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 | August 2008 |
BlockTax QuickBooks Blog
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New INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES will soon integrate your QuickBooks program with many of the fastest, easiest, least expensive and most comprehensive QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS, in THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA: online. A ZDNet story about INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES (Intuit pushes deeper into cloud) warns about security and reliability, when INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS will use THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA.
I am an experienced CPA, with many years of computer management and security experience. It sad for me to see head-in-the sand prejudice concerning the online privacy and reliability of THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA. It is especially sad when a computer publication sensationalizes risks, without considering alternatives. Online storage is unquestionably THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA.
You also can run QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS more securely and reliably if they are online. This is a simple case of your relative risk. The safety, security and reliability of your online records and programs are generally far better than the safety of local system data. Online systems often use better computers, facilities, power protection and security. 256 bit National Security Agency encryption seems to be more common among online QuickBooks hosting companies than it is for banks. We all have had online bank and credit card records for many years. The main issue is the track record of our partners. Intuit has long documented better security than most banks and credit card companies. Anti-virus, anti-spyware and backup programs are usually better online, where they also run far more often. New online programs also tend to have more secure designs and run with policies that limit or prohibit many programs that might compromise security and reliability. They are also more likely to allow operation of user programs in a connected or offline mode, with fast batch updates when they reconnect. Security professionals also test and maintain programs and systems. Offsite storage of extra backups is the rule, not the exception.
This guarantees that INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS will increasingly use the most reliable and THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA. Online systems also will increasingly replicate equipment and services to insure reliability. Duplicate drives, power supplies, computers and utilities will keep making INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES, QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS more reliable. THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA also will be even more reliable if you can quickly take your portable out of areas with no power or phone service, especially if your INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES, QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS are on a remote terminal server or Citix system. For the ultimate in security and reliability your QuickBooks, QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS and other programs can be on a multi-location replicated or co-located Windows Terminal Servers or Citrix system.
Personal computers are one of the least secure places for your records. Fire, flood, employee errors or malicious acts, storms, thefts, accidents, utilities, hacking and program failure (sometimes due to insecure, incompatible and less tested programs) all affect this. Such systems fail often. Their lack of adequate backups then destroy many businesses and lives, so this is not news. Your only real guarantee with local systems is a guarantee that they will fail, often at the worst possible time, destroying all the data you did not back up. Local systems also almost universally lack the virtual images that quickly reset programs, program preferences and data in THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA.
All this is why we already only find the very rare cloud system failure newsworthy. Further improvements in design and replication will soon make this almost non-existent.
Why QuickBooks Terminal Server? Please see my prior post on this.
QuickBooks Terminal Server and QuickBooks Add-ons: This is a terrific combination. QuickBooks terminal server runs programs like QuickBooks add-ons much faster than they otherwise run on a system using shared data on a second system. Instead of having to constantly transfer thousands of instructions across slow and congested networks, it transfers only user keystrokes and sends back little more than screen changes. The program and data both run on the QuickBooks terminal server. The QuickBooks terminal server also lets you avoid having to install and CUSTOMIZE many versions of QuickBooks and many QuickBooks add-ons and other programs on each separate user system. The QuickBooks terminal server also lets you run more copies of QuickBooks then you might otherwise, as long as you do not try to have more than two users with the same serial number in the same file. You also often can legally cut program costs without violating licensing agreements.
QuickBooks Terminal Server for many QuickBooks Add-ons: There are many QuickBooks Add-ons (a term I invented and used for my QuickBooks Add-ons.com website). They let you avoid entering data 2 or 3 times in different programs, to increase accuracy, link documents and speed results. You can use customer and supplier data to minimize entries and run your custom small business system far more efficiently. QuickBooks add-ons have grown quickly into one of the most important business opportunities today thought they are still largely neglected. A U.N. committee spoke years ago about more than a trillion dollars in annual savings if we all used common forms and interchanged data electronically. QuickBooks is the almost universal small business accounting software. Intuit is moving to make this true throughout the world. QuickBooks Add-ons can can exchange data with small and big business programs, so your share of those trillions in annual savings (after inflation) will be start coming to you soon if you begin using QuickBooks add-ons.
Why QuickBooks Add-ons on QuickBooks Terminal Server? QuickBooks add-ons let you save time avoid entering data twice and having differences between QuickBooks and other programs. QuickBooks is a very successful mass market program. It recently had 94.2% of retail small business accounting software sales. There are about 4 million users. 50,000 QuickBooks ProAdvisors, other accountants and bookkeepers probably do bookkeeping for at least this many more small businesses. However, mass market programs can never be all things to all people. QuickBooks Add-ons integrate functions for more than 50 industries, including accounting, construction, manufacturing and utilities. They also automate Microsoft Office entries, calculate shipping charges and sales tax, do big business Electronic Data Interchange, do high speed billing, link source documents and web stores, support multi-location warehouses, transfer and report on files and do many other things. Some QuickBooks add-ons work like magic to display locations of all company smart phone users and the jobs on which they are working. They also give users GPS directions, accept QuickBooks service orders remotely, clock time on them and automate QuickBooks time entry, billing and payroll.
QuickBooks Terminal Server and QuickBooks Add-ons Costs and Savings: There are many free QuickBooks add-ons and many more that are very inexpensive, though some cost as much as $10,000. A low cost QuickBooks terminal server, and $10,000 of QuickBooks add-ons, can help companies avoid leaving QuickBooks for $100,000 programs, with big training and support costs. This can make $10,000 cost of QuickBooks add-ons very cheap. If an in-house QuickBooks terminal server also integrates a web server, as many do rather painlessly, then the better accuracy and time savings can very quickly provide terrific savings.
QuickBooks Terminal Server Programs: Our in-house QuickBooks terminal server system uses a fairly fast AMD processor and 4g of main memory. It handles up to 10 local or remote users at once, with dual monitors. It could handle more users with added CALs, as we see no signs of overloading. We run 40+ programs including these: Adobe (3D, Air, Dreamweaver, Professional, Reader, Shockwave); AI Roboform; Backup Magic; Big Red ProDeleter; BillQuick; Filezilla; GoogeDesktop; GoToMyPC; Lab Tech remote support; MagicJack; Microsoft (Easy Assist, Office 2003 and 2007, Visual C), MySpy, Nuance (Dragon Naturally Speaking; Omnipage Pro, PDF Creator Pro); ProSeries (2002-2007; Basic 2004-2005, which require a free terminal server patch, DMS); QuickBooks (2002-2008, mainly AE, plus Enterprise 6 - 8); Quicken (2003 and 2006); Skype; Spybot; TValue; Winzip; and many more.
We will soon add a Linux server, as it runs 10% - 25% faster and more reliably than the Windows server, IF Intuit begins to let us use it with Premier and Pro. The current QuickBooks Enterprise Linux server may make us use Windows Terminal Server for QuickBooks as a gateway. Here are some other QuickBooks add-ons our experts have experience supporting: Acctivate!; Adagio Fx; AdvancePro; CNG-Books and CNG-SAFE; DepositNow!; Ebridge; Fishbowl Inventory; Giftworks; HindSite; Lacerte Tax; Legrand CRM ; My Business Manager; Peachtree; and SourceLink; Our experts also support many versions of server software, including Microsoft Server 2008.
You can do this all yourself, but our experts can give you the fastest, easiest, most experienced and least expensive ways to do it.
QuickBooks Networking: The QuickBooks Knowledgebase says, "QuickBooks is a multi-user program, as opposed to a "true" network program... installed on a single server or workstation, and used... by multiple users simultaneously. In contrast, every QuickBooks user on the network must have a separate, licensed copy..."
QuickBooks Network Performance: Computer programs constantly execute thousands of microinstructions. When local programs use server files many instructions go across networks. The instructions acknowledging these instructions, data transfers, screen updates and printing go back across networks. Transfers in computer memory can be 100 times faster than network transfers, especially if several use network files at once. QuickBooks 2006 and later limit transfers with a Database Server Manager. Local computers send macro instructions to the Manager, which runs microinstructions with no network delay. However, you still have lots of instructions, data, display and print transfers. Expert Tip: Even without QuickBooks terminal server, the QuickBooks Enterprise Database Server Manager is much faster than comparable Premier and Pro program. It supports up to 20 users compared to 5. Therefore, experts install the Enterprise Manager even if users have Premier or Pro. We do it legally because Intuit charges for client copies of QuickBooks, not the Database Manager. Please let us know if you want a copy of this, as our three QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisors have it.
QuickBooks Terminal Server Speed: Many programs, including QuickBooks, run faster under a QuickBooks Terminal Server. The local PC runs as a dumb terminal. It uses QuickBooks on the server and data on the server. The only thing sent to the server is keystrokes. The only return is CHANGES to user screens, which rarely changes much, and occasional prints. This can cut network transfer volume more than 99%. User data entry speed limits operations, but this can speed QuickBooks and other programs, especially if your fastest computer is a network server.
QuickBooks Terminal Server - Other Advantages: There are big QuickBooks terminal server advantages besides speed. You do not install and customize many programs on each user computer. You also can use many copies of one program at a time. For QuickBooks Premier you can have 2 or more times the normal 5 user limit, except to the extent two users do need the same file at once. You also can use Macs, old PCs or low cost reliable Linux systems to access QuickBooks on Windows terminal server, locally or remotely. This made QuickBooks for Linux desktops a reality for us years ago, with big savings on virus and spyware program costs and time.
QuickBooks Terminal Server Support: Intuit only supports terminal server with QuickBooks Enterprise, but has QuickBooks Terminal Server information in its Knowledgebase. I have 48 years of heavy experience as a CPA and in programming, using, installing, supporting and managing computers and programs. Among my friends and local (Fort Lauderdale) computer techs is the second person on the original IBM PC project. I have gone to monthly computer club meetings for more than 30 years, including meetings of specialists in small business and terminal servers. However, for terminal server I want the fastest, easiest and least expensive QuickBooks Terminal Server support, from experts with 10+ years of experience supporting hundreds of QuickBooks Terminal Servers, with thousands of users of all QuickBooks versions. They constantly monitor and maintain my server and normally respond to Skype messages in less than 15 seconds.
Now it is up to you. Do you want the fastest, easiest and least expensive QuickBooks terminal server support from experts?
We automatically log into my Fort Lauderdale office QuickBooks terminal server, with QuickBooks add-ons, locally & from the web. We have 5+ regular office & local QuickBooks terminal server and QuickBooks add-ons users, plus a New York user & up to six full time in India, though not at once. The New Yorker went to Florida California, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, China & Japan, without losing his QuickBooks terminal server connections. QuickBooks licenses are no problem. We rarely have 2 people in a file at once. Our 3 ProAdvisors each have QuickBooks & can get 5 more AE copies for $200 each. We also get 3 copies from beta tests. Indian assistants & a client have their own copies.
I will stop using a 6 user dual Xeon QuickBooks terminal server in Texas, after about 3 years. We use a 10 user in-office Windows 2003 R2 Server for our QuickBooks terminal server and QuickBooks add-ons. Its dual AMD was fast a year ago. Two 320 and 500 raid drives are overkill, but were cheap. 400 & 750 eSATAs alternate nightly backups & images, with some off site. 8g Comcast & 6g DSL connections increase reliability, not speed. We use our single-user QuickBooks Enterprise ProAdvisor Database Manager to increase server speed for our many QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition users. We also can legally give this to clients to increase their server speed. That may be why I saw no speed change from Xeon remote QuickBooks terminal server commercial hosting. Many programs, including QuickBooks and QuickBooks add-ons, are faster now. ProSeries is much faster. I can now work with QuickBooks while quickly switching to do all our ProSeries 2002-2007 Homebase Maintenance at once.
We save lots of time & cut errors by not having to install 40+ programs for each user & having all data in one place. Indian assistants have long done most filing, but should soon use a ProSeries & QuickBooks DMS. We save $10,000+ on filing with a $350 Fujitsu scanner & inexpensive OCR. We scan after we stamp lead pages with sequence numbers & dates. Almost all paper is in a series of 31 pocket accordion files, one folder per month and one pocket per day. One local system, we can use with GoToMyPC, uses Google Desktop to instantly find anything in 250,000+ PDF, email, QuickBooks & other files, without data entry. The number of files will increase once we share the QuickBooks version of Google Desktop across remote systems.
Our outsourced Outlook Exchange Server should soon be in-house. It lets local & remote users share email, calenders, contacts & tasks, to collaborate on jobs. Each of us updates our Quickbooks terminal server tasks, with progress & notes, before updating for the next person we need and emailing. This lets us outsource locally and remotely. Assistants use form emails to get missing information without waiting for me. Intuit should soon have a work flow program integrate with Outlook, Intuit Client Manager and QuickBooks, which integrates with ProSeries. I also integrate BillQuick & Outlook & QuickBooks. These are some of our many QuickBooks terminal server QuickBooks add-ons. The one program with QuickBooks terminal server problems is Microsoft Office, which ran slowly on (Microsoft) QuickBooks terminal servers.
I have 48 years of heavy computer experience and good local computer people, including the second person on the original IBM PC project, but my main hosting and QuickBooks terminal server support is in India. It takes less than 15 seconds to get them on Skype, 24/7. Up time & support are terrific. Try them for a month free & use them for only $29 per simultaneous QuickBooks terminal server user. This is half of what some charge, though day & night users can share accounts. They also have lots of experience with QuickBooks terminal server hosting of QuickBooks add-ons & with outsourcing, to make your terminal server experience a breeze. By the way, Intuit recently moved almost all QuickBooks Enterprise tech support overseas.
My 10 Windows XP, Vista, Office 2003 & 2007 licenses come with Windows Server 2003 & 2008, plus much of the Microsoft product line. You also can access a QuickBooks terminal server and QuickBooks add-ons with an old PC, a cheap Linux system or a Mac. I will use Linux to save on system upgrades and virus and spyware program cost and time. We also will get a Linux QuickBooks server, to increase speed 10% - 25%, while increasing reliability. This will help us transition to Linux, as the Intuit founder wrote me years ago that the inventor of Linux was one of our greatest minds (along with Jefferson and Lincoln). Since then we saw that the Intuit Chair was the best top management consultant to Google, which is next door to Intuit and has the largest Linux server farm. We also saw QuickBooks chose a cross platform database that has excellent Linux speeds. Now there is an Intuit Linux website for QuickBooks terminal server, QuickBooks add-ons and QuickBase add-ons, which mainly use Linux. All this again shows we should soon have QuickBooks for Linux, so average QuickBooks users save $500+ on Vista and Microsoft Office, besides the cost and time of virus and spyware.
Please let me know if you need help with QuickBooks terminal server, QuickBooks add-ons, pre-configured systems, QuickBooks consulting, accounting, taxes and outsourcing. For more information on this see the Accounting Technology September 2007 cover story (Google webcpa + "Secrets of Outsourcing"), click on the link below, see earlier stories in this BlockTax QuickBooks Blog and sign up for our free South Florida QuickBooks Meetup presentations (Google this for the largest QuickBooks Meetup). Our next Meetup will have a GoToMeeting remote, QuickBooks terminal server & Dawn Scranton, a leading authority on QuickBooks Add-ons. You also can see http://marketplace.intuit.com/ or my more complete (but less detailed) QuickBooks-add-ons site.
Tags: Speed Up QuickBooks - QuickBooks Performance Troubleshooting
Speed Up QuickBooks, also known as QuickBooks Performance Troubleshooting, is the fastest, easiest, most productive and least expensive way for you to substantially Speed Up QuickBooks. It helps you organize your efforts in ways that save you time and help you concentrate your efforts.
I created a Speed Up QuickBooks page for my blocktax.com site. In January 2006 I was proud to let Scott Wilder copy it for the Intuit QuickBooks Library, now at http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/qblibrary/Tips/speedup.html. Since then I have often written about Speed Up QuickBooks, the contributions of others to this effort and the many related QuickBooks changes. All this made updates to Speed Up QuickBooks long overdue.
A QuickBooks employee, Community Guru Nic, took a very innovative approach to Speed Up QuickBooks. He calls it QuickBooks Performance Toubleshooting at "How to troubleshoot performance issues". I did not see it initially. However, QuickBooks Performance Troubleshooting adds 40 pages to Speed Up QuickBooks, plus many good links to additional information. QuickBooks Perfomance Trobleshooting also organizes this in ways that save you time and help you concentrate your efforts in productive ways.
This is from my Amazon review
(and my comment on the one negative review).
Terrific Book on an Amazing Company
As an independent Fort Lauderdale small-business CPA and Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, I have a very justifiable pro-Intuit bias. I often refer to this outstandingly interesting and informative Inside Intuit book. It tells the inspiring story about how many, who have become my friends, quickly built a truly unique and innovative world-class company, which keeps revolutionizing our lives.
Fortune Magazine says Intuit is America's Most Admired Software Company and has long been one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Intuit has many very dominant products and should soon have more. All this seems to be the direct result of a commitment to the almost noble Intuit Mission and Operating Values (see the Inside Intuit Appendix or Google "Intuit Mission and Operating Values"). That is why top graduate schools study Intuit and you should too.
I began using Quicken soon after the initial 1983 release. In 1992 I became one of many QuickBooks specialists. There are now 50,000 QuickBooks ProAdvisors. My amazing (but far from unique) relationship with top Intuit executives and managers began when I won the top prize for beta (pre-release) testing QuickBooks 6 and QuickBooks 1999. This made me take time off, from family visits, to drop in unannounced at Intuit headquarters. A series of friendly informative conferences, with many managers and executives, culminated in a very large group discussion. There was nothing like Inside Intuit then, so I did not know why the opinions and practices of a small-business CPA were of such supreme importance to everyone I met. Today you can read Inside Intuit and learn that Intuit relies mainly on customer driven innovation, even if you do not make top Intuit managers and executives your friends.
The Inside Intuit's tag line and beginning are completely unlike other corporate biographies. "How the Makers of Quicken Beat Microsoft and Revolutionized an Entire Industry... Inside Intuit is a tale of missionaries, not mercenaries." The book is supremely entertaining and informative, even if you know many of the top Intuit people and much of their story. The Intuit missionaries keep beating Microsoft and more than 100 other software companies. Actually, Inside Intuit omits some of the worst Microsoft beatings. A Microsoft income tax program died before its first April 15. Microsoft also spent more $2+ billion to buy and carry a big-business accounting software company, so it could get its third "QuickBooks killer." However, major changes let QuickBooks increase its share of retail small business accounting software sales from 88% to an amazing 94.2%. Mighty Microsoft cut its killer price by 2/3 or more, but never even became #2 in this type of software sales. The Microsoft division manager and CEO heir-apparent soon left, so you need Inside Intuit to help you better understand this repeting phenomenon.
It is too bad Amazon did not display some of the "Intuit Mission and Operating Values." Here is a tiny part. "Revolutionize how people manage their financial lives... Many companies say their most important job is satisfying the customer. We don't. We believe that satisfying the customer is simply the minimum requirement for staying in business. Therefore. we don't seek merely to satisfy our customers; we seek to wow them... Integrity Without Compromise ... never approaching what could be considered questionable behavior... Do Right by All Our Customers... treat each other, our business partners, and our shareholders with the same care and respect with which we treat our customers... Customers Define Quality... Intuit has triumphed in part because we actively solicit input and invent new ways to solicit that input from our customers..."
You can then see humility and genius in, "Afterward... What about results -- things like market share, growing our revenue, profits? We barely mention them in our values. Don't we care about results? We do. Market share is a measure of how well we are serving customers. Long-term earnings growth creates shareholder value, which also helps us attract and retain the best people... Do we have to sacrifice our Operating Values to meet financial goals? By no means... Attention to the financial implications of our actions is simply an aspect of making these tradeoffs well... Simply put, living and working by our operating values will create customer wow and shareholder value."
Clearly, the full Inside Intuit story is far better than anything I can write. However, I should say that Inside Intuit omits serious public differences I had with Intuit. In both cases I got many others to protest and successfully quickly reverse bad decisions, which were hurting users and Intuit. One cost Intuit lots of money.Former CEO Steve Bennett did not dump me from a QuickBooks Advisory Council for this. Instead he wrote, "Keep raising hell when Intuit does something wrong." He then let me use this private note on my blocktax.com website.
By the way, in writing this I found something sad about Inside Intuit. The book's real (cutesy) title is In$ide Intuit. However, the authors of this book, about a computer company, did not realize that you cannot Google the word In$ide. Google shares a parking lot, a consultant and a venture capitalist with Intuit. However, Google treats a $ as a separator and searches on "In" and "ide."
_________________________________________________________________________
This was the only negative review of Inside Intuit:
Not Quite the Whole Story
The book is written by insiders. They make the new CEO out to be quite a hero. Better ask some Intuit customers about that.
Mike Block says:
It is sad to see uninformed negative comments on Intuit and its people. It was easy for an independent Fort Lauderdale small-business CPA to become friends with many of these exceptionally personable and responsive people, who keep coming up with terrific new, fast and easy products, to delightfully revolutionize our lives. All I did was drop in unannounced after posting thousands of answers to QuickBooks newsgroup and forum questions and winning the QuickBooks 6 and 99 beta (pre-release) test prizes.
Alec referred to a new CEO he did not know in 2005. He probably did so because of a poor Customer Support experience, when getting a case number and asking to Escalate almost guarantees good results. If he read Inside Intuit he would know Steve Bennett became CEO in 2002. I was on a QuickBooks Advisory Council then, though I cost Intuit a lot of money with a sucessful protest of high tax table fees. I then called for a TurboTax boycott over copy protection software. Both times there was a quick resolution. Instead of dumping me, Steve Bennett wrote I should "Keep raising hell when Intuit does something wrong."
This approach relates to Steve's amazing results. He increased QuickBooks sales from 78% of retail small business accounting software to an incredible 94.2%, indicating outstanding user satisfaction. He did so though Microsoft spent $2 billion to buy and carry a money losing big-software company, partly so it could produce a third so-called QuickBooks killer. Steve also increased overall Intuit revenue by 300% and net income by 400%, in only 6 years, with few price increases. In January 2008 Intuit got an equally amazing new CEO, Brad Smith, since Steve should certainly soon run a giant company. I predicted this 2 years earlier. Brad usually answers my emails in less than 10 minutes, even on Sunday, and even as a Fortune 500 CEO. He also called 2 weeks ago.
Inside Intuit is truly a terrific book about these amazing missioneries. I hope we will soon have an update, but know it is much too soon for that.
I criticized QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy on the web. Two hours later I had an hour-long 8,000-mile conference call with a very sick QuickBooks Accounting Software manager and the Intuit and QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy Directors (Florida, Japan, 2 California places).
Everything discussed, then and since, showed that the very professional QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy teams know about all privacy reports and quickly prove them wrong or find solutions. For example, they quickly changed QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy for updates not encrypting transfers. They also quickly stopped third party ads on a page needing passwords to change web opt-out contact preferences. Intuit even fixed a potential online QuickBooks accounting software privacy violation 6 months before the Department of Homeland Security reported it.
QuickBooks accounting software updates carry less risk of leaked financial information than you have with banks and credit card companies. They use highly secure NSA-style encryption. Some banks and credit card companies occasionally leak customer data. Intuit NEVER has. You have long (almost always) been able to update QuickBooks Accounting Software by downloading update files. Simply Google "QuickBooks update download" (without the quotes) for the site. It works fine even if you download on one system and transfer to others with no web access. Only payroll needs a web connection to install. This relates to well-justified anti-piracy concerns by a multi-billion dollar company, with no interest in our trivial personal information. If it had such interests it could easily use high quality (accountant filtered) Turbo Tax web information without detection. However, it would mean federal jail time for the fairly well paid Intuit CEO, Directors and employees, plus big drops in their Intuit stock values. An Intuit employee also could claim a big reward.
Computer experts could easily detect QuickBooks accounting software privacy violations if QuickBooks sent extra data over the web during updates. They have long looked for such extra information returned, but there have been NO report of this. Last year some thought Google Desktop violated 2007 QuickBooks accounting software privacy, but QuickBooks uses a custom encrypted Google Desktop. (This is no surprise, as the companies share a parking lot and venture capitalist. Intuit's ex-CEO Chair is a top management consultant for 30 big companies, including Google. The venture capitalist says he saved Google and made it a powerhouse.) A recent QuickBooks online flap said what might happen, but never said it did. It also said Intuit fixed the problem about 6 months before the government reported it.
You can worry about the privacy and security of your family and friends. However, you never have to worry about QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy. The QuickBooks Accounting Software Privacy Teams do your worrying for you. They are well-trained worrying experts. |
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QuickBooks accounting software privacy
You can see new Small Business Accounting Software Reviews monthly and Small Business Accounting software ads daily. Many say the best Small Business Accounting Software is not QuickBooks Accounting Software. Other ads and Reviews tell you what to do if you outgrow QuickBooks Accounting Software. Here is absolute proof that QuickBooks Accounting Software is, by far, the Best Small Business Accounting Software. In addition, for most who outgrow QuickBooks Accounting Software, the Best Small Business Accounting Software IS QuickBooks Accounting Software.
The Best Small Business Accounting Software Reviews consider results from the two biggest and most authoritative Reviews of Small Business Accounting Software. These Review are the only Review of Small Business Accounting Software that really matter, as Small Business Accounting Software users and professional accountants vote every month with their dollars.
The more than 100 Small Business Accounting Software programs include those from giants like Sage (Peachtree, DacEasy and Timeberline) and Microsoft (Office Accounting, Small Business Manager), plus bit players like MYOB, NetSuite, Simply Accounting and Cougar Mountain. Reviews of the the Best Small Business Accounting Software packages can include free programs and programs that cost up to $25,000. With all this Small Business Accounting Software it would be very unusual if one company had more than 50% of sales at retail. However, QuickBooks Accounting Software has long had 80% - 90% of such Small Business Accounting Software program sales. In March 2008 QuickBooks Accounting Software set an new all-time NPD Group survey record, with 94.2% of Small Business Accounting Software sales at retail.
Intuit also has 50,000 thousand professional accountants, CPAs and independent business consultants as QuickBooks ProAdvisors. They get crucial training, software, unlimited top-level U.S.-based technical support and other resources to help them grow their tax and accounting practices and support clients using QuickBooks Accounting Software. This means that many times more expert Small Business Accounting Software Reviewers pay for QuickBooks Accounting Software than use the free Small Business Accounting Software other vendors provide. Accordingly, the Reviews that consider almost every Small Business Accounting Software user and expert both show that QuickBooks Accounting Software is, by far, the overwhelming favorite.
QuickBooks Accounting Software has a free Simple Start program, and 12 paid versions from $80 to $6,750. All are upward compatible, so you save on data conversion and training as you add features and users. QuickBooks Accounting Software also has 600 tested and rated integrated QuickBooks add-ons at marketplace.intuit.com. You can easily integrate more than 100 QuickBooks Accounting Software users with QuickBooks add-ons. This means that, for most who outgrow QuickBooks Accounting Software, the Best Small Business Accounting Software IS the very versatile and upgradable QuickBooks Accounting Software and its QuickBooks add-ons.
Professional accountants and the small businesses we serve are now looking hard for ways to thrive and grow, amidst current economic uncertainties,. It is critical not to waste time on failed Small Business Accounting Software when we already have the Best Small Business Accounting Software, QuickBooks Accounting Software.
QuickBooks users often ask about 1099 Employees, Employees vs Independent Contractors and Employee vs Independent Contractor Overtime. Here is how to quickly and easily save big on 1099 Employees, Employees vs Independent Contractors and Employee vs Independent Contractor Overtime, for yourself and your workers. This also lets 1099 Employees custom tailor benefits and sharply cut your IRS exam odds. A bad decision on this can put you out of business and seriously in debt.
1099 EMPLOYEES and EMPLOYEES vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS:
Contrary to what I said above, there are NO 1099 employees. Accountants and examiners expect improper of Employees vs Independent Contractors treatment if you say 1099 employees. Independent Contractors agreements are worthless for 1099 Employees unless they properly confirm the many federal and state tests for Employees vs Independent Contractors. Companies cannot control of where, when and how jobs are done; pay rates and length of service; business expenses; facility and tool investments; printing business cards; allowing service to others; benefits; and much more for INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.
FEDERAL WAGE AND HOUR LAW:
The law covers employees who engage in or produce goods for interstate commerce; handle, sell, or work on goods moved in or produced for interstate commerce; or have more than $500,000 in annual sales. http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/minwage.htm#who Only 5 southern states do not have minimum wage laws.
EMPLOYEES OVERTIME, EMPLOYEES vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR OVERTIME:
Federal wage and hour rules generally require Employees Overtime in excess of eight hours a day or forty hours a week. http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/minwage.htm of Employee Overtime is usually 50% more than regular employee rates. However, many related federal and state rules affect eligibility and computation of Employees Overtime. Only an agreement normally requires Independent Contractor Overtime.
IMPROPER EMPLOYEES vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS TREATMENT:
Federal and state examiners classify net pay of 1099 Employees as net wages. They gross up 25% for withholding tax and 7.65% for social security and medicare. You owe this plus 7.65% for company social security, medicare, unemployment tax, interest and penalties, with possible criminal charges. 1099 Employees benefit from company tax payments and can get IRS rewards for turning you in, but cannot use 1040 Schedule C to deduct business expense "off the top." One anonymous employee can get a reward for turning you in on many employees. One I know expects a reward of more than $50,000.
EMPLOYEES vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS – HOW TO SAVE MONEY:
To avoid problems you should incorporate (or Limited Liability Company) "1099 employees.” This clearly avoids Employees vs Independent Contractor issues and Employee Overtime. The Tax Court had a case of members of the New York Ranger hockey team. The club gave them uniforms, equipment and facilities. It sets hours, controls work second by second and limits work for others and off-site behavior. The players definitely would be employees if not incorporated. However, the Court said it was a non-issue, as they were employees of their corporations and not the club. This lets them (and you) claim big deductions for pensions, profit sharing and much more. For example, you might computer auto expenses from home instead of from a company business location.
EMPLOYEES vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS – COSTS and BENEFITS:
Many CPAs and Certified ProAdvisors like us incorporate for $300 - $350, including S Corp elections. The cost of an annual S Corp income tax return is often little more than the cost of a Schedule C. It saves you and your "1099 employees" LOTS of money if done right. You save social security, medicare and unemployment tax. You may cut administration and workers comp costs. An S Corp can easily save an average "1099 employees" $10,000+ a year on big extra deductions, extra earned income credits and much less income tax, social security tax and medicare tax. Going from a self-employed 1040 Schedule C to an S Corp cuts the odds on IRS exams, especially if personal deductions cut income by moving to S Corps.
Here is PART of what you should read about the Intuit Mission and Operating Values in the outstanding Inside Intuit book. I would not present it if long close contact, with top Intuit executives, did not show they live by this Intuit Mission and Operating Values statement.
Do you really want an Intuit change? Then show where something Intuit does may not fully match the Intuit Mission and Operating Values. I called for a TurboTax boycott while on a QuickBooks Advisory Council. The amazing Intuit CEO did not dump me, though my prior call for a QuickBooks boycott may have cost Intuit $30 million. He wrote, "Keep raising hell when Intuit does something wrong." Talk about Integrity Without Compromise!
Soon after Intuit began a Fortune reporter was writing an article on when companies might bend rules. Intuit's founder gave up needed publicity by saying he never would. This example of Integrity Without Compromise led to a separate article about him. The Intuit Mission and Operating Values begins with:
Intuit was founded on strong principles and has always acted on them. As the company grew larger. employees felt it was important to capture the spirit of those principles in writing—to "institutionalize" them for the future. In 1993, the company shut down for a day. All the employees went to a convention center and spent the entire day brainstorming ideas of what the vision, mission, and operating values of Intuit were and should be. ...
WOW!
Many companies say their most important job is satisfying the customer. We don't. We believe that satisfying the customer is simply the minimum requirement for staying in business. Therefore, we don't seek to merely satisfy our customer; we seek to wow them. ... we must build an organization that enables us continually to do great things for our customers. ...
1. Integrity Without Compromise
Intuit is built on integrity. In all we do, we maintain the highest standards, never approaching what could be considered questionable behavior. On this, we never compromise. Having integrity means more to us than simply the absence of deception. It means we are completely forthright in all our dealings. We say what needs to be said, not simply what people want to hear. Integrity builds trust. Only through trust do successful, long-term working relationships flourish. ...
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I will have more from the Intuit Mission and Operating Values in later posts. However, the result is that Fortune magazine says Intuit is America's Most Admired Software Company and has been one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For for six years. Intuit also has long been known for aggressively getting and using customer feedback. One related question (Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague?) lets companies track their Net Promoter Score. This is the single most reliable indicator or a company's ability to grow. http://www.netpromoter.com/netpromoter/index.php Intuit has, by far, the best Net Prompter Score in its field.
