Certified Payroll Software Options
For those of you who execute payroll for your companies, you know that it can be a complicated and consuming process. The demands of maintaining the employee records along with tax payments and schedules can be a full time job in itself. As a small business owner your objective should be to streamline your process so that the majority of your time isn’t spent doing administrative tasks such as payroll. And what about specialized payroll functions and processes? Contractors and construction businesses will know what I’m referring to when I mention certified payroll.
Certified Payroll exists when contractors and subcontractors perform work on federally financed or assisted construction contracts. The Copeland Act (40 U.S.C. § 3145) requires these contractors to “furnish weekly a statement with respect to the wages paid each employee during the preceding week.” U.S. Department of require contractors to submit weekly a copy of all payrolls to the Federal agency contracting for or financing the construction project, accompanied by a signed “Statement of Compliance” indicating that the payrolls are correct and complete and that each laborer or mechanic has been paid not less than the proper Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rate for the work performed. Okay, that’s a mouthful; however, this is what the typical contractor deals with on a weekly basis when handling this special type of payroll. The good news is that this process can be automated with the proper software package.
The software of choice for my business and my clients has been Quick Books. Quick Books already comes with features that handle payroll, but even better, there are software packages out there on the market that integrates with Quick Books for various purposes. One of those purposes is certified payroll. Currently there exist several add-ons that streamlines the whole process of downloading payroll data into modules that will generate this government required certified payroll report. If you have ever had the privilege of completing certified payroll reports, then you know how time consuming it can be, especially when you have workers who are spread across various jobs during different periods. Depending upon the job and the hours performed on each, you may have to prorate that time at different wage rates. This involves numerous calculations. In addition, if you are reporting for union workers, we’re talking about more complications. Integrative software such as Sunburst Certified Payroll Solution or Quantum Certified Payroll Project Manager will assist in collecting the weekly time and wage data needed to complete the report. These programs are designed to import all job specific information from Quick Books directly into its program. Once the data is culminated, reports can be generated that are in a format which complies with governmental standards. The key features of these programs will not only save you time but will allow you to become more efficient so that you can concentrate on your business instead of the paperwork.
Automation is the key, and it’s best that you take full advantage of it to stay competitive in this market. The money you spend today on one of these programs today will save you valuable time and money in the long run.
Partnering for your success
Jacqueline E. Williams
Financial Strategist
RECENT UPDATES FOR QUICKBOOKS 2009
Last week I delivered a tele-seminar that focused on time management techniques using Quick Books. In that seminar I spoke of the online banking feature and its recent updates that allow you to transfer your bank transaction more efficiently. For those who were not able to attend, I wanted to give you a brief update of some of the enhancements that were made to online banking for Quick Books 2009. Here are just a few of the latest updates in release 7:
- IT RUNS FASTER! Yes, I’m sure you’ll agree that this is the number one upgrade for the feature. Especially for those with large files.
- The first split line of a transaction is now Pre-filled with the total amount.
- You are able to access other areas of the software while the Online Banking window is open.
- The Add New option now appears on the Account dropdown in a Deposit transaction.
- If your company file has more than 65535 names, QuickBooks no longer crashes when trying to load Online Banking.
- Bills now display properly if ‘Use Account number’ is enabled in Preferences.
- When opening splits and deposits for editing, the full downloaded amount will automatically appear.
For more information on this update, refer to your copy of Quick Books or visit one of Quick Books online forums or communities.
Partnering for your Success
Jacqueline E. Williams
Financial Strategist
SOFTWARE REVIEW: PRODUCTS TO STREAMLINE YOUR EXPENSE REPORTING
This month’s focus has been on time management techniques. We are always looking for ways to work smarter instead of harder. So, the best approach is to have the proper tools on hand to assist you in your journey. I’ve found a few products that you can easily integrate with QuickBooks that can help you to save time in your daily bookkeeping process. These products all have one thing in common; their objective; to help you create a structured environment. So let’s take a look at three of them now.
Virtual Time+Expense
Virtual Time+ Expense is a web-based tool that simplifies that creates a paperless environment for monitoring time and expense. The name states it’s best feature; virtual. No need to have to wait for employees to bring you their time cards. With this software, they are able to enter all their data over the internet. The same goes for expense reporting. This products easily integrates with QuickBooks and also includes compliance controls.
EZtime
EZtime, another web based application tool gives employees the flexibility of entering their time sheets over the web. In addition to time and expense reports, employees can also receive company news information. Administrators have the ability to control the approval of employee workflow and tasks.
Exgis® Expense
Exgis® Expense is an easy-to-use software application that gives you the capability to track your expenses either through the Internet or on your smartphone as soon as they are incurred. Expense transactions recorded on your smartphone are made available in real-time so they are ready for review when you go online. It also has globalization features for International travelers (ie exchange rates). With a claim reporting system, you can easily transfer business or travel expenses into a claim statement for submission to your finance department - we can even incorporate your company’s existing claim statement right into our software. One of the key features of Exgis Expense is that it reflects immediate changes to business rules to all users in the system, even mobile users.
Partnering for your success
Jacqueline Williams
Financial Strategist
Setting up reminders in Quick Books
With our busy lives it’s hard to remember everything we have to do or every place we need to be. This can be especially true for small business. You have to wear many hats in your profession and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Thank God for technology! Today, many businesses, including individuals, rely on technology to help keep them organized and focused. With items such as Palm, MS Office, and other technology oriented personal assistants, we are able to stay on top of our busy schedules.
In the realm of bookkeeping, many software programs have tools and add-ons to help keep you organized. For instance, Quick Books has a wonderful feature called “Reminders” which helps you to keep track of all the tasks you perform in the software. It shows pending items such as outstanding bills and customer invoices, items you need to act on, and also, as the name states, items you need to be reminded of. This feature will also posts notices or alerts about any QuickBooks business services that need your attention, such as software updates. This is an excellent tool for making sure that certain repetitive tasks are handled.
Setting up this feature is very simple to do.
Log into QuickBooks and open your company file
- Go to the Edit menu and click Preferences.
- In the Preferences window, click Reminders in the list on the left.
- Click the Company Preferences tab.
- For each type of task listed, choose a preference: Show summary, Show list or Don’t remind me.
- For date-driven events, enter the number of days in advance that you want QuickBooks to add a reminder to the list.
- To have the reminders window open every time you start QuickBooks, click the My Preferences tab and select the Show Reminders when opening a company file checkbox.
- Click OK.
At this point you are ready to use the list. On the company menu, choose “reminders”. Once here you can view, add, or modify existing reminders. Keep in mind, this feature is only as useful as the information you place in it. It would be a good practice to set this up at the start of your file, and each time a new event occurs, update it accordingly.
There we have it! Another Bookkeeping Success profile to help you manage your records effectively!
Partnering for your Success
Jacqueline Williams
Financial Strategist
Quick Boooks Quickie
Ever wonder how easy it is to post your transactions in Quick Books? Start your business the right way by setting up your books correctly in the beginning. Listen to our Bookkeeping 4 Success Radio Show, and hear how to set up your books in Quick Books effortlessly.