4 Practices That Can Ruin Your QuickBooks Hosting Experience

Cloud hosting or Cloud computing, in general, has changed the tech world for better. Introducing features like remote accessibility and super reasonable setup costs, to name a few have made cloud computing the choice of many. You must have ended up here when searching for precautions to take when narrowing down to QuickBooks hosting. QuickBooks is a leader in the small and medium-size business accounting software line up, as it offers notable assistance to accountants and enhances their capabilities with cloud-based hosting. There are some very vital practices where you just can't afford to go wrong. In case you do end up making such mistakes, you will not be able to take full advantage of the QuickBooks hosting experience.

Let us now see some of the practices that can restrict users from extracting the fullest out of QuickBooks Hosting:

Ending up choosing the wrong QuickBooks version

Intuit offers several QuickBooks versions, such as Pro, Premier, Enterprise, etc. Each of them have been targeted to a specific user and a particular kind of business. Each of these versions has its own merits and features to serve the needs of the user.

When it comes to hosting, sometimes it happens that the users tend to ignore or forgo the importance of analyzing and choosing the correct version and specifications of the software that would fit apt for their particular business. At times, due to the lack of proper analysis and research, users might end up picking the wrong version, and hence, the user experience isn't delivered to its full potential.

QuickBooks hosted on the cloud is full of features, but one has to be careful and vigilant while choosing, because basic features of QuickBooks, such as built-in forms, tracking manager, sales forecast are available only with specific versions.

Improper Allocation of resources

Storing on the cloud is like having your data on implicit hardware that is constructed of virtual CPU, RAM, and storage. All of these resources cumulatively sum up and act as the decisive factor for the overall performance and experience you get out of your hosted application. When targeting efficient results, it is imperative to have adequate system resources up and about in action. Some users do end up neglecting this fact which leads to having either scarcity of resources or an overflow. Improper need to supply ration will cause a beating onto the final performance and output of the hosted application, thus disrupting the overall process. Ending up with an abundance of resources will end up burning a hole in the pocket, and the scanty resource situation will hinder the business process. So, as a user, you should put in serious efforts while calculating the required resources for your QuickBooks hosting purposes.

Not deciding on the right Add-on

QuickBooks is quite a standard and profoundly used accounting software that proves to be of great help to accountants, CPAs. However, we know that any app or software is created targetting a particular task, and it excels in the said task, but as users, you have an array of quite diverse needs, and hence adding on other apps to the main software is what users end up doing mostly. Tasks such as shipping, inventory, and data security need add on apps to be integrated with QuickBooks. Now, if you end up choosing the wrong or inefficient add-on for the process, you won't even be able to enjoy QuickBooks to the fullest.

Settling for an unsatisfactory hosting service provider

The quality of service that a hosting provider delivers acts as a major decisive factor for the kind of experience that you're going to have with the chosen software. A hosting service provider is responsible for a lot of domains such as customer support, server uptime, scalability, privacy & backup assurance, data center maintenance, etc. Now along with these, the factor that is also very important which should be considered is, the experience that the said hosting provider has in hosting QuickBooks on the cloud. If you end up opting for such a hosting provider that is a novice to this industry or doesn't have an established history in handling customer traffic, then you might be putting a lot on stake.

Conclusion

Having read all along, one thing that must have occurred to you is, QuickBooks alone is not the determining factor for how the entire accounting process turns out to be. There are several other factors, and we hope this article would have helped you get to know about some of them. It is crucial that as a user, you're vigilant, instantaneous, and analytical when choosing or investing for your business resources.

How to Move Your Accounting Practice to the Cloud?

The traditional accounting system was all about recording transactions on paper and maintaining heavy binders, only to go through piles of them later to find a particular entry. The process, needless to say, was extensive, time-consuming, and sometimes (or usually) mind-numbing. Thanks to computers getting cheap and the advent of the cloud, such as solutions like QuickBooks hosting, traditional accounting firms have been able to modernize themselves and earn major profits as well.

However, this was not always the case. Accountants and bookkeepers have always been divided whenever it came to adopting new technology. While some accountants believe in enhancing productivity by introducing innovation in their day-to-day practice, there are others who are not-so-happy when changes happen. 

The Current Accounting Scene 

The current accounting scenario seems to be more in favor of technology. Nearly every accounting firm is in some way utilizing and exploiting the functionality and utility that comes with the cloud. So, it is about time that firms still operating traditionally move their CPA practice to the cloud. 

How to Move An Accounting Firm to the Cloud? 

Choose The Right Type of Cloud 

There are three types of cloud to choose from- public, private, and hybrid. You need to understand the types in detail before you decide which one suits your needs the best. Each type of cloud has its own set of pros and cons, and only one of the three will be the most suitable for your business. If your primary concern is security and not pricing, you can simply go for a private cloud environment. However, if you are looking for a cloud solution that is more affordable, then a public cloud can do too.

Several cloud vendors are available out there for you to choose from. But, if you feel overwhelmed with the variety of options, find providers who offer a free trial to help you decide better. Taking a trial run in the cloud before making your final call gives you a first-hand understanding of how the cloud works.  

Pick The Right Hosting Provider Who Can Help You Move Forward

The right cloud services provider helps businesses fulfill their need for more efficiency. Firms have this constant need to keep moving forward and the right type of technology becomes imperative to make it happen. To ensure you have found the right technology partner for your firm, you can ask some questions from your cloud services provider. For instance,

‘Do you have prior experience in hosting the software?

‘How will you help strengthen my business process with your services?’

‘What is your strategy for dealing with server downtime, security threats, and other risks?’

‘Which other software do you host?’, etc.

Most entrepreneurs hesitate from asking the right questions from their vendors. However, the best thing to do is to ask as many questions as possible and have all your queries answered before you go on board with your hosting plans with them. 

Give Your Employees Enough Reason to Come On Board

Introducing a change in the day-to-day process can and will affect you, your employees, and everyone else who is a part of your firm. The good thing to do before introducing the cloud into your process is to talk to your employees. Try to explain to them why the need for a change in the technology is felt, how the cloud will benefit you, and how can they learn to work on the latest technology without struggling. 

Employees work better when they know that what they are doing will bring out good results. Finding the encouragement to learn new technology will, thus, help improve their performance. If you are new too, you can conduct training at your workplace so everyone can learn together and be on the same page.

Identify Your Future Business Goals 

There is a list of questions that the business owners must ask themselves before adopting or introducing a new technology in their business process, such as

‘Is this change sustainable?’

‘Will it help my firm grow in the long run?’

‘Will I still want to run the same business ten years from now?’

‘What are my plans for the future?’

‘Will I still have the same demand for my product/service five years from now?’

The ideal technology change will address your current as well as future business needs. The cloud, however, is highly scalable. So, business owners who are planning to expand in the future can rest assured with their decision of migrating to the cloud. 

In Conclusion: The Cloud Is The Solution

No matter how big or small a business is, it cannot do without the cloud now. To stay ahead in the competition and survive in the ever-growing market, accounting firms have to introduce the cloud system at some point. Not only is the cloud platform more secure, but it is also astonishingly fast. It is high time for firms to do away with the fears and train their employees to work on cloud-based accounting software such as QuickBooks Enterprise hosting. Only then they can expect accelerated growth in their respective fields. 

Why Sage 300 Users Need Cloud Hosting?

It is not unusual for companies to spend a considerable part of their budget to secure the business data and to automate the business operations. One of the primary examples of automation is Sage 300 ERP, one of the trusted enterprise management and accounting applications, for small and medium-sized businesses. Sage 300 is indeed a comprehensive application that lets you manage your business efficiently. 

However, technology will always evolve and so the need to adopt it. To accessories your favorite Sage 300 software, one can migrate to the cloud. Mobile accessibility, 24X7 available IT support, high security, collaboration efficiency, and flexibility, the cloud provides all reasons to make the shift of desktop version to Sage 300 Cloud. Well, despite its usability, many still don’t know about it, and if you are one of them, then, you should surely know about this much-needed technology for small and medium-sized businesses. 

Why Your Business Needs the Cloud?

The Cloud provides on-demand availability of business resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet. Therefore, with the cloud, any authorized user can access the business data with the help of a web-enabled device. Furthermore, Sage 300 Cloud, enables its users to connect with the 24X7 available IT experts of the cloud vendor, without paying an extra penny.

Here we will learn, why Sage 300 users are heading to the cloud?

Cloud Technology is Faster and Secure 

The cloud provides a world-class technology on the superfast servers to small and medium-sized businesses, that they may find it to afford to adopt in-house infrastructure. Most of the cloud maintain their data on different locations on the established web interface, to avoid any unforeseen situation of losing data. The cloud technology runs at a very faster rate and will be up and running without any disruption. Furthermore, storing data in the cloud is comparatively safer than the physical servers and data centers, as they are vulnerable to many external and internal problems, natural or man-made disasters and many other unforeseen problems.

Ease in Collaboration

For businesses, it is inherently essential to find new ways to boost collaboration by improving the individual and team’s performance. With the help of cloud technology, businesses can easily share documents and can work seamlessly on a given project, from different locations. Team members can get real-time updates from other team-mates, and hence can eliminate any types of hassles caused due to misinformation and lack of information. Therefore, the cloud helps companies to enhance work productivity and considerably reduce the chances of data losses. 

No Need to Invest in Backup Plan

Unlike the traditional methods of saving data on the desktop, most of the cloud vendor provides a secured platform with 99.99% guaranteed up-time that ensures that you will not lose access to your data, even at the time of disasters. Therefore, with Sage 300 cloud hosting, users get a watertight secure network to work on, and they will no longer have to back up their data manually, and all data will be automatically and regularly backed-up on the secured cloud. So, with cloud technology, all you have to do is to focus on your core businesses without worrying about your data and its security. 

Flexibility and Scalability 

One of the celebrated features of Sage 300 cloud is of flexibility that comes with it. With the cloud, any authorized user with the login-id, password and web-enabled device can access the data from any remote corner of the world. With the cloud, you no longer have to keep yourself stick with your office, to complete the work you are assigned for. 

Furthermore, you just have to pay what you need, without shedding a single penny in vain, as the cloud provides pay-as-you-go plans that you can choose according to your respective increasing or decreasing business needs. So, you can easily go with the limited in-house infrastructure and can also hire employees to work-from-home, to reduce the on-premise expenses.  

Inference 

From seamlessly improving productivity by providing a common and flexible network to work on, scalable resources, without any need to have a back-up plan to providing a fast and secure platform, the cloud provides all reason to shift on it.  

Learn How Smart Accountancy Can Update Your Marketing Strategy

There are a lot of factors that affect the growth of a business. Cash flow and Marketing are two major components that a company needs to be efficient in. Marketing needs resources and they come when we are efficiently able to manage our accounts. Thus, accounting plays a major role in a company’s growth.  A smart accountancy software like QuickBooks when hosted on cloud provides an ingenious solution for professionals. QuickBooks Pro Hosting has a huge number of benefits including remote access from anywhere in the world. This significantly helps the new age business persons to gain a competitive edge over their competitors.

Marketing of your products or services gets you new leads, and leads get payments. Some businesses may choose to hire professional firms to plan their marketing strategies, and others might employ people to build their own marketing team. In both cases, marketing and brand building needs finances and other resources. There can be a lot of reasons why marketing strategies may not work. In this era of digitalization, more businesses are moving away from traditional marketing practices and going for methods better suited for the online platform.

Traditional marketing fails

The time of printing flyers and radio or television advertisements for your small business is going obsolete. Consumers don’t store flyers or note down numbers from advertisements. They will search for the services or product they want on the internet. Thus, being active online is crucial. Your marketing strategy should focus on spending your resources to get your company visible on the online platform.

How can your accountant help?

Accountants keep track of your company’s cash flow and finances. All incoming and outgoing of cash, payments, taxes, confidential information are known to your accountant on your business’s financial health. They may have an opinion on your expenditure too. Thus, a healthy relationship between business owner and accountant can be of help.

Most of your annual budget, other than salaries, often goes towards marketing strategies. Your accountant must know if you’re budgeting wisely. If an accountancy firm handles your finances, they can give you an insight on how to manage your finances and strategies more efficiently. The accountancy firm can probably easily tell you if your marketing expenditure is unjustified.

Revision of Marketing Strategy

If your company is not doing well, it does not mean that you should spend more on marketing. It might be time to change your approach or strategies. Your accountant can provide you with some valuable information on how the company could divert some of its marketing budget towards some more modern strategies that can ultimately generate new leads.

Small businesses should take into consideration their online presence and how many people their website is reaching. Today’s digital consumers want high-quality websites and informative content.

Using a smart accounting software like QuickBooks lets you analyze your data and calculate metrics of growth quickly and without much human effort. The software, when hosted on the cloud, provides an amazing opportunity to cash in benefits of cloud platform with features of the smart software. QuickBooks by Intuit is one of the most popular applications among CPAs and accounting professionals.

Guide For CPAs To Deliver Value While Reporting Non-Financial Data

The constant evolution and changes in tax reforms and accounting platform are bound to create a stir with numerous questions. It is not a secret that the accounting landscape is shifting, bringing about new challenges and opportunities for individuals and business owners. Also, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence are the talks of the town, and CPAs must keep an eye open for these upcoming trends in 2018. Use of technology, with the latest version of accounting applications, is crucial and a huge help. QuickBooks in the cloud is a smart way to track cash flow and stay on top of finances from anywhere, anytime.

The new practice of bringing in fresh talent into business and the need for reliable information for stakeholders has increased in importance. It presents a challenge and an opportunity for accounting professionals as many skills, especially of quantifying data, are in huge demand. The need of the hour is to understand that, while the financial data in numbers show the progress of a company, the non-financial data and the efficient management of resources is what drives that result.

Below is a list of few pointers that CPAs must consider before non-financial data reporting.

1. What matters to stakeholders.

Every business has a different set of requirements, so it is essential to understand what stakeholders need. Whether it is client information, compliance reports, or return on business development projects. Figure out what they need and make the non-financial information understandable accordingly. Use your accounting application service, like QuickBooks Cloud Hosting, to keep track of all things essential.

2. Do not lose focus of critical data.

While dealing with daily operations, cash flow and keeping a company running, it is easy to forget the non-financial aspects of the business which are equally important. It is the CPAs job to keep this in conversation and help the management team of the company to run the business better. This increases your value to the company as well.

3. Setting up goals.

A major issue with non-financial data is that there are no numbers to set a target for growth. Work with your team and other teams together to set up goals that can be integrated with final decision making. This may seem like a problematic task at first, but the approach will get the process started to attain the right balance between financial and non-financial tasks.

4. Communication with stakeholders.

It is very important to create a channel of communication with stakeholders of the company so that you can convey your findings directly to the decision makers. Your data analysis is important, and they will know your value to the management only if you are proactive in delivering it to them. Leverage your background and experience to create non-financial reports and present to valuable members of the organization.

The accounting landscape is evolving with technology developments, which brings out numerous challenges and opportunities for accounting professionals. Non-financial reporting is an area that may not have caught your attention before, but utilizing it can certainly help in your way forward.

4 Reasons Why You Need ProSeries Hosting

ProSeries is quite a popular tax solution for all tax professionals across the world. Apart from the e-filing of taxes, it also offers troubleshooting to correct errors, accesses various business forms like 1120, 706, etc. In a survey conducted by Tax Adviser, ProSeries users voted its easy to use factor as the topmost reason for sticking to this software. ProSeries, developed by Intuit; proves to be a convenient tool for tax preparers. The whole experience of this already excellent software can be enhanced by taking ProSeries hosting to the cloud.  Cloud hosting adds to the features of  ProSeries with added mobility, flexibility, and scalability, along with added data protection via encryption and backup.

Let us look into the reason why you should switch to ProSeries hosting now!

Anywhere anytime access

Having ProSeries on the cloud, you have the ease of accessing your software from literally anywhere! Be it your house, a park, a cafe maybe, anywhere at any time of the day you have your entire work-spread and your data with you. Having the provision of being able to work remotely comes with many added perks like being able to maintain a work-life balance, alleviating the stress of a commute, and overall schedule flexibility. You can vamoose your worry of physically being present at meetings or seminars as your software would always be available across all smart devices, and just a single tap away. As the software is hosted on the cloud, it doesn’t require any installation on the local device.

Advanced Security

Every professional yearns a secure environment for their tax transactions. The tax filing process involves the processing of highly confidential information of the clients. Even a minor data breach can have calamitic effects.

Most of the cloud hosting providers implement high-security standards and deploy advanced security practices like multiple firewalls  Intrusion Detection (IDS) and Intrusion Protection System (IPS), multi-factor authentication, and 256-bit data encryption among others. With indemnities like multi-level access authentication and redundant hardware, your data is kept secure against safe from unauthorized users and ransomware attacks. All these security measures might seem gigantic when heard of, which they indeed are,  but with cloud hosting, they are easily accessible and at very reasonable rates. 

Multi-user Collaboration

Having ProSeries hosted on the cloud gives the power of collaborative working and enables multiple users to collaborate on one said task, or on multiple projects at once. It also enables document sharing across users and lets you collaborate with them to request access to specific files. One could not have been able to have taken benefits of this feature, had they not hosted their software to the cloud, as it is not possible in local infrastructure.

Cost-Effective Process

In today’s trend dynamic and competitive industry, it’s not just enough to be pocket-friendly, but a product needs to be equally cost-effective as well. Every consumer out there is now smart enough to analyze the features or usage they are getting out of a product against the price that they’re paying for it. So to withstand the market trends, being cost-effective is pretty much a mandate now, and ProSeries cloud hosting, you get just that. The cloud hosting providers offer you services and features as per your requirement. With the majority of hosting providers, you have the facility to pay as per your usage, so you end up paying only for services that you use. You also have the provision to upgrade or downgrade the plan at any time. With the software being hosted on the cloud there is almost negligent hardware upkeep and maintenance cost. 

A genuine word of conclusion

We know, that as diligent tax professionals you have your hands full with loads of documents and numbers to crunch during the tax season. ProSeries is one such software, that would significantly help ease your work. With cloud hosting, you’d get an added benefit of having this very important tax data of yours on you round the clock, and hence you can accomplish your task well in time for meeting deadlines. Geographical location no longer remains as a restraint when it comes to seamless, uninterrupted business, remote access with cloud hosting is the perfect solution to it. It helps you save time, extra efforts and of course cash.  To sum it up, hosting ProSeries on the cloud is the perfect answer for all your queries cropping up this tax season. 

Why QuickBooks Hosting Is A Complicated Process For Most Of The Businesses?

The era of modernizing is the real world where most of the businesses are seeking flexible frameworks & reliable innovations for their progress. Where most of the accounting industries are amazed by innovations like cloud computing & online working portals, a majority of users residing in the same industry aren’t aware of its complexities. For already accessing users of Intuit’s QuickBooks desktop editions, integrating data to web-based software approach seems to be one of the most exquisite options for excelling in the marketplace.

Fortunately, the cloud-based QuickBooks give ease-of-accessing data over cloud network, ease-of-operating files from any device & OS and ease-of-collaborating with team members from anyplace & at any time but still lacks many features that are required by a QuickBooks desktop edition user. In order to host QuickBooks desktop edition to cloud network, an authentic hosting provider is a must who installs & manages software & company’s data files on their cloud-based servers.

It is true that user will no longer need to install QuickBooks software on their PC, as the Internet is enough to access both, software & data files on server’s cloud network. Though, after having this much ease, the user still needs the initial underlying technologies i.e. Windows on the local machine & QuickBooks software.

Distinct From True SaaS or Cloud-based Application Approach!!

QuickBooks hosting is somehow a different approach from that of SaaS or cloud-based based applications. SaaS, Software as a Service is a web-based application solution or model where a single application and data framework is available which serves almost all users. For particular software, the web-based application can be taken as a service and the exact infrastructure in support is hidden from the user. On the other hand, hosted QuickBooks service works with its initial QuickBooks desktop editions as designed by Intuit. So the initial requirements including the PC-based installation of software, deployment of the application as per user & consumption of more resources will be still there with the cloud-based hosting approach.

Eventually, SaaS is a cost-efficient architecture for users in which functionalities like system redundancy and fault tolerance are inbuilt in the solution itself. Whereas hosted QuickBooks approach is comparatively higher and offers complexity to its users.

Choosing The Right & Wise Move For Your Business!!

Users who are considering shifting from locally-installed QuickBooks to hosted QuickBooks desktop editions as a wise move might fall abruptly if continues without embracing the right volume of knowledge. Yes, that’s true! The shifting is proving beneficial for most of the businesses but only for as long as they aren't getting aware of technologies like SaaS. Usually, for both small-sized & medium-sized businesses, it is advisory to cognize the depth of perks before fascinating with the width of features.

There are numerous other perspectives which are predicting the concept of hosted with QuickBooks hosting application. Due to which complicating the process of being a web-based cloud network business.

1. Issue Of Licensing

Licensing is the hardest task to convey by any third party service providers as installing the authentic software licensing level & give proper set-up to multiple levels of software asks preciseness which is somehow difficult to offer by all. Many times the service provider implements the same procedure in order to fulfill the installation process and doesn’t focus on a particular business needs which provide generic setup to each user unwittingly.

 2.  Verdict Of Third Party Applications

Intuit itself checks each company before allowing them to offer hosting services to QuickBooks users. The companies are thus authentic to Intuit and are often known as third party service providers in the market. It is mandatory to evaluate the risks that might conquer while integrating your business data with any hosting provider. The risks are majorly confronting the users only when platforms and hosting software aren’t fully licensed.

3.  Maze of Multiple User Performance & Number of Servers 

Initially, the QuickBooks desktop version wasn’t designed to run by multiple users over single PC until the presence of QuickBooks hosting comes in the notice. Many times while working on the same cloud-network it is quite hard for multi-users to get their command done as less availability of command-handler makes the workability strict and thus takes much time to complete the task. Hosting provider, in order to solve the scenario, allows more server to the same number of users being in the working environment- which subsequently make the task delivery process complex & expensive.

So these three main practices that mostly become complications for third-party hosting providers are the reason making QuickBooks hosting a complex process for most of the businesses. The integration goes inflow until the user itself get acknowledged with any scarcity of provider. But once the user gets to know his worth, he finds the whole process complicated. 

ProSeries Tax Software Hosting: The One-Stop Solution for All Your Tax Filing Needs

ProSeries tax software hosting is a cloud-based solution designed for tax preparers and accountants to help them to file fast and error-free tax returns. ProSeries cloud hosting helps to save time by providing round-the-clock access to your company data and seamless collaboration with the clients.

Now, let’s understand how ProSeries will help you to complete your tax transactions seamlessly:

Light on Pocket

From the pay-as-you-go pricing policy to the flexibility to scale up and down based on the respective needs of businesses to providing incessant IT access to solve IT-related issues, hosting provides many reasons to celebrate cost-effectiveness. It reduces the company’s expenses by providing extraordinary features at a reasonable cost.

Moreover, the cloud also lessens the business expenses by reducing the needs of establishing an in-house infrastructure as your information will be stored on remote data centers and you no longer have to keep your data on your desktop. Therefore no wastage of resources, effort, and capital.

Easy Integration with Add-Ons

With the cloud, you can host a number of software to fulfill the customized needs of your business. Add-ons such as ProSeries forms library, ProSeries document management systems, ProSeries Clients manager, etc. will not only assist you to satisfy the specialized needs of your business but will also assist you to import data from the add-on to ProSeries software. Additionally, with this, you no longer have to enter your data at multiple places, and therefore you can save your time, expenses, and resources at the same time. With the enhanced data connectivity and sharability, it makes multi-state tax preparation seamlessly easy.

Ease of Work 

ProSeries hosting is all about making the usability of your favorite software to the fullest. With the cloud, you can access your data from any remote corner of the world, at any time, with the help of a user-id, password, and device with the internet. The highlighting perk of the cloud is flexibility i.e. you will no longer have to stay stuck to the desk to get the work done. Therefore, you can handle the workload and be available for friends and family and balance out the work-personal life easily without having to choose one and compromise the other.

Scalable Resources 

With the cloud, companies can easily recruit an outsourced or remote workforce which will save the cost of in-house infrastructure and can acquire mobile resources in case of high work pressure. On the other side, hiring physical infrastructure during peak demand could be very hectic and expensive at the same time. Therefore, it helps to complete the work seamlessly and smartly by providing competent, effective, and easy-to-use solutions to its users. It also helps to complete other associated areas of tax filing such as consultation, collection of data, obtaining information, and other related tasks easily and efficiently.

More Security to Your Data

At times, tax preparation seems like an endless process that involves a considerable amount of data, endless list of forms and invoices, etc. Managing such a large amount of data on the local system could be risky due to the threat of data theft, mismanagement of physical documents, and therefore may cost you a huge amount of money. However, by migrating to the cloud, you can make your hectic tax filing far easier. On the cloud, your data will be saved in an encrypted form and is protected under multiple layers of other security measures as well.

Conclusion

From easy data management, accessibility to work on your files from any remote corner of the world, at any time, at your own comfort to guaranteed up-time, ProSeries Tax software provides a one-stop solution to its users. Migrating to the cloud is all you need to ease the tax filing and minimize the tax filing stress.

The result is more tax return prepared in less time with the ProSeries Tax application hosting, enhanced performance, and competitiveness.

8 Ways of Making The Most Out of Your QuickBooks Accounting Software

Years ago, small and medium-sized businesses adopted modern ways of handling their accounts with smart and productive software solutions, such as QuickBooks hosting.  So, if you are one of those entrepreneurs who are using QuickBooks desktop accounting software to manage their business finances then this writeup is for you. Several QuickBooks users have agreed that they can do better with their accounting software but they lack adequate knowledge of the features the software comes with. Although, if guided properly, anyone can use QuickBooks to its full potential.   

So, here is a compilation of some of the tips that can help you to get the most out of your QuickBooks accounting software:

You Can Set Your Preferences 

At this very moment, several businesses are using QuickBooks for managing their business finances. However, the needs of one particular business are not the same as the others. So, as a QuickBooks user, you need to set your company preferences and modify the software to get the desired structure of data and reports. There are features that you may or may not need and you need to select them accordingly.  

You Can Group Your Costs 

While running a business, you will often need information on costs for better decision making. By building your chart of accounts, you can group the costs based on the business function so you can get a concise view when needed. 

Get Your QuickBooks On The Move

One of the most attractive features of QuickBooks is that the software is cloud-friendly. QuickBooks cloud hosting is one accounting solution that has revamped the way CPAs, business owners, and individuals have been handling their business accounts. It allows SMBs to manage accounts in-house, without needing recurring help from an accounting professional. And, for those who travel frequently, QuickBooks on the cloud gives you just the freedom they need. 

Have Unique Vendor Names? Well, That’s Allowed On QuickBooks

With QuickBooks, you can create different vendor names for different clients so you can simply enter the name and quickly fetch the cost assignments. The best part about this feature is that while making payments, QuickBooks will still use the client’s formal name. 

Customize Reports Just As You Like Them

You may be creating reports for multiple departments in your firm and every department places out their own needs and formats for the reports they need. It can get confusing for an individual to remember every minor detail and when you are fluent with every feature in QuickBooks, you can learn to customize every report depending upon what is needed. 

Monitor Your Employees Directly

You can create different accounts on QuickBooks to monitor different aspects of your firm. For instance, you can create a ‘payroll’ account for your employees and calculate every employee’s overtime, attendance, etc. to calculate the costs directly. 

The ‘HELP’ Feature is Quite Helpful Too

There are certain Help features on QuickBooks interface which will help clear multiple doubts and tell you ‘how to..’ perform certain steps. There are several QuickBooks shortcuts as well which can simplify navigation for you on the QuickBooks software and save time. However, if you have your QuickBooks on the cloud, you can seek help from the support team provided by your cloud vendor. 

The ‘FIND’ Option Is There For A Reason

The Find button on your QuickBooks software can save the day when you are in a hurry. Finding a particular piece of information or an invoice on your QuickBooks software can be tiresome, tedious, and especially frustrating when you are under a lot of pressure. Make good use of the Find button to quickly find what you are looking for instead of going through the entire set of data. 

Wrapping Up

Using the desktop QuickBooks accounting software is one of the best decisions a small or medium-sized business can make. It saves them money and time, both at the same time. Although a little help may be needed initially to get accustomed to the features and functionalities of the software. However, a great share of popularity is now enjoyed by the cloud-based QuickBooks. QuickBooks hosting is great for businesses running from multiple locations, for owners who are always on the go, and for employees who prefer a bit more flexibility in their work environment. It is easy on the pockets, the cloud vendor takes care of updation, security, and maintenance, and you end up with more mobility than you did before.

Avoid These 10 Common Bookkeeping Mistakes

As humans, we are all prone to making mistakes. But when it comes to handling finances for a business, there is no room for error. A small mistake, if not checked and corrected, can lead to wrong projections that will affect your business decisions. Using an automated software that helps check your calculations and keep you updated with the latest guidelines is a huge bonus. QuickBooks, the accounting software by Intuit has proven itself to be the top choice of CPAs and professionals. Cloud Hosting for QuickBooks software is a service that provides an ample amount of benefits at a comparatively lesser price.

Below is a list of common payroll and bookkeeping mistakes that small to medium-sized businesses tend to make.

1. Working alone

Small business owners try to handle everything themselves. There are many legalities and processes that you might not understand very well, and it is okay to ask for help rather than making a mistake on something as crucial as your accounts. Bookkeeping without proper knowledge can cause more stress and make costly errors.

2. Excluding Reimbursements

The exclusion of reimbursements wholly depends on the accountable plan where expenses will be refunded. This is only if a business connection is involved. All other reimbursements must be mentioned as they include taxable incomes.

3. Excluding Travel Expenses

Note that in most cases travel expenses are not counted as taxable income for an employee. There can be a few unique cases, like when assignments stretch for a longer duration, they can be subjected to income tax. 

4. Form 1099

It is important to keep in mind that Form 1099 should only be issued to independent contractors. It can also be issued for those vendors who supply more than $600 worth of services in your business. Failing to do so will result in penalties.

5. Classification Mistakes

If the finances in your business associate with only independent contractors and employees, it is crucial to choose the right classification. It involves different forms, 1099 and W-2, mixing them up can be a hassle. Some workers may even be held accountable for tax withholding.

6. Timely Deposits

If you fail to deposit the withheld taxes in a timely manner, it can lead to late fees and heavy penalties. These taxes must be deposited semi-weekly or monthly, with a required deposit on the next business day. Neglecting this can lead to more charges and 2 to 15 % interest on the amount.

7. Vendor Payments

Before making a payment to your vendor, make sure you have obtained Form W-9 requesting for the Identification Number and Certification of the taxpayer. If payment is made before that, your business could be charged with 28 per cent in payment for backup withholding.

8. Executive Income

Only certain oversights are eligible when it comes to executive income or compensation. It is not included in a non-qualified deferred compensation. It is a subject for an excise tax which should not be neglected.

9. Fringe Benefit Value

The list of taxable fringe benefits can include company cars, country club payments, travelling spouse, and also housing benefits. It can get tricky to calculate fringe benefit values, but they should be listed properly.

10. Not Including Employee Awards

If your employees are getting prizes as an award, those must be included in taxable fringe benefits. Gift cards are considered cash and should be listed under taxable wages.

Avoid unnecessary stress and penalties from the IRS. Keep in mind important points and stay wary of making mistakes that can cost. Use a reliable accounting software like QuickBooks to help maintain records and files.

How Drake Cloud Can Ensure Data Security?

Finances make the base of an organization, and financial documents and files are the most crucial set of information for a company that needs to be saved on a secure platform. You cannot risk the exposure of sensitive data and let it get into the hands of rival companies or cybercriminals. Which is why the tax software you use must also be accessed through a safe channel. Modern technology has given us the solution in the form of Drake cloud hosting, a smart way to keep up with your tax returns.

Client data of a company is confidential, and any level of uncertainty in terms of security of that data is unacceptable. A large number of data breaches have occurred in this past year, yet many companies have still not upgraded their security protocols. Thinking that it will not occur to them is naive. The consequences are monumental and can be fatal to the future of the company. Therefore, using cloud hosted Drake tax software is an ingenious approach which includes an encrypted platform and multi-factor authentication for access to the application.

Perks of Cloud Hosting

An experienced cloud vendor understands the requirements of an organization and hence provides an ideal solution tailored to industry-specific needs and meeting data-security standards. Now that your Drake account is not just on your local system, you and your employees can work simultaneously on the same data, from any remote location and any device.

Integration of the application to the cloud offers many advantages and services of the cloud provider. Choosing a Drake cloud services provider can be tricky, but it is extremely important to create a reliable partnership. The virtual server provided by a typical vendor is updated with latest firewalls and is regularly monitored by expert engineers who are available as a resource to clients. This and plenty more benefits together make cloud-hosted software a smart option.

Achieving More From The Software

Popular Tax applications like Drake are specifically designed to minimize the efforts and save valuable time of the tax filer. As the application automates multiple tasks and calculations with its tools and features, it becomes all the easier to work. With easy-to-use interface and simplicity of features, Drake has attained the level of global demand. But Drake cloud takes you one step ahead.

Drake on the cloud is a clever alternative that significantly lowers the trouble of managing multiple resources and increases business productivity. Hosting your software for a monthly rental and relieving yourself from the stress of security and hardware management is the need of the hour. Our modern entrepreneur does not want to be tied to a desk and work non-stop. Cloud gives you freedom and flexibility of resources which ultimately gives you more time to focus on important issues like business growth.

Thus, for matters as critical as data security, one should leave no stones unturned. With the advancement of technology, cloud integration acts as a smart solution. So, adopt Drake cloud in your work process and stay on top of the competition.

QuickBooks Hosting Vs Desktop Vs Online: A Comparative Study

Accounting is transforming and so are its techniques. Unlike seasonal professions, accounting is evergreen. Business and accounting go hand-in-hand and so does the need to adopt the best financial management solutions out of the lot.

Technology is evolving like never before and lately, a large number of businesses have been adopting automation to be on par with their competitors. According to a report, by 2020 around 78% of the businesses in the USA will adopt QuickBooks and other similar accounting solutions to streamline business management. Not only is it imperative to deploy technology into routine tasks, but it is also necessary to leverage the right one. 

Which Version of QuickBooks Is The Best?

QuickBooks is a desktop accounting software that has been in the market for almost two decades. Being an extremely popular accounting solution, QuickBooks has to its credit the largest share in the market for accounting software. And, the cherry on top is the fact that it can be hosted on the cloud as well. QuickBooks hosting, thus, has been a popular, attractive, and pocket-friendly solution for individuals, sole proprietors, CPAs, and professional accountants for the longest period of time. 

QuickBooks Online, however, came years later. Although it posed competition to QuickBooks hosting, the online version has its own shortcomings. So, how do you decide if your business needs QuickBooks Online or you need to relish the benefits of QuickBooks cloud hosting? Before we dive into the pros and cons, let’s understand what cloud hosting means.  

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing has become the essence of life. From uploading photos on your Facebook account to accessing your email inbox, all of it is saved on the cloud. Cloud computing is, thus, the ability to access your data from anywhere, at any place, and at any time. With the help of the cloud, we can perform our routine tasks by simply logging into our account via a valid id and password.  Cloud computing has revolutionized accounting by providing mobility, faster services, better security and a painless system of doing accounting. 

Versions of QuickBooks 

Business needs change depending upon their size and scalability. And, the best part of QuickBooks is that it comes with a variety of versions to fulfill the various business management needs of its users. So, before you choose your preferred version, it is recommended that you conduct quick research. The preeminent versions of QuickBooks hosting are:

• QuickBooks Pro
• QuickBooks Premier 
• QuickBooks Enterprise 

Now, let’s know about them one by one in brief:

QuickBooks Pro

QuickBooks Pro is a professional, office-based version designed to help those who have just stepped into the business world. It is an admired accounting software that can handle a slew of business-related responsibilities with ease, such as generating invoices,  tracking payments, managing accounts payables, and receivables, coordinating with clients, and managing payroll. 

QuickBooks Pro also comes with certain advanced features that include customer invoice status tracker, switching credits between jobs of the same customer, automatic data protection, and it is also easy to upgrade. 

QuickBooks Premier 

QuickBooks Premier is a robust accounting software that enables its users to pay bills, track expenses, track inventory, provide multi-user access, and helps to manage payroll and pay taxes. QuickBooks premier has five editions, namely Nonprofit, Contractor, Retail, Manufacturing & Wholesale and Professional Services. So, you can choose an edition of QuickBooks Premier according to your suitability and business type. 

QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Enterprise offers end-to-end finance and accounting solutions. It is suitable for small businesses that have outgrown and mid-sized businesses. helps to analyze data with the help of customizable reporting tools. QuickBooks Enterprise has various user-friendly features such as multi-user capability, more storage capacity, advanced inventory tracking, simultaneous user functionality and much more. 

QuickBooks Online VS QuickBooks Hosting 

QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based version of QuickBooks. Though the number of users of QuickBooks Online is swiftly increasing, hosting QuickBooks in the cloud is still preferred by many. Finding the right alternative is imperative from the point of view of performance, cost, and efficiency. So, before choosing the perfect solution for your business, it is advisable to understand in detail the features of QuickBooks Online as well as Hosting.  Let’s discuss them in detail: 

Table: QuickBooks Online VS QuickBooks Hosting 

The Final Decision

Taking the right decision at the right time for your business not only helps you to improve the effectiveness by improving the overall performance of the business process, but it will also assist you to get a competitive edge over your competitors. With the above list, it is evident that QuickBooks cloud hosting is comparatively more convenient, faster, secure and easy-to-use. Also, the benefits of QuickBooks hosting are not limited to the above list. So, if scalability, flexibility, and greater security are what you need, hosting QuickBooks on the cloud is the solution for you.

Hosting Lacerte Tax Software On The Cloud To Get Maximum benefits

The tax season is pretty unforgiving, to say the least. Tax professionals are always on the hunt for something innovative to help ease their tedious tasks. And, what better than having a cloud-based software that has all the benefits to ease out your tax blues and to give you uninterrupted access. Among the very many options available, Lacerte tax software covers a humungous customer base. Being equipped with features like automated returns calculations, direct access to a number of federal and state forms, and E-Signature makes it a preferred choice and a favored taxation tool of many professionals around the globe.

Being the best budget option, taking Lacerte on the cloud is quite an intelligent decision. Maintaining tax records and taking care of the small nuances is strenuous for the tax professionals and Lacerte cloud hosting easily takes care of it. When on the cloud, all that’s needed is an active internet connection to access your tax data anytime, anywhere. However, if you thought that solving the problem of tax record maintenance was the main purpose of Lacerte, then let us tell you that Lacerte hosting also helps to upkeep the client portal, enhances privacy, document storage, etc. 

Even though Lacerte is a meticulous software, the standalone or the basic desktop version allows only one person at a time to be able to access files and work on it. This limits productivity and makes it difficult to perform collaborative working with clients and colleagues. The desktop version lags in the security aspect of local storage due to which the chances of data loss increase. Maintaining backups is also a task to be worried about when using Lacerte’s desktop version because each individual user has a separate set of data and extracting it from different locations makes it difficult and time-consuming to have a regular backed up database. Having a desktop version always paces a limitation on the storage front, given that a large amount of sensitive data cannot be stored securely with the desktop owing to its limited space.

Here’s how taking Lacerte to the cloud proves to be a wise choice:

An even better form of the desktop version

All along we have been talking about, how good Lacerte is as a tax software for professionals, and how well it works around the tremendous workload of the tax and accounting professionals. Somethings just keep getting better, one such thing is Lacerte tax software on the cloud.  Hosting Lacerte on the cloud,  installs the software on the hosting provider’s server, instead of your local device, making it easily navigable and accessible with an active internet connection. This lets you have access to a full-featured version of Lacerte on the smartphone, laptop, desktop, etc. without actually having to install it on the device. Especially during the tax season with a pressing workload, deadlines that need to be met, Lacerte on the cloud is literally a blessing in disguise.

Proves to be way better for client interaction

Don't we already know that the whole tax filing process can be a pain to endure, with an endless number of forms, data, and calculations to keep in mind? It becomes a daunting task to tackle all the draining tax filings and returns and to exchange scattered bits of information among clients, bookkeepers, and accountants. More than efficiency, such multi-versed data exchange, ends up creating confusion. To avoid all this, you could just host Lacerte to the cloud and voila! All the concerned parties can get on board and work simultaneously. With it being accessed over the internet, everyone involved gets the ease of being located at different paces and still be able to use different devices based on different platforms. With more nimble teamwork, filing tax returns turns to be a rather simple process. If security is your concern, rest assured, with the cloud version of Lacerte, admins can manage the permissions for different users and track the changes made by each user.

Enhanced data reliability

Not enough can be written about how absolutely important data security is. Proper storage and upkeep of data are vital for the sound running of an organization. Having your information on the cloud sort of makes it indestructible as most of the leading hosting providers offer immaculate data backup systems and have top of the scale security regulations to ensure 100% reliability for the very vulnerable data that you entrust them with. There might be a number of issues arising when you limit your data to the desktop, like theft and device damaging to name a few. When you decide to upgrade your existing device or switch from one computer to another, data transfer becomes a challenge. Hosting your software on the cloud helps you remain on top of your backup and security game.

Wrapping up

Reading this might have made one thing pretty clear to you that Lacerte is diligent tax software. All that I wanted to convey is how your tax experience can be ameliorated when you take this software to the cloud. It helps save time, money, and best of all- increases productivity without having to incur extra labor charges. All in all, it is an intelligent choice keeping work efficiency in mind and I really hope, that having read this you will consider Lacerte cloud hosting.