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ProConnection® Newsletter | March 11, 2008 | Vol. VII: No. 3
GENERAL EDITION, covering practice management, QuickBooks, Tax, and more.
Differentiate Your Firm or Business
How Do You Stand Out? How Do You Avoid Becoming a Commodity? All of us in professional services (like accounting, bookkeeping, consulting, or tax) fight against having our services seen as commodities, where we can only compete on the basis of price. But sometimes it's hard to know how to stand out.
August Aquila shows how a little rigor in identifying strengths helps you compete for business, regardless of whether you are working on your own or run a large firm.
Start differentiating your firm or business now.
Get Promoted Faster (for Professionals in a Firm)
When No One Seems to Notice Your Good Work. If you work in an accounting firm or other professional service firm and are wondering how to get ahead, CPA Sandi Smith may have just the key: It’s a numbers game that’s fun and easy to implement.
Find out how the math behind your Positivity Ratio can help you get promoted faster in your accounting or similar firm.
Significant QuickBooks Payroll Savings Coming Soon for Your Clients
For a limited time starting March 17, QuickBooks Payroll services will be offered at significant savings – upwards of 30% or more in some cases. We think these are the best deals yet.
Please be Patient. You will find the savings at our main site for Accounting Professionals, as well as www.QuickBooks.com, www.Payroll.com, and www.Intuit.com - but not until March 17. However, you may want to get a jump start by identifying clients who'd like to be informed of these savings now, and let them know. Or review the full listing of savings on March 17 and make your recommendations then.
Notes: Offer ends April 28th, 2008. These savings are independent of any ProAdvisor discount and cannot be used with any other discount. (Enhanced Payroll for Accountants will not be discounted in this promotion.) Once the promotion begins, orders can be made online and over the phone.
Test of Additional Savings Offer for Intuit Online Payroll
Split Testing Could Increase Savings for Your Clients. From time to time, Intuit tests market response to different offers on the same product. So you won't be taken unawares by questions from clients, we are alerting you now to a short limited test of two offers. Marketers sometimes call this split an A/B test. Starting March 17 and barring unexpected changes, half of the visitors to www.payroll.com and www.quickbooks.com will see the existing promotional offer for Intuit Online Payroll, and the other half will see the test offer.
- A Test: Current standing offer (3-months free and then $29.95/month).
- B Test: Limited test offer (3-months free and then $19.95/month).
Again, the test offer will not appear until March 17 and is expected to end on or before April 15. These savings are independent of any ProAdvisor discount and cannot be used with any other discount. Once the promotion begins, orders can be made online and over the phone.
Case Study: QuickBooks ProAdvisor Stacy Kildal
See how Stacy Kildal adds value to her existing QuickBooks clients by helping them into the right QuicKBooks Payroll solution. (PDF; 803KB)
Grooving Online with Collaboration
Technologist Dr. Bob Spencer discusses accessible collaboration tools appropriate for accounting professionals and consultants. Tools identified include Groove (which Dr. Bob uses himself), NomaDesk, and Clearspace, all online solutions for keeping multiple parties on the same page. While they won't help you with QuickBooks, they will help with many of the other tasks you work on.
Learn more about these collaboration tools (Groove, NomaDesk, and Clearspace) here.
Negative Inventory and QuickBooks®
CPA and Certified QuickBooks POS ProAdvisor Marilyn Sudbeck explains how QuickBooks clients may end up with a negative inventory figure – and what you can do to fix the problem and prevent it from recurring in the future.
Read her advice on avoiding negative inventory in QuickBooks here.
Inventory and Additional Costs in QuickBooks
Technical writer and publisher Kathy Ivens produces many useful books as well as the popular CPA911 Newsletter filled with practical advice on QuickBooks. Here she lets us share her preferred approach to dealing with additional inventory costs.
When clients (such as antique dealers or other resellers) buy items and improve them, try this method of tracking the cost of the improvements as part of the cost of goods.
Speed up QuickBooks
Tips to Fight the "Slows." If QuickBooks is taking a long time to load and open your company file, you may be able to make a few small changes in how you work with QuickBooks files that could speed up the process. Intuit staff has put together three tips you need to know.
Key Insight: How you finish your last task in QuickBooks financial software before you exit the program may save you time when next launching QuickBooks.
See our tips here.
Product and Training News
New MyCorporation Affiliates Program
Opportunity for Practitioners to Grow and Balance Client Work with Non-Tax Filings
Intuit’s MyCorporation is launching a new affiliate program to provide education and marketing material around the fast-growing demand for selected business filings and services, including
- Incorporations.
- Other business formations.
- Annual reports.
- Trademark searches.
- Foreign qualifications.
Financial Benefit: Affiliates earn a 15% commission on each MyCorporation service used to support clients in these non-tax filings. The program is free to join.
Primary Appeal: Business clients need many of these services, and offering them provides additional revenue not necessarily subject to the timing demands of tax compliance work.
Learn more about the new MyCorporation Affiliate Program – providing additional revenue for helping clients with needed business services – here, or call 888-692-9566. (Note: It is not necessary for you to have your own Web site to join the program; call the phone number for this option.)
Special Discount for Limited Time: Now through April 31, 2008, save $50 off (a 33% savings) of any incorporation or LLC formation. Your costs would be only $99 (plus any state fees). To achieve this discount, enter Code SPCL-50D at checkout. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
Alert: QuickBooks 2008 Release 5
New R5 to Be Released as Manual Update
Starting March 13, according to the latest information supplied, QuickBooks 2008 R5 will be available as a Manual Download from the QuickBooks product updates site (see link below). Starting March 20, the R5 release will become available to all users as an Automatic Update. This release covers a number of miscellaneous items ranging from text corrections to minor tweaks to improve specific operations.
As soon as the release is available as a Manual Download, the site below will list more details.
Keep track of this and other QuickBooks 2008 updates and releases here.
Don't Be Left Out: 2008 Intuit Accounting Professionals User Conference
Two Chances for Two-Day Event
What: A two-day, highly interactive event designed specifically for all accounting professionals using Intuit products. We expect an audience of QuickBooks ProAdvisors; QuickBooks accountants, bookkeepers, and consultants; and Lacerte® users.
When and Where
- Orlando, Florida on June 19 & 20, 2008.
- San Diego, California on June 26 & 27, 2008.
How Much: Registration is $699 per person, for the conference and most meals. Does not include airfare or hotel rooms. CPE credits available.
Time Frame: Intuit is accepting reservations now; those who reserve a spot will be the first to know when registration opens (approximately March 15).
Save Money: Register by May 1, you will get $100 off.
Learn more or make your reservation here.
Instant Reader Feedback – Plus a Chance to Win $300 Gift Card
Five Short Questions on What You Think about Intuit ProConnection
We make it easy for you to tell us what you think with our five-question survey. Plus, you are welcome to enter our sweepstakes for a $300 gift card to Amazon.com.
In and Out in Five Minutes. You will probably complete the survey even faster.
Start the survey and read the full sweepstakes rules and regulations here.
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Using QuickBooks for Debt Collection
Where's My Rebate Check?
Existing rules for dependency exemptions may now allow a taxpayer who supports an unrelated child to claim an exemption. Moreover, the rules are retroactive to 2005, creating possible refund opportunities for some clients. It is likely this change will be welcome news to some unmarried couples, among others.