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Marketing Tip from Rebecca L. Plankey
Bad News Bear
Don't let giving bad news to clients ruin your reputation. Instead take a people approach and build a better relationship. Mistakes are bound to happen, but how you communicate the fallout is what really matters. Here are some tips to show you are on their side:
- Put yourself in their shoes. Make sure to acknowledge the impact the error will have on your client. Let it be known that their satisfaction is your greatest concern and then frame the conversation around meeting their goals.
- Don't beat around the bush. To the client, time is of the essence. Take responsibility for the situation and get straight to the point. The client will appreciate that you are not trying to make excuses. This shows respect and competence when you face the problem head on.
- Have a solution in mind. Explain why the problem perpetuated and what you are going to do to fix it. Build confidence and trust by solving the problem first.
Show your clients you are proactive when problems occur and they will show you loyalty. It is not the problem, but how you handle the problem that matters to them.
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Technology Tip from Sonia Gowen
Say Good-Bye to 2012 and Ready QuickBooks for 2013
We hope you'll be ringing out a successful financial year at month's end. In any case, here's what you should know about preparing for 2013. End of the year. QuickBooks has been hard at work for the past 11+ months, recording and tracking and storing all of that financial data that you've entered so faithfully.
But when you turn the calendar page and make a new start January 1, your accounting software could use some closure on the year that's just passed. Here are some actions you can take to ring out the old and ring in the new. There's more you can do (we can help you with the advanced activities) but we'll just hit the highlights here.
- Reconcile, reconcile, reconcile. Yes, we know it's not one of your favorite chores, but we really like to see all bank and credit card accounts reconciled by the end of the year if at all possible. Void all checks necessary and enter missing transactions.
- Make accrual adjustments. This is complicated, and it only applies if you accrue payroll and liabilities or prepay expenses that are then carried as assets. We'll need to create journal entries for you.
- Close your books. This is totally optional. It depends on whether you want to lock 2012 data to everyone except those who have the password and permissions. If you don't close them, you'll have easier access to last year's transaction details. Regardless of what you choose, QuickBooks will automatically make some year-end adjustments.
- Do a physical inventory. Then compare this with what QuickBooks says. Reports | Inventory | Physical Inventory Worksheet.
- Run income tax reports. As you know, QuickBooks lets you assign tax lines to tax-related transactions. Use the Income Tax Preparation Report and the Income Tax Summary Report. Let us know about any errors or omissions.
- Check W-2 and 1099 data. You can't create these forms, of course, until after your final 2012 payroll, but you can get a head start. Ask employees to verify their names, addresses and Social Security numbers for accuracy. Also, make sure that your EIN and SEIN are correct, as well as the company address.
- Clean up, back up. We can monitor the health of your QuickBooks data file anytime. But year-end is a good time to scrutinize your software's performance. Has it slowed down, started crashing or returning error messages? We can troubleshoot to find the problem and clean it up. We're sure you've been backing up your file faithfully, but archive all of 2012 and store it in a very safe offsite location - or use Intuit Data Protect for online storage.
- Double-check tax liabilities. If you're handling your own payroll, look back to see whether all of your payments and filings have been completed.
Again, these are suggestions. QuickBooks does not require you to do any of them. There's more you can do, and you will need assistance with some of these. So let's set up a December or early January meeting to get you started right in 2013.
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