By Mike & Jorgelina October 31, 2010
We went from slowbooks to quickbooks with John at BW Solutions. He's always on time, always professional and extremely knowledgeable. He is "Mr. Quickbooks!" ...read more
By Chondra Winger October 16, 2010
BW/API helped my small business get up and running on QuickBooks, took over my payroll services with an extremely low fee, and packaged my business and family with my taxes correctly. These guys know what they are doing. Highly recommended. ...read more
By Lunger Electric, Inc. August 15, 2008
As a new Electrical Contractor, it was a bit overwhelming meeting the demands of working in the field and trying to run our office. That is until we were introduced to BW Business Solutions. Referred to us by our personal friends, we had great anticipation and many questions in how they could help our business grow. In our initial meeting, it was clear that the personal service, knowledgable background, and attention to detail would help us tremendously. John has helped us organize our books, set up accounts, keep accurate records, and send off all the fun I. R. S. and State requirements. All I can say is BW Business Solutions has been a lifesaver in helping us stay organized and operate professionally, which in the end will help us grow our business substantially! ...read more
There are many reasons that contribute to the success or failure with QuickBooks; but here are 5 that we at BW/API see on a regular basis. If you're not a bookkeeper before you buy QuickBooks, you won't be after either.Please - do NOT fall victim to the siren song of do-it-yourself bookkeeping that the marketing folks at QuickBooks are singing.Concepts such as "if you can write a check, you can use QuickBooks" and "QuickBooks is built for butchers, bakers and candlestick makers" (both themes have been used in their advertising) will lull you into a very false sense of security.To succeed with QuickBooks, you (or someone on your team) absolutely needs to have a solid grasp of bookkeeping. Otherwise, you may quickly offer up a comment such as this one I recently saw on Twitter - "QuickBooks is making me want to poke my eyes out!".Like any other tool, when used correctly, QuickBooks provides an incredibly robust accounting system for many small businesses. There is a tremendous amount of functionality bundled inside the software. However, when used incorrectly, bad things can happen to good businesses, and boy, can they happen quickly!BW/API can provide professional guidance to set up QuickBooks, teach you how to use it correctly, and to review your work on a monthly basis. Trust me - we have seen many businesses disintegrate due to poor or non-existent accounting information. Unless you are a payroll genius, outsource it!Contrary to what you might think, you can't afford NOT to outsource your payroll.OK, we get it. We hear people frequently say "gee, how hard is it to create paychecks for the employees?" That statement by itself as it relates to payroll is absolutely true. It isn't too terribly hard to create the checks.However, the payroll nightmares that haunt thousands of small businesses have NOTHING to do with the creation of the checks. The nightmares have EVERYTHING to do with the timely and correct filing of quarterly and annual payroll tax returns, the accurate and timely deposit of payroll taxes due, and reading and replying to payroll letters received from the IRS or EDD. Let's be honest - payroll is a completely NON-value added activity for ALL businesses. The minimum expectation going in is that it be 100% correct (the amount of the paychecks, the deposits and the tax filings). That's an enormous amount of pressure for someone that very likely doesn't have any background in payroll. Why even risk it?Why not transfer that NON-value added activity to BW/API who deal with payroll checks, tax deposits, payroll tax returns, and payroll correspondence every day. Learn and experiment freely - in the sample company file,NOT in your "live" company fileTaking time to learn about the various features, shortcuts and tools within QuickBooks is an excellent goal, and we strongly encourage you to do that.However, our recommendation is that your learning be done in the sample data files that are provided with every edition of QuickBooks. That way, you can play around all day in these sample files and have absolutely ZERO worries about messing anything up in your "live" file.Once you get the hang of things in the sample data file and understand their impact, you can easily transport that knowledge into your "live" file. Not sure how to locate the sample files? Just click on Help and do a search or give us a call for assistance. Do NOT dive into online banking right awayWe know this concept seems completely counter-intuitive. Let me explain...As soon as you create a new bank account in your QuickBooks chart of accounts, you are asked if you want to connect to your online banking. Resist the temptation at first.Without the initial knowledge of how QuickBooks expects things to be done when it comes to recording bank and credit card transactions, you will be at a big disadvantage.In fact, if you connect to online banking right away, there is a very good chance that you'll just be downloading and entering a lot of garbage into your QuickBooks file - you'll just be doing it faster as a result of the electronic connection. A better approach -- learn how things work manually first. It shouldn't take you too long to get the hang of it, assuming you have the proper setup and knowledgeable training on the inner workings of QuickBooks. Once you start walking, you can then break into a run and connect to your online banking. You will be very glad you followed this plan of action. Download and install QuickBooks updates when notifiedWe know - the "QuickBooks has recently downloaded an update. Would you like to install it now?" messages can get annoying.But what you might not know is this - these updates are how the creators of QuickBooks push bug fixes and other updates out to you.It is essential that you take the time to install these updates when you are notified about them. If you are skittish about installing them because of worries about potential problems, check your favorite search engine for reports of any problems with these updates. If you find none, forge ahead with the installation.In most cases, these updates do far more good than harm and help fix problems within QuickBooks, both minor and major. If you have any questions or would be interested in our QuickBooks Consulting/Training Services, give us a call in our Brentwood Office - 925 240 3045; Concord Office - 925 827 2222 ...read more
By BW Business Solutions/API Accounting Practices November 27, 2010
BW/API is adding these valuable services to medical practices on January 1st. BW/API is going to be a unique provider of these services. We've found so many doctors are either doing their medical billing in house by staff members who have no time, have poor coding skills, and are not collecting on denied claims; Some medical practices are using billers who strictly perform the billing portion in their home which could be a security risk. BW/API is a full service medical billing ‘and' collection provider. Our staff has experience in medical billing so our coding will be correct to ensure the maximum revenue is being submitted and collected for our doctors. We aggressively collect any unpaid insurance claim or amount due from patients to make sure a doctor receives all fees due. We've licensed top rated, MediSoft software from McKesson, to provide electronic claims submittal to the insurance companies, track all insurance billings and collections, and advanced reporting of transaction processing. The medical billing/collection services roll seamlessly into BW/APIs traditional accounting, payroll, corporation, and tax services to ensure the doctor's practice has correctly stated financials for underwriting purposes and the practice is valued correctly; the doctor's practice is packaged correctly for tax purposes; and the doctor is packaged correctly for retirement and has a valued exit strategy. Give us a call if you have any questions. Brentwood: 925 240 3045; Concord: 925 827 2222 ...read more
By BW Business Solutions/API Accounting Practices November 20, 2010
Intuit announced the release date for its latest QuickBooks software, QuickBooks 2011, which includes several new features that help small business owners find data when they need it, perform everyday tasks and access business information remotely. According to Intuit, the software goes on sale September 27. QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2011 build on prior versions by streamlining accounting tasks, such as invoicing and collecting payments. The new Customer Snapshot and Customer and Vendor History features provide at-a-glance views of customer and vendor details. Users can also take advantage of the power of QuickBooks Connect, a new service that lets small businesses access QuickBooks data remotely via the Internet or a mobile device. Additionally, as with previous versions, QuickBooks 2011 helps small business owners stay organized by allowing them to have their business information in one place. Upgraded features give customers access to business information: -Customer Snapshot offers a consolidated view of an individual customer's purchase history, average days to pay, and outstanding balance. This helps small businesses make timely decisions on customer requests. -QuickBooks Search lets users locate any customer, account, report or invoice details within their QuickBooks repository with a simple keyword search. -Customer and Vendor History provides at-a-glance views of customer and vendor details, such as history, estimates and past orders, on a single screen. -Balance Sheet by Class provides a way for QuickBooks Premier users to separately track multiple funds, departments or locations in a single report. Millions of small business owners now work away from the office at least part time. QuickBooks 2011 provides these remote workers access to essential data anywhere, from the airplane to the jobsite, giving them the flexibility they need to meet business demands. Offered as an add-on service to QuickBooks 2011 and sold separately, QuickBooks Connect provides access to QuickBooks customer and transaction data online or on a mobile phone. Users can create and manage invoices, pull customer information, check the status of a payment, and get real-time answers to questions on the go. Secure data automatically syncs with QuickBooks, so users will always have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips. Intuit is a provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, financial institutions including banks and credit unions, consumers and accounting professionals. ...read more
By BW Business Solutions/API Accounting Practices September 13, 2010
Payroll accountants are responsible for tracking the expenditure of money and assets through a company. Their job is to help companies track their income and maintain a timely payment record for expenses and bills. If you are interested in becoming a payroll accountant, you will have to be... ...read more
Computer files can sometimes be deleted by accident, get lost or damaged. This could be a potential nightmare, especially if these are small business accounting files. You have peace of mind by knowing how to use the "Backup and Restore" function in Microsoft Small Business Accounting. With a few keys... ...read more