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#RecipeForSuccess: How to take advantage of Intuit apps (for beginners)

What is a #RecipeforSuccess? Developed by QuickBooks ProAdvisors®, the #RecipeforSuccess campaign provides key ingredients and steps for small businesses to achieve success.

Master Chef: Lynn Mattice, Mattice Business Services

All of our clients experience their own unique pain points in their business processes. Many of those challenges can be addressed with QuickBooks® Online and one or more of the 500+ apps in the QuickBooks Apps Store. If you listen carefully to your client’s needs, and if you think outside of the box and listen to your gut, you’ll be able to find an app that will help!

In this recipe, we will explain how to leverage apps with QuickBooks Online, using an event planning business as an example.

So, in this scenario, our “client” has explained to us that:

a) They are using QuickBooks Premier 2015 Desktop.

b) They use an outside payroll service and have to manually enter their payroll.

c) They are using excel spreadsheets for expense reports and printing and mailing checks to their employees for reimbursements.

d) There are times that cash flow is tight due to expenses made, on behalf of their client, before getting paid in full by client.

e) They only receive checks in the mail from their clients.

f) They are using excel spreadsheets for job costing.

Here’s the recipe that would help address this client’s pain points and make their life (and yours!) a whole lot easier:

Ingredients

1. QuickBooks Online

2. IRP (Intuit Reseller Program) Rep

3. Intuit Online Payroll for Accountants, aka IOP4A, OR QuickBooks Online Payroll – Contact your IRP Rep

4. Intuit Apps Center

Directions

1. Move your clients’ QuickBooks Desktop data file to QuickBooks Online. There are two ways to do this. You can add them to your wholesale billing account, or if you prefer for your client to pay for their subscription, consider contacting your IRP Rep (If you don’t have one, you can find one here.). Using an IRP will give your client a discount and earn you a commission. Win win!

Here is a link from Intuit to help you with the actual conversion from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

2. Sign up with Intuit for online payroll (choose IOP4A, or QBO PR – see #3 above). I prefer IOP4A, as it is totally outside of QBO and I handle all of my payroll clients from one place. If you are choosing QBO PR, you can use your IRP rep for this as well. When you use IOP4A, you will map the expense and liability accounts in order to export payroll transactions to QBO with a simple click after payroll has been processed.

3. Go to the QuickBooks App Store. Use the search box to find the best solutions. There are tons of great apps. Read the reviews, see a demo, and reach out to the developer if you have any questions and to see if they have a partner/affiliate program. Spend a little time on the apps site to get familiar with all of the resources that Intuit provides to help you make your decision about which app is best for your client. Intuit only recommends the best. Make sure that you are signed into your client’s QBO as Admin, when connecting an app to their QBO.

The following addresses the client scenarios (a-f) listed above:

  • For issue c in our scenario above (using Excel spreadsheets for expense reports and printing and mailing checks to their employees for reimbursements), we have found Expensify. This will expedite expense reporting, reimburse employees and then download right into QBO. Each employee will have their own login, enters their expenses (even using their phone with the copies of their receipts that they have taken with the app), gets reports approved by supervisor and gets reimbursed via ACH, all through the app. Then, with a click of a button, these completed reports are sent to QBO.

Here’s a description of the Expensify app from the Apps Store: “Receipt and mileage tracking, expense reporting, and company card reconciliation – all seamlessly integrated with QuickBooks. Loved by small businesses, accountants, and employees alike, Expensify is the only AICPA recommended expense solution.”

  • For issue d in our scenario above (challenges with cashflow), we have found FundBox. This app will quickly and easily advance the client funds, within one to two days, based on their history in their data file and current Accounts Receivable. They offer an easy, automated and affordable payback system. Fundbox also has a partner program, where you can earn credits toward your own prefunding needs.

Here’s a description of Fundbox from the Apps Store: “Say Goodbye to Net 30/60/90. Say Hello to Net NOW. Take control of your cash flow and get paid on available invoices with Fundbox. Get the funds you need to make payroll, buy inventory and keep your business growing.

  • For issue e above (receiving checks in the mail from clients), contact your IRP rep and get Intuit Payments set up with QBO. This will enable your client to collect payments from clients via Credit cards or ACH. You will earn commissions on all credit card payments. If this client would like the convenience of collecting credit card payments through their phone, you can use the GoPayment app. These will also help your client improve cash flow.
  • For issue f above (job costing), simply include the job/client name in all transactions that belong to that job. You can then run Profit and Loss by job for your client, and they can do away with those old excel spreadsheets and save tons of time! If your clients also need to keep track of contracts, change order and more, consider using the Knowify app.

Here’s a description of Knowify from the Apps Store: “Knowify will allow you to quickly and easily prepare bids for commercial GC jobs, as well as bids and contracts for your jobs with property owners. Use Knowify’s e-signature to capture your counterparty’s acceptance of your terms. Once the job is running, Knowify’s powerful built-in Change Order features will allow you to send out change orders for acceptance on the fly from wherever you might be.”

Now, wow your client with these affordable, time-saving apps that will improve cash flow, real-time reporting and accuracy. As a result, your client will see your true value as their advisor!


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