General QuickBooks Information

As a service and product based company, we provide many solutions to meet our client's needs. For any business, it's easy to go day in and day out doing what you do. It's important to remain conscientious of the level of service you provide and to put yourself in the client's shoes. You can't always stop what you are doing to address another inquiry but you have to determine the level of importance and sense of urgency. Without client's, you wouldn't be in business.

Will recently assisted one of our long time retail clients with a credit card processing issue. With Will's expertise and level of committment as an Intuit Premier Reseller and Advanced ProAdvisor Consultant, he is able to escalate issues to Intuit on our client's behalf and be their liaison.

There is a company that emails surveys to our clients after they've purchased product from us and/or we have provided our professional services to assist them with their business needs. We'd like to share one that we received today because it truly speaks to the level of service that we strive to provide every day.

"I can't say enough about EMS. The sense of urgency, commitment to solutions, everything. The best money I have ever sent is every penny with EMS. If you want it done right the first time (and this is how I met them 10 years back, I had someone NOT do it right the first time) hire EMS. The most competitive rates (always less than I expect) and the most reliable service - by far. As a former business consultant for a large consulting firm, I can say the work ethic of EMS is unparalleled and I ALWAYS have them on speed dial...fortunately because they are so thorough...the times I need them are few and far between and mostly when I am ready to improve and upgrade my technology!" Jamara, owner of Pumpkinheads

“The America's Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2014 (H.R. 4457) is a bill that would amend section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, which mostly affects small- to medium-sized businesses, to retroactively and permanently extend from January 1, 2014, increased the cap on the amount of investment that can be immediately deducted from taxable income.^[1] The bill would return the tax code to its 2013 status and make the change permanent.” Content from Wikipedia online encyclopedia. 

“After months of turmoil resulting from a shift in industry preferences, a recent attempt to extend the Section 179 tax deduction has made another step toward success. This tax deduction allows taxpayers to deduct the cost of some types of business-related purchases, as compared to capitalizing and depreciating them…At the beginning of 2014, the law was changed so that businesses could only deduct about $25,000 per year. This bill, should it fully pass through the lawmaking bodies, is expected to restore applicable expenses to $500,000 annually on purchases or leases of qualified equipment of up to $2 million.” Marlin Marketing, "Section 179 tax code change passes House of Representatives," June 17, 2014 at 2:35pm. Read the entire article here.

Most new and used equipment, as well as some software, qualify for the Section 179 Deduction. Calculate your savings by using their tax deduction calculator here.

Marlin Equipment Finance is a nationwide provider of equipment financing solutions supporting equipment suppliers and manufacturers in the security, food services, healthcare, information technology, office technology and telecommunications sectors.

Today, Intuit is releasing a press release (see below) announcing a strategic partnership with Revel to launch a new online iPad point-of-sale solution that works seamlessly within the QuickBooks ecosystem. QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel Systems will be available in February 2015.

English Management Solutions, Inc. (EM$) has been in discussion with Intuit to become one of the first Resellers to be trained and able to offer this solution to our customers.  Call or email our office to be put on the wait list.
877-467-0451 | info@englishmgmt.com.
We are committed to offering the best solution to our customer base and this gives us one more solution to explain when looking at your needs.

Intuit Partners with Revel Systems to Deliver iPad Point of Sale Solution
withinn QuickBooks Online Ecosystem

QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel Systems elevates the merchant experience.

     MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Nov. 17, 2014 – Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) is partnering with Revel Systems as the premier partner to launch QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel Systems, a new Online iPad point-of-sale (POS) solution that works seamlessly within the QuickBooks ecosystem. The new offering leverages the power of the cloud to automatically sync sales, payments, inventory, CRM and payroll data to QuickBooks, providing retailers with an integrated view of how money is flowing in and out of their businesses.
    “This is all about giving retailers maximum flexibility to accept payments and manage customer relationships anytime, anywhere, while staying grounded and confident because they can always access an up-to-date and accurate picture of their books,” said Eric Dunn, Intuit’s senior vice president for payments and commerce solutions. “QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel Systems brings together the benefits of two leading cloud solutions to deliver an even more powerful result for food and retail businesses.”
    We are thrilled to partner with Intuit and together both companies are creating a product, QuickBooks Point of Sale Powered by Revel Systems, that solves a huge need and a pain point for retailers today,” says Lisa Falzone, cofounder and CEO of Revel Systems.

Key Features and Benefits
    QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel Systems makes it easier than ever for retailers to manage their operations thanks to:

• Intuitive iPad Interface: lets users focus on what matters most – the customer. Gone are the days of spending hours training new employees and hidden customer management tools.
• Seamless Integration with QuickBooks Online: sales and payments data will automatically be entered and categorized in QuickBooks Online, eliminating the time-intensive work of manually reconciling the books after hours. The integration will be available for new and existing QuickBooks Online customers alike.
• Anytime, Anywhere Access: Revel’s industry-leading point of sale solution allows retailers maximum flexibility to track sales, inventory, staffing and payroll remotely.
• Always On Mode: retailers can be confident they will never miss a sale thanks to the “Always On Mode,” which leverages Revel’s industry-leading technology so that they can continue to accept and sync payments to sales and inventory reports even if their internet connection is slow or completely down.
• Advanced Inventory and Reporting: provides retailers with real insights into their inventory and payments data, including detailed sales numbers, product sales reporting, item discount tracking and comprehensive history of all orders.

Availability
QuickBooks Point of Sale powered by Revel will be available in early 2015. Those interested in more information can call or email our office at 877-467-0451 or info@englishmgmt.com

About Intuit Inc.
    Intuit Inc. creates business and financial management solutions that simplify the business of life for small businesses, consumers and accounting professionals.
    Its flagship products and services include QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, which make it easier to manage small businesses and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. Mint.com provides a fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage their money, while Demandforce® offers marketing and communication tools for small businesses. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants.
    Founded in 1983, Intuit had revenue of $4.5 billion in its fiscal year 2014. The company has approximately 8,000 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.

About Revel Systems
Revel Systems iPad POS was founded in 2010 in San Francisco, CA with the goal of changing the point-of-sale market. Founders Lisa Falzone and Chris Ciabarra developed a quick, intuitive and secure iOS-based point-of-sale system by combining cloud-based technology and the mobility of the iPad. Revel Systems software offers a feature-rich POS solution for restaurant, retail and grocery establishments with integrated payroll, inventory tracking, customer relationship management and more. With the introduction of the Revel Marketplace, Revel iPad POS users can now integrate directly into third-party enhancements, including mobile payments, online ordering, gift or reward cards and advanced financial software suites. For more information on the new standard in point of sale, please visit http://revelup.com and contact us.

This information is intended to outline Intuit's general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.

 Thought leaders and leading experts in Accounting & Technology.

Will English was invited back to teach at the annual Sleeter Group's Accounting Solutions Conference.   
When our colleage presented Will with the opportunity this year, he stated "Your knowledge of a higher level POS system would be great to add to the panel, let alone your knowledge of the POS landscape." We appreciate the offer for Will to share his expertise with the attendees so they can glean nuggets of valuable information to put into practice at their businesses. 

This year's conference included four, information-packed days, including pre-conference workshops with deep-dive training sessions on several solutions. The Expo Hall with over 90 exhibitors is a one-stop shopping experience that allows you to meet technology vendors face-to-face and get an in-depth look at their solutions. This annual event is attended by hundreds of accountants, bookkeepers, consultants, and IT professionals, as well as some of the best-known and up-and-coming vendors in the market.

The Sleeter Group is dedicated to helping accountants and small businesses work together by using the most innovative and tested tools/systems to generate greater efficiencies and higher profits. They represent an independent view, separate from any particular company or product, and they evaluate solutions based solely on how they meet the demands of small business owners.

With the holiday season around the corner, we would like to share some helpful tips & our holiday calendar.

In preparation for the holidays: 

1. Make sure you have enough store supplies on hand such as receipt paper, pricing labels, hang tags, etc. You don't want to run out & then have to wait for a shipment, hindering your production & possibly sales.*see Note below for ordering.
2. Is your staff properly trained on the software? QuickBooks (QB) has a practice mode that allows users to practice using the software without affecting the actual system & data. No transactions are actually recorded.
   At EMS, we offer onsite & remote training so you can be confident that your staff knows how to manage the various transactions & QB functions correctly. You don't want to lose business due to untrained or improperly trained employees.
3. Gift cards: You can process gift card transactions easily, increase store traffic & sales, encouraging more repeat business. And don't forget that they make a great gift, especially for shoppers who don't know what to give or need to make a quick purchase. Gift cards never go out of style.
4. Decorations & Seasonal Items: Making room for holiday decor means spending a little time planning. You'll need to decide where to relocate things & how to make room for the holiday items, be it store decorations &/or seasonal items. Avoid clutter. Keep the traffic flow comfortable for your shoppers. Make sure all items are clearly priced where the labels & tags are easy to see. Some customers won't ask if they don't see a price but will shop at another store where pricing is visibly marked.
5. Keep the store clean. A clean & inviting environment will attract more customers & enhance the shopping experience, more so than a dirty, cluttered store. The staff should also be clean & tidy, not eating while assisting customers, etc.

OUR OFFICE HOLIDAY CLOSURES:
Thur. Nov. 27th & Fri. Nov. 28th:closed for Thanksgiving
             
Wed. Dec. 24th we will close at 3pmPST for Christmas Eve
Thur. Dec. 25th: closed for Christmas

Wed. Dec. 31st we will close at 3pmPST for New Year's Eve
Thur. Jan.1st: closed for New Year's Day

Customer Service Requests: QuickBooks customers who require technical assistance or have an emergency during our office closures may do one of the following:
CONTACT US: (858) 467-0400 Local | (877) 467-0451 Toll-Free
Use our online Contact Us form | Email:info@englishmanagement.com
*For non-emergencies, leave a message at our office number or send an email & we'll reply the following business day. 

CONTACT INTUIT SUPPORT: Fees may apply:

* Point of Sale: 1-800-4INTUIT (800-446-8848)
* Enterprise Solutions: 866-340-7237
* Merchant Services: 800-558-9558    

NOTE: 
Some of our staff will take vacation during the holiday season. This may cause a small delay in scheduling support & training. We value each of you & will do our best to accommodate.
Please plan accordingly & schedule any system upgrades or major process changesbefore or after our holiday closures, allowing enough time for product to arrive & to schedule support/training as necessary.
Shipping lead times on non-holiday weeks:
Supplies: 2-3 business days. Software: 1-2 business days.Hardware: 2-5 business days.

As an authorized Intuit Premier Reseller, we work with a remarkable team of professionals at Intuit, Inc. I had the pleasure of recently visiting the Intuit customer contact office in Tucson, AZ.

The tour of the offices and facilities, meeting managers and staff, and experiencing first-hand the inner workings of the departments provided me the benefit of face-to-face interactions and witnessing them living out the company values. And since the Intuit support representatives refer customers to Resellers for local assistance, it benefited them to meet a Reseller. We learned from one another and shared some best practices.

We live in such a technologically advanced world that we can easily get lost in emailing and online databases. This can lead to a sense of disunity and forgetting that there is a live person on the other end assisting those customers. No matter what our methods of communication are, we must take time to step back and make those interpersonal connections. It enhances communication, team work and use of resources which leads to better customer service.

Contact Gina Avila, Intuit Channel Sales Manager, to verify you are buying from a trusted source.

In yesterday's post, we provided the first part of an article that explains 4 tips to help retailers help more customers, faster during the holidays. We hope you enjoyed learning the first 2 tips. Today we provide the final 2.

If available in your POS system (and most have this feature), implement Touchscreens.  Why does this make a difference?  Two factors: first, POS clerks learn faster and can process tickets more quickly on a Touchscreen.  The days of a keyboard driven system that requires you to remember Alt+F2 as a command on a POS system should be long gone.  Shorter training times and higher retention of information means more productive time in the store stocking the shelves and focusing on customer service.  A touchscreen should also allow you to set up “buttons” for items in inventory that can’t be barcoded.  Services and items sold in bulk (neither can be barcoded) are two examples of how a “button” can help speed up the customer’s experience.

The last item is, unfortunately, the most often overlooked one and that is employee training.  No matter how long your POS system has been deployed, you will have new clerks working during the holidays.  Make sure they have a “sample” or “play” company set up in your system and they are comfortable with all the common things they are going to be asked to do.

• Make sure they know how (or if) you take a personal check
• How to ask the customer for a different form of payment, if a credit card is declined. 
• How to void a line on a ticket, if  customers changes their minds about something during checkout
• How to sell a gift card
• How to print a gift receipt

These may seem obvious, but new clerks (and sometimes old ones) need to be “refreshed” on all the basics.  Don’t lose a sale because a clerk is asked to do something that they’ve simply forgotten how to do quickly.

Most retailers will make at least 40% of their overall revenue in 60 days.  The holidays will be determine if your bottom line is green or red.  Don’t lose a single dollar of sales because your check out was slow.  Here’s to a happy, healthy and check out fast holiday season.

Author: Lombardi, J., Contessa of CounterPoint, Soft Intelligence, Inc. October 2014.
Contributing Author: English, William S., President of English Management Solutions, Inc. October 2014.

As a retailer, wouldn't you like to help more customers, faster during the holidays? Well, we have 4 tips to help you out. Today's post includes the first 2 and tomorrow's post will include the final 2 tips.

News flash!! Americans are impatient!!!  We don’t want to wait 30 seconds for our computers to boot up or take 5 minutes to get out of our cars to get our Big Macs.  We want everything fast and that includes checking out at our favorite retail establishments.  So how do you make that need for speed work in your favor as you gear up for the busy shopping season?

The #1 recommendation is barcoding your inventory.  Any and everything that can hold a barcode label should have one.  When your customers come to check out, the POS clerk should be able to scan the barcodes, take their payment, package their purchases, and help the next customer.  Barcoding your inventory has an important second win (some would say first):  Barcoding not only speeds check out, but has the added bonus of keeping your inventory accurate.  Barcoding assures you that the right items are being paid for and taken out of inventory.  Barcoding is the #1 business process that will truly impact every portion of your business and your bottom line.

After Barcoding, the next would be to have an integrated credit card system.  Integrated credit card processing means the credit card is swiped directly into your POS register, not swiped in a system outside of your register (called a Zon Machine).  Why is this so important?  To process a credit card on a Zon machine, the clerk first has to ring the ticket up in the POS system.  They then stop, turn (or take a few steps), and swipe the customers card into the Zon.  They have to manually type in the amount (correctly, I hope), and then wait for the machine to return with an authorization code, and then print two receipts.  The clerk then turns (or takes a few steps) and hands the slip to the customer for their signature, finishes the transaction in the POS system, prints off the POS receipts, and staples the credit card receipt to the POS receipts, and hands both to the customer.  What’s the extra time needed for this process?  Between 60 and 90 seconds.  That doesn’t sound all that bad until you understand the overall productivity loss from this procedure.

Let’s say you are doing $1M in sales with an average ticket of $ 62.50 and 75% of all your sales are credit card transactions.  That means you are handling 12,000 credit card transactions each year, which, at a scant 60 sections per credit card slip, represents 200 hours a year!! Doubt the math?  Time a credit card transaction on a Zon machine, and you will find that 60 seconds is conservative.  It is a huge time suck!  And, during the holidays, three people in line means that the last person is waiting 3 extra minutes for just your credit card processing.  If I’m the fourth, I may not wait.  Every retailer knows that during the holidays, many people will walk in, look at the lines, and walk out.  Don’t add minutes to your customers’ shopping experience with a separate credit card machine. 

Author: Lombardi, J., Contessa of CounterPoint, Soft Intelligence, Inc. October 2014.
Contributing Author: English, William S., President of English Management Solutions, Inc. October 2014.

The October promotions are posted! Deep discounts are available on QuickBooks Enterprise, Point of Sale, Intuit Payroll, and more. See them all here. And QuickBooks Desktop Pro/Premier/Mac and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions v2015 is now available!

As a value added Certified Intuit Premier Reseller, we are able to pass along our savings to you. Contact us for a discovery call and to discuss your software system options. Every client is different so there's not a one-size-fits-all approach. As each business owner is unique, so is their company. We'll cheerfully answer your questions and provide accurate information for all of the necessary components including our support/installation training services.

QuickBooks Financial V2015 and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions V2015 have been released. Contact us to learn more about the improvements and new features. You can try out the software for 30 days at no charge! We will be happy to provide a product demonstration to explain many of the features and the user interface to help you determine the right solution for your needs.