QuickBooksBlog-Newsletter

From Law.com
QuickBooks 2008 for your law firm
Alan Pearlman
May 5, 2008

Alan Pearlman offers a detailed review of how to effectively use QuickBooks 2008 within a law firm. Pearlman explains, “With the 2008 versions of QuickBooks, Intuit is again serving the profession with small business financial software that includes a number of new and enhanced features, all with a focus on making the most critical jobs for our law office — and our accountants — quicker, easier and more helpful.”

Read the article.

Had a good meeting with our RDP ers last week. Just to refresh your memory, RDPers are employees who are in the first year at Intuit and are in a special program which exposes them to different parts of the company.  In talking to them, I wondered if we are looking at Gen Y in the right way. I often sit in meetings at Fortune 500 companies, where everyone looks at the youngest person in the group and says 'Your a GenYer, so how do you guys think about this new world.' When I asked the RDPers thought about this, they said that it was similar to asking an Asian person about Chinese buying habits. Even if that person isn't Chinese. I thought that was a good point. I also was intrigued how they felt as if they do not use Web 2.0 technologies as much as their younger siblings in high school. The RDP also made another good point. One of them told me that during the freshman year in college having 400 friends on FaceBook was considered a good number, but during his sophomore year, having 1000 friends was considered good, but now high school students have over 2000 friends. There must be a good name for this exponential growth. The Friend Factor?
How will this apply to Small Businesses?

Fortune: The Best Advice I Ever Got

Fortune magazine asked 19 people for the best advice that most influenced their lives. Here are several excepts from that feature:

General David Petraeus: Commanding general, multinational force – Iraq The bottom line is that seriously bright folks thought very differently about important issues, and the debates on various topics were wonderful. All in all, in fact, the experience was invaluable. It may sound trite, but experiencing that not everyone saw the world at all remotely the same was good preparation for many of the experiences I've had since then.

Indra Nooyi: Chairman and CEO, Pepsico Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response. You don't get defensive. You don't scream. You are trying to understand and listen because at your basic core you are saying, "Maybe they are saying something to me that I'm not hearing." So "assume positive intent" has been a huge piece of advice for me.

Sam Palmisano: Chairman and CEO, IBM I've noticed that some of the most effective leaders don't make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful. They listen. This is an appealing personal quality, but it's also an effective leadership attribute. Their selflessness makes the people around them comfortable. People open up, speak up, contribute. They give those leaders their very best.

Tony Robbins: Performance coach Jim Rohn, a personal-development speaker, said, 'Tony, think about it this way. If your worst enemy drops sugar in your coffee, what's going to happen to you? Nothing. But what if your best friend drops strychnine in your coffee? You're dead. You have to stand guard at the door of your mind."

What’s the best advice you ever got?

According to a study by the Kaufman Foundation and researchers from Duke and Harvard, most engineers and techno-guys and gals who start companies are in the 30s. In fact the media age is 39, which will probably shock some of the folks in Silicon Valley. 92% had BAs, 31% had MAs and 10% had PhDs. According to the study, education is important, but nothing can replace good old experience. Most of these entrepreneurs had worked in other companies -- bigger companies for a while. That's why Intuit is supporting the folks who want to 'Just Start and launch a company.

Most of you probably don’t know what QuickBase is.

Even though most of Intuit target’s Small Business’, there is one magic tool that more than half Fortune 100 companies use to collaborate, manage projects and customer data.

On Thursday, the QuickBase team announced tat they are opening up the platform to crate a general ‘SaaS platform

Intuit on Thursday will open its QuickBase platform to third party developers with the aim of creating a software as a service business that will launch this summer. Some of the benefits:

    
• Rapidly Develop RIAs that Work with QuickBooks: Intuit has created a complete application development environment based on the Eclipse™ IDE that integrates QuickBase functionality with Adobe Flex and packaged connections to QuickBooks data files that are automatically synchronized. Demonstrations of how quickly applications can be developed and connected to QuickBooks are available here.
    
• Focus on Innovation, Not Infrastructure: Developers can now leverage the power of the QuickBase platform for user authentication and permissions, database management, e-mail notifications, reporting and more using the QuickBase API. Developers need only to build applications and QuickBase will host them on its enterprise-class, highly scalable and reliable infrastructure.
    
• Reach Millions of Potential Users: Developers will be able to reach a potential market of nearly 25 million employees within small businesses using QuickBooks®. Applications built on the platform will be featured on the Intuit Solutions Marketplace, which reaches millions of small businesses looking for QuickBooks add-ons.
    
• Benefit from Utility-based Billing: Once applications are deployed, QuickBase will only charge developers for the computing resources their applications use. QuickBase will also manage customer billing so developers can focus on creating great solutions, not moving money.

Find out more

Educational and Interactive Conferences Hosted in Orlando, FL and San Diego, CA  
Event Information:

WHAT:  To help accountants maximize productivity across their most critical tax and accounting workflows, Intuit presents the 2008 Intuit Accounting Professionals User Conference series. This 2-day, highly-interactive event is designed to help accounting professionals improve their workflow end-to-end across accounting and tax tasks.
 
WHY:   The User Conference presents world-class sessions designed to help accounting professionals to be more productive and provide them with a valuable opportunity to network with colleagues, Intuit staff, and industry experts from across the country, all while earning CPE credits. Courses include QuickBooks, Lacerte, and practice management sessions, such as "E-File: It IS the Better Way," and others specifically tailored to accounting professionals, such as "Simplifying Your Workflow using QuickBooks Accountant Edition."
 
The event also offers hands-on sessions, including a "Multi-State Returns Don't Have to be Hard" course. Other sessions will explore alternative services that help accounting professionals manage and grow their practices, including a course on "Myths and Truths of the Paperless Office."
 
WHO:   QuickBooks Users and Consultants, and Lacerte Users
 
COST:  $699 per person for the conference, with a $100 discount for registrations before May 1. Registration does not include transportation or lodging.
 
WHEN/WHERE:  Orlando, FL, June 19-20, 2008*
Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando
6300 Hollywood Way
Orlando, Florida 32819
San Diego, CA, June 26-27, 2008*
San Diego Mission Valley Hotel
901 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, California 92108

Intuit Survey Reveals Small Businesses Bullish on Growth, Despite Economy

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 3, 2008 – Small businesses are poised to weather the current economic downturn and plan to grow despite it, according to Intuit Inc.'s (Nasdaq: INTU) recent "Get Back to Business" survey conducted for QuickBooks, the nation's top-selling small business accounting software.

In a considerable showing of solidarity, nine out of 10 U.S. small business owners reported seeing opportunities for their businesses in the current recession, and more than 75 percent expect growth. To make this growth a reality, small business owners say they'll rely on their experience and passion; nearly two-thirds have survived previous downturns. And to recession-proof their businesses, respondents plan to put their customers first, with 63 percent naming customer retention as their top priority, followed by focusing on their finances.

"Small business owners are extremely adaptable and nimble individuals. Faced with climbing gas prices and tightening credit standards, they continually prove to be the driving force of our economy," said Rick Jensen, senior vice president of Intuit's Small Business Division. "It is their unrelenting passion for serving their customers that enables small businesses to innovate and ultimately succeed in the face of any challenge the market presents them."

Paperwork Stifling Passion?

In the survey, 70 percent of small business owners said their personal passion drove them to start their own company, and that the same passion will help them get through a downturn. Undaunted by the economy, 86 percent of respondents said they remain as passionate as the day they started.

For many, however, the passion is tempered by the frustrations with the administrative side of running a company. Sixty-four percent wished they could spend less time doing paperwork and invoices, and more time getting back to the business of running their business. When asked if they could hire one additional person to do any job in their business, nearly 40 percent said they would bring on administrative support, such as a bookkeeper, to help get organized and help with billing.

"The business of doing business should not get in the way of entrepreneurial dreams," said Jensen. "Our goal is to provide our customers with the easiest-to-use business management tools and resources available so they can focus on what's most important, especially when times are tough."

Get Back to Business Webinar Series

To further assist small businesses, Intuit will offer a series of webinars designed to provide information and guidance to help owners succeed. The first webinar will be held on April 23 at 11 a.m. Pacific time. More information is available at www.quickbooksgroup.com/getbacktobusiness.

Survey Background and Methodology

Global Strategy Group, an independent, full-service market research firm, conducted the Get Back to Business Survey from March 7-11, sampling 751 small business owners with less than 100 employees. Respondents accessed the survey via Global Strategy Group's online system. A summary of the survey findings is available at www.quickbooksgroup.com/getbacktobusiness.

You will love this one. Our brothers and sister at Turbo tax have come up with some interesting findings -- about procrastinates the most at Tax time.

The following list includes the TOP 10 TAC PPROCRASTINATING CITIES IN AMERICA determined by the number of tax returns electronically filed online via the TurboTax Online service from April 14-April 17, 2007 (previous year ranking in parenthesis):

    
1. Chicago, Ill. – (#2) – Chicago is the "Second City" no more as it takes the top spot for the first time in the seven years the list has been compiled.     
2. New York, N.Y. – (#5) – After procrastinating less last year, the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple takes its toll on taxpayers as NYC climbs back up the list to rank at Number 2. The Giants may be number one in pro football, but New York is second on our list of late filers.     
3. Houston, Texas – (#1) – Houstonians have topped our list more than any other city (three times) but must have tired of being the top procrastinators. Progress is progress and Houstonians drop two spots this year.     
4. Austin, Texas – (#4) – Austin continues to procrastinate as they lock up the fourth spot for the second straight year. One of the fastest growing cities in America, Austin may be too busy to worry about taxes until the deadline forces them to.     
5. San Francisco, Calif. – (#5) – The City by the Bay held steady in the fifth slot for the second straight year. In a year that saw the home run record fall to Barry Bonds, taxpayers in San Francisco waited until they had a full count to take a swing at doing their taxes.     
6. San Diego, Calif. – (#6) – The home of the 2008 U.S. Open, and home to TurboTax, San Diego dropped to sixth last year and is there yet again. After topping the list two years ago, San Diegans are relaxed in the sixth place.     
7. Seattle, Wash. – (#8) – Grunge may have gone the way of disco, but Seattle residents continue to live a laid back lifestyle and are still late with filing their tax returns. The Emerald City jumps one spot this year.     
8. Las Vegas, Nev. – (#11) – Making its return to the list after a two-year absence is the jewel of southern Nevada, Las Vegas.     
9. San Antonio, Texas – (#7) – Settled first in 1731, San Antonio ranks as one of America's oldest cities. Despite its age, the home of the Alamo is steeped in today as its residents use the power of online tax prep to file at the last minute.     
10. Los Angeles, Calif. – (#12) – Apparently Los Angelinos were busy chasing Britney Spears all over town and waited until the deadline to file their taxes. At least they didn't let the forlorn Britney file their taxes for them.

Dropped Out: San Jose, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.

Procrastinating Cities Fast Facts:

    
• California and Texas tied for the lead on the list with the most cities totaling three each.     
• Eight of the top 10 cities are west of the Mississippi River.

Extended List 11-20

    
• 11. Dallas, Texas     
• 12. San Jose, Calif.     
• 13. Phoenix, Ariz.     
• 14. Brooklyn, N.Y.     
• 15. Denver, Col.     
• 16. Atlanta, Ga.     
• 17. Washington, D.C.     
• 18. Portland, Ore.     
• 19. Orlando, Fla.     
• 20. Jacksonville, Fla.

While the residents of these Top 10 cities may be "tax procrastinators," they've also learned what millions of Americans learn every year – preparing and filing taxes online using the TurboTax Online service is fast, easy and convenient. Why wait in line for hours at the tax store or local post office when you can file your last-minute tax return from the comfort of your own home?

Take the survey
and let us know if you prefer a forums / discussion thread format or a Question and Answer format

Since I consider us 'all in this together,' I want to share some more info with you. We are looking at leveraging a new technology that the TurboTax has developed, which is similar to Yahoo! Answers. I know that this is a busy time for all of you (cause Tax season is here), but it would be great if you can go to the TurboTax site and play with their new technology.

You can find it at https://ttlc.intuit.com/app/full_page

Some of the questions we are thinking about are:
- Do we keep forums, but also offer the TurboTax Answers format
- Do we just go all out to the TurboTax Answers format
- Is there another format we should consider


Take the survey and let us know if you prefer a forums / discussion thread format or a Question and Answer format