Accounting & Bookkeeping & Small Business Forum

[Guest]

I use QuickBooks. I only have 1 client right now, but expect that I will have this problem with other clients as well. My client has QB 5 for Mac, so I have purchased a copy of the same for installation on a Mac I have in my office. She wants to still be able to enter her invoices (she has to give them to her customers, of course!), but I will do everything else. How do we keep our files in sync when we will both be entering transactions on different computers?

QB 2000 (windows version) has a feature that lets you create an Accountant's copy of the file and then import the changes back into the original file. This won't work, though, because the things I need to do will not be allowed in the Accountant's copy. Have newer versions of QB dealt with this issue?

How do most of you with monthly bookkeeping clients coordinate the data entry? Do you do it all or do the clients still do some of it? Is this what is considered write-up?

Thanks,
Kassie Inman

[Guest]

Kassie: You have discovered Intuit's dirty little secret for making money not only on the business owner but the accountant that service them as well. The four biggest complaints about quickbooks are: 1. It will nickel and dime the business owner and accountant to death. 2. It was not designed as an accounting program. 3. It was designed so that the business will eventually outgrow it. The business is then left with finding a new program at a much higher cost than would have been necessary. 4. It is designed so that the business owner will either screw up their records or their bookkeeper will have the ability to blindly steal from them.

Is quickbooks a writeup program? NO. A true writeup program will have the ability to do the accounting after the fact and usually will be linked to a professional tax prep program.

[Guest]

So other software packages designed as write up will allow me to enter transactions and then import them into the customer's software rather than replacing the file?

I see from your posts that you prefer Visual Bookkeeper. Does this software do what I need it to do? And what do you get for only $25? Do you have to purchase other modules to do things like track assets or payroll?

Thanks, Kassie

[Guest]

Hello Kassie,

See if you can build $19.95 a month into your clients fee. Quickbooks has an online version that I use and appreciate. Your client can access it from their office and you can access it from yours. All information is "live" so there is no transferring of data. Transactions can be entered from you and the client at any time, plus the software updates are included into the monthly service fee.

Given your situation, you should not have any problem showing your client how the fee for the online service will benefit them.

I hope you find this helpful. Good luck!

April

[Guest]

I liked the response about working online with QB. Another simple solution (depending how much information or breakdown there is on your clients invoicing) might be to take copies of her invoices and re-enter them into your software if you are doing the rest of the books on your software. Enter individually for detailed payment collection, or as a journal entry monthly if lots of detail exists in sales. One of my clients invoices by hand, and turns them into me to record after-the-fact while I do everything else.

You could spend a lot of money buying up softwares to match your clients varying needs, and I don't think that is the best way to be productive or profitable with small customers. Pick your favorite software (mine is Quickbooks Premier Accountant Edition because I can have several companies in one software), and modify how you handle the paperwork to meet your clients needs.

[Guest]

Kassie, what I do is coordinate with my clients on a specific time period that I will be entering data and month end bank reconciliations. The client emails me a backup copy of their QB file, say on Thursday.....I do all the input. While I have their QB file, they can still use it on their end but they MUST make copies of anything they do. When you are done, you email them back the QB file to restore to their computer, then they re-input anything they had to do while you were working on their QB file. This is usually only a 1-2 day turn around time for most of my clients. IT works out great, just be very careful in the naming conventions used to transfer the files back and forth...ie always use dates in the backup. set up 2 folders, 1. QB From clients 2. QB back to clients. This will save from over writing/restoring the wrong file! LOL, ask me why I know that one!