Newsletter

Message from Doug Sleeter

This is our 100th Desktop Accountant Newsletter! Thank you for subscribing and being a part of The Sleeter Group. Our goal is to provide you with expert tips, tricks, and timely topics that help you as an accountant, bookkeeper, or small business owner.

Over the years, we’ve gathered an impressive group of highly skilled experts who focus on helping small businesses with accounting technology solutions including QuickBooks, add-ons, and hundreds of business process "chunks," that fit together into complete systems.

I’d like to recognize many of you who’ve invested your time to write articles, chapters in our books, and blog posts. These writers, bloggers, and webinar presenters make The Sleeter Group what it is, and I truly appreciate them for their friendship, association, and the value they add to the small business community. Here are a few of these special people:

Lisa Bloch, Scott Bonacker, Mary Brettman, Peter Budreski, Leslie Capachietti, Pat Carson, Jyoti Chandra, David Cieslak, William English, Esther Friedberg Karp, Carl Gill, Steve Green, Cameron Hendrick, Andrew Holmes, Richard Kane, Stacy Kildal, Robert Lauzon, Michelle Long, Laura Madeira, Christine Manor, Bob Michlin, William Murphy, Bonnie Nagayama, Mario Nowogrodzki, Deborah Pembrook, MB Raimondi, Shelly Robbins, Charlie Russell, Jim Savage, Caren Schwartz, Leslie Shiner, Karen Siewert, Sandra Smith Levya, Nancy Smyth, Jeanne Tarazevits, Selwyn Van Rooyen, Amy Vetter, Chuck Vigeant, Joe Woodard, and Kathy Yakal.

The Ultimate Tool for Business Analytics

Chuck Vigeant’s regular column, Business Performance and Technology Corner, is part of our "QuickBooks and Beyond" blog. Chuck is the Managing Partner of CLEARIFY, LP and is known as the "grandfather" of Crystal Reports and Business Intelligence for QuickBooks.

The Ultimate Tool for Business Analytics
The process of laying out the right combination of meaningful numbers or business metrics is part art and part science. It requires an understanding of the business, knowledge of the application(s) which contain the numbers, a mastery of various number crunching and presentation mechanisms, and the acumen for creating something that people will not only use without impunity, but take action from. I am tempted to say, that the world of reporting, analytics, and business metrics is unlike any other, because the view of the final product is as varied as the pattern of a snowflake.

Let’s take the simple word ‘chair’. For some this conjures up a wooden four legged stool, for others, it could be a recliner, a rocking chair, or even bar stool; and the chair could be constructed of metal, mahogany, maple – or even plastic.

Click here to read the rest of Chuck’s article.

Super Sleeter Deal

Only 4 days left to take advantage of our first-ever Super Sleeter Deal: 50% off The Sleeter Group’s QuickBooks for Not-for-Profit Organizations book

QuickBooks for Not-for-Profit Organizations helps nonprofit organizations successfully use QuickBooks accounting software to support their programs and services. Each chapter thoroughly demonstrates how to get as much as possible done in a short time. The book covers everything a not-for-profit agency needs to manage expenses and revenue, track grants and programs, and keep its books in compliance with reporting requirements.

Regular Price: $69.95
Super Sleeter Deal: $34.97

Get your copy today! Use promo code SSDFEB12 at checkout to receive a 50% discount when you purchase The Sleeter Group’s QuickBooks for Not-For-Profit Organizations.

Offer ends February 22, 2012. Limit 5 books per customer.

Featured Webinars

We have become the "graduate school" for QuickBooks and small business accounting technology because of our educational programs, including our fantastic Webinars. Our Webinar presenters are among the country’s leading experts in accounting software.

Featured Webinar:
QuickBooks Lists: Best Practices and Clean Up: More Than You Ever Wanted to Know
by MB Raimondi
Mar. 14, 2012, 12:00 – 2:00 PM Pacific

Did you know that there over 20 different lists in QuickBooks? Lists are one of the major ways we save time in QuickBooks. When we enter something on a list once, we never have to worry about entering it again. However, over time, lists tend to get messy – incomplete information, incorrect information, inconsistent information, missing information. This can lead to problems with transactions that lead to problems with reports as well as the overall quality of the QuickBooks data.

Other Upcoming Webinars:
QuickBooks: Beyond the Basics by Richard Kane
Apr. 26, 2012, 12:00-2:00 PM Pacific
Customer & Vendor Tricky QuickBooks Transactions by MB Raimondi
Apr. 30, 2012, 9:00 – 11:00 AM Pacific
Troubleshooting Payroll in QuickBooks by MB Raimondi
May 15, 2012, 12:00 – 2:00 PM Pacific

For a complete schedule, including self-study and on-demand titles, visit www.sleeter.com/webinar.

What Are We Blogging About?

Register for our Blog, QuickBooks and Beyond. Here’s a sample of some recent blog articles:

• Does QuickBooks 2012 Condense and Period Copy Really Work?
• eCommerce, Shopping Carts and QuickBooks
• Form 1099-K–How to Reconcile with QuickBooks
• 2011 Form 940 in Credit Reduction States who use QuickBooks Payroll
• Goodbye to QuickBooks 2009 Support

We’d Love Your Feedback! We started QuickBooks and Beyond a year ago, and it is time for us to get some feedback from our readers. We hope that you can find a couple of moments to take a short survey.

The blog is updated a few times a week – so be sure to register so you will receive an e-mail notification when new articles are posted.

Where in the World is Doug Sleeter?

Doug is currently in Dallas, Texas  for the second annual CPA Practice Advisor Thought Leader Symposium.

The annual symposium unites the most influential practitioners, consultants, and experts who cover the tax and accounting profession with the top technology vendors to explore trends and events affecting the profession, as well as help shape the future of technologies that professionals use.

Doug has been recognized as a Top 25 Thought Leader for 2012; he has made this prestigious list two years in a row.

2012 Accounting Solutions Conference

The Ninth Annual Accounting Solutions Conference
October 22-24, 2012 – Anaheim, CA

Pre-Register Now to Reserve Your Spot!

Plan on joining us in sunny Southern California for the ninth Annual Accounting Solutions Conference. The 2012 Conference will be held at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California. Located next to the Anaheim Convention Center and just two blocks from Disneyland Park, Disney’s California Adventure and Downtown Disney.

Official registration for the Conference will begin in late April. Pre-register now to reserve your spot, we will contact you in late April to complete your registration.

Interested in Exhibiting? Contact us at 888-484-5484.

February Tidbits

Sleeter Group Consultant Network Monthly Meeting: Our next Members-Only Webinar will be held March 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm pacific time. Log onto www.sleeter.com and select "My SGCN Membership" to view the agenda and to register. If you are interested in joining our Consultants Network and attending these monthly webinars for free, call Nathan Fochler at 888-484-5484. 

Paradigm Shifts in Accounting Technology article featured in Intuit ProLine News Central: Check out an article Doug authored for Intuit ProLine News Central about the Paradigm Shifts in Accounting.

Sleeter Group Consultants Network - Tricks of the Trade

Every day, members of the Sleeter Group Consultants Network tackle the day-to-day problems of their clients in the real world. The following is an example problem-and-solution that surfaced this month on our Sleeter Consultants’ Experts Forum.

Question: Just met with a client today who is using QuickBooks to do recurring credit card payments through Intuit. I’m not familiar at all with this process but his question was how does it clear the individual customer accounts. He said the only thing it does is post the batch payment to his bank account but his QuickBooks is not affected at all. Is there a way to do this?

Ruth Perryman responded: Recurring payments are invoice payments. He still needs to create the invoices the payments need to be applied to. I recommend creating memorized invoices set to automatically post the day of the recurring payment.

Laura Dion responded: Then, make sure that your preferences in QuickBooks are set to "automatically apply payments". If this is not set, you will have to go into each customer and apply the payment to the invoice.

The Sleeter Group Consultants Network is the nation’s premier accounting software consultants’ network. Sleeter Consultants provide expert financial accounting software consulting, add-on integration services, business process workflow consulting, outsourced bookkeeping services, and financial statement preparation. To locate one of our Certified Consultants, visit our Find a Consultant page. To learn more about becoming a Consultant, visit our Become a Consultant page or phone our office at 888-484-5484.