QuickBooks Online – Hone the Skills to Maximize this Software
Oftentimes, business owners come to us with pain points that can significantly impact the trajectory of their business and their tax liability. One of these situations recently occurred when we coached a client who’d been having trouble effectively using QuickBooks Online (QBO) for his business.
What is QuickBooks Online?
QBO is a cloud-based accounting software that many businesses use to track income and expenses, issue invoices, manage payroll, and generate reports. Oftentimes, business owners who specialize in construction, retail, freelancing, and other services find it highly beneficial for knowing the financial health of their business. Click here to learn more about QBO.
Business Accounting Team Helps “Paper Person” Maximize QBO
Recently, our Business Services Team began working with a client who was a self-described “paper person.” As the owner of a small contracting company, this client often attended business meetings and training events with a large backpack in tow, and this backpack contained all of his financial documents. His previous process with these documents was to create estimates, purchase orders, and invoices on paper for each of his jobs and then enter them into QBO.
Essentially, he was recreating the work and doing the same job twice. Not only that, the client would give the purchase orders he created to vendors via paper, and when payments were coming in, our business accounting team could not easily track where to apply these payments (i.e. no purchase orders were logged into QBO).
Although the client approached us knowing he should be using QBO to do more than just reconcile his bank accounts, he didn’t know where to start. He preferred knowing he had control over the location of his physical financial documents for his business. So, after speaking with him, we decided to meet him right where he was.
Thus, we laid out a plan to begin reconciling bank accounts in QBO. For estimates, purchase orders, and invoices, he will complete these as a hybrid of electronic and paper until we can migrate to a fully electronic process. He will do this by providing us with paper documentation of his income and expenses so we can tie it to the correct projects in QBO and reconcile his accounts. In effect, we will coach this client toward a secure and digital method for having all his financial documents in one place. Plus, we’ll help him simplify his daily client processes and monthly bookkeeping in the long run.
The digital age has ushered in a host of new online resources to learn, train on, and utilize. It’s hard to know which one is worth the time and money, and it may feel safer to lug the proverbial (or physical) backpack of financial documents around. However, paper can easily be destroyed or lost. With QuickBooks Online, you have an efficient and secure way to track all business processes for a more organized and profitable business.
Want to learn more about QuickBooks Online? We can help…
QuickBooks Online can seem daunting, but that’s why we have a full-service Business team who is certified in this software and can walk you through the process. You don’t have to go it alone. Let us sit down with you and talk through what QBO features may be useful for your business and how we can make the most of them to maximize your business profitability. Contact our team today to start the conversation (Click here for contact information). Or learn more about our Business Services (Click here).
Blog by Erika Lewis – Business Services Director
Learn more about Erika and the rest of the Storen Financial team here.