Any current client of SME CPAs that refers a NEW client with expected annual bilings over $500 or greater will be rewarded with a $50 Gift Certificate as a thank you.  Rewards will be done on a quarterly basis.

At the end of the year SME CPAs will host a Client Appreciation Party for all of the clients that were rewarded throughout the year!

Five Ways Business Owners Can Beat the January Doldrums

 

For many businesses, January can be a dead month- even in a good economy. This year try to get ahead of the game and make the month of January just as profitable as your year end. Here are five ways you can beat the dead months of January. 

 

Take a poll. January is a great time to involve customers. Let them help shape your plans for 2014. Give coupons to up your winter traffic and see how this helps bring in a greater profit.

   

Trim expenses. This is a great time to revisit all those little costs that bug you, but you never have time to address. Get new, competitive bids on your phone service, insurance, copying, shipping, accounting and any other outsourced, independent services. Remember, spending less grows your net income just as much as selling more does.

 

Network. Take advantage of the downtime to get to those networking events you've been meaning to attend. Interact with new and prospective clients and follow up on those leads from the previous year.

 

Look for opportunities. Are new retail spaces opening up near you? January is a time when desperate landlords make deals to keep stores occupied. If competitors are going bust or scaling back, it might be time to market more aggressively to capture market share. This is your opportunity to take control of the market. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings and tailor your marketing strategies as so. 

 

Learn. Take a class, attend a conference, or connect with a mentor. Read more widely to understand trends in your industry. Make sure you're keeping up with the technology you need for success -- if you're boggled by how to make your website more mobile-friendly or how to create an app, now's the time to solve it. Increasing your knowledge and skills now will lay the groundwork for success in 2014, no matter what the economy does. 

 

New (Free!) App to integrate American Express and Quickbooks

 

As most small business owners know, credit cards have increasingly become essential tools for managing their businesses, and Intuit will be unveiling an exciting new way to easily integrate credit card transactions into Quickbooks in early 2014.

 

A partnership between Intuit and American Express, the first credit card company to collaborate with Intuit, has resulted in an upgrade to ReceiptMatch, a mobile app available for both iOS and Android, which will allow users to snap a picture of a receipt, tag it based on the type of expense that it is, the job it will be billed to, and the employee who made the purchase.  This image is already available to sync with American Express, but the upgrade scheduled for the beginning of the year allows this data to also flow into Quickbooks.

 

Currently, users have the ability to upload pictures of receipts to their American Express statement, and Quickbooks users have the capability to log in to their American Express accounts online to download transactions, which then requires review and categorization of expenses.  However, the impending upgrade features significantly expedite the process by allowing input at the time and source of the purchase.  The integration with Quickbooks Online is instant, while the desktop product will require users to initiate a sync process.

 

Business owners will enjoy several benefits from the enhancements.  First, tagging the transactions can be done immediately as the purchases are made.  This eliminates the problem of receipts being lost before they are properly categorized in Quickbooks.  It also encourages the actual purchaser to go ahead and choose the appropriate accounts, as opposed to leaving these decisions to bookkeepers who may not classify the expenses appropriately. 

 

Another advantage is that real time information is available to the business owner, so he is able to monitor credit card expenses throughout the month instead of relying on month end statements.  And when the monthly statements are available, the reconciliation process is accomplished without the hassle of tracking down charges and receipts.

 

Last, uploading receipts to Quickbooks and tagging them to transactions facilitates locating them when questions arise.  Also, since digital copies of receipts are accepted by the IRS, users will not have to maintain files of paper receipts.

 

Intuit is very proud of this innovation and is looking forward to working with other companies.  According to Dan Wernikoff, SVP and GM of Intuit Small Business Financial Solutions, "American Express is another important addition to the partners on our open platform.  Partnerships with companies like American Express help us provide our customers with more services that seamlessly integrate with Quickbooks so small businesses can customize the product to meet their needs.  ReceiptMatch with Quickbooks is an example of Intuit's 'no data entry' vision so small business owners can spend more time focusing on running their businesses.  This is a natural partnership that brings together two companies with a strong track record of delivering innovative products for small businesses."

 

So, if your small business utilizes the American Express Card, be on the lookout for this app to become available in the next several weeks.  Your SME ProAdvisors are looking forward to this new feature and the efficiencies it will produce, and we will be available to answer any questions you may have.