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The Best Way to Understand QuickBooks

“I like the smaller class size and the ability to get answers specific to your situation.”

“It was easy to understand and follow as we went.”

“It was easy to understand, and not dreadfully boring.”

These are just a few direct quotes from students after attending our Learning QuickBooks class. Our ProAdvisors give each person the attention they deserve. We limit our classroom size to no more than 8 students so everyone has a chance to ask questions and no one falls behind. Most QuickBooks seminars you might read about are strictly lectures with no hands-on training and are directed at very large audiences so individual questions aren’t often addressed directly. We have designed our class to include hands-on exercises and cover all 15 Chapters of Learning QuickBooks so learners leave with a complete understanding and practical experience. Classes are being offered every month. For a copy of the curriculum or to have your questions answered, give me a call at 702-966-2000 ext 5413 or send me a note.

By Jolee Hamman

QuickBooks User Group Announced

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Acuity Financial Center Board Room, Second Floor
7881 West Charleston Blvd. (Just west of Buffalo)

Make your business better by joining other QuickBooks users and support professionals for presentations and discussions about the systems we use every day. Enjoy lunch on us as we take a look at some of the options taht can be used to improve the way QuickBooks performs and can save you time and money. We will close the meeting with our Open Discussion. This is a great opportunity to bring any issues to the group for feedback.

Please RSVP here.

Latest Edition of the *info Newsletter for MAS 90 and MAS 200

Next week we will distribute the latest edition of the *info newsletter. Readers of the blog are getting a jump on everyone else with this link.

This issue covers two issues we have been discussing with our customers recently: Paperless Office and the new Sage Communities. Both of these topics are approached from a different perspective as well as the curious ghost asset fixed asset tracking issue.

Sage Announces Customer Loyalty Promotions for March

Sage announced today that as a way to reward existing Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP customers with current ClientCare Plans (more commonly known as subscriptions). Purchasing two user licenses will net a third license at no additional cost. Also, purchasing a new module will entitle you to a second module.

Of course there is fine print. The second module is of equal or lesser cost and is good up to $1500 and maintenance fees apply to all user licenses and modules (even the “free” ones). The offers are valid March 10 – 31, 2009.

While these are good offers, the best offer is hidden: the buy one/get one free applies to Extended Solutions, plug-in applications that enhance the functionality of the modules you are already using. We just demonstrated several Extended Solutions at our last User Group meeting and you can find a list of recommended Extended Solutions here.

SageTalk and the New Sage Communities

Since Sage introduced the Sage MAS Online Community and Discussion Forum in 2008, it seemed inevitable that the popular and content-full SageTalk Discussion Forum would be retired and after the end of this month the site will become a read-only resource. No new posts or replies will be allowed but it seems that the existing information will remain in place indefinitely for reference purposes.

Although it isn’t as well-stocked as its predecessor, after participating in the new forum, you will likely come to the conclusion that it is an improvement. Messages can include images and are much easier to edit that with SageTalk. RSS feeds for the Core Modules and other sections and Twitter feeds are available, too.

MAS 90/200 User Group Review

Thanks to all of the users that attended the MAS 90/200 User Group meeting on February 19. We covered a tremendous amount of information.

During the meeting, Esther talked about Sage Online. This website includes all of the knowledgebase information your consultants use for researching service issues. With a current subscription agreement, you can create a profile here and log on to your account here. If you are not an authorized contact for your Sage account, you will need to complete the form here. Esther also talked about the Product Enhancement Request Form that you can find here. Sage uses these suggestions to develop future upgrade releases.

Esther also demonstrated five Extended Solutions. Here are links to information about those enhancements. A complete list of the 700+ Extended Solutions can be found here and the list of Esther’s Extended Solutions Honorable Mentions can be found here.

BR-1004 Positive Pay Export
BR-1005 Bank Reconciliation Import
GL-1064 Bank Reconciliation Integration with General Journal
LM-1028 Background Color by Company Code
PR-1064 Tax And Deduction Liability Check Generation

Annette showed some options for printing labels and customizing them to your exact needs. You can download these basic forms using these links. We’ve also included a link to the instructions included in your handouts here.

Vendor Mailing Labels Avery Form 5160.rpt
Vendor File Labels Avery Form 5266.rpt
Active Employee File Lables Avery Form 5266.rpt

If you have any questions about these links or any of the topics we covered during the meeting, just send a note. If you have suggestions for future meetings, we want to hear from you. And if there are any other items you would like to discuss, just let us know. If you aren’t yet on the mailing list and want to receive notices for upcoming meetings, send us a note.

Thanks again to all of the users for making the meetings such a terrific success.

Customers or Clients?

Around our office questions get asked all the time. Some of the questions are very concrete, tangible. Some of the questions are nebulous. Some of the questions fall somewhere in between. After our MAS 90/200 User Group meeting last week, I asked our team if we had customers or clients.

I explained my reasoning as I had heard it described to me. When the people you do business with get specialized treatment, when the work you do varies, it is customized so you have customers. It is also the custom of the people you work with to have a mutually beneficial relationship (those business have a custom of paying).

Shari’s counter-point said the connotation attached to client is that there is a relationship and the connotation attached to customers is one of many. Clients have open and extended communications; customers exist in a queue, placing their order and moving on without establishing any memories or feelings. I had always imagined the opposite.

Esther shrugged and said that client had “I” in the middle. I commented that customer included “me” to which Esther responded that with customers it is all about “u” and “me.” Sounds like an argument for customer.

We didn’t reach a conclusion and I would really like to establish some common terminology. What do you think?

Use Your Reporting Tools

Spreadsheets are great for calculating interest but they are not an effective way to generate reports. Use your software. Today every business management software package has some kind of custom report writer available, yet many businesses are creating their business critical reports using Excel. Learning your system’s custom reporting tool and creating your reports using these tools will provide companies with huge return. Once custom reports are created, and all transactions are completed for that accounting period, then reports are generated at the touch of a button and the report contains actual data. Spreadsheet reports require too much time for data entry, possibility for data entry error and probability of formula corruption. Spreadsheet reports lack timeliness, integrity and the ability to reproduce historical reports.

A Holiday Gift From Intuit

We might be wrong in assuming that it’s just in the spirit of the holidays but Intuit has made a generous offer to everyone in the vicinity of a Staples store on December 22, 2009. Through a combination of instant and mail-in rebates, you can pick up Quickbook Pro 2009 for no more than the amount of your local sales tax (that’s just $1.20 here in Las Vegas).

If you’re running a previous version of Quickbooks Pro, are just curious about the latest release or you’re running your accounting on ledger paper or Excel, find your way to a Staples store. There is no better value for something useful.