Positioning clients for year-end

1. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Workshop objectives: • How to best prepare our clients for their tax preparer • How do we get QuickBooks “tax ready”? • User Preferences and Company Information • Clean up the QuickBooks database • Becoming GAAP compliant • Make financial reports more professional and readable

2. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Basic infrastructure • Correct tax form in Company Information • Review User Preferences • Cash vs. Accrual agrees with tax form • Is Company Information correct? • Tax Form, FEIN, Legal Name • Clean up chart of accounts • Inactivate or merge unused accounts • Account numbers, if used, should be categorized and progressive • Use mixed case and meaningful “descriptions” • Do NOT use list names in Account descriptions • Map each account to a tax line • Produce preliminary “tax” reports and review them: • Determine how the client’s tax preparer receives data • Does the preparer work directly from an Accountant's Copyof the company file? • Does the preparer ask for a copy of your QuickBooks company file, but send manual journal entries back ? • Does the preparer want only financial reports? If so, make sure the basis is correct.

3. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Clean up the company file(s) • Verify data. Rebuild if necessary. • Clean up company data. Consolidate “old” transactions into journal entries. • Is it time to consolidate several company files into one? • Irvin Data Transfer Utility • Irvin Check Utility for Payroll checks and for Sales Tax Liability payments • Or… do you simply need to combine reports from multiple companies:

4. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Tools for company file cleanup QuickBooks Client Data Review ___________________ AuditMy Books http://www.auditmybooks.com/ AuditMyBooks Analyzer is a subscription software service that automatically double checks small business accounting records for problems.  It is designed to work with QuickBooks, and is available in the Intuit App Center. Scan, Verify and Tune

5. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Download by clicking on the link below: The QuickBooks Company File Diagnostic Tool is designed to help diagnose and repair damage within a QuickBooks company file.  The tool targets damage which may prevent a company data file opening in QuickBooks.Important: This tool is designed for US based versions of QuickBooks only. There are currently three primary results of running the tool: • Detection and repair of data damage that prevents the file from openingThe symptom\error will be resolved and full QuickBooks functionality restored. • Detection of data damage that prevents the file from openingRestoring a backup prior to the symptom, or pursuing Data Recovery services are the most common next steps when the tool can detect, but not repair Data Damage within a company file. • No detection of data damage QuickBooks Company File Diagnostic Tool Very useful if you have tried Rebuild and were not successful, or if you cannot open a company file

6. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Verify Tax Liabilities • Is Sales Tax Liability correct? • Is Payroll Tax Liability correct? • Depends upon payroll service used by client • Insure that client’s Chart of Accounts is mapped to payroll service’s Chart of Accounts • Verify “Payroll Liability Balances” report • Are there other tax considerations? • Multi-state tax districts • Foreign tax liabilities • Currency conversion considerations

7. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Review 1099 Vendor Accounting Step-by-step wizard in the Vendor drop-down box: Check for Name, Address, Tax Id, accurate coding of expenses as to whether they are eligible for 1099 tracking. Issue W-9s for miscreant vendors. What if they don’t respond? Note that reporting requirements may increase drastically in 2012 unless the Health Care Reform rider is repealed. Issue W-9s and 1099s

8. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Reconcile • Bank accounts. • Credit card accounts. • Loan accounts. Are you using Loan Manager? • Clear Undeposited Funds • Uncategorized Income • Uncategorized Expenses • Offset Debit or Credit accounts from bank downloads • Clearing accounts used by Bill.com in sync? • Owner Draws or Investments • Personal expenses vs. business expenses Reconcile everything!

9. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Clean up Inventory • Physical Inventory and Inventory adjustments • Inactivate or delete unused items • Price or cost adjustments • Clean up Price Levels Inventory Management

10. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Prepare year-end Payroll reports • W-2, W-3, 940, 941, 1096, 1099 • Issue W-9s to 1099 vendors where SSN or FTID is not on file • The client’s payroll processor may prepare these. • The client’s accountant or CPA may prepare these. Prepare year-end Financial reports • Profit and Loss • Balance Sheet • Cash Flow • Profit & Loss Budget Performance • Reports for the tax preparer: (if tax line mapping is complete) • Income Tax Preparation • Income Tax Summary • Income Tax Detail Year-end reporting

11. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end Budgets • Does your client currently have a budget? • Does your client use their budget? • Why have a budget? • Compare budget vs. actual at the line item level • Red-flag accounts that need attention • Conform to a business plan • Demonstrates effective financial oversight • Useful for strategic planning • Put your client’s budget versus actual financials “in the clouds” with webKPI - www.webkpi.com • A few Meetup members are webKPI partners Budget vs. Actual

12. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Positioning clients for year-end “Miscellaneous” Check List • Adjust any prepaid items, such as insurance, that need to be expensed. • Journalizeany other accruals for year end that won't be paid until the following year. • Calculate and record amortization, depreciation, and any other necessary year-end adjusting journal entries. • Reviewyour asset and expense balances to ensure that all fixed assets have been accurately recorded for any purchases or selling of assets. • Updateany changes in employee or sales tax rates for the New Year. • Ensureany prepaid deposits received from clients throughout the year are adjusted to earned revenue. • Review and update the business plan to include changes anticipated for the upcoming year as needed. • Checkto see if any local licensing or permits need to be filed with year-end data. • Reviewmemorized transactions to ensure they are still applicable for the New Year. • And, finally: Schedule a time to review the information with your client to see if what you have done seems reasonable to them. Review the year-end checklist in QuickBooks. And some other stuff:

13. Pete Bornstein - BizPro Consulting - peteb@bizpropete.biz Join the National Advisor NetworkSan Francisco Bay Chapter • Share ideas • Develop professionalism • Learn how to better serve our clients • Cross-refer QuickBooks-related products and specialized services • Exchange technical information, tips and tricks • Develop solutions to complex QuickBooks issues and scenarios • Monthly meetings and occasional national webinars • Prerequisites • You must be a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Intuit ISP • You must be a Basic member of the National Advisors Network Next meeting is here at 6pm on Tuesday, January 4 Email nansf@bizpropete.biz to be added to our mailing list To join NAN, go to www.nationaladvisornetwork.com Chapter information is on the above site