Using payroll service for QuickBooks 2009? It’s time to upgrade!

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Payroll service for QuickBooks 2009 will be discontinued on June 30, 2012, and all payroll subscriptions for customers with QuickBooks 2009 will be inactivated.

On July 1, 2012, QuickBooks 2009 will no longer automatically calculate correct payroll taxes or provide payroll tax forms. Live technical support and add-on business services such as payroll, credit card processing, QuickBooks Email, and online banking will also be discontinued.

However, if you don’t use live technical support or any of the add-on services, and are happy with your current version of QuickBooks, you can continue to use it.

Products for which services will be discontinued are:

• QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Simple Start 2009
• QuickBooks for Mac 2009
• QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9
• QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2009
• Credit Card Processing Kit 2009
• Invoice Manager 2009

We encourage you to upgrade your QuickBooks software as soon as possible to minimize disruption to your business. If you have any concerns, please contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional or one of our QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

_____

Lisa K. Grossman is an associate principal at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., and a leader in the Firm’s QuickBooks consulting practice. Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached a lgrossman@kaufmanrossin.com.

Another IRS email scam

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

The IRS will never initiate contact via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS, it is a SCAM!

Below is a screenshot of one of the scam emails being sent.

If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional.

_____

Scott F. Berger is a tax and accounting services principal at Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  He can be reached at sberger@kaufmanrossin.com.

QuickBooks – There’s an app for that too!

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Are you an app lover? Do you use apps for more than just games?

If so, you’ll appreciate that QuickBooks has the capability to integrate with numerous applications to simplify billing, invoicing, customer management, financial management, and mobile accounting. One of our favorite apps is Bill.com.

Bill.com is a paperless bill pay service that integrates with both desktop QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online. If you’re trying to organize payables, gain greater control over cash flow, and gain access to bill pay functions on your smart phone, then this app may be great for you.  Even if your accounting firm pays your bills for you, this app will help you get clear, instant access to your records.

How it works:

• You get a dedicated email address or fax number to send in copies of your invoices. They’re all archived in a secure, web-based portal.
• You can maintain proper internal controls by having separate staff upload, approve, and pay bills.
• Payments are sent via ACH, if accepted by your vendor, or via paper checks.
• If a paper check is required, funds are first transferred to Bill.com.  Then, a check is cut from Bill.com’s account. This lessens your exposure to check fraud.
• Users have access to a cash flow calendar allowing them to easily schedule, postpone, and project expenses.
• All accounting information exports to QuickBooks, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry.
• It works with any computer or mobile device. This provides a great solution for owners who travel frequently and want to stay on top of their expenses or retain the authority to pay bills themselves.

This is a trusted service, recommended by the AICPA’s CPA2BIZ division.  It’s gotten very strong reviews from the QuickBooks community for both its functionality and user support.  A package for up to 5 users is $49.00 per month plus $0.99 for each paper check required.

App savvy professionals can get more information at http://www.bill.com/.

_____

Meredith Tucker is an accounting services manager at  Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office, and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country, offers  QuickBooks training and consulting services. She can be reached at mtucker@kaufmanrossin.com.

7 Key Takeaways from the SXSW Experts

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) is one of the leading social media and technology conferences in the world. This 5-day conference hosts some of the most influential and innovative speakers on social media and business. Here are 7 key takeaways that I learned from these SXSW experts:

1. Be enchanting. Guy Kawasaki, author, speaker and co-founder of Alltop.com, encourages everyone to be enchanting in his new book, The Art of Enchantment. Being an enchanting person will help make others embrace your product/service, and ultimately, make the world a better place. He offers 10 tips to help you become enchanting: 1. Achieve likeability 2. Achieve trustworthiness 3. Get ready 4. Launch 5. Overcome resistance 6. Make enchantment endure 7. Present well 8. Use technology 9. Enchant up 10. Enchant down.
2. Consider your target. Helen Klein Ross, brand fictionalist, emphasizes the importance of  thinking about your target market when engaging through social media. Your voice must be representative of your brand and who you’re talking to.
3. Leverage your small business size/mentality to build personal connections. Becky McCray, founder of Small Biz Survival, motivates small business owners to take advantage of your small size to build personal connections and relationships with your customers online and offline.
4. Keep your product/service consistent but surprise and delight your audience. Justin Cox of Razorfish advises businesses to be creative in your digital advertising while still maintaining your brand’s image and message. Brand consistency is important but you have to do something to keep people excited.
5. Customer service through social media has become the new marketing. Barry Moltz, speaker, consultant and author, says companies are growing today because they’re utilizing social media to provide great customer service. Social media has given anybody and everybody a way to voice their positive AND negative opinions about your brand. Do you know what your customers are saying online about your brand?
6. Giving is a great business strategy. Beyond being a selfless act, Blake Mycoskie, founder and chief shoe giver at TOMS Shoes, stresses the importance of how giving can also be used as a great business strategy to retain employees, build a community of customers, attract the right investors and make the world a better place.
7. Letting your employees be part of something bigger is the greatest competitive advantage. Blake Mycoskie lets every one of his employees participate in a shoe drop where they’re able to experience first-hand what it feels like to put a new pair of shoes on a child’s feet. This enables his employees to understand the real motivation behind their work. And here at Kaufman, Rossin, we too understand that happy employees translates into happy clients.

So what are you doing to help grow your business? We’d love to know!

Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.

Why in the world is an accounting firm attending SXSW?

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

As you’re reading this, I’m hopping on a plane to Austin, Texas. Why? I’m attending the biggest, most innovative, tech-savvy, social media and interactive conference in the nation – South by Southwest (SXSW)!

You may have heard of SXSW, as it refers to one of the most popular music festivals in the country. I will be participating in the 5-day interactive and film portion. Each day of the interactive and film section is filled with media-rich content relating to technology, social media, metrics, mobile apps, web development, forecasting and much, much more! This information is presented via panelists, speakers, workshops, book readings, organized meet-ups and social gatherings. It’s actually an incredibly overwhelming process just to prepare for this social highlight of the year! Each day  has programs that run from 8am to well past midnight including the film premieres. Sessions for each day are organized by topics, time and location (Austin Convention Center and participating downtown hotels). But within each allotted time frame, attendees must choose from one of the 30 – 40 different presentations to attend – all very useful and interesting! See for yourself by clicking here to visit the SXSW schedule. The conference ends with the Interactive Awards which has been phrased as the “Grammy’s” of social media. After all, Twitter and Foursquare were launched at SXSW!

So you may be wondering… why in the world is an accounting firm attending SXSW? Shouldn’t Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country, be participating in conferences relating to accounting, tax, audit, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), etc?  While these conferences reap tremendous value for our accountants at Kaufman, Rossin, we also want to see beyond the numbers.  Our firm is dedicated to innovation and providing valuable resources for our clients, prospects and community.

One major way Kaufman, Rossin has embraced innovation is by hiring a full-time social media coordinator – me! The Firm recognizes the importance and value that an online reputation brings to our brand and its ability to strengthen relationships. Therefore, SXSW is the perfect opportunity to learn how to think outside the box and be fueled by the latest tech and social media trends.

I will be absorbing heaps of information within the next week, and I look forward to sharing it with all of you. Be sure to check back for a recap of my experience and some creative ways I’ll be documenting my trip!

Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.

Update your QuickBooks for better support

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Are you using an old edition of QuickBooks? If you are, you should consider upgrading. As of May 2011 QuickBooks will stop supporting versions of their software from 2008 and earlier.   

What does this mean for your business? 
If you’re using an outdated edition, you will lose certain functionalities. For example, you’ll no longer have access to the payroll subscription features, nor will you have the ability to send an accountant’s copy via the QuickBooks Transfer Service. In addition, QuickBooks will no longer provide technical support if you run into any problems.

Now is a good time to upgrade to the new 2011 QuickBooks.
The newest edition allows for faster processing of your data, plus continued QuickBooks support. Here’s a highlight of some of the other new features included:

• Batch invoicing
• Customer snapshots
• Collections Center that allows for better management of receivables
• Improved search features
• Webmail integration that allows users to send invoices and estimates from Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail accounts
• The ability to run reports and backup data while other users continue to work in the file
• ‘Paid’ Stamps that appear directly on invoices.

If you need assistance selecting the right version for your business or have any other questions, feel free to contact me or any of Kaufman, Rossin’s QuickBooks ProAdvisors. And as a special offer to our clients and friends, we are able to offer you a 20% discount on your QuickBooks purchase. Click here to order QuickBooks now.

—–
Lori Bucci is an accounting services manager at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office, and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at lbucci@kaufmanrossin.com.

Joy At Work Translates into Great Client Service

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

I’m an entrepreneur. I love what I do. And nothing makes me more proud than knowing that Kaufman, Rossin’s employees find joy at work.

Being named Accounting Today’s 2010 #1 Best Accounting Firm to Work For in the country is an honor for me, management and our entire firm. When Jay Rossin and I started Kaufman, Rossin we wanted to build a workplace where people wanted to come to work – where they enjoyed their colleagues – and where they felt challenged and fulfilled.  48 years later, it’s clear that we’ve made that happen. Even through a down economy, especially in an industry adversely impacted, our employees recognize that management cares about not only our firm, but the individuals that make up our family.

Joyful, dedicated employees are the reason we can provide the best client service in the business. We believe if our employees are happy and love what they do, it translates into productive work and better client service. We put our people first because we know that our clients will get the best possible service and that means continued success for our business.

Our firm’s reputation is based on having the resources of a powerhouse, personally delivered. This rings true to our clients – they have access to technical expertise of industry experts provided by a team of professionals that truly care about their business. That’s one reason we’ve had so many clients for decades.

I feel privileged that Kaufman, Rossin has once again been named a best place to work – it’s something any entrepreneur would be proud of.

James Kaufman is the founding and managing principal at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at jkaufman@kaufmanrossin.com.

Are we ignoring internal networking?

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

This piece in Monday’s Financial Times intrigued me. 

Stefan Stern writes, “All kinds of unseen bottlenecks and undiscovered geniuses may be lurking within your business. But until you start asking your people the right questions – who talks to whom, who inspires whom – and analysing the answers, you may never find out what it is that people in your organisation already know. Your employees will never make the right connections that could lead to valuable innovation.”

So I’m wondering.

• Is the flow of information between employees creating the right kind of productive communication?
• Are collaborative networks developing?  What can I do to nurture them?
• What about the interactions between our external networks and our internal networks?

Are your people talking productively? Join the discussion!

Improve productivity with quick and easy Google tricks

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Need the conversion rate of dollars to pounds in a flash?    How about the score on the Knicks game?   Google has made it a little easier, with search features most people don’t know about.

As of Tuesday, April 7th, 2009, the world wide web contained at least 24.01 billion pages, according to worldwebsize.com.   That’s great, right?  After all, thirty years ago a dinner table dispute about the distance from the Earth to the moon would require a trip to the library, or a call to your really smart uncle.  Now we can google it, and learn that the average distance is  384,403 km before the soup even gets cold.

By all measures, the web is enormous and growing at an astounding rate, which has made it increasingly difficult and vital for both people and programs to have quick and accurate access to web information and services. Google has created some special search “extras” which make common tasks even easier. (more…)

Improve productivity with quick and easy Outlook tricks

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Your calendar is clogged with back to back meetings, your inbox has 500 new messages and it’s only Monday. You’re not alone! Email overload is a common problem for us all but it doesn’t have to be for you any longer. With a few simple tips and tricks you will not only take back control you will also dramatically increase your productivity. In Outlook it’s the little things that count. (more…)