Before we even get into this post, I feel there is no one out there who can tell you what a giant pain in the "you know what" QuickBooks can be, more than me.... A bookkeeper. Navigating accounting software or the constant updates with the cloud based system QuickBooks Online is a never ending challenge. Partly due to the constant changes in auditor requests and IRS policies, procedures, and requirements and so so much more. However, today I am not hopping on the blog to rant about the struggles with QuickBooks, today I am here to share why you should and how you can make your back end business operation tasks seamless. Saving you time and money.
Integration of Third Party Services
Yes QuickBooks is designed with integration in mind, but no third party system ever integrates perfectly. Now, if you are on the conspiracy side you may believe QuickBooks does this on purpose to encourage you to use all their branded features. Sure, that may be partially true, but typically these software companies are extremely private and the data creating services like credit card processing, time tracking, payroll, etc. is often patented and contains extremely sensitive consumer data putting those companies at risk for liability if they share too much. Making it difficult for the programs to fully transfer over into the QuickBooks system. Making people like me and your accounting team spend extra time navigating the loop holes to ensure your financials don't end up in a cyber mess leaving you, the business owner, at risk of an audit failure.
Benefits of using Full Features
Matching up third party integrations in QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online takes time. If I'm being honest, it's what I spend the majority of my time doing as a bookkeeper. My billed hourly rate is much higher than a point or two increase a business owner pays when they switch to QuickBooks Payments. Let's make this the first QBO service we chat about. QuickBooks Payments is a fully integrated service of QBO because QuickBooks created it. It fully syncs to your account and matches payments to invoices instantly the moment they are paid by card, ACH, wire transfer or when you enter in the check data.
When one of my clients uses a third party payment processor I have to go in manually matching bank feed deposits to the deposit summery details on the merchant processor report. This takes me HOURSSSSSS. Now, obviously I'm not complaining because this task makes for the majority of my billed services, but I'm here to make business ownership easier for entrepreneurs not a few extra bucks. The number one reason businesses fail is because of mismanagement of financials and third party integrations make financial management an even harder challenge. Especially, if the business owner is doing this themselves before they become an EDJ Consulting Group client. My goal is to save businesses from failure. I want everyone to succeed because then they stay clients. See what I'm doing here.... The downside of using QuickBooks Payments is that they charge a point or two (point being .1-.2%) higher than a third party. They do this because they can. I would do the same if I was them so I don't blame them. QuickBooks could charge .5% points higher and still save business owners time and money since their payments are able to be fully integrated.
Employee Management
Now lets get into QuickBooks Payroll and Time Tracking. The obvious uses for these are the full integration but another one of the reasons I love using the QuickBooks Time (TSheets previously) is because of all the additional and customizable features you don't get anywhere else. Many of my clients are within the construction, mining, development or services industry and many of my clients have employees traveling to different job sites or performing different tasks for various projects they might have going on. Geo fencing allows employees to clock in once they get to a designated job site and even sends them a reminder with a one click notification directly to their cell phone. Employees can even instantly get access to past pay stubs and all their HR info directly on the secured mobile app. Project logging allows employees to log and clock into different projects making the project management seamless. This can keep you on point and in the know of how many labor hours are being logged for a particular project. QuickBooks Time also transfers directly to QuickBooks Payroll automatically calculating the salary and hour data so all I, as a bookkeeper, have to do is review and submit! Easy peasy payroll....who knew!
For more information on QuickBooks Time: Please Click Here
The appeal of saving a few bucks might be nice and that's how third party services get you! The nickels and dimes actually don't end up saving you much when you look at the big picture.
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