Is It Time to Hire a Professional to Prepare Your Books and Tax Return?

Regardless of the current size or scope of your business, you’ll likely benefit from hiring a professional to prepare your books and annual tax return. While it’s possible to perform these tasks on your own or hire internally, these are time-consuming processes that might be best performed by a professional who knows exactly what they’re doing.

Many smaller businesses make the mistake of handling the majority of operational tasks without the assistance of professionals. Along with the length of these processes, it’s also easy to make costly mistakes if you don’t have ample experience with preparing your books and tax returns. The following guide should help you determine if now is the time to hire an accounting or bookkeeping professional.

Financial Difficulties When Growing a Business

There are plenty of reasons why a company should consider hiring a professional to prepare their books and annual tax returns. Even though your company’s needs can differ depending on the current stage of growth, the need for a tax or bookkeeping professional is ever-present.

The professional you hire can help you during the formation of a company, if a tax audit needs to be done, and when a loan application needs to be submitted. Keep in mind the professionals you hire for all of your bookkeeping needs don’t need to be employed full-time. It’s possible to obtain these services on a monthly basis or as needed.

Many small businesses believe that hiring a bookkeeping professional would cost too much money. In reality, the costs are rarely ever too high since services can typically be customized to suit your exact needs.

Hire a Professional When You Don’t Have Time to Prepare Your Books

No business owner wants to spend their time performing bookkeeping services. While these services are essential, they aren’t the main tasks that your business must perform on a day-to-day basis. As a business owner, you likely want to spend more time doing things that are directly related to your current business. However, keeping your books in order and your tax returns up-to-date is necessary if you want you want your company to remain financially strong.

Keep in mind that nearly 40% of small business owners usually spend over 60 hours each week doing their taxes and bookkeeping. Along with taking up too much time, you likely don’t have the expertise needed to avoid making any mistakes during these processes. A mistake on a tax return can lead to an audit, which only worsens the situation. If you find that you’re currently spending too much time on these tasks, it may be time to hire a professional.

Hire a Professional When You Need Advice About the Company’s Legal Structure

Not every business has the exact same legal structure. It’s possible for businesses to be referred to as corporations, sole proprietors, limited companies, or limited liability partnerships. If you have yet to determine which legal structure your business will have, it might be the right time to hire a professional. The person or firm you hire should be able to help you identify which legal structure is best for tax purposes.

While many small businesses enjoy the sole proprietor classification, working as a self-employed company means that the owner is directly responsible for meeting any business-related obligation. In the event that your company defaults on a loan or doesn’t pay a supplier on time, these issues would affect you as the owner. Limited liability structures are different since the company’s liability is only placed on the assets that are directly owned by that company.

Hire a Professional When You Need Help with Your Financials

While the financials for a small business are less complicated, they can still become more complex if you make the mistake of preparing your books and tax returns on your own. A single mistake can balloon and lead to many additional mistakes. In the event that the bookkeeping professional you hire uses bookkeeping software, your business accounts can be sent directly to you once they’ve been prepared.

This professional should also be able to develop charts and tables that allow you to better understand the current financial situation that your company is in. With this approach, it will become easier for you to monitor the financial health of your company.

Hire a Professional to Save Time When Filing Your Tax Return

Filing a personal tax return is difficult enough. Attempting to fill out and submit a tax return for your business without any professional help can take an ample amount of time that’s best spent elsewhere. If you want to hire a professional for this process, it’s also practically essential that a professional is hired to prepare your books. Otherwise, you might be providing a tax professional with incomplete or messy books that would take a long time to sift through.

When it comes time to file your taxes, you shouldn’t even need to think about this process. Full bookkeeping services should cover all of your tax return needs. It might also be time to hire a professional if your recent business tax returns haven’t gone the way you expected them to. It’s possible that you aren’t properly deducting specific expenses, which would result in a larger tax bill.

When you hire a bookkeeping professional, this individual will identify all of your business expenses and categorize them correctly. While doing so, they’ll spot every potential deductible expense and note them on your tax return.

They can also assist you in identifying less common deductions. For instance, it’s possible to deduct the annual fee on a business credit card. Having a professional by your side should make it easier to avoid missing out on certain tax write-offs and deductions.

Bookkeeping professionals are able to assist you throughout every facet of your company’s growth and development. During the year, the professional you hire can prepare your books as well as your annual tax return, which substantially reduces the possibility of a tax audit by the IRS.

How to Safely Switch From QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

Good businesses know that the world is always changing. Great businesses adapt their practices to accommodate that change.
There are two main structures that require change many times during the life of a business.
The first is external practices. This includes things like marketing, location development, packaging choices, order fulfillment, and client relations.
The second is your internal processes: recruitment, management, and bookkeeping. For today, we’re going to focus on changing your bookkeeping practices.
Perhaps the most common change in bookkeeping is switching from Quickbooks Desktop to Quickbooks Online. Quickbooks Online is becoming the more popular choice for bookkeeping, thanks to its cost effectiveness, remote work-ability, and improved features.
Let’s explore that change and elaborate on how to do it properly.

Set Up Your Company File For Transfer

A common mistake we see when companies attempt to transfer their data from QBD to QBO is that they jump the gun on transferring before their data is properly managed and formatted for the change.
First, be advised that you can only change your company over to a QBO account within the first 60 days of creating said account. If you wait too long, you may need to spend an appreciable number of labor hours transferring it manually.
Second, you need to hold off on starting payroll in your QuickBooks Online account. If you do, you won’t be able to convert your company smoothly to that account.
You should also, in your QBD terminal, hit Ctrl + 1 to see the number of targets on your file. If it’s over 350,000, you’ll need to consolidate the file before converting it.
Finally, we heavily recommend backing up your QBD company file. In the unlikely event that the transfer has a critical failure, you want to make sure your important financial data is protected.
With the preparations out of the way, let’s get started on transferring your file!

Transferring Your Company File From QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier to QuickBooks Online

To begin, create your QuickBooks Online account. There are a number of packages to choose from, so make sure the package you opt for has enough featurability and storage for your needs. Remember, you must perform the transfer within 60 days of creating this account.
After you create your account, go to your QBD terminal and log in as an admin. Make sure your Desktop version is up to date (you can begin a trial with a new version and restore your company file to do this for free.) By the way, the transfer process is the same for both Pro and Premier. If you use QBD Enterprise, you can skip ahead.
Then, go to Company, and select Export Company File to Quickbooks Online. You may be prompted to sign in (do so as an admin). You’ll be asked whether or not to want to transfer inventory. Bear in mind that only QBO Plus and Advanced have the ability to track inventory.
From there, simply select the QBO company you want to transfer to, enter some information and hit Agree. That’s all! It’ll begin the transfer, which may take up to 24 hours.

Steps to Take After Transferring from QBD to QBO

After the transfer is complete, we suggest keeping your QBD records up to date in tandem with your new QBO records. This allows you to prevent loss of data should, for any reason, your QBO account go kaput. It also gives you a chance to try out QBO for all bookkeeping practices without feeling pressured to stick with it if it doesn’t work out. You should also run a P&L report on your new QBO account to ensure all data converted appropriately.
Make sure to go to your settings and enable automatic payments and credits in QBO, since they will not be applied during the transfer. Finally, connect your bank accounts to QBO via autofeed, since this is not done by default.

Transferring From QuickBooks Enterprise

If your firm uses QBD Enterprise, it’s recommended that you start fresh with QBO and do not attempt a transfer, as transferring a QBD Enterprise file almost always results in data loss. If you’d like to give it a shot anyway, follow these steps:
First, sign into your QBD Enterprise account as an administrator. Then, hit Ctrl + 1 to open up your company’s information.
Then, press Ctrl + Q + B, and then select OK. Hit Start Your Export. Sign in as an admin to your QBO account, and then follow the steps like normal!

How Your Various Accounts Will Transfer

When you convert a company from QBD to QBO, some things will be converted to different names, will be grouped differently, or will not be converted at all. Let’s rattle off a few of the major discrepancies to keep in mind.

1.) If you have an audit trail in QBD, it will not be transferred to QBO. QBO will automatically keep a record of who has opened the books.
2.) If you have a bill discount in QBD, it converts to a vendor credit in QBO.
3.) Budgets only convert to Plus and Advanced QBO accounts.
4.) Profit and Loss is the only budget type that can be transferred.
5.) Credit card charges in QBD convert to expenses in QBO.
6.) Jobs are converted to sub-customers in QBO.
7.) Quickbooks Desktop has more payroll features than QBO. Paychecks will be converted into regular checks and employee addresses may indeed be fixed. Remember to set up payroll AFTER the transfer.
8.) Reconciliations will not be transferred, so you will need to manually enter an ending balance and reconcile.

Booktied Can Help With Your Transfer

If you find yourself having trouble converting over to QBO, just give us a shout! Booktied offers a number of services relating to Quickbooks and to bookkeeping itself.
With Booktied, you can give your team the training it needs to be self-sufficient in all bookkeeping practices. You can also outsource your bookkeeping to us as the ultimate time-saver! We’re just a call or click away!

How to Avoid Recording Duplicate Income in QuickBooks

The entire idea behind bookkeeping is that you can maintain an accurate record of your income and expenses for the purposes of paying taxes and planning projects.  Of course, maintaining accuracy isn’t always as easy as it sounds.  Overstating income or expenses is a great way to throw things out of wack and create headaches.  Today, let’s focus on income overstatement.

One of the most common reasons for overstated income is  recording duplicate income transactions.

An overstated income is dangerous because it means your business is now assumed to be more profitable than it actually is.  This can lead to some nasty surprises when you check the business bank account and realize you have less to spend than you thought you did.

Let’s explore the causes of duplicate transactions in QuickBooks and how we can avoid them!

What causes duplicate income?

Duplicate income is often the result of an honest mistake.  QuickBooks has a lot of great automation software and technology that makes our lives easier.  Often, however, mixing humans with software is a recipe for confusion.

Most of the time, a duplicate income transaction happens because someone entered a transaction manually, even though that transaction was already reported automatically via QB’s bank feed software.  So how do we avoid this?

How to Avoid QuickBooks Duplicate Income

The best way to avoid duplicate transactions is to maintain a routine of reconciling your manual transaction entries with your company’s bank statement.  In doing so, you’re ensuring that your books are lining up with reality: the true activity in the business account.

Reconciling should be in every bookkeeper’s toolbox.  Here’s how to reconcile your business bank account in Quickbooks:

First, head to the Accounting tab.  In there, you should see a sub-tab labeled Reconcile.  Then, you’ll need to enter a Beginning Date and an Ending Date.  The beginning date we’ll be the last date you reconciled.  The ending date would be today, or any date after the beginning date according to your needs.

Quickbooks will pull up your manual entries and your bank statement side by side.  Then, you just need to go line-by-line and ensure that each entry made matches an actual transaction in the bank.  By the end, the difference listed on the page should be zero.  If it’s not, you may have a duplicate transaction.

Here’s how to get rid of duplicate transactions in both Quickbooks Desktop and Quickbooks Online!

How To Fix Duplicate Income In QuickBooks Desktop

To begin, launch your Quickbooks Desktop application and open up your company file.  You’ll need to go to the Banking menu and select Make Deposits.  Find the duplicate transaction, select it, click the Edit menu, and the click Delete Line.  Don’t forget to save!

You’re halfway there!  You still need to delete the transaction from your Undeposited Funds list.

To do this, go to the Lists menu and select Chart of Accounts.  Then, double-click Undeposited Funds.  Select, Edit, and Delete the duplicate payment.  That’s all!

How To Fix Duplicate Income in QuickBooks Online

After logging in, go to the Banking page.   Go to Bank Feeds, and then Bank Feeds Center.  Then, in the Items Reviewed section, select the account containing the duplicate transactions.  From there, you can simply delete any duplicates by selecting them and then hitting Delete Selected.  Hit Yes to save it, and you’re all set!

Other Causes of Duplicate Transactions

Simple human error isn’t the only cause of duplicate income in Quickbooks.  There are actually several different causes that can all affect your bottom line and make it less accurate.  Here’s a quick rundown:

Importing External Data – When you use a CSV (Excel) file to import transaction data to your Quickbooks account, it often creates duplicate data either by some glitch or because certain data was already present in your Quickbooks platform.

Point of Sale – If you have recurring clients or customers, sometimes they get put into the system multiple times.  Perhaps in one entry they use their middle name, and in another, they do not.  This can lead to annoying duplicate transactions.  To merge duplicate customers, select the two records, click I Want To, click Merge, and then hit Merge Customers.

Duplicate income is dangerous.  With Booktied’s help, however, you can maintain accuracy and keep your business safe. Booktied is a bookkeeping training and outsourcing company that enables you to either dispatch your bookkeeping to our professionals, or become a QuickBooks pro yourself!  Check out our services and get in touch today to get started!

How To Clean Out Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks

In bookkeeping, your number one goal should be to maintain the highest level of accuracy possible.  By matching every dollar in with every dollar out, you can keep a watchful eye on your business and take charge in case of any financial inconsistencies.

This accuracy, however, can be rather difficult to maintain.  Bookkeeping is not a new concept.  However, in its modern iteration, it has become more complicated.  As a result, there are many areas in which mistakes can be made.

As a bookkeeper, your job is to monitor not only the mistakes and oversights of the business itself, but also your own mistakes or oversights.  By controlling both of those, you can be the best bookkeeper possible.

One of the most common mistakes we see in our work with bookkeepers is a build up in undeposited funds.  It’s an extremely easy mistake to make and, thankfully, a rather easy one to fix as well.  Let’s dig into what causes a build-up of undeposited funds, and how to clean out undeposited funds in QuickBooks.

What Causes a Buildup in Undeposited Funds?

A build up in undeposited funds are the result of improperly following the industry standard process for money-in transactions.  The process is meant to proceed as follows:  First, you send an invoice to the client.  The client pays the invoice, resulting in a cash balance in their account.  Normally, at this point, you would deposit that payment and record it.  Finally, you match the payment with the deposit.

A buildup in undeposited fund occurs when, instead of depositing the money and recording the payment as the correct income, you simply add it to an income account from the Banking Section of your QB account.  This results in an “Uncategorized Income” amount on your income statement, and the payment itself remains an undeposited fund.  How can we fix this?

The Remove and Record Method in QuickBooks

There are two main methods for removing undeposited funds from your account.  The first is called “Remove and Record”.

The Remove and Record method essentially consists of retracing your steps, correcting the error, and then performing the workflow order correctly.

Start at the Banking section of your QBO account.  Go to your bank account, and click undo on the uncategorized money-in transactions.

At this point, you have corrected the record on your income statement under “Uncategorized Income”.  But there is still the payment itself, which remains in the bank deposits window.  Now, it’s time to go back and do the workflow correctly.

Go to the Bank Deposits window, select the bank account in question, and enter the date of the payment.  Then, simply select the payment you just removed from the bank account window, and hit Save and Close.  You’re all set!  The payment has now been removed from the Undeposited Funds account and recorded as an actual deposit.

The Dummy Bank Account Method in QuickBooks

Start by creating a bank account in your Chart of Accounts window.  Name it something like “Dummy Bank Account”, so it can’t be confused with real accounts.

Go to your Bank Deposits Window, and select the dummy bank account.  Then, select the payments you want to clear from the Undeposited Funds Account, and hit Save and Close.  This “deposits” those funds into the dummy bank account.

At this point, the Undeposited Funds Account has been cleared of the payments.  However, there is now a record of money sitting in a bank account that doesn’t actually exist.  To alleviate this, go to the expense window, select your dummy bank account, and then select an income account to transfer the money to.  Then, simply make a payment from your dummy bank account to your income account in the same dollar amount as the previously undeposited fund.  Hit Save and Close, and then verify that the balance of the dummy bank account is zero.  That’s it!

Which Method Should I Use?

There are pros and cons for each of these methods.  Which one you use will depend on your needs as a business and as a bookkeeper.

If you need accuracy above all else, and you don’t care how long it takes, use the Remove and Record method.  This method is the most accurate, as it eliminates redundant transactions and ensures that your sales income will be correct.  The drawback to Remove and Record is that you must work on each transaction one at a time.  That means it could take hours, or even days, to work through a particularly cluttered Undeposited Funds Account.

This is not the case with the Dummy Bank Account method.  This method can be done in bulk.  No matter how many years of mistakenly Undeposited Funds you have, you can knock them all out within a few minutes.  Of course, there are always trade-offs.  With the Dummy Bank Account method, your final income will be less accurate, since this method tends to understate money-in transactions.

If you’re still confused about what to do with your Undeposited Funds Account, have no fear!  You’re certainly not alone – this is one of the most common issues that bookkeepers have with QBO or QBD.  That’s why Booktied is committed to providing you the best QuickBooks help and bookkeeping advice possible.  We help you maintain accuracy and efficiency without pulling your hair out or biting your nails.

For more information, feel free to contact us with any questions you have.  To see a list of what we can do for you, just visit our services page.  Happy bookkeeping!