If you have a small retail operation and think POS is too cumbersome and expensive for you, you haven’t investigated QuickBooks Point of Sale. It’s affordable and, like other Intuit products, easy to use.

By using this software (with optional hardware), you will:

• Save time
• Improve inventory management
• Get reports assessing your operation’s performance
• Give customers a personalized buying experience

QuickBooks Point of Sale can be used alone or with QuickBooks. If you use both, POS will import customers and their account balances/limits, vendors and payment terms, and inventory. Data also moves back to QuickBooks, including sales receipts, deposits, sales tax, receipts of merchandise, inventory adjustments and cash drawer payouts.

Point of Sale looks and works like other Windows software. To process a sale or return, you simply click tabs, select from lists, and enter data. While you’re entering a transaction, the software is updating inventory and customer information. You can accept six different types of payments — including credit and gift cards — and print receipts.

Detailed customer and inventory records – which can be added and accessed during a transaction — help you know your buyers and your stock status. Add a bar code scanner to your hardware configuration, and your interactions with customers will be accelerated. POS automatically generates purchase orders when inventory drops.

Your careful tracking of customers, sales, and inventory culminate in comprehensive views of your operation’s activities. Customizable built-in reports provide insight into everything the software tracks, including:

• Customers – Sales volume by customer, sales by promotional code
• Inventory – Inventory value, summary with activity
• Sales – Best and worst sellers, most common returns, discount summary
• Orders – Layaway detail, backorders

Additional reports cover adjustments, taxes, employees, and shipping. At day’s end, you can run comprehensive activity summaries.

QuickBooks Point of Sale is easy to use, but retail management is complex. We can help you set up and maintain the software to best accommodate your hectic workflow and plan for your store’s future by intelligently interpreting the past.

Best wishes,

“QB Bob” Crook
Owner, Small Business Solutions, LLC
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Intuit Solutions Provider (ISP)
Certified – Advanced, Enterprise, & Point of Sale

QuickBooks offers two simple conventions that let you identify related data: classes and types. Classes are used in transactions. Types are assigned to individual customers, vendors, and jobs. You might use classes to, for example, separate transactions that relate to different departments or locations or types of business. A construction company might want to track classes using New Construction, Remodel, and Overhead. Your customer types might help you isolate groups by characteristics like Industry or Geographical Location.

First, make sure that QuickBooks is set up to use classes. Go to Edit | Preferences | Accounting | Company Preferences. Make sure that Use class tracking is checked. If you want to be prompted for a class designation in transactions, check that box, too. QuickBooks already contains a Type field in customer, vendor, and job records.

It’s easy to build lists of options for both. To define classes, go to Lists | Class List. In the bottom left corner of the screen, click on Class, then select New from the menu.

Let’s say that you’re a contractor and you want to separate remodeling jobs into room types, like Bathroom or Kitchen. Go through the above steps again. Enter “Bathroom” in the Class Name field and click the box next to Subclass of. Open the list and choose “Remodel”. Click OK.

Now you can use classes in transactions. Open a blank invoice and select a customer. The Class field will be next to the customer name. If the entire invoice will be assigned to the same class, click the drop-down list and select it. You can also assign separate classes to individual line items.

Not all invoice templates include a column for classes. You can add this by selecting the invoice form you want to modify and clicking Customize in the toolbar.

QuickBooks comes with two reports specially designed for tracking class-based transactions: Profit & Loss by Class and Balance Sheet by Class (both can be found in the Reports menu, under Company & Financial). Of course, you can filter other reports to include a class column. You can also create a QuickReport for individual classes. Go to Lists | Class List and select a report or graph.

Warning! The Balance Sheet by Class report is complicated and may produce unexpected results. It’s strongly advised to let a certified ProAdvisor (such as those at Small Business Solutions!) help you work with this one and set up a solid class structure.

Customer, vendor, and job types are a bit less complicated. Job types are especially useful; you can track, for example, profitability and time spent on individual projects. Customer and vendor types can produce output for things like targeted mailings and reports.

Creating types is very similar to creating classes. Go to Lists | Customer & Vendor Profile Lists, and select the type you want to work with. You’ll follow the same instructions here as you did for classes. Types do not appear on transactions; they’re designed for your own internal use, and they’re stored in records.

Classes and types can be used very effectively in your bookkeeping, but they require a good deal of thought and planning upfront to get accurate, meaningful reports. Let us know if we can assist as you attempt to use these powerful forms of classification.

Best wishes,

“QB Bob” Crook
Owner, Small Business Solutions, LLC
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Intuit Solutions Provider (ISP)
Certified – Advanced, Enterprise, & Point of Sale

There’s a better solution.  Intuit Merchant Service for QuickBooks lets you accept credit and debit card transactions.

You’ll be able to:

• Authorize the transactions in QuickBooks
• Get paid faster
• Reduce data entry errors
• Process payments on any PC

After a quick application and setup process, you can begin.  If you’re applying payments to invoices, just click Receive Payments like you normally do.  You can also apply card payments to sales receipts and credit memos.

In the Customer Payment window, choose a customer, enter the amount, and select the payment method.  Enter the number and expiration date (if this is already in the customer record, it will appear), check the Process xxxx payment when saving box, and save.  Upon authorization, the money will go into Undeposited Funds unless you’ve specified otherwise in Preferences.

If your business is such that you often take credit and debit cards in person, you can buy a card swiper that plugs into your PC from Intuit.  This small unit will read your customer’s card and enter the data in QuickBooks, where it’s authorized.  You can then complete the transaction and print receipts.  This process saves time, prevents data entry errors, and saves you money on discount fees for Visa/MC/Discover networks (1.64% instead of 2.44%; additional cards accepted).  When you’re mobile, you can process card transactions manually or with the card swiper using a secure website.

There’s a $19.95 monthly fee for Merchant Service for QuickBooks and a $0.27 per transaction authorization fee.  Specialized merchant account options are also available for retailers and web stores.

These innovative, cost-effective solutions can improve your cash flow and make your accounts receivable tasks easier, faster, and more accurate.  Let us know when you’re ready to begin using them – we’ll be happy to help you get started on the right foot.

Best wishes,

“QB Bob” Crook
Owner, Small Business Solutions, LLC
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Intuit Solutions Provider (ISP)
Certified – Advanced, Enterprise, & Point of Sale

To get started, you’ll create records and deduction types for your employees using the QuickBooks Payroll Setup Wizard. Click Employees | Payroll Setup and work through the outline. That’s the hard part. You’ll go through multiple screens, adding information about each employee and your YTD payroll. There’s nothing especially difficult about this as long as you’ve assembled the necessary information upfront.

Non-salaried employees can track time in QuickBooks or remotely. As you prepare payroll, you’ll assign a type to hours worked (regular, vacation, etc.). You can review the paychecks you just entered before you dispatch them. QuickBooks keeps track of payroll data so you’ll know what your tax liabilities are.

Intuit offers several service levels. All let you enter hours and print checks or dispatch direct deposits, and each calculates federal and state taxes. They all, of course, use the latest tax rates and generate reports. The differences lie primarily in how taxes are handled and how much assistance you get.

• Basic Payroll: No tax forms, but generates tax reports. Starts at $9/month.
• Enhanced Payroll: Completes federal and state tax forms. Pay and file electronically. Starts at $20/month.
• Assisted Payroll: Help with setup and first payroll. Taxes filed for you. Starts at $69/month.
• Full Service Payroll. Setup completed for you. Unlimited payrolls. Free direct deposit. Error detection. Taxes filed for you. Starts at $99/month.
• Intuit Online Payroll. Anywhere access. Free direct deposit. Unlimited payrolls. Completes federal and state tax forms. Pay and file electronically. iPhone app. Starts at $25/month.

Since you’re dealing with government agencies, payroll accuracy, and timeliness are critical. QuickBooks helps, but you’d be wise to consult your accountant, especially during setup and early runs.

If you have questions about Payroll Services and want to see how they will work for your business, contact us at Small Business Solutions and we’ll be happy to discuss the options with you!

Best wishes,

“QB Bob” Crook
Owner, Small Business Solutions, LLC
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Intuit Solutions Provider (ISP)
Certified – Advanced, Enterprise, & Point of Sale

But what if at least part of your business is done on the road, at places like trade shows, craft fairs, and business conferences?  You’ve probably lost sales because you couldn’t accept a credit card .

Intuit has solved that problem, elegantly and economically, with its GoPayment solution.  All you need is a supported mobile device, a small card reader (free), and the app (also free).

The GoPayment card reader attaches to your mobile device.  You’ll have to supply the mobile device, but there are no setup or monthly fees.  Credit cards supported include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and JCB.  You can also accept signature debit cards.

There’s no contract, so no cancellation fee.  Credit card fees apply, though; they’re usually 2.7 percent of the transaction (manual entry costs roughly 3.7 percent).  If you do a lot of electronic credit card transactions, you can pay $12.95/month to get the rate down to 1.7 percent.

Entering a transaction manually is as easy as it is with a desktop-based merchant account.  Fill in the blanks and press “Charge”, and your transaction will be transmitted (for a higher fee).

Swiping the card will save you time and money.  The fields on your device screen will be automatically populated with the credit card data grabbed by the reader.  Press “Charge”, and your transaction will be authorized (or not), with the money moving into the bank account you specified (can take 2-3 days).  You can also send a receipt to the customer by email or text.  Your GoPayment data can be viewed on a password-protected website, or it can be downloaded to QuickBooks.

GoPayment supports several of the most popular mobile devices.  For a complete list, go to the Intuit GoPayment site.

Intuit secures your data using the same strict standards employed in online banking.  Users on your account have their own unique user names and passwords (your company can have up to 50 users).  And Intuit offers live phone support 24/7.

While there seems to be an app for everything, some are actually useful.  GoPayment is one of these.  It solves a mobile sales problem in a smart, simple way, and provides an innovative solution to part of your cash flow problems.

If you have questions about GoPayment or any of the other available Merchant Services and want to see if it will work for your business, contact us at Small Business Solutions and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you!

Best wishes,

“QB Bob” Crook
Owner, Small Business Solutions, LLC
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Intuit Solutions Provider (ISP)
Certified – Advanced, Enterprise, & Point of Sale