Top Ten Tips - Before Year End

1. If you have employees, review your WCB claim estimate to make sure you haven't underestimated.  There are penatlies for reporting low that can be avoided by reviewing this now.
2. Plan time to take a physical inventory count on your last business day of your fiscal year.  Or hire an inventory company to do this for you.  They're specialists and can often finish faster and without paying your staff overtime.
3. Do a physical backup of your files and store at an offsite location.  9this should be done monthly)
4. If you use subcontractors, ensure you have T4A forms and up to date vendor information.  Fill out forms and submit before the deadline.
5. Verify your payroll liability amounts before your December remittance for any last minute changes that might need to be made.  This will avoid penalties & interest.
6. Review any pre-paid expenses and accrued liabilities.  Are they still accurate?  Do you need to set up any new ones?
7. Change your password to help protect your data.
8. While sending out Christmas cards & reviewing addresses, make sure all employee infomration is up to date.  HAs anyone moved, changed phone numbers or emergency contact information since you last looked at their forms?
9. Review a "Sales by Customer" report and a "Purchases by Vendor Amount" report.  Modify the report to include a "Percentage" % column.  You might be surprised to see where most of your money flows, or what percentage of business you're doing with your best or most difficult clients.
10. Create a set of new file folders for your vendors, with the new year dated in the right hand corner.

Your top QuickBooks Questions

Do you use QuickBooks to manage your small business? Do you know you could be using the software more efficiently, but don't have the time to take a one or two day seminar?

1. Write to me, in the comments section here (don't worry, it won't post publically. They all come to me for approval first)
2. Include your email address so I can send you my response.
3. Tell me if its okay to include your question on my blog. (I'll answer your question regardless. But it's amazing how many people have the same questions. You'd be helping others too!)

Have a profitable day!

Loralee

~Lora Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Time Flies.....when you're having fun!

It's how the saying goes, right?!  Then this year MUST have been a lot of fun, because I haven't posted once in the past 12 months.  Amazing!

I had really left this blog because I was focusing my energy on 3 other blogs hosted on my main webserver.  But this month, because of some bad planning on my part, those sites are down & I find myself craving an outlet to write. I'll get those sites back up and running soon, so I can incorporate everything together again.

"Streamline & Simplicity" was my motto for 2010. In some ways life has become exactly that.  Streamlined and Simplified.  In ways I couldn't have possibly imagined when I first started doodling those two words everywhere.   Relationships, physical belongings, business, health.  Nearly everything in my life has changed in the past year. Some of it didn't look very pleasant while it was happening, and others were a welcome change. And then when you take a moment to look and see what's happened?!  Well, change is always a little painful, isn't it?

Four Important October Updates:

1. Date Change for "Catch Up Day!' OCTOBER 15, 2009 - See all of the details at www.catchupday.com
2. QuickBooks 2010 Canadian Edition is coming very soon. It's the answer for so many of us who have been using the stand alone version Multi-Currency. Please don't upgrade before consulting me, or your trusted advisor, as there are many great changes, but they do require a bitof pre-planning. Ask me if you have any questions about upgrading. You can still purchase

September 18th!! Catch Up Bookkeeping Day!

"If you're feeling like this guy, then please set aside September 18th in your calendar."

Register at www.catchupday.com

In April we hosted our first "Catch Up Bookkeeping Day!" with great results. One participant sorted through and prepared everything she needed to complete 4 years of back taxes. Another entered all of his transaction for the first quarter of the tax year. And another started using QuickBooks for the first time, sorted out her paperwork, and had it ready to hand off to a brand new assistant the following week. What could this day be like for you?