery which can be beneficial to companies that must follow compliance policies.

The key philosophical difference between Google Apps and Microsoft Office is that Microsoft wants their offering to be an extension of the Microsoft Office Servers and Applications already installed in your corporate environment. Google Apps just wants to make you instantly more productive with zero capital infrastructure cost outlay.

Cloud Office Application Suites

Microsoft Live – http://www.live.com – (Consumer Oriented)
Microsoft Office365 – http://www.office365.com

Google Docs – http://docs.google.com – (Consumer Oriented)
Google Apps for Business – http://www.google.com/apps/business

Cloud Accounting Applications

Quickbooks Online – http://quickbooks.intuit.com
TurboTax Online – http://turbotax.intuit.com

Cloud CRM – Customer Relationship Management

SalesForce – http://www.salesforce.com
SugarCRM – http://www.sugarcrm.com