QuickBooks for Contractors blog

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/11 – 5/17/2012

Published May 18, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

There is so much news and information floating around the web – it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday.

See what caught my attention this week in these topics: Accounting & Taxes, eBooks/Webinars/Videos, Payroll/Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, QuickBooks, Small Business/Organization/Productivity, Construction, and Social Media/Marketing/Website Design.

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Payroll for Work Hours & Drive Time Invoicing Problem

Published May 16, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

Entering payroll for normal employee work hours and drive time and passing only the work hours through to client invoices is not only important but confusing. The following question was submitted by a reader who pays from the start of the first job till the end of the last job of the day (not including lunch break). I have my employees fill out a time tracker sheet each day that shows the time started at the first job till the end, drive time in between jobs, so on and so forth. I enter this into QuickBooks but I can't figure out where to enter in drive time to pay the girls their hourly wage on payroll but to not invoice anyone for drive time.

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Deducting the Cost of Lost Equipment from an Employee’s Pay

Published May 15, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

Can you deduct the cost of lost equipment from your employee’s pay? As a business owner I'm betting that on more than one occasion you have had an employee who has lost his company provided cell phone more than once and you've have to replace it.

Perhaps you want to recover the cost of the phone via a payroll deduction - before you do, read the rest of this article, because the answer depends first on state and federal restrictions and second on how much you want to deduct.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/4 – 5/10/2012

Published May 11, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

There is so much news and information floating around the web – it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. See what's in store this week!

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QuickBooks Payroll Important System Maintenance Announcement

Published May 10, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

An important QuickBooks Payroll System Maintenance Announcement - a system-wide upgrade will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday 5/24/2012 and continue through 5 a.m. on Tuesday 5/29/2012 - Direct Deposit will also be effected and don't forget that this is also the Memorial Day holiday weekend!

QuickBooks Payroll will not process direct deposit checks dated for Monday, May 28, 2012 due to the Memorial Day holiday. In order for your employees to receive their paychecks before Monday, May 28, you should change your paycheck date to Friday, May 25 and send your payroll by 5pm PT on Wednesday, May 23.

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Construction Payroll, Should I Do It In-house or Outsource It?

Published May 9, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

Construction payroll can be complex and many business owners wonder if they should hire a payroll clerk and issue payroll in-house or if they should outsource it. As a contractor a significant portion of your job costs involve payroll and labor burden (payroll taxes, worker's compensation insurance, general liability insurance, company paid fringe benefits etc.) and you need to have these numbers included in your job costing reports so you can analyze your bidding practices and know whether or not you made a profit on the job. If your payroll is not run through your accounting software you loose this vital piece of job costing information.

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Penny Wise & Dollar Foolish Over QuickBooks 3rd Party Apps

Published May 8, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

Are you being penny wise and dollar foolish over QuickBooks 3rd party apps and their price? Don't be ashamed, it happens to a lot of people. Many times a QuickBooks user will look at the cost of a 3rd party application and think - why should I spend the money on a third party application when I can just as easily do this task using Excel or some other way! This is insane, I've already spent a lot of money just to purchase QuickBooks. Ya, I get it - money is tight and we are all looking for ways to trim unnecessary dollars from our budgets - but are we sometimes being penny wise and dollar foolish? Many times I think that answer is "Yes". Here is a real situation that I was involved in just last week, I was talking with this gal who works for a contractor and she told that she had just spent a total of 7 1/2 hours RE-DOING and RECALCULATING 28 (twenty-eight) AIA billing in Excel for a project that they were working on because of a number of changes that had taking place along the way.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 4/27-5/3/2012

Published May 4, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

There is so much news and information floating around the web - it's difficult (at best) to keep up! I've added a Wordpress plug in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. This weeks news includes news about payroll, job costing, videos, accounting/taxes, social media/marketing, accounts payable, quotes, certified payroll/prevailing wage, QuickBooks, organization/productivity, small business, accounts receivable, technology, hiring, Excel, construction, QuickBooks 3rd party applications, and website/blog creation.

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Merging Two Offices – Each Needing Access to QuickBooks

Published May 2, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

What is the best way to have QuickBooks 2012 running at 2 different locations and having all staff able to use it regardless of location? I would recommend that you look into having your QuickBooks data file hosted by a reputable QuickBooks Hosting Provider. The Intuit Hosting Program allows end-users to have their licensed copies of QuickBooks desktop software installed on servers in an authorized remote hosting facility, and then access that software over the Internet on a virtual desktop via a secure connection and a web browser. Intuit has created a special program to authorize certain Commercial hosting companies. This article also contains a list of Intuit-Authorized Commercial Hosts.

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Entering Bills or Checks in QuickBooks – Items vs. Expenses

Published May 1, 2012 | By Nancy Smyth

Your business spends money on a wide variety of things - employee payroll, payroll taxes, office supplies (such as paper and envelopes), utility bills, things that you purchase to resell to others, and goods or services from others are just a few examples. In essence every penny that your business spends is an expense to your business - but how you record the purchase in QuickBooks does make a difference. When entering bills, checks, or even credit card purchases in QuickBooks you have the choice to use an Items or Expenses tab - choosing the Items vs. Expenses tab will depend on what the money being spent was for.

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