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The Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions software is not only among the most powerful financial management programs of Intuit. It can even be considered as one of the most powerful and efficient management software in the market today. Indeed, only this solution can boast of being flexible and efficient enough to meet the different needs of various small and middle market businesses. While others strive in their complexity (and their hefty price tags), it is proud for being practical (costing only a couple thousand of dollars for the basic package) yet powerful.

Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions, it should be known, is an update of Intuit's earlier Quickbooks products: the Pro and the Premier Editions of Quickbooks. And, of course, it has everything these two editions have and can do everything these products can do and more.

So why should companies opt for Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions, especially when the other Intuit software may seem be sufficient enough?

For one, this offers more space and a much powerful function compared to the Pro and the Premier. And while your business may have used these editions perfectly before, it is only imperative that you adjust the software you use according to the growth of your company. It is still best for small and middle-sized business, to be sure, but its functions and feature fit the growing needs of businesses and companies today, taking into consideration that the business of entrepreneurship is always changing and evolving.

For instance, Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions can store more information on employees and vendors, among others, compared to the previous Quickbooks. And certainly, this is an essential benefit for businesses that have outgrown the storage capacity of Pro or Premier.

Also, Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions does the previous editions better by allowing five simultaneous users. And this is only for the basic package. If your business is big enough to actually have more than five users, it can accommodate that for an additional price. Still saves you the trouble of getting more than one software, plus the additional bonus of systems integration. After all, no one department in a company can exist in a vacuum. This allows your employees and the company head to access any data stored in it.

Still, while using the same software, Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions allows employees to use the software differently since it has a lot of features and functions. And these functions are not even limited to financial management. With Quickbooks Point of Sale integration, this could be more beneficial.

Basically, Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions is an effective tool for businesses that haven't integrated their financial data yet. It is very inconvenient to track information and data in several locations. How can one use these data properly if finding them is already posing to be a very difficult task? Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions choose no bounds. In can be used by any small and middle market business looking for the one great software that can make financial management easier.

You don't even need to think about it-you need [http://qualityconsultingandbilling.com/quickbooks_enterprise.htm]Quickbooks Enterprise for your business. Check out all the existing [http://qualityconsultingandbilling.com/quickbooks_products.htm]Quickbook products to see what package suits your needs.

The choices of accounting software are confounding as are the criteria for determining which software application is correct for the operations of your business. Selections cover low, mid, and high end markets as well as vertical markets and hybrid packages, which include some combination of the aforementioned applications. Within each category are dozens of choices. Picking one is tantamount to choosing a health care plan or a stock that won't tank in the next month. QuickBooks, accounting software by Intuit, is particularly popular with many small businesses, but there are many others that deserve consideration. The good news is that once you have chosen the right accounting software, finding the laser checks that will match is a breeze.

Business checks can be handwritten or generated on a printer connected to the computer. Very small businesses may choose to hand write checks if their expenses are few and there are only one or two on the payroll. Generally speaking though, even small businesses will find many benefits in generating checks connected to their accounting software and laser printed. For one thing, laser checks or QuickBooks checks printing enables you to easily track all the account information, the recipient, the amount, and date. The check number will be in your computer records for easy reference. Another facet of laser checks and financial software is that you can generate a floating balance. Meaning, you can anticipate an expense and enter the amount into your records before actually needing to deduct the amount and print a check. When the expenditure is due, your software will alert you so you can create the check. These details will be invaluable should any conflict arise. As well, readily available and concise information makes tax preparation much faster and easier. Transactions done with financial software and printed on business laser checks are easily to track and make the accounting part of your business faster and more accurate.

Business checks are available online. At one site, CheckOMatic, checks and envelopes, you need only enter the type of accounting software you use, and the selection of business checks appears. From this list you select the format you prefer, the color, and the number. No need to upload all of your information again and again once you have placed your first order. Reordering is fast and easy. At Check-O-Matic, quality material, affordable pricing, and customer service are their focus.

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QuickBooks for Contractors is a fabulous and inexpensive tool for managing your construction business and gaining control over your job costs, but in order to use it to its fullest potential you need to setup and use QuickBooks a little differently than you would for most other businesses.

First, and most importantly, you need to setup your Items correctly because they are the heart of QuickBooks for Contractors. You should setup an Item for each level of detail you want on your job costing reports. It can be as simple as Labor and Materials or as detailed as having hundreds of sub-categories for the services you provide. A good example of a middle-ground (enough detail to manage your job costs without become overwhelming) can be found in the sample contractor-based business file that comes with QuickBooks:

1 Plans & Permits
01.1 Plans
01.2 Building Permits
01.3 City & Co. Lic's & Fees
02 Site Work
02.10 Demo
03 Excavation
04 Concrete
05 Masonry
06 Floor Framing
07 Wall Framing
08 Roof Framing
09 Roof Flashing
10 Exterior Trim & Decks
11 Siding
12 Doors & Trim
13 Windows & Trim
14 Plumbing
15 HVAC
16 Electrical & Lighting
17 Insulation
18 Interior Walls
19 Ceilings & Cover
20 Millwork & Trim
21 Cabinets & Vanities
22 Specialty
23 Floor Coverings
24 Paint
25 Cleanup
26 Landscape & Paving
27 Contingent

Many contractors add sub-items for Labor and Materials to their Items which is useful if you want to track those costs separately. This also makes it easier to report only the Labor portion of a subcontractor's invoice on their 1099.

After you determine which job costs you want to track, you're ready to add your Items. Go to Lists - Item List, right-click on Item and select New. Job costs should always be setup as Service Items which, fortunately, it defaults to. If you are a contractor with short-term jobs make sure to set up all your Service Items as two-sided, with both an expense and an income account. This doesn't occur automatically and unfortunately it isn't very intuitive. You need to put a check next to "This service is used in assemblies or is performed by a subcontractor or partner" for the expense box to be added to the setup screen. Contractors often use a cost of goods sold account called something like "job related costs" for job-related expenses.

Builders, on the other hand, who have projects that span several months or more generally use a work in progress (WIP) or construction in progress (CIP) asset account because job related costs aren't usually expensed until the project is completed. For this reason, their Service Items do not need to be double-sided. You should check with your tax advisor or CPA before deciding which one is right for your business.

Once your Items are setup, you need to start using them. Many of the job costing reports, such as Estimates vs. Actuals, require the use of Items on all your transactions including bills, checks, and credit card charges. Again, this is not very intuitive especially since all these transactions types default to an Expense tab, but look carefully and you'll see an Item tab just to the right of the Expense tab. In order to get the most out of QuickBooks for Contractors, you must always use this tab. Forget that the Expense tab even exists. It's also important to assign all your transactions to a Customer/Job, of course.

Lastly, if you want to get the most out of QuickBooks for Contractors always, always enter an Estimate with the level of detail you're trying to track. You don't need to send this out to your customers, though you might find that this is very useful. Many users think this adds an unnecessary extra step to their day-to-day accounting entries, but this is one of the beautiful things about QuickBooks for Contractors. Once you enter the estimate, you can turn it into an Invoice, a Sales Order and/or a Purchase Order with just the click of a button (all three are hiding under the "Create Invoice" button on the Estimate form). So, rather than adding an extra step you'll often find that you'll end up saving an enormous amount of data entry time in the future plus you'll be getting much better, more detailed reports.

Ruth Perryman, MBA, CMA, CFE, CFM is a QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Provider and a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor. She specializes in customizing QuickBooks for contractors, builders, nonprofits, manufacturers and wholesalers. Ruth can be reached at 800-707-0940 x101 or email: [mailto:ruth@theQBspecialists.com]ruth@theQBspecialists.com.

Looking for more QuickBooks Tips & Tricks? Visit our blog or subscribe to our e-zine at: http://www.theQBspecialists.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Setting-Up-QuickBooks-For-Contractors&id=2009221] Setting Up QuickBooks For Contractors

The Point of Sale system from QuickBooks has always captured the attention and curiosity of many people. The QuickBooks Point of Sale happens to be one of the many QuickBooks products that can go together with or work independently from the original QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. But for those who are unfamiliar with QuickBooks POS yet, it is about time that this great business product from QuickBooks is officially introduced.

What is the QuickBooks POS?

The QuickBooks POS or QuickBooks Point of Sale is software that works a notch above cash registers. Its role is actually to work like a cash register, though it is given more responsibility than regular cash registers. The QuickBooks POS is essentially a separate business software that can be used in support of the overall QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions package.

To learn more about the QuickBooks Point of Sale, the product is responsible for:

1. Accepting sales
2. Tracking customer information
3. Managing (keeping and updating) inventory records
4. Preparing business reports

Based on these four responsibilities, it can be seen that it plays the same role as a cash register but it is also responsible for some other important tasks and a higher level of service that a cash register cannot do.

The Real Benefits

Behind this four-way functionality, QuickBooks Point of Sale offers one real benefit, and that's increased sales, which must be the ultimate benefit every business is after. So how will your business enjoy such a benefit with the QuickBooks Point of Sale?

1. Instant and Updated Inventory Trends for the Right Product Mix. The answer is simple: by keeping track of the inventory and managing the profits earned through sales as efficiently and as accurately as possible, the business personnel can pour their individual attention to business growth and the increase of sales. The accurate records of sales and inventory will help you determine which products are selling and which are not. This will then help you to come up with the right mix of products that promise the highest level of profits.

2. Better Business Focus. Also, by taking such a heavy load off your shoulders and by ensuring that sales receipts and inventory management, two of the most important sales-related factors in a business, are already taken care of, the QuickBooks Point of Sale gives the user of the system the chance to focus on other more pressing matters with regard to the business.

The Added Benefits

Aside from these basic functionalities of the QuickBooks Point of Sale, users of the special program can also get help from the QuickBooks Point of Sale in managing customers so that they keep coming back. The QuickBooks POS system is also equipped with a wider range of capabilities, including:

1. Mailing Generation. The QuickBooks Point of Sale is equipped with the right feature that allows it to generate mailings based on customer data it is able to collect. This way, you can offer special promotions and loyalty programs for your customers as a form of customer retention.

2. Business Expansion. The QuickBooks Point of Sale software also allows you to expand your business by giving you the option to add more stores, lanes, and even to expand to the online business arena, where you can set up a fully customizable web store.

QuickBooks POS to Choose From

1. QuickBooks Point of Sale Basic Package - geared with the basic functionalities and tools to perform the sales tracking, inventory management, and customer management. This is ideal for smaller stores.

2. QuickBooks Point of Sale Pro Package - offers advanced tools and allows several options for customization so you can manage sales, inventory, and your customers in the way that you want. The Pro package also comes in two forms, one for use in businesses that operate at a larger sphere with their multiple stores, and another one for those who operate web stores.

• Multi-Store Version - can manage up to 20 stores
• Web-Store Version - allows great web store design options

All in all, the QuickBooks Point of Sale is a great sales tool. Although the QuickBooks Enterprise is geared towards overall business success, the POS is one of the tools focused solely on improving sales.

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Over the last couple weeks I have helped a few companies upgrade their QuickBooks to QuickBooks Pro 2009. Both had been using it for the most basic of tasks (bank account reconciliation), but not for the many features available to them. I spent over half an hour going over some of the features available, and how they could really benefit their business.

This weekend I noticed that QuickBooks 2010 is now available (in Canada) and I went through the process of upgrading my 2009 copy to 2010. If you are currently using QuickBooks (any version) or if you are not using any business financial software, here are a few reasons that you should consider getting QuickBooks 2010.

Company Home Page- It's easy to find the tasks you need the most from the QuickBooks Home Page. This page is arranged the same way that money flows within your company, and there are even arrows that illustrate the flow. Starting at the left, you can create Estimates for your clients. From there you can create invoices, record payments received, create sales receipts and record deposits. If you keep track of inventory you can create purchase orders (that transfer information from estimates), record the inventory received, and enter the bills for the inventory received. There are other sections such as company management tasks (accounts, items & services) and banking (writing cheques, reconciling accounts, entering credit card charges).
Company Snapshot - The Company Snapshot helps you save time and manage cash flow so you can make better business decisions. In a single screen it shows information like: income and expense trend, which customers owe you money, what bills need to be paid, and select account balances.
Quickly Find Anything - With the customer centre QuickBooks collects all transaction types (Estimates, Invoices, Sales Receipts, Payments, etc) and displays them in one area. You can use the new search functionality to quickly find the invoice you did for "that one customer in St. Adolphe" and when it was paid.
Sales Tax Made Easy - You can setup different types of items in QuickBooks for the services and products you offer. Some services and products have different tax settings and QuickBooks has the ability to handle any tax combination your product/service may have. QuickBooks 2010 for Mac will also help you prepare accurate returns by calculating the tax as you work, and it will show you reports that look just like your sales tax returns - with all the right amounts already filled in. New with 2010, you can click a single button and the tax return is sent with eFile!
Multicurrency Functionality - The multi currency feature lets you transact seamlessly in any number of currencies from around the world - without worrying about looking up exchange rates or getting your calculator out to convert currencies.
Compatability with Windows 7 - Microsoft has been working hard on the replacement to Windows Vista, and Windows 7 will be pre-installed on all new computers starting in late October. Previous versions of QuickBooks aren't compatible, and Intuit does not offer support for Windows 7 with prior versions. QuickBooks 2010 is being supported and after my installation I found it works quite well.

To learn other ways in which technology can help your business, and to get a free video tutorial on setting up your first backup for your important files, visit http://www.howtechnologyhelpsbusiness.com and click the subscribe button.

For the second year in a row, the most exciting new feature is the Client Data Review tool found in the Accountants editions of QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise.

I don't normally push my clients to upgrade unless their version is 3+ years old. But last year, Intuit introduced a new Client Data Review feature for accountants which allows us to troubleshoot and correct client data entry errors with a few clicks of a
button. Common data entry errors that used to take me hours to correct can now be done in minutes!

If you've ever had to hire a QuickBooks ProAdvisor or CPA to cleanup your data file, this upgrade is going to more than pay for itself. And don't delay - client data review only works on the data entered in 2009 or 2010, so the sooner you upgrade the sooner you can start saving money!

But this isn't the only reason to upgrade. Intuit's really been listening to our needs this year, and they've added many new features - big and small - that will make your bookkeeping a lot easier!

Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference to you day-to-day life. Several handy little features were released with little fanfare, but are sure to be crowd pleasers. We're already hooked and find ourselves missing them when we work on pre-2010 files.

* You can finally print electronic signatures on checks! Yeah!!!
* There's a nifty little Save button at the top of transactions so you can now save partially completed forms.
* You can now highlight row on your bank reconciliations
* There's a cool new vendor filter feature in Pay Bills

New! Add/Edit Multiple List Entries

This is our favorite new feature! Entering large amounts of List data is now as simple as copy & pasting. Quickly enter or edit multiple Items, Customers, and Vendors so you can make changes faster and more efficiently than ever. It'll be a huge time-saver for us, which translates into savings for our clients. It's so easy to use you'll probably no longer even need our help!

* Enter Items, Customers, or Vendors data using an improved table format
* Copy and paste lists from Microsoft Excel into QuickBooks lists
* Edit one list entry then easily copy the changes to many

For the second year in a row, Intuit has given accountants a compelling reason to upgrade to QuickBooks for Accountants 2010. In addition to all the wonderful new features found in Quickbooks Pro and Premier 2010 this year, Intuit has added additional Client Data Review tools and made improvements in Intuit Statement Writer.

If you haven't yet upgraded to QuickBooks for Accountants 2009 and experienced the new client data review tool, you're in for a treat! My team and I spend most of our day troubleshooting common client data entry errors that are easy to find but can be very time-consuming to correct. That was before the new client data review tools that were introduced last year. I didn't think it could get any better, but the enhancements in the 2010 edition are incredible. It's a must-have tool for accountants working with QuickBooks - we couldn't live without it!

And for those of you non-accountants out there wondering how this benefits you - you'll end up saving money when you upgrade to 2010 because it'll take your QuickBooks consultant far less time to identify and correct errors in your data file.

Here are the new features in QuickBooks for Accountants 2010 we're most excited about:

Expanded! Client Data Review

It's like spell check for your client's QuickBooks files. Cleaning up errors in your clients' files just got easier with the expanded Client Data Review (CDR) feature in Premier Accountant 2010.

On one screen you have the tools to instantly zero in on mistakes and slash the time you spend weeding through transactions and reports.

Reclassify hundreds of transactions, or write off multiple invoices, statement charges, and financial charges from a single window

Identify items with negative inventory in two clicks, then fix them directly in Client Data Review

Identify and make adjustments to incorrectly set up items, including "one-sided items"

Automatically fix incorrectly recorded Sales Tax Liability payments

From QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2010, you can use Accountant's Copy to fix and send back client files from QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2009

For those of you who missed it, these tools are in addition to the 2009 client data review tools which help you to:

Troubleshoot account balances
Review list changes
Correct errors with accounts receivable transactions
Correct errors with accounts payable transactions
Find incorrectly paid payroll liabilities
Reconcile clients accounts
Locate discrepancies from the last reconciliation
Set a closing date and password

Improved! Intuit Statement Writer

(included in QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant, sold separately in QuickBooks Premier Accountant)

Streamline creation of robust financial statements. Intuit Statement Writer 2010 links your QuickBooks files with Microsoft Excel8 so you can build and update professional statements directly in QuickBooks.

Create up to 16 statements in one workbook and batch print your statements and documents

Build financial statements on a per-class or per-job basis, or as a combination of classes

Access over 50 statement and document templates online

Set ANY date range for statements, including 4-week months or 13-week quarters

Send consolidated reports to clients in .pdf format

Create Microsoft Word-based letters, cover pages and documents in your report, and bring QuickBooks financial data into your documents

Ruth Perryman is the president of [http://www.theQBspecialists.com]The QB Specialists. She is a Certified Advanced Quickbooks ProAdvisor, an Intuit Solutions Provider, and a member of Intuit's Trainer/Writer Network, with over 19 years of industry experience including 5 years as a Chief Financial Officer. She has been working with Quickbooks since 1996, and specializes in customizing QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Point of Sale. She also provides virtual controller and CFO services.

If you need additional assistance, feel free to call our QuickBooks technical support line at 888-351-5285. The first ten minutes are absolutely free! Plus receive additional free minutes with every purchase - visit [http://www.theQBspecialists.com/quickbooks_support.php]our website for more details.