Project tracking within your accounting software program is a great way to understand the cost of a project. It is fairly easy to set up and manage. Once set up, you track projects by attributing income and expenses to projects each time you enter them. Project tracking is not to be confused with ‘job costing’, which is a more complex function that includes the tracking of a job’s progress, timing, and other information; whereas project tracking deals mainly with the income and expense for a project. Here are the basics of project tracking, so you can decide if it’s the right thing for you to do for your business.

Setting up projects

If your accounting software includes the ability to track projects, you should be able to go into your setup options to create a new project and give it a name and/or an abbreviation. Make sure the name is easily recognizable, so it’s easy to identify during data entry. Keep in mind that you may actually have more than one project within a bigger project, so the name you give each project should reflect that. Otherwise, finding the right project can be confusing during data entry.

Assigning a project during transaction entry

Typically, once this is set up, a field within the transaction entry screen(s) will show you the projects you have available to choose from. Be sure to choose the correct project for that income or expense. If you forget to choose a project to associate with that transaction, most systems will let you edit the invoice afterward.

Getting reports by project

Most accounting systems will allow you to filter a variety of reports by project. Whether you are looking for a sales report, financial or general ledger report, use a filter within your report generation tool to include only the information that relates to your project. By filtering the reports this way, you won’t need to sort through loads of other information to get the information you are looking for.

When you are finished tracking a project and have all the information you need, many systems will allow you to mark that project inactive, keeping your list of projects to choose from accurate and easy to work with.

Once you set up and use project tracking, you might just be surprised how easy it is to keep track of even the smallest of projects. Keep in mind, that many systems also allow you to assign projects to your labor costs for a more accurate picture of complete project costs. Check your system today and give project tracking a try!

Sometimes we do something the same way for so long, that we don’t realize there is a much more efficient way to accomplish it. Even when we know there is something better, it’s hard to make the switch. Change can be hard. But if there is clearly a faster and more efficient way of getting your payroll done, you could save yourself wasted time and agony. Here are some of the top time wasters when it comes to payroll processing.

Double entry

If your employees are filling out a time sheet, and then you are taking that data and entering it by hand into a payroll system, you are double entering data. This not only wastes time, but leaves an additional margin for error. You can streamline that process by implementing an electronic time clock, where you pull in the hours electronically into your payroll system. Yes, there is an added expense for the time clock, but you will quickly recoup that expense with the time saved! You will wonder how you went so long without it.

Tracking employee leave time on a spreadsheet

A surprising number of people could use their payroll software to track employee leave time, but instead use a spreadsheet and manage the process manually. Maybe the thinking is that their leave calculations are too complex for software to compute or that the setup will take too long. Either way, it’s worth your time checking into whether your payroll software can handle your employee leave calculations. A good payroll system will be able to handle a variety of calculation methods and make the job of calculating leave a whole lot easier for you, and also maintain accuracy.

Troubleshooting problems on your own.

Yep, we are a payroll software company. So you might be thinking this is a plug for us, but it’s not. Far too many people think they can personally handle questions, problems and issues they are having with their payroll, when a payroll support team could easily help them resolve questions and issues much faster. So, no matter whose payroll software or service you are using, opt in for a support plan. Calling for help and getting your issue resolved right away will bring peace of mind, and may also stop the issue from snowballing and becoming worse!

Once you stop the payroll time wasters, payroll processing will go much more smoothly, and you can expect accuracy to be improved as well.

Learn why voiding checks is important within your accounting software, and also the general process for voiding checks.

A check should be voided if you still have the check in hand, and the check amount is incorrect, it was issued to the wrong vendor or bank, or the invoice should not have been paid. Once a check has been voided, a record of that transaction remains in the system. If you have already sent out the check, you should only void the check if they never received it, and you need to send a new one.

The void check function is used to cancel an existing payment transaction. If the check had been used to pay an invoice, then voiding that check will also reverse the payment for that invoice, returning it to an unpaid status. Once the open invoice has been restored, it will again display on the open invoices and vendor aging reports. If the original check was entered without applying it to open invoices, then the void process will also void the expense portion of the check.

If a check number had not previously been recorded, due to the check being destroyed before ever entering the system, you will have a gap in sequence numbers. If your business likes to account for all check numbers, it is good practice to record and void that check in your accounting software. That way you will not question the missing check number later on, as it will be accounted for within the system.

In most industries, and even non-business related activities, there are tools you can use to compare how you’re doing to some compilation of data from other similar ventures. While I believe comparative analysis is certainly something that should be considered, a more important measurement is how you are doing in your own world today and your individual trends over time.

I’ll share a few personal and business examples of average statistics that aren’t necessarily good numbers to shoot for. A golfer on the PGA tour usually puts a new ball in play every few holes of a golf tournament because he hits the ball with such power that he actually wears out the ball, while the average golfer should be able to play the same ball for at least a couple rounds. I, too, put a new ball in play every few holes, but it’s because I either hit something that scuffed it up, or it’s too deep in the woods or the pond to find. Don’t quote me on this because the facts may be a little fuzzy, but I once read an article that, on average, most serious private aircraft accidents happen when the pilot has around four hundred hours of flying experience. Of course, this is not a statistic that most pilots want to aspire to.

On the business side, there are industry measurements that a software company like Red Wing Software should spend about sixteen to eighteen percent of its budget on development. Again, that might be something worth measuring against, but we as a company need to look at our particular situation and determine if that is the right allocation for us. Another example would be comparing a particular business ratio against a specific industry benchmark. While that individual indicator might be way off, you should look at several indicators and determine if there is an anomaly in that one measurement and everything else is in line. It might be because of some significant difference in your particular business.

When doing business (or life) comparisons, make sure you look at all the facts that could affect the validity of the measurements, and make appropriate decisions. I personally prefer to look at trends and make certain they are headed in a positive direction. I’m down to about five new golf balls per eighteen-hole round.

Here are some useful post season tax tips for business owners by FoxBusiness.com!

http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/finance-accounting/2012/04/27/post-tax-season-tips-for-business-owners/

We recently conducted a survey to learn more about what business people experience when switching from one accounting software program to another. Of the respondents who had made the decision to switch software, 66% of them said they did so because they needed more advanced features. At Red Wing Software, we do find many customers need more robust features that can handle their accounting in a way that helps their business run more smoothly. Here are some of the most common features companies begin to need as they grow.

Manage multiple companies

Many of the basic accounting software programs put a limit in the number of companies/entities you can have and manage in your accounting software. This is fine at first, but as you grow, you may add companies and may want to manage and track their financial information separately. Many of these customers turn to Red Wing Software since our products offer the ability to set up and manage unlimited companies/entities. The ability to do reporting for one, all, or a combination of your companies which is often not found in more basic products , is another feature offered by Red Wing Software products.

Increased data capacity

If your system is getting bogged down, running slowly, crashing often, or simply performing poorly, you may be reaching that system’s data capacity. This is typical of basic systems after you have used them for some time. Many things can contribute to filling up a system’s data capacity: the number of transactions, inventory items, or even the amount of history stored in the system. Most basic systems place a finite limit on capacity of those items, cutting you off abruptly once that limit is reached. (For instance, you can only enter 20,000 inventory items or two years of history, etc.) Red Wing Software offers products that have unlimited storage capacity, where a finite number is not placed as a limit on any of those items. (Note: Please keep in mind that, although no finite limit is placed, hardware capacity may be reached someday, if used for long enough.)

Better/custom reporting

What good is an accounting software system if you cannot pull out the information you want and need? The profitability of your business depends on it. Whatever information you were able to pull out at the start may not be enough for you, the management team, or third parties, such as banks, who are requesting information from you. The inability to get information the way you want or need it is a good sign you need a better accounting software program. Red Wing Software products do offer a wide range of standard reports, and also the ability to add, remove, and move around fields of information on reports. You can also name and save your reports in a list of favorites so they are easily accessible when you need them!

These are some of the most popular reasons we find companies turning to Red Wing Software products as they outgrow their older, more basic accounting software. There is a long list of reasons businesses outgrow their accounting software, and surely your reasons are unique. If you have outgrown your software and need something new, give us a call at 800-732-9464 or e-mail info@redwingsoftware.com.

With the constant growth in technology, many business processes are becoming more streamlined. Payroll processing that used to be done over several days with paper and pencil can now be done in minutes with the right software. Since the inception of companies using payroll software to process payroll and write checks, even more tools have become available to make the process easier, more accurate, and more efficient. Here is a list of today’s must-have payroll software tools for a business to improve payroll processes.

1. Direct Deposit: This tool allows a business to transmit pay data electronically directly into employees’ bank accounts without printing pay checks. Information is usually transmitted from the payroll software to the bank accounts securely in a bank-friendly format. By using direct deposit, companies can save money on pay check processing time and supplies. Many employees also prefer direct deposit because it saves them trips to the bank and also eliminates the problem of lost pay checks.
2. Electronic Tax Filing: Whereas mandatory end of year tax filing has traditionally been done on paper, today’s payroll software programs have built-in tools to make electronic tax filing (“e-Filing”) simple and accurate. By filing taxes electronically, a business can eliminate the cost of forms. Tools are now even available to allow employees access to W-2 forms online instead of having to wait for the paper version to arrive by mail. Filing electronically can also reduce the stress of tight, end of year deadlines because transmission is instant.
3. Time Clock: If employees are required to fill in time sheets, re-entry into a payroll software system leaves room for entry errors and also duplicates efforts. By implementing an electronic time clock, a business can remove the margin for error, keeping employee pay checks accurate. Most time clocks are simple to use, and pull information in a standard file format so that time clocks will operate with most payroll systems. Most payroll software systems allow for mapping of information to be pulled in from the time clock to the software.
4. Advanced Earnings Matrix: With an advanced earnings matrix (which may go by various names depending on software developer), a company sets up each employee with a separate rate for all ways they can be paid. For example, if a company tracks pay by department and by profit center, each employee record is set up with a pay rate for every department and profit center combination in which they may work and be paid for. All earnings and deductions are calculated accordingly when time is entered. An advanced earning matrix saves time by drastically cutting down on the number of pay codes that are necessary to track employee pay. Instead of using a long list of codes, time is simply entered by choosing the factors they set up.
5. Custom Reporting: Do not underestimate the fact that your company is unique. Some payroll systems now pay tribute to this fact by offering simple tools which allow the user to customize reports, and to name and save them for later use. By using custom reporting, a business can easily see pay data in a timely manner, and filter out only the information that is important to their own organization.

Internet article marketing is a marketing activity, whereby you promote products and services by writing articles, and sharing them on article submission Web sites. When you submit articles on the Web at article submission sites, they are indexed by the search engines and found by people searching for what you are writing about. This brings clicks to your Web site, and also positions you as a leader. It also helps your own Web site’s popularity by providing a back link to your Web site. Here are a few tips on how to get started with internet article marketing.

1. Choose a topic and focus on a keyword.

   You might be asking yourself, “What on earth will I write about?” Don’t worry; nearly everybody starts out by asking that question! But really, you or somebody at your company has a whole wealth of information, just waiting to be shared with those who need it and search for it out on the Web. Think about what your customers or prospects would truly want to know or learn about. If you own a catering business, you could write about ten ways to plan the perfect gathering. If you have a heating and air conditioning business, you could write about how to drastically reduce your heating bill in the winter. You know what your customers would find useful, so write about that! Don’t try to write a novel; people lose interest quickly on the Web! So choose a fairly narrow topic: perhaps a keyword you know is popular and that you already focus on for a page on your Web site. (Note: “keyword” in this case can mean a set of 2-3 words, such as “accounting software”, etc.)

2. Make it about 500 words.

   You definitely want the search engines to index and ‘like’ your articles. And these days, search engines (and particularly Google), don’t want to see a puny, short blurb, but instead an article with some real meat to it. Making the article 500 words, and surely no less than 400 words, gives your article a better chance at ranking with the search engines. (Tip: many article submission sites do actually have a minimum word count for this reason, and won’t allow shorter articles than their minimum.)

3. No sales pitches.

   While it might be tempting to write articles all about why your product is so great, just don’t go there! People would much rather read about something useful than a sales pitch. So instead of writing about yourself (or your company’s product features), choose a topic that could actually be helpful to your reader.

4. Try ezinearticles.com

   There is a wide variety of article submission sites on the internet, and you can submit your articles to most of them for free. I suggest starting out by signing up for an account with ezinearticles.com, and submitting a few articles at their Web site. Their tools make it easy to submit your articles, and ensure your keyword density and word count are optimum for the search engines. Plus you can easily access great statistics once your articles are live, and you also get a monthly report showing views, click through rates, and more for your articles.

Internet article marketing can bring traffic to your site and can also help in the search engine optimization for your Web site. Use these tips and start cranking out that first article today!

Have you been hearing about the benefits of content marketing, but don’t know where to begin? Though content marketing has been around for ages, it has only recently gained fame and attention! According to content marketing pioneer and expert Joe Pulizzi, “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” (Click here to visit his content marketing blog.) There is a wide variety of methods that can be used and combined together to create a content marketing program. One piece of the content marketing puzzle is article writing. When done correctly, article writing can have an impressive impact on your marketing efforts. Here are some of the ways it can impact you. (Stay tuned for our next blog post, which will be about how to begin article writing.)

SEO Benefits

The main SEO benefit to article writing is that you can write about subjects pertaining to your Web site, and then have back links within the article that go back to your Web site. By doing this, you gain links back to your site that are relevant, and Google loves relevance! Also, a link is like a vote of popularity to Google. So writing relevant articles with links to your site provide Google with another reason to like you, and your site’s rank in the search results will be improved over time.

Additional content distribution

When you submit your articles to free article submission sites like www.ezinearticles.com, the articles become highly indexable with the search engines. Therefore when people are out searching the Web, and they search for the words that are included in your article, your article might come up as a result for them to click on. Once they read your article, they can click on the link you provide and will be taken wherever your link brings them (most likely to a page on your Web site). In addition, people can take your article content and publish it (with a special citation listing you as the author and also the publisher). If you have a popular article, it can be published on many Web sites, giving you exponential traffic to your site.

Article writing can be beneficial to your Web site traffic and can also be an integral part of your content marketing efforts! Stay tunes for our next post, which will be about how to get started in article marketing.

April just so happens to be “Records and Information Management Month,” a holiday created in 1995 by the ARMA International, which is a professional association that emphasizes the significance of document and information management, and its impact on business worldwide. In honor of Records and Information Management Month, here are two ways to keep your accounting and/or payroll software records safe.

Menu level security

Menu level security allows you to password protect databases, set up additional users, and track transactions entered by each user. You can also limit access to menu selections, so that an employee can only access the screens you allow. Using menu level security helps keep your data safe, while allowing employees access to the screens they need to perform their job.

Create and test backups often

Everyone keeps bugging you about making sure you get backups often. Don’t you wish they would just quit bugging you? Well, they are right. We are a software company providing support to our customers nationwide, and we see the unthinkable happen far too often: customers losing their data, partially or totally. The reasons for the loss of data are varied, but the inability to recover that data is due to the lack of a backup, or a backup that was never tested and doesn’t work. Just like so many other things, most businesses think it won’t happen to them. But it can. So take your backup and test it often.

Oh, and happy Records and Information Management Month!