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ProConnection® Newsletter | June 2007 | Vol. VI, No. 5
ProConnection® Newsletter | June 2007 | Vol. VI, No. 5
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Teach Small Business Clients to Use QuickBooks for Management
More Ways for You to Offer Value. Without business management systems in place, your clients could go broke before year-end.
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Esther Friedberg Karp shows how QuickBooks fits the bill, and how you can teach clients to
get the full benefits of the software.
Where Small Business Is HeadedThree Trends Are Transforming Your Role. Intuit partnered with the Institute for the Future to research what small business will look like ten years from now. Its first report analyzes three changes now transforming the face of small business. The trends include major
1. Shifts in Diversity
2. Increases in Personal Businesses
3. Growth in Entrepreneurial Education
All of these have implications for your practice, as editor Bill Teague details.
Here's what these changes may mean for QuickBooks ProAdvisors,
consultants, tax preparers, and other accounting professionals.
But Law Is Tougher on Individuals and Tax Return Preparers. The recent Small Business and Work Opportunity
Tax Act of 2007 (HR 2206) creates breaks for small business - but proposes to pay for them with "revenue raisers" that mean new
crackdowns on individual tax payers and tax return preparers.
Our tax specialists Terry Myers and Dee DeScherer discuss the effect on your clients and provide a helpful client letter.
Here's how to help clients deal with the good and the bad of the new law.
The Sleeter Group's annual Accounting Software Consulting Conference will be held October 23-26, 2007 at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the conference tracks will include the Intuit Academy - presenting training courses designed to provide you with in-depth knowledge of QuickBooks products and services.
Other tracks include Consulting Tools and Best Practices, Technologies and Trends, Business Developing and Marketing, Industry Solutions, Reporting and Analytics, and Compliance Issues. Pre–Conference sessions will include Train the QuickBooks Trainer, QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Consulting, and Fishbowl Inventory Consulting.
Reserve Early. The Sleeter Group conference has sold out early each year so register soon. Visit The Sleeter Group Conference Web site or call 888-484-5484 to reserve your spot now.
Six Negotiating Tips to Get Better Deals
Six Negotiating Tips to Get Better Deals. Many practitioners feel at a disadvantage in business and that they don't have it in them to
negotiate successfully. CPA Sandi Smith reminds us that we are negotiating all the time and provides six simple tips that you can follow to
become a much better negotiation - without having to become someone you're not.
Intuit's Assisted Client Service Technical Support Agent Dawn Pfiel identifies two
ways you can help clients with QuickBooks Assisted
Payroll, including the best way to start a new data file and dealing with system parameters.
Tactics with Referrals Keeps Clients Happy and Increases Engagements
Potential clients often ask for referrals, but your policy in how you deal with such requests affects your existing clientele. Dr. Bob Spencer has devoted much of his career to the intersection of technology and accounting practice. His tip on dealing with referrals applies to all accounting professionals.
Here is his advice on setting a referrals policy -- and how the right etiquette increases business.
In Our June 18 Announcement of Master Tips Collection. Earlier this month, we sent Intuit ProConnection subscribers a link to a thank you gift, a collection of Master Tips from the Intuit Academy and written by Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and master trainer Joe Woodard. The announcement incorrectly identified Joe as a CPA. He is a Certified QuickBooks Trainer and Certified QuickBooks Advanced ProAdvisor, although not a CPA. We apologize for this editorial error.
Manual Downloads Available Now. Intuit is now providing QuickBooks 2007 Release 8 (R8) on its Website for manual downloads. We expect to distribute R8 as an Automatic Update in about two weeks, on Wednesday, July 12.
What Changes. This is a significant update. The release addresses over 70 individual issues.
Find more information on all the changes in Release 8 here.
The QuickBooks Conversion Tool is a free downloadable tool that easily imports Peachtree, Microsoft Small Business
Accounting/Office Accounting business data, balances, and historical transactions to help you and your clients pick up your books
where you left off.
Learn more or download this free tool here.
Hello Linux. Earlier this month Intuit announced its decision to release a version of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions that would operate on Linux servers.
The announcement was made earlier this month at the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions User Conference. The decision responds to the growing number of mid-market businesses working with the Linux platform, according to Intuit officials. The change is likely to open up considerably more opportunities for QuickBooks consultants working in the mid-market arena.
The QuickBooks Online Client Center is a new, one-stop resource for the latest information on QuickBooks Financial Software, including a one-page summary of
QuickBooks financial software - detailing the benefits for you and for your clients at a glance.
The page helps accounting professionals more easily understand the differences in the QuickBooks family of financial software and access resources like the PDF downloadable QuickBooks Family Fact Sheet, case studies, training, test drives, comp charts and more.
Accountant Benefit and "Limit" Notes. Each recommendation includes both the Accountant Benefit and an important Note about the limitations of the present solution with suggestions for other versions. The following example comes from a recommendation for QuickBooks Pro.
You can even order products from this page. QuickBooks ProAdvisors who first log in to the ProAdvisor home page should find that their ProAdvisor discount will be reflected.
For the First Time. QuickBooks Extra is offering a PDF-only version of their popular QBU: QuickBooks Private Label newsletter. Even better, they are offering a monthly payment plan of only $49.90 a month. This gets you your own customized QuickBooks newsletter to post on your Website.
Benefits of this approach include
Find out more or order this new PDF option here.
As always, the QuickBooks Extra monthly print newsletter, perfect for QuickBooks accountants and consultants looking to keep their skills sharp, comes with a special offer of $25 off to readers of Intuit ProConnection.
Will the resources at the new Client Center (see article above) help you make recommendations to your clients? We want to learn more about what techniques or tactics are most useful to you.
One Lucky Winner. Answer our short survey and be entered for a chance to win a powerful 8G iPod nano. Apple makes this heavy duty storage nano in black only. The winner can also opt for a 4G iPod nano in your choice of silver, aqua, light green, or the special red edition (subject to availability).
Our First Tax Rates Survey. Leading into the tax season earlier this year, we asked tax preparers to tell us what rates they were charging
for different kinds of returns. What they have to say may surprise you.
See how your tax prep rates compare to others here.
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Renee Mengali started Mengali Accounting to provide
controller services to small businesses in need, and along the way has grown her practice with QuickBooks Point of Sale.
"To have a handle on your sales in real time is invaluable," says Renee, "so the new dashboard is a key feature that helps a retailer keep their fingers on the pulse of their business."
Read her full story here. (PDF Format, approx. 252KB)
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Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Dawn Scranton prepared this fun Word Search for you or your clients.
For our serious puzzle takers, we've created a PDF of the puzzle so you can print it out by itself.
Dawn's Web site includes an effort aimed at other accounting professionals;
see her outreach to QuickBooks technologists.
More than 270,000 Individual Users. Last month Intuit announced how its QuickBooks Online Edition sped past a major milestone as this QuickBooks option has grown by 400% since 2004.
STAFF
Brandon Wilson, Publisher
Bill Teague, Managing Editor
Amy Munson, Web Production
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