Recently, we've had several calls from people who deal with one company as both a Customer and a Vendor. In both QuickBooks and Peachtree, you can only have a name in one list, it sometimes causes problems. One suggestion is to simply enter a -C or - V after the name to indicate whether it's a customer (-C) or a vendor (-V). That way you always have a visual way of knowing whether you're on the customer or vendor file. Another option is to use a shortened name for the one you use most often and the full name for the other. Example, you could use 'SBA' as your Vendor and 'SBA Services' as the customer. When I have an employee who is also a vendor, I usually use the last name only in the vendor list and the full name in the employee list.

In many cases, rather then them paying for your invoices and you paying them for their bills, you simply want to apply the outstanding invoice to the outstanding bill. Well, you can't! Neither QuickBooks or Peachtree will let you apply an AR to an AP entry. So, what you have to do is to pretend that they pay your invoice and you pay their bill. If this only happens once in a great while, you can deposit their payment directly into your checking account and then pay their bill (with a phony check) which deducts the amount from your checking account. Then when you do your next bank reconciliation, just clear both the phony deposit and check. If it happens frequently, I would recommend creating a new bank account called "Trades". This account will always have a zero balance. But, you can receive their "payment" into it as a deposit and write your "check" from it. This method works great IF the amount of your invoice equals that amount of their bill.

If there is a difference in amounts, you will need to create a Credit Memo to the customer for the amount of the vendor bill and a Credit Bill to the vendor for the same amount. Both of these transactions need to go to the same account and will equal a zero transaction. I usually use my miscellaneous account. In QuickBooks you will need to create an 'Other Charge' item for this, pointing to the miscellaneouse expense account.

What if it's an Employee who you're reimbursing expenses to? I create a vendor using only the first or last name of the employee for entering in checks for reimbursements. If my employee file is sorted by first name, I use their last name only as a Vendor. In QuickBooksâ there is a field on the Vendor setup that says "Print on Check As" and you can enter their full name there. If my employee files is sorted by last name, then I use their first name in the vendor file.

In my opinion you can never back up your accounting data too often. I'm always surprised when I realize that people are NOT backing up there files. I recommend that you backup your data whenever you have entered more data than you would like to re- enter! Sounds simple - right? Regardless of the accounting program you're using there is normally a backup procedure. In QuickBooksâ and Peachtreeâ you can find the backup utility under File

Keep in mind though, that the default backup directory in both programs is your C:\ drive. While this is better than nothing, it won't protect you if your hard drive crashes. You can choose to backup to floppy disks (the little 3-1/2 diskettes), to a zip drive or a CD. Be aware though that if you backup to your writeable CD it may be a 2-step process. On most Windows 98 machines you have to first backup to your hard drive and then copy the file using your CR-Write program. (There are too many out there for me to give you specific directions). If you're on Windows XP, it's still a 2-step process. In QuickBooksâ or Peachtreeâ you select your CD-RW drive as the backup location. When it's done you'll get a little pop-up box saying "You have files waiting to be copied". Unfortunately, I have had several clients who didn't complete the second step and had their hard drive crash and were left with nothing.

Many network systems have a nightly backup process in place that backs up not only the accounting data but other important files as well. This is great. The problem being, that usually no one in the office knows how to restore the accounting data if they should ever need to. I usually recommend, that even though the accounting data is included in the nightly backup, that you still backup within the actual program on a regular basis.

• How often should you backup? Ask yourself, if you had to re-enter transactions from your last backup, how long of a time period would that be? Could you, if need be, recreate the last month of transactions? The last week? How about from the first of the year? It only takes a few minutes to do a backup and could save you hours upon hours later.
• Rotate your backup disks. Have at least 2 sets of diskettes, zip disks or CD's. Alternate them when you do your backup. If you are always reusing the same disks and they become bad you're left with nothing.
• The final tip on backups is to remove the most current backup copy from the premises. After the backup, drop it in a pocket or purse and take it home. I've had a couple of customers who backed up on a regular basis but left the backup disk in the office. In both cases there happened to be a fire and they lost not only their computers and working file but the backup disks were destroyed as well.

You can never backup too often. It only takes a few minutes to backup from your accounting program and the time you may save later is huge.

It's not to early to start thinking about W-2's. If you are doing your own payroll, you need to print W-2's and 1099's at the end of the year. If you are using QuickBooksâ Do-It-Yourself payroll a new feature in 2004 is the ability to print the forms on plain paper. You must have a current payroll subscription. The Form A is not on a red form but is still accepted by the IRS.

To see what it looks like, you can print one out now. Go to Employee's, Process payroll forms and select the W-2. Select one employee. I recommend you pick on yourself. You must review it first, then click on Print and select the plain paper form. Print both the Form A (for Social Security) and the Forms B, C, D, 1 & 2 for the employee and employer. It won't hurt anything so go ahead.

If you want to print them or "real" forms, we are starting to take orders for quantities under 25. They are $0.50 per form and we'll mail them to you the last week in December.

If you need more than 25 forms, you can order them directly from either Intuit or Peachtree, from whomever you normally purchase your forms from or from Safeguard Forms (Roger Waterman) at 503-786- 3564 or (Tom Brooks) 503-246-4480. Just mentioned that Dawn at SBA Services, Inc sent you.

A lot of people have been asking about the Multnomah County Tax. Do you have to withhold it from your employee's? Who has to pay?

• This is a voluntary tax and you must have written premission from your employee's before deducting it.
• It is for people who LIVE in Multnomah County.