QuickBooks Online — Take Your Bookkeeping to the Next Level

By David Wolford, CPA, and Mark Eyestone

Wednesday, October 28, 2020 – Life as a small business owner can be pretty hectic. Between managing operations, servicing customers, and marketing your business, you may have little time to keep up with the bookkeeping part of the small business owner equation.  The good news is that keeping your financial records current needn’t be such a tedious and time-consuming job.  Intuit’s QuickBooks® Online is designed to reduce the time and frustration of this task and provide the up-to-date financial information you need to make the best decisions for your company.

QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based application, which means you can access your books anywhere, anytime from your computer, tablet, or smartphone.  It can also serve as a cloud-based document retention solution with the ability to store receipts and invoices for easy access.  It’s as easy as snapping a photo of a receipt from your phone and loading it via the QuickBooks Online mobile app.  With the mobile app you can also create and send invoices and estimates in the field, capture customer signatures and automatically track your business mileage.

Intuit has another feature called Bank Feeds that allows you to connect your bank and credit card accounts to automatically import transactions into QuickBooks Online.  No more sifting through receipts and manually entering transactions one by one.  The only thing you need do is review each item from the bank feed to ensure that it is coded to the correct vendor and category.  Over time QuickBooks Online will begin to recognize your monthly recurring transactions (think: internet, utilities, rent, etc.) and automatically code them, further reducing the amount of time you spend on bookkeeping.

Intuit has also been working closely with third-party developers to integrate specialized and industry-specific applications with QuickBooks Online.  You may be able to import data directly from a third-party payroll processor, sync daily activity from a point-of-sale system, integrate with project management software, and even streamline your accounts payable process with an application such as Bill.com. Incorporating solutions such as these can help small businesses save a considerable amount of time on clerical tasks, leaving more time to focus on the big picture.

Consult with your LSWG accountant for the best options for your business.  Remember, it is very important to get the proper training on these features and applications.  If coding and applications are set up incorrectly, they may lead to delivering information that is not correct, resulting in a false sense of income or loss in the business.  Your accounting records are only as good as the information that is in them.

David Wolford, CPA, joined LSWG in 2014 and is a supervisor and QuickBooks® Certified ProAdvisor in LSWG’s Frederick office where he provides accounting services to LSWG’s owner-managed business clients.  You can reach David at 301.662.9200, or by email at dwolford@LSWG.cpa.

Mark Eyestone, joined LSWG in 2019 and is a CAS Staff Accountant in LSWG’s Frederick office where he is responsible for providing accounting and tax support to the firm’s business, nonprofit, and individual clients.  You can reach Mark at 301.662.9200, or by email at meyestone@LSWG.cpa.