QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) fills the gap for retailers who are looking for an integrated solution for their cash register to interface with their financial reporting system. Using a standard cash register does not enable retailers to have an inventory management system. It is simply a tool of recording sales. So what happens to the other functions? Some will use QuickBooks Financial System (QBFS) functionality to track purchase orders, receipt of inventory, sales, etc. However, if their cash register does not interface with QBFS then someone will have to manually reenter sales data so that inventory is accurate. Sounds time consuming and a waste of valuable time, right? It is! So how much is your time worth? Priceless!
QBPOS is cost effective and offers solutions that are important to a retailer’s success for the full cycle of inventory steps including Purchase Orders, Receiving of Inventory, Returns to Vendors, Sales Orders, Sales Receipts, Reporting, and more. So how can you make it the best solution for you and your clients? Here are 10 Tips:
- Do the complete setup in a structured manner. This will help ensure that you cover all steps for thoroughness. While it may seem like an overwhelming task to do it all before you start using the system, it will be well worth it. If you are already using QuickBooks Financial then you are able to integrate the customer, vendor, and item list into the POS easily. If you are using another system and you are able to export data to Excel, then you can use the Import features within POS to be able to still get that data into the POS system quickly.
- Make sure the cost field is populated; otherwise, your inventory will have no dollar value. Double check that the value of inventory in POS matches your financial system so that your financial reports are accurate.
- Utilize customer information in your transactions so that you can do follow-up marketing with them. It’s always easier to sell additional items to existing customers than acquiring new customers. This also assists you in helping your clients when they have questions about past sales and they don’t have their receipt information.
- Processing your credit cards within the system will save you time.
- If you are processing within QBPOS through Innovative Merchant Solutions, make sure you batch out at the same time that matches their cut-off (5 p.m. Central Time). If you batch at a different time, your batches will not match the ones in your bank account and therefore make it more difficult to reconcile your credit card deposits.
- If you do not process within the QBPOS file, then your method of payment will have to be something different than credit card. Some of my clients will select the option of Check and then input the type of credit card, instead of the check number. This assists them in entering their deposits in the financial system and doing their end of day record keeping.
- Cash receipts flow through to QuickBooks Financial System (QBFS) into a Cash in Drawer bank account. Checks and credit cards flow through to QBFS as Undeposited Funds. When you make your deposits in Financial, you’ll want to separate your cash and checks into a deposit to match the one you are physically making at your bank. You will then do a separate deposit for your credit cards. The goal is to ensure that your deposits in your QBFS file match the bank deposits as they show on your bank statement. This will help your reconciliation process within your QBFS.
- If you are getting errors when using the automatic update feature, you may find it better to use the manual update feature so that you can manage the process easier and lessen the errors. For a variety of reasons, including firewall setup, you may find that the automatic update in QBPOS does not work well with your system. However, in most cases, I have found that doing the manual update process alleviates those issues. You can manually download the updates off of the QuickBooks website. Ensure you are running the most up-to-date POS and QBFS programs on all computers.
- Since the POS system has processes running behind the scenes, it is recommended that you shut down your system nightly. Exiting out of the software alone does not allow the system to refresh, so it should be booted all the way down to allow the most optimal performance of the POS system. This will minimize the system error and access messages.
- When receiving payments from clients who have accounts receivable, you will do this receipt process through the QBPOS Sales Receipt and process the payment like normal, with no items being sold. On the payment screen you will select what type of payment you are receiving (cash, check or credit card) and then you will select that you are applying that same amount on account. This enables you to provide a receipt to your client and when the QBPOS syncs with QBFS at the end of the day, the payment will be applied to the accounts receivable account for that customer.
- All inventory activities should be performed in your QBPOS file. This includes Purchase Orders, Receiving Inventory, Return of Inventory to Vendor, and Sales Receipts. The key to accurate inventory records is ensuring that all steps in the inventory flow happen within the same system and that they are consistently performed; otherwise, your financial reports will be inaccurate for Income, Cost of Goods Sold, and Inventory amounts.
- Training is imperative to the success of your clients with QBPOS. For most it is not as intuitive as QBFS and clients tend to want to skip steps throughout the process as they are “too busy”. Ensure that when you are working through the process of how you, as a consultant, are going to help them. Don’t forget the training and ongoing services that you can provide them. Setup is critical and you’ll want to provide a good training overview. It is also recommended that 15 to 30 days after they have been using the system, that you go back to do a follow-up session. Normally users will have a myriad of questions that they never thought of before installation. Once you start creating reports, this is an eye opener on how things are flowing and where additional training aspects may be identified. Knowing QBFS does not guarantee that you’ll be comfortable with QBPOS, as the two systems have similarities but also have great differences that you’ll want to ensure you are comfortable with to provide the best services for your clients.
QBPOS has provided retailers a cost effective way to interface their cash register and inventory management system with their financial system. With it’s flexibility to have 10 stores and 10 workstations at each location, it has the ability to provide a cost effective solution for many sizes, from a small corner shop to a medium-sized retailer. Utilize these 10 Tips to help yourself and your client be successful with QBPOS.
Pam Newman, President of RPPC, Inc., Author of Out of the Red, Host of Unlocking the Secrets of Your Small Business Radio Show, QuickBooks Financial and Point-of-Sale ProAdvisor provides Accounting and QuickBooks Consulting for businesses to help them keep money from slipping through their fingers. For more information: www.rppc.net or 816.304.4398.