Small Business Solutions

Restaurant Point of Sale Software Overview

Compare the best  point of sales systems and learn about online restaurant management softwares: for order tracking, payment processing, monitoring staff and more

Using a good restaurant point of sale system can greatly help restaurant owners, but between the confusion of hardware and software, monthly contracts,programming setup, leasing equipment and peripherals, that simple old cash register brings relief to all.

But don’t expect that much yet; that breath of fresh air can be costing a restaurant owner thousands more than the cost of a POS system every month. It sure is nice to have that POS system that tracks staff schedules and kitchen inventory, keeps track of orders and wait times, maintains reservations systems and can even accept orders from the restaurant’s website, all in one convenient central computer system!

Restaurant POS hardware and software

For a POS software, either an Aldelo, Aloha, FuturePOS or Micros, is the program running your computer system and not your computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, hand held PDA and other devices. As with any other expensive purchase, better think twice before closing a deal on the spot. Some vendors pitch the very low price of their software, while neglecting to inform the client that it only works with their very expensive computers, or their credit card processor.

Note that a company that really works hard to provide good quality programs does not need to make a business of vending computer components. Even worse, leasing them at extremely high rates. {Before making a deal}, figure out exactly what each component will be costing. Paying $50 a month for a computer sure is affordable but after a year, it’s likely paid off at $600 and the whose part is that the client will still continue to pay after another year since it’s a lease, so while technology changes the outdated equipment is still being charged as if it were new.

Online Restaurant Management

Being able to access the system from another computer is a nice feature. Just imaging, watching the sunset on a beautiful beach resort with your laptop sitting next to you, watching your restaurant via a security camera. With a few keystrokes you can check your labor percentage, you can even send an email to your bar manager about the big party tonight, and maybe invite some of your friends.

You might want to do a few check ups to see if your server is still online, check your employees performance for today and how much the sales was last night. This feature is such a relief, now you can sit back and enjoy the sun.

Programming a Restaurant POS System

There are POS systems that are specifically designed to be programmed by the end user, which can really be intimidating at first. See if their company has a list of consultants or other help for programming if that’s a frightening prospect. A lot of companies that develops POS software tries to work out with the restaurant owner just to make sure that their needs is met by the program.

It would be a wise decision to make a deal with companies that offers this kind of service for free as you get started with your business. Charging for a refresher course after a year later really isn’t out of line but charging for initial training isn’t standard practice with every company.

The Best Point of Sale System for Restaurants

Every restaurant has different needs. A liquor drive through store will need less options than a steak house or pizzeria. A restaurant bar and grill requires different features than of a sandwich shop. Every restaurant has different needs. So it is much better to ask away for every information packet. Does it have a warranty or guarantee? Would there be a trial period given? Is it compatible with your current credit card processor, or it will require you to witch? Can you export sales data to your Quickbooks or other accounting software?

Before heading on to your local POS vendor and make a deal, better weigh in first those POS software and hardware options of yours! It can save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars, not to mention the stress and headache of ending up with the wrong type of restaurant POS systems. You can listen to a salesman’s 15 minute sales talk and review each pitch carefully. Finally, do consider the perspectives of other restaurateurs before deciding which one you’re going to use.



By: William Kisse

About the Author:

small business tips

QuickBooks enterprise hosting on third party service provider means placing entire QuickBooks application with the third party QuickBooks hosting service provider. This means the QuickBooks  Enterprise is installed and run on the third party terminal servers and the users (or multi-users) access the application locally as a mere desktop interface or in other terminology, a virtual copy. Advantages are innumerable, but speed of access is the direct spinoff from this. Before getting on to the benefits of QuickBooks enterprise hosting with a third party ASP, the strong features of QuickBooks enterprise 2009 in brief to better comprehend what the QuickBooks hosting service provider offers to your business and also selecting the right ASP.

QuickBooks enterprise prove to be a one point solution for specific business needs such as management of finance , tracking inventory, payroll processing , sales tracking and employees record maintenance. But the application has the uniqueness of  being scaled up as the client’s business grows and that prove to be its strongest point.

To put it in perspective:

For business managers

They can extrapolate to know their business strength at present and later Use the software as per the specific business needs Up to 30 simultaneous users Tracking more than .1million   customers Quick daily snapshot of clients business

These features are further strengthened by the easy way the application help financial professionals such as CPAs and IT personnel. Besides core accounting functions financial managers can run automatic financial statements as well as automatically track expenses and bills. For IT managers two most comprehensive features are ability to run enterprise database on Linux servers and secondly to connect remote workers and locations.

Why go for QuickBooks enterprise 2009 hosting?

The case for QuickBooks enterprise hosting is strongest if the user wants to run the application without willing to invest in local IT network due to factors such as IT infrastructure cost and relatively insecure nature of local IT environment. Added to this are expenses involved in managing them. Most importantly these do not form the core focus of clients business. So better option is always to have a QuickBooks hosting ASP which can manage all these with more proficiency and with better results. It need not be overstressed that financial data are most valuable and to backup them in most secure locations and preferably multiple locations, fortified with latest security tools such as firewalls and antivirus software is top priority. QuickBooks hosting service does exactly that for their customers. Multiuser and remote access feature of QuickBooks Enterprise 2009 can be further exploited with QuickBooks remote hosting. Not only are the users able to access their applications from anywhere in an always on mode, managing simultaneous users is more easy with QuickBooks remote access service. This simultaneous access capability is in real time. Clients can gave their customized user preference set uniformly for all users as well as define the degree of access for each individual users. Money matters: All benefits of Hosting QuickBooks Enterprise 2009 finally filters down to the savings one can have, by migrating local network to the hosted one. Since no investment in local infrastructure is required and clients incur only monthly charges, no upfront IT investment needed. Also no investment in IT infrastructure maintenance as 24×7 technical supports and troubleshooting is included with the QuickBooks Enterprise Hosting package. And finally no investment in backup and data recovery infrastructure. Transportation cost and time saving from multiuser feature are other spinoff from a QuickBooks remote hosting service.

Finally the ultimate Question: How to choose Right QuickBooks hosting service provider?

Here is a Quick list of the things that one consider for choosing the right QuickBooks Hosting ASP

Always look for the prices. Anything around $30-35 is a good option. Do not be lured into the thinking procedure that high prices mean high Quality service. Some charge as high as $49 /user/month. And this when the user is providing the licensed copy from Intuit. Intuit do not recommend any third party QuickBooks hosting service provider and do not give guarantee for the services provided by even those that are certified by Intuit. Being certified do not translates into high inflated prices. Users should pay right prices and not certification and brand prices. Setup costs : there should not be any setup cost involved for the users and most QuickBooks hosting service providers does free of cost . If they charge for it just ignore that service provider. Support: 24×7 x365 support is must. That is the standard practice for most QuickBooks hosting service provider. No odd man out there. If there is one just ignore that service provider. Migration help: This should come free in the case when the client is migrating from a competitor or from their local network. Free trial: who does not like free trial! On a serious note, Free trials is a good tool to judge how the QuickBooks Hosting Service provider performs or to know more about the benefits or QuickBooks enterprise hosting.

For more see QuickBooks Hosting Service



By: William Smith

About the Author:

business plans

You need people to run a business unless you happen to be a one-man-industry. So, if you have employees, you have payments to make, taxes to deduct from the salaries and send the deducted money to the state exchequer. In case of larger establishments, these things are taken care of by the professionals, who are experts in the area, which takes the accounting load off the higher management.

But if you own a small business, you need to take care of the payroll all by yourself. Calculating the income tax and national insurance contributions in producing the weekly payroll can easily take an hour or more each week. An hour that could be better spent earning profits or at the very least having an extra hour of free time each week. Free time that small business owner’s value at a premium since the majority of small business owners either work or think about work from dawn to dusk 7 days a week. A payroll software package to satisfy the payroll requirements can be just one part of making that small business more efficient.

  As the economy weakens and prices soar on everything from gas to groceries, any reduction in expenses is always welcome and could be result in increasing your profits. A penny saved is more than ever a penny earned. With less than $100 priced easy-to-use payroll software like ezPaycheck (from halfpricesoft.com), you can handle the payroll job easily yourself. Why you need to pay accountant $200 per month?  

It can be quite daunting to choose whether you need an accounting suite or stand alone payroll software for your company. There are several payroll systems available that can take care of business needs ranging from small business to larger enterprises. All you need to do is to take a look around and make the right choice. You can choose from accounting suite such as Peach tree, QuickBooks, etc. If you are small business owner and has limited knowledge of computer and finance, stand alone software, such as ezPaycheck from halfpricesoft.com, may be a better choice. Such software is very easy to setup. For example, ezPaycheck comes with sample database and user can print first check in minutes.

 Followings are some suggestion in choosing payroll software:

 1 Test drive trial version of your payroll software efficiently. Firstly, you should be very comfortable with the GUI and should be able to handle it on your own even before you make a purchase. Ask for trial version of the desired software. Many payroll software companies provides free download version from their web site. Make sure you test the trial version enough before making a serious purchase.

 2. Of course good payroll software must calculate taxes accurately. But as payroll software for small business owners, it must be simple, straight-forward and user friendly as well. It cannot expect the small business owner to be an expert at computers and finance. If you start a payroll application and cannot figure out how to use the buttons after 10 minutes, it may a good decision to forget this payroll software.

3. Be sure to check for any hidden charges while making the purchase. You may need to pay annual charges for updates.

 With less than $100 priced easy-to-use payroll software like ezPaycheck (from halfpricesoft.com), you can handle the payroll job easily yourself. Why you need to pay accountant $200 per month?

 



By: Casey Yang

About the Author:

legal resources

 

The Benefits of Online Banking



Justin Mongiardo

Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

 

The internet can be used to perform a virtually endless array of tasks. From research to shopping, the web is the place to go for all your needs. In fact, you can even do all of your banking right at your computer. With a few simple steps, you can set yourself up to do all your major transactions and bill paying without ever leaving your desk.

Banking online can help keep you organized. No longer will you need to keep stacks of statements in order to maintain accurate records. With online banking, you can get your statements and transaction history electronically whenever you need. You can even access information about your credit cards, CDs, loans, and more in addition to your regular checking and saving’s account. All of this information is easily accessed from a single web location, which means no more endless searching for the information you need.

The internet is the fastest way to get your financial information. Transactions are updated frequently so you can track your money each and every day. This means you can better monitor your income and spending habits. With this information at your disposal, you’ll find it is much easier to create a workable budget. Some companies can actually help you with this process by offering free budgeting tools or allowing you to synchronize your account information with programs like QuickBooks and Microsoft Money.

With online banking, you can do a number of tasks right from your computer. If you need to transfer funds between accounts, you can do it on the internet instead of waiting in a long line at the bank. You can also pay bills without having to write a check or waste a stamp. You can even setup your account to pay bills automatically each month. If you have a mobile device with access to the internet, you can also check your financial information on the go. Some banks will even send you mobile alerts regarding your banking information.

Security is the main reason more people do not use online banking. However, the idea that online banking is unsafe is actually a myth. Banking information protected by firewalls, encryption protocols, and more. You will need a username and password to access any of your information. Keep this information safe, and you shouldn’t have any problems. If you do encounter an issue, letting the bank know immediately can quickly solve the problem.

Banks actually want you to use online banking systems. It makes their job easier and more cost-efficient. When people do their banking online, less paper is needed and less employees are involved. That’s why they have tried to make online banking as simple and useful as possible. They even offer quality internet support from live people who can help you with all your banking needs.

Most banks offer online services for free. This makes it even more appealing to choose online banking for your financial needs. Check with your bank to see what they offer, or consider switching to a bank with better web-based services. The sooner you make the change, the sooner you can reap the many benefits of online banking.

 



By: Justin Mongiardo

About the Author:

small business tips

If you already implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly this Corporate ERP and MRP application was known as Great Plains Software Dynamics and eEnterprise and its predecessor was Great Plains Accounting for DOS and Windows, then you may further decide to reduce cost by choosing Dynamics GP Partner, who serves you remotely with highly skilled and diversified technicians and Dexterity programmers.  Remote support was made possible with advances in such technologies as web sessions, virtual private network or VPN connections, Terminal Servers and video conferences and plus abstraction of software CD and DVD with CD and DVD images, which could be mapped to virtual DVD drives.  In this small publication we would like to give you examples of Dynamics GP support services and case studies:

1. Great Plains Customizations.  Here in our opinion critical factor of success is test environment.  You either install small test server, which has copy of your Great Plains Dynamics and Company databases, where our Dexterity developers install Dexterity Programming tool for testing and debugging of Alpha and Beta versions with following Quality Assurance, prior to implanting Custom Add-On for production system.  Second good option is uploading your Company DB backup to our ftp server – in this case developers mount in on one of the development servers

2. Great Plains Integrations.  When you are working on large integration project, including EDI, ecommerce, it might be impractical to work with local generic Dynamics GP Partner, as you will need precise expertise and you will need Dynamics GP developers, who already have many years of expertise.  Here are your typical tools: Dynamics GP Integration Manager, eConnect SDK, third party integration tools, such as Alba Spectrum Order Connector.  For EDI Integrations you may decide first to review Dynamics GP ISV add-ons, however if your integration is complex and requires custom logic scriplets, we recommend to consider our Formatted SQL Select and Insert statements approach

3. Great Plains Data Conversions.  If you need advanced level of Data migration expertise, such as working with Advanced ODBC Queries, based on SQL Views in GP Integration Manager, you should certainly search nationwide Dynamics GP Technology Partner.  Good integration scenario would be export from QuickBooks and converting GL Accounts, GL transactions, Customers, Vendors, Sales History to Great Plains via Integration Manager advanced ODBC queries

4. Dynamics GP moving from one Server to Another.  This procedure is light surgery, and it is not recommended for in-house IT department, unless if you have large budget for Corporate ERP blackouts recovery by very expensive emergency consulting

5. Emergency Dynamics GP Data Repair.  Great Plains has certain level of transaction roll back capacity.  However, being Corporate ERP for mid-market, you should expect that this system really needs good level of respect and support, including data maintenance and recovery.  We are comfortable to do data recovery and data repair via remote support directly on Microsoft SQL Server level, or for older versions of GP on Pervasive SQL or Ctree – via ODBC connection tools, such as Microsoft Access

6. FRx reports design, including FRx for old versions of Great Plains: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0.  FRx is recommended tool for Financials Reporting: Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Statement, Statement of Cash Flow, plus consolidated versions of these statements.  Typically FRx is supported by local Dynamics GP Partners, however in some advanced case, such as programming FRx (automatic large scale Row Format update for specific segments from external program) you may check for external expertise

7. Great Plains ReportWriter reports support.  RW is usually deployed when you need Sales Order Processing Invoice form to be modified, as if you need your business Graphical Logo to be printed.  Sometimes, especially for Small Business Financials, you need help in modifying such forms as AP Check in graphical format with nice looking fonts.  SBF doesn’t have Report Writer reports modification functionality and you usually do this work in full featured Great Plains, then export custom report in customization export and import in back to Small Business Financials

8. Crystal Report Design for Great Plains.  If you would like custom non financial report, something like Bill of Lading, Transportation Industry Agent Settlement Report, Sales Commission Report (based on complex formula, where you may exclude Credit Card fees, etc) – you may decide to do it in Crystal Reports or in Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

9. Great Plains Old Version Support.  Microsoft Business Solutions supports at this time, October 2009 only GP 10.0 and 9.0.  If you are on older versions: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0, 3.2, including versions on Pervasive SQL/Btrieve or Ctree/Faircom, or on Great Plains Accounting for DOS and Windows: 9.5, 9.2, 9.1 or earlier, your should find Great Plains Consultant who is familiar with these versions and their support cases.  Great Plains Dynamics was also available on Mac, including Great Plains Accounting for Macintosh

10. Great Plains Small Business Financials Support.  As you may be aware SBF is frozen on version 9.0.  You will need to migrate to Dynamics GP.  We will be dedicated to old Small Business Financials support, even when support will be expired by Microsoft Business Solutions

11. Great Plains Integration with Microsoft RMS and other POS and Retail automation applications, such as Counterpoint.  We have several implementations of GP to MS RMS integrations, including international cases in Central America and Caribbean Islands.  Plus we helped in multiple case with integrations setup with Counterpoint and custom coded POS applications and Barcode scanners batch uploads to Great Plains

12. SAP Business One Remote Support.  We support SB1 in USA, Brazil and internationally.  We recommend this small business Corporate ERP application as good ERP options in the countries, where Dynamics GP is not localized: Brazil China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Continental Europe.  We have successful experience consolidating SB1 transactions to Dynamics GP General Ledger, plus you can export SBO data into Excel and use this spreadsheet in FRx consolidated reporting

13. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum



By: Andrew Karasev

About the Author:

business plan

Probably, the days when your concerns were mostly about Corporate ERP application selection and implementation are gone and now the question of the day is how to integrate newest technologies, such as eCommerce (B2B and B2C), Shopping Cart, custom items Catalog, promotional pricing, customer specific ecommerce pricelists, Electronic Documents Interchange (often referred as EDI).  We are not university or college professors, we are rather practicing consultants, so do your homework and compare our ideas and recommendations with our Dynamics GP and SAP Business One Partner channel competition.  Let’s move on to our paragraphs:

1. eCommerce platforms.  Here you typically have to follow two scenarios – either to program ecommerce website internally (typically attributed to large corporations or start up or technology oriented companies with very innovative or completely unique ecommerce business processes), or deploy ecommerce products (usually for smaller companies, especially in Ebay, Paypal, Amazon and other franchisee channels).  We also see numerous customers small, midsize and large ones, where ecommerce custom development was done historically and now company has to stick to its custom ecommerce website platform integration to its Corporate ERP via custom programming

2. Being Objective in Corporate ERP integration with eCommerce application.  We are trying to be objective, however for you, prospective ecommerce integration customer, you should know that we are engaged as Microsoft Dynamics GP, and SAP Business One VAR and Reseller.  Having said that – we have certain interest in helping you with Great Plains Dexterity, eConnect, SAP Business One SDK programming, Dynamics GP Integration Manager integrations design, SAP B1 Data Transfer Workbench integrations setup, programming EDI integration for GP or SAP B1 via SQL Server stored procedures with precise EDI formatting SQL Select statements

3. The risks.  In our opinion – risks are typically attributed to poor procurement strategies and vendor management.  Please, try to check how many ecommerce projects your prospective Dynamics GP, SAP Business One, Oracle Financials, Axapta, Navision, PeopleSoft, Epicor, Accpac, QuickBooks partner had implemented successfully and try to call to verify with the references.  You will find a lot of funny things and important information – some Corporate ERP Resellers decided to hire new perspective Certified Consultants, others decided to phase out your Corporate ERP application prospect, or they might be in transition to be purchased by Venture Capital, or even in business shut down mode

4. ecommerce credit cards processing.  Typically your Corporate ERP or Accounting application is not involved in Credit and Debit Card processing, however on eCommerce level you may decide to reverse this trend.  Ecommerce credit card processing is too sensitive to give you recommendation in  internet article, feel free to call us

5. Legacy Great Plains ecommerce options.  Some background –  Great Plains Software was acquired by Microsoft (instantly renamed into Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions in 2001).  Alba Spectrum is Dynamics GP reseller, VAR, ISV and customization partner in Illinois, Southern California, Texas, Georgia, plus we are happy to help you in Microsoft Dynamics GP International implementation

6. We are trying to be neutral to generic Dynamics GP ecommerce sales process, and that commitment suggests us to stay away from pushing sales of one or two existing eCommerce templates

7. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum



By: Andrew Karasev

About the Author:

small business articles

As small business owner, you may have to take care of the payroll all by yourself. Many people like you who start their own successful companies are intelligent, have field experience and an entrepreneur spirit to get things done. However, when it comes to accounting, and in particular payroll jobs, they often stumble. Figuring out the income tax, 401K and insurance contributions in generating each payroll check can easily take an hour or more each week. Why not to save an hour to be better spent earning profits or at the very least having an extra free hour to enjoy life? Most of small business owners have to work from dawn to dusk 7 days a week, some even think about to work 25 hours a day if they could. An easy-to-use small business payroll software package to satisfy the payroll requirements can be just one way of making that small business payroll jobs more efficient.

With so many payroll software companies out there competing for your business, each with their own set of claims and promises to help you achieve your goals, how could you possibly narrow down your choices? Whether you’re looking for a company that offers the lowest prices, or one that gives you the best service and quality payroll software for your money, it will all be easier once you learn to recognize some of the common mistakes that people make when choosing payroll software. Below are the 5 most common mistakes along with a few straightforward tips to read, heed, and be on your way to finding small business payroll software that best suits your needs.

Mistake #1: Choosing a Payroll Software Based Solely On Price

Price is certainly a major factor when it comes to the payroll system. The old adage, “You get what you pay for” couldn’t be any truer. Searching the internet for the best possible prices is one thing, but if you want great printing, you should make your decision based on the overall value you receive – not just because they have the lowest price!

Mistake #2: Assuming All Payroll Software are the same!

There are several payroll systems available that can take care of business needs ranging from small business to larger enterprises. All you need to do is to take a look around and make the right choice. You can choose from accounting suite such as Peach tree, QuickBooks, etc. If you are small business owner and has limited knowledge of computer and finance, stand alone software, such as ezPaycheck from halfpricesoft.com, may be a better choice. Such software is very easy to setup. For example, ezPaycheck comes with sample database and user can print first check in minutes.

A payroll software suits your business size is very important.

 

Mistake #3: Know Nothing about Small Business Payroll Software before Purchasing

Of course payroll software must calculate taxes accurately. But as payroll software for small business owners, it must be simple, straight-forward and user friendly as well. It cannot expect the small business owner to be an expert at computers and finance. If you start a payroll application and cannot figure out how to use the buttons after 10 minutes, it may a good decision to forget this payroll software.

The basic features of payroll software are:

- Calculate employee earnings and deductions

- Deduct federal, state, and local payroll taxes in accordance with the laws

- Print payroll checks

- Prepare and print related tax forms, such as W-2s

- Generate reports and keep IRS-required records

Mistake #4: Purchase a Payroll Software without Testing the Trial Version

Test drive trial version of the payroll software efficiently. Firstly, you should be very comfortable with the GUI and should be able to handle it on your own even before you make a purchase. Ask for trial version of the desired software. Many payroll software companies provides free download version from their web site. Make sure you test the trial version enough before making a serious purchase.

Mistake #5: Purchasing without Noticing Hidden Fee

Be sure to check for any hidden charges while making the purchase. You may need to pay annual charges for updates. Make sure you know how much you need to pay next year to renew it.



By: Casey Yang

About the Author:

business plans

Want to manage your accounts and financial information effectively and efficiently!

There is nothing like a small business accounting software to manage all your accounts and financial affairs. However, many small business organizations hesitate to use them to save money over accounting software and accounting professionals.

Is there any way to reduce the overall accounting cost!

You must remember that small business accounting software will not only reduce the time of accounting, it may also reduce overall accounting expenditure. How?

Effective use of small business accounting software can make it possible for you to review all the data relevant to accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoices, and inventories easily. You can also use these software with other popular software such as Microsoft Office for better results.

Proper execution of the whole accounting process will not only reduce the number of accounting staff, it will also reduce recurring expenses along with manual accounting mistakes and time.

Outsourcing Accounting Jobs to Offshore Service Provider

Outsourcing accounting and financial related tasks to an offshore service provider can reduce accounting costs significantly. Small business owners can avoid hiring full-time or part-time accounting professionals; instead, they can use an offshore accounting services provider for all their accounting tasks.

Many small businesses houses have reported savings of thousands of dollars by outsourcing to a reliable and competent service provider capable of providing accounting services like bookkeeping, business taxes, accounts payable, accounts receivables, and account settlement.

One such example is of a real estate company in St. Paul, MN that benefited from the expertise and experience of Cybelink, an offshore service provider. Cybelink translated the company’s accounts, which were mainly in Excel files and converted them into QuickBooks. This change in accounting allowed the client to review easily the weekly, monthly and yearly reports of financial transactions of the business. The accounting system set up by Cybelink allowed the client to communicate easily with their CPA and helped the real estate company to make informed business decisions.

Accounting Processes Standardization

Small business owners should see their entire accounting processes and standardize them within their company. The standardization should occur within their accounting processes and in their technology. For example, if two different employees engaged for accounts receivable and accounts payable and say if they use the customer list stored in two different computers, it is a problem. As a small business owner you should ask following questions:

* Can these two different processes be combined?

* Why the customer list stored in different computers?

If you look around the company you may see several inefficiencies in your accounting processes and how it is carried out. Fixing them will save you time and money.

Financial Controls

Financial controls are used to ensure that financial transactions are recorded accurately and the financial management system is not tampered with intentionally or unintentionally. Mere generation of accounting information is not enough, it is also important to make use of it for the growth of the business. All business owners should understand basic accounting and they should be able to read financial statements like balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow statement.

Indirect Expenses Related to Accounting

By creating a systematic and efficient accounting setup a small business can also lower the costs it would bear for tax return preparation or the fees to pay to the tax professionals. All the required information and data is easily found and well presented. For example, say you use QuickBooks for all your accounting and financial transactions, then with a click of a button you can export all the data to sent to you CPA for year-end tax purposes. If you are keeping your financial data in different software like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word it is difficult to consolidate the data, it will be a time-consuming and error prone process for the staff to prepare the data to send to CPA.



By: Mani Malarvannan

About the Author:

marketing

We saw multiple scenarios, where Corporate ERP implementation goes into limbo phase and you think that this system might be not the one you need.  In our opinion – over 90% of these Corporate ERP implementation failing cases had rather subjective reasons and could be efficiently recovered if customer would stop at some point and asked for Second Opinion from one of local Chicagoland and Northern Illinois based Dynamics GP Resellers, or even from nationwide firm with strong Great Plains implementation, data conversion, reporting and customization expertise in your industry.  Think this way – Dynamics GP is a tool and Corporate ERP platform, but it allows you to design and organize Accounting, Sales Order Processing, Manufacturing, Shipping and Receiving, Procurement, Inventory and Warehouse management procedures.  Plus it open through Dexterity, eConnect, Integration Manager, ReportWriter, SQL Server Reporting Services, Crystal Reports and other tools to data conversions, customizations, integrations and reporting.  To implement your new Corporate ERP you would have to probably assign internal Project Manager, plus probably allocate some members of IT team if data migration and customization is needed, and of course you should select the right Dynamics GP Partner, who could help you implement Great Plains as real team of GP gurus.  We are trying to make this article readable for both IT managers and Company Executives, so please take it to consideration and skip the paragraph that is too technical or too philosophical.  Let’s come through the most typical Corporate ERP failures scenarios:

1. Unrealistic Data Conversion.  We were discussing which topic should go on the first position, and looks like the “winner” is data migration, massage and conversion.  And this might be also related to lack of management involvement (when somebody from executives orders Dynamics GP VAR to convert “everything” and period) as well as to some learning curve from your Dynamics GP Reseller sales engineering team, where they say Yes to all customer requests in their desire to push Software Licenses Sale through (better approach would be to set the right expectation and explain recommended and possible levels of Data Conversions, their cost and potential risks).  We described Dynamics GP data migration in previous publications, however here we would like to give you summary.  You should first consider to convert only master records (customers, vendors, GL accounts, employees, addresses) and GL balances and leave your old Accounting system (QuickBooks, Peach Tree, etc.) for data inquiry only to secure possible strategies for future audit and IRS compliance.  If you must have some GL history – consider only current year and only monthly balances – this exercise is possible via Dynamics GP Integration Manager via ODBC connections to your legacy Corporate ERP data base or to exports in text files from legacy accounting, the most typical case is when you are migrating from QuickBooks.  Migrating “everything” to Great Plains is very costly and very risky, as GP business logic and tables structure are complex

2. Unnecessary Deep Modification.  Great Plains already has pretty rich mid-market Corporate ERP and MRP applications business logic and first you should try to cast your business processes in Dynamics GP setups and procedures.  We recommend you to be certain and not accept shortcuts approach, when if process is not apparent, realize it via Dexterity, Modifier or eConnect customizations.  However if customization is required, please check with your Dynamics GP Partner that they have reasonable experience to accomplish it for you, versus try it first time and come through learning curve with facing most of the potential Great Plains Dexterity programming pitfalls

3. Integration with Legacy System limbo.  Often you may have something from non Microsoft World: Oracle Based Sales Order Processing system, EDI, PHP MySQL and Linux based eCommerce web application.  Typically to integrate the two you would need consultants who are either cross trained or consulting team with expertise in both platforms

4. Crystal Reports limbo.  Industrial reporting tools, such as Crystal Reports, SSRS also require reports developer to have reasonable experience and exposure.  If developer is novice and tries all sorts of Wizards – results might be disappointing.  Professional reporting for Corporate ERP applications requires data query abstraction from the tool itself.  In the term of Crystal Report for Dynamics GP it means that report should be based on SQL Stored Procedure or at least on SQL View, and these techniques are crossing the boundaries of apparent reports wizards

5. Process Manufacturing.  If you were pushed in GP sales phase with the promise to implement Process Manufacturing, you probably should slow down, as Microsoft Business Solutions really features Axapta Dynamics AX as process manufacturing Corporate ERP option: food, meat and poultry processing, farmers associations, mining, drilling, energy, oil and gas, etc.  Dynamics GP Manufacturing Suite is for so-called Discrete Manufacturing

6. Great Plains Upgrade Limbo.  If you are migrating from really old version, such as Great Plains on Pervasive SQL or Ctree: 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 or even from Great Plains Accounting for DOS and Windows, you should be aware on the possible problems.  For example Intellisol Purchase Order Processing was recommended in time (2002) to be migrated to Great Plains Purchase Order module.  You can still do this, but this should be performed for Great Plains Dynamics version 7.5, where you chosen Dynamics GP Partner may have no clue.  Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows or Mac is even better puzzle, as its support was terminated by Great Plains Software somewhere around 2001.  If you need to migrate away from this archaic Corporate ERP platform to Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 – you should carefully design upgrade path with your Dynamics GP Partner

7. Trying to Implement Dynamics GP in International environment in the country where it is not localized.  Please, note that GP is only localized in English speaking countries, plus in Spanish speaking Latin America.  If you are trying to expand it for Brazilian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian subsidiary – you will not have success.  International Corporate ERP is not piece of cake, it requires research and dedication to international business rules.  We advise to consider alternatives to Great Plains, such as SAP Business One, or Microsoft Dynamics AX Axapta, these are Unicode characters compliant and available to broad spectrum of countries.  For example, if you have small facility in Brazil, SAP B1 would be the way to go in our opinion, plus it is very friendly for data export and GL level consolidation to Corporate ERP Great Plains or even on FRx Reporting base.  There are some exceptions – we can help you with options on Crystal Reports in Chinese with Great Plains Dynamics GP

8. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum



By: Andrew Karasev

About the Author:

business mediation

If you operate a small business, you know that you need a decent, working accounting system, right?

Decent accounting means you know things like whether or not you’re making money. And such a system lets you make better decisions about the products and services you sell and which customers and employees you want to work to keep.

Unfortunately, small business accounting isn’t always easy or straightforward. Accordingly, consider these five tips to simplify your business’s bookkeeping.

Tip #1: Don’t Incorporate

Incorporation complicates your accounting. By incorporating, for example, you’ll automatically add payroll accounting to your bookkeeping duties–even if you’re the only employee.

What’s more, by incorporating, you’ll typically have to provide more information when you do your tax return than is the case if you operate as a sole proprietorship. A corporation tax return is several pages long, for example, as compared to the typical one or two page sole proprietorship tax form.

If you want to incorporate for legal reasons, by the way, you should know that you have another option for limiting your liability. You can set up a one-owner limited liability company. A one-owner business operating as a limited liability company is treated for tax accounting purposes as a sole proprietorship.

Tip #2: Don’t Depreciate

If your business is profitable or if you or your spouse have earned income from wages and you’re operating as a sole proprietorship, you may be able to use something called the Section 179 election to avoid dealing with depreciation.

Rather than go to the bookkeeping burden of allocating a $500 desk as “depreciation” expense over seven years, for example, you can use the Section 179 election to just immediately write off the entire $500 furniture cost in the year you purchase and begin using the asset.

Not all states allow Section 179, so you’ll want to confer with your tax advisor. But by simply writing off asset purchases, you greatly simplify your accounting. You don’t, for example, find yourself a few years down the road doing the depreciation calculations for, say, several dozen or several hundred items you’ve purchased. Ugh.

Note: Most assets that a small business purchases can be immediately expensed using the Section 179 election. Some assets can’t, however, including real estate.

Tip #3: Don’t Combine Business and Personal Items

Another tip for keeping your business accounting simpler: Don’t combine business and personal items. For example, setup a separate bank account for the business and use that account only for business deposits and withdrawals.

Another example… Don’t go try to buy a car, call the purchase a business expense, and then attempt to deduct a portion of the car’s price and operating expenses.

A general rule about tax accounting: Any deduction that’s been abused by taxpayers in the past is probably closely watched by the IRS and the state revenue folks. And that close monitoring almost always means that in order to take the deduction you need to go to a bunch of extra bookkeeping work. That extra bookkeeping work not only costs you time and money, the extra work also tends to truly complicate your accounting.

With a car, for example, deducting some portion of your auto expenses will require you to carefully track all of your car expenses (fuel, service, insurance, and so on) and also your business, commuting, and personal use of the vehicle. Furthermore, whenever you trade-in your “business vehicle,” you or your accountant will also probably have to do the tax accounting for a like-kind exchange.

Seriously, small businesses commonly make the mistake of deducting items like cars only to find (if they’re honest with themselves) that after all the wailing and gnashing of teeth (and perhaps a bit of dishonesty, too) the deduction saves only an extra two to three hundred dollars.

Tip: Do keep track of any business miles so you can claim the easy standard business miles deduction. That deduction, for many businesses, is an easy tax deduction.

Tip #4: Do Consider Using Cash-basis Accounting

Tax laws don’t allow all businesses to use cash-basis accounting. For example, if your business resells inventory or manufactures items, you probably can’t use cash-basis accounting.

However, service businesses typically can use cash-basis accounting. And cash-basis accounting, while a little frowned upon by accountants, should always been considered if the resulting accounting lets you prudently run your business.

Cash basis accounting simplifies your accounting because you don’t have to setup and then work with an accounts payable system. And because you don’t have to do accrual journal entries at the end of each month and year.

Note: The popular small business accounting program QuickBooks lets you do both cash-basis accounting and accrual-basis accounting.

Tip #5: Do Consider Outsourcing

A final quick tip that’s especially applicable once you have employees: You should consider outsourcing your accounting, or some part of your accounting, once you’ve got employees or too little time to do the job yourself.

And this outsourcing option is actually very simple, straightforward, and even economical as compared to the options of letting your books turn into a mess or hiring a modestly competent full-time bookkeeper.

You can typically pay a service bureau a couple of thousand dollars a year, for example, to do your payroll. And a few hundred dollars a month is often enough to pay for a general bookkeeping service.



By: Stephen L. Nelson, CPA

About the Author:

small business articles