10080 http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/default.asp Archived Newsletter Articles en-us Copyright 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. XML::RSS http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.OA2009TaxSeason.asp Many CPAs end up retyping clients' accounting records into tax software programs because in many cases accounting and tax programs just don't "talk" to each other easily, until now. Office Accounting 2009 ships with a new Tax Integration Add-in that makes it easy to get your clients data into TaxWorks or UltraTax. And your clients are given even more ways to quickly analyze their data with more than 30 new reports. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.GreatPlains.asp David introduces Microsoft Dynamics GP business management solution as an option for mid-market firms outgrowing their accounting software. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.ExcelListManage.asp In this article, David discusses three different approaches to predefined lists, the pros and cons of each method and how to implement each. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Culbertson.Marketing1.asp Jennifer gives you some pointers on how to market your services in a challenging economic landscape. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Collins.Practice1.asp In his article, Patrick provides insight on quality, not quantity, when it comes to selecting your next client. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.virtualworld3.asp The previous two installments in this series provided an overview of virtual computers and how to create your first virtual PC. And while virtual computers at the desktop and laptop level provide tremendous benefits to end users and technology managers alike, for many organizations the real benefits of virtualization begin to accrue when servers are virtualized. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.backuprestore.asp Many CPAs can't count the number of times that a client has lost accounting or other data due to a computer crash or another unexpected event. David sometimes shares this cautionary tale: during a burglary, the thieves took the accounting computer and my client's only back-up disk which had been left in the computer overnight. There's simply no substitute for frequently backing up one's accounting records, and in more than one place. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.excelblankrows.asp In this article, David discusses a simple design strategy minimizing the use of blank rows that can help you work far more efficiently in Excel. This isn't to say you should avoid blank rows; sometimes they can be helpful. You should, however, use them judiciously. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.GuerillaMarketing4.asp This month, Elissa A. Greeley, managing member, ADOS Consulting, LLC, of Santa Clara, California, shares her biggest marketing secret: opening very inexpensive offices in key locations to acquire clients who are on the hunt for new resources. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightStephenSmith.asp Typically, when new clients reach out to Stephen M. Smith, CPA, for help getting started in the process of automating their bookkeeping systems for their small businesses, they've already tried and failed. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.RapidReceipts.asp One of the hardest tasks small business owners are faced with is invoicing and then collecting money. Small businesses come and go each year because they run out of cash on hand due to uncollected income. Payment enabling software Rapid Receipts, a Microsoft Office add-on, streamlines the whole process. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.virtualworld2.asp Last month we introduced the concept of virtualization, explained the many potential benefits and summarized the major technology requirements. Based on that discussion, it should be clear that a virtual computer is in your future. Now you may be thinking about the steps involved in building your first virtual computer. Relax, it's really pretty easy. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.dynamicsPOS.asp Although Microsoft Office Accounting is a robust solution in its own right, you can help your retail clients transform their front and back office operations by integrating Microsoft Dynamics - Point of Sale. This easy-to-use software is designed for single-store locations, and integrates tightly with both Microsoft Office Accounting and other Office applications. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.keyboardshortcuts.asp Many users fall into the trap of using their mouse exclusively to work with computer programs such as Microsoft Office Accounting. Indeed, Office Accounting's user interface is very mouse friendly, but you may be surprised to learn that there are dozens of keyboard shortcuts available. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.FormulaAuditing.asp It can be a challenge to get speed in an unfamiliar spreadsheet, or to check your own work in a complex spreadsheet. Someone else may have taken a different approach than you to create the formulas, or you may have lost track of which formulas refer to which cells. Many users don't realize that Excel offers several auditing tools to make quick work of tracing formulas within a spreadsheet. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.GuerillaMarketing3.asp Public relations is a key piece of the marketing communications pie that's often overlooked. While marketing is focused on reaching consumers to directly sell your services, PR is all about shaping and enhancing your reputation, which ultimately also helps to sell your services. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightJasonHarrison.asp When Jason Harrison first started doing technology consulting in 1990, he found that most small businesses he dealt with were investing in computers primarily to automate their accounting and core business functions. From those humble beginnings, Harrison Technology Consulting has evolved to cover whole-business automation, with Office Accounting typically included as a key component. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.SBM.asp If your smaller-scale manufacturing clients have been seeking a solution tailored to their needs, check out Small Business Manufacturing, an affordable program designed just for them. It provides tools to estimate, plan, execute and analyze their manufacturing with a familiar Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Accounting interface. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.virtualworld.asp Though you may not yet know what a virtual computer is or how one works, you likely will be working with one in the very near future. As such, this article is devoted to acquainting you with virtual computers and their benefits, how to build and deploy a virtual computer, and how virtual servers provide a cost-effective strategy for improving the return on your investment in information technology. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.cobranding.asp Microsoft has launched an Office Accounting customization feature that enables marketing capabilities which haven't been possible in the past. Learn just how easy it will be to take advantage of this MPAN membership benefit. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.salestax.asp You may not need this article if you live in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon. But residents in the remaining states should keep reading, as your state collects some type of sales tax. Your firm may not be required to collect sales tax on the services you provide, but many of your clients are likely required to collect and remit sales tax to their respective state governments. This article covers sales taxes in Office Accounting from top to bottom. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.TaxCalc2.asp Last month this series examined the use of the VLOOKUP function to cross-reference tax rates from a tax rate table. This month you'll learn how to create a single table of tax rates. The final result will involve two rather complex formulas, but you'll learn how to build them a step at a time. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.GuerillaMarketing2.asp Selwyn D. van Rooyen, of Wyn Consulting, Inc., and Don DeCarlo, of dpdynamics Inc., share their guerilla marketing tactics from hosting free seminars to joining network groups. Both of these pros share smart marketing tactics that will help you earn a steady stream of new clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightMarkSmith.asp Bourbon Computer Solutions is all about helping with the convergence of its clients' businesses to connect people, unify communications, and share data, and it's run by a 23-year-old computer solutions whiz, now a certified Microsoft Small Business Specialist, who founded the company when he was just 13. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.Actxweb.asp If any of your client companies are still manually entering website orders and customer information gathered from websites into Microsoft Office Accounting, you know that task can be a black hole for employees who could be doing anything else that's a more efficient use of their time. actXweb is a Microsoft add-on solution that will eliminate these manual tasks. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.techmarketingsuccess.asp In a slowing economy, many marketing experts suggest increasing investments in marketing efforts. For accountants, these efforts can pay dividends in retaining existing clients, expanding services provided to existing clients, and attracting new clients. To increase your return on marketing investments, consider using technology to make your efforts more effective in two distinct ways. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.streamlinetaskswithbcm.asp As the economy slows, your clients seek ways to work smarter and faster. Accounting tasks are sometimes time-consuming, and often require rekeying data. However, your clients can start working smarter today, and the best part is they likely already have the necessary tools in hand. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.manualpayroll.asp One of the best features of Microsoft Office Accounting is its direct integration with ADP's payroll services. As David has written before, this functionality offers three tiers of subscription-based service. This enables your clients to choose from tax-tables-only to full-service, outsourced payroll. But there's a solution designed for your more frugal clients: manual payroll in Office Accounting 2008. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.TaxCalc.asp Look-up formulas are one of Excel's most powerful features. Instead of manually linking to a worksheet cell, a look-up formula allows you to provide a criteria, such as taxable income, and have the formula automatically return the proper tax rate. This enables you to quickly run through various scenarios with your clients by simply changing the taxable income value. In part 1 of this two-part series David explains how to use the formula to cross-reference tax rates from a single table. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.GuerillaMarketing.asp Robert T. Speller Jr., of Speller Consulting, shares his guerilla marketing strategies that require almost no financial investment and will expand your network of clients on a daily basis. These tactics rely on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightDeCarlo.asp After Don DeCarlo, CPA, graduated from West Virginia University, he went to work for a big accounting firm, gathering enough experience to later launch his own company, which became focused on helping clients to implement accounting software. But when he signed up for a Microsoft Office Accounting developers' conference focused on the launch of Small Business Accounting 2006, he was thereafter "hooked". http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.ServiceManager.asp If your service company does business in the field, you know how hard it is to keep track of employees, jobs and inventory - and all of the paperwork that follows. Shining Brow Inc. offers a program called The Service Manager, which is designed to connect your organization to your customers, connect your employees to information, and connect the systems that make your organization run. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.Secure3.asp Part III of this multi-part series addresses the technologies available - from key fobs to biometrics - to help you secure your data. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.recurringdocs.asp Microsoft's Office Accounting 2008 offers new ways that your clients can manage - and automate - routine periodic transactions. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.OAUSSpanish.asp Microsoft's Office Accounting is the only small business accounting package available in a Spanish language version. And it loses none of its robust functionalities in the translation. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.Transformtext2.asp Last month, David shared some expert tricks that can transform text-based lists into any format you wish with just a couple of mouse clicks. This month, he demonstrates how to combine text, additional ways to break it apart, and a breezy way to convert the case of text in a spreadsheet. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightNeidert.asp As a computer systems builder and service provider, Jimmy Neidert, founder of JFN Technologies Inc., always preferred Microsoft Office Accounting to other accounting software and recommended it to his clients. But when he test drove the 2008 version, his first happy discovery was a new and improved conversion tool that helped him switch a client over from QuickBooks. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.AdagioFX.asp If you want to offer clients presentation-quality financial statements, Adagio FX is a Microsoft Office Accounting add-on tool that will give you the extra edge needed to wow your clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.Secure2.asp Part II of this multi-part series addresses practical steps you can take to reduce the chances that you will ever find yourself in the embarrassing position of having to deal with compromised data. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.CustomizeOA.asp Microsoft's Office Accounting breaks new ground in terms of customization that can be leveraged - with a few tweaks - to share with all of your clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.ReportCustomization.asp Depending on which version you choose, Office Accounting offers up to 70-plus standard reports. Even this variety might not meet your exact needs, but it's easy to customize every report to your liking. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.Transformtext.asp Data arrives on your desk from many sources, often in inconvenient formats. Many users resort to retyping lists to get the desired format, but in this article you'll learn some expert tricks that can transform text-based lists into any format you wish with just a couple of mouse clicks. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.MemberSpotlightSpeller.asp For the last 10 years, Robert Speller has worked with small-to-medium-size companies, primarily in the areas of software consulting and training via his company, Speller Consulting. Speller is unique in that his company leverages the power of remote technologies to cost-effectively work with and support his clients. To date, he counts 28 installations of Microsoft Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.TimeTracker.asp We're all increasingly on the go, some more than others. Accountants spend more time onsite with clients, and their clients have mobile workforces who spend more time in the field than in the office. The makers of the popular time-billing and project-tracking software, BillQuick, have another software solution that accommodates your mobile workforce and integrates easily with Microsoft Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.Secure1.asp Part I of this multi-part series will address the fundamental aspects of securing your data and systems - the importance of policies, effective passwords and email security. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.MPANActionPack.asp Microsoft's goal is to help you grow your practice and reinforce your role as a trusted advisor to your clients. There are two programs in particular that can help you in this regard. The first is free to all accountants - the second has a nominal fee, but offers a massive discount on a dizzying array of Microsoft software. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.OAFamily.asp Office Accounting has come a long way since its humble introduction as Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006. There was only one version of it. The subsequent release, Office Accounting 2007, expanded into a free Express version and a paid Professional version, which built on the initial release and offered features such as multi-user access. The pace has quickened with Office 2008, now available in 14 different versions. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.workbooklinks.asp Excel users either love workbook links or hate them. Indeed, it can be frustrating when the, "This workbook contains links..." prompt appears unexpectedly. Learn how to create, locate, and eliminate workbook links. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.memberspotlightselwyn.asp As an expert in both information technology and accounting, Selwyn D. van Rooyen offers his clients a unique combination of services, which is imperative when setting up companies with integrated software packages such as Microsoft's Office Accounting, Business Contact Manager, Dynamic CRM and Dynamics POS. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.MOM.asp If you've got clients who are e-tailers, retailers, catalogers, wholesalers, distributors by phone or even by mail - large or small - automation of systems is the key to their success as well as yours. Mail Order Manager, a unique solution developed by Dydacomp Development Corp., easily integrates with Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.tuneup.asp Start the New Year off right with a technology tune up on your computer to ensure safe and speedy computing throughout the year. You can choose to take one or all of the simple steps outlined here. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.budgeting.asp Although budgets and small business owners often mix like oil and water, just about every business should have a budget. A well thought out budget can help your clients consciously act, instead of constantly reacting. For instance, you can help your clients plan ahead for seasonal slowdowns, so they don't get caught in a cash crunch. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.troubleshooting.asp Certain users encounter a rare problem installing or activating Office Accounting 2008. This situation is usually isolated to users who attempt to downgrade from Office Accounting Professional to the Office Accounting Express. You could also encounter a problem if you switch from the United States version of Office Accounting to the United Kingdom version, or vice versa. Fortunately there's an easy solution to these problems. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.protect.asp Your spreadsheets might contain more personal or confidential information than you realize. Such data often reside in the nooks and crannies of your spreadsheet. The Document Inspector feature in Excel 2007 allows you to scan for and eradicate such information with just a few clicks of your mouse. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.memberspotlightdixson.asp Felecia Dixson, EA, is an avid fan of Office Accounting and became a certified Microsoft Office Accountant consultant primarily because of the product's seamless integration. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yoffee.ISV.CCC.asp Getting the right providers to a job on time is ultimately the key to success in the service industry. Now small businesses can keep up with the big guys and save a tremendous amount of time with Small Business Service and Scheduling software, a solution produced by Coastal Computer Corp. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.PrepareForYearEnd2.asp In this two-part series, we examine steps accountants can take NOW to reduce some of the headaches and frustrations normally associated with year-end. In this second installment, we focus on steps that accountants can take who work inside the public accounting space. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.OASpanishBritish.asp It's both exhilarating and scary when you realize that you're a player in the global economy. As you extend your business reach across borders or serve domestic clients who have associates around the globe, you'll be glad to know that Microsoft is keeping up with you. Office Accounting 2008 goes bilingual, or tri-lingual, if you will with Spanish and British versions. And the version differences aren't just window dressing. Read about all the benefits that your Spanish-speaking and British clients will soon enjoy. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.OAQuickStart.asp True to form, Microsoft packs more features into Office Accounting than any of us can learn in a day or a week or a year. But in their noble quest to balance power with ease of use, they introduce the Quick Start window in Office Accounting 2008. We think your clients will take to Quick Start right away: it not only streamlines every day tasks, it also enables your clients to take full control over Office Accounting. Get a preview right here. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.DynamicCharts2.asp Last issue, in Part 1 of this series on dynamic charts, we showed you how to account for shifting data by creating a rolling six-month chart. In this, the second and final installment, we demonstrate how to use simple macros to make your charts expand or contract automatically as you add or remove source data. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Dow.MemberLanreOnipede.asp Lanre Onipede of RLO Management Consultants, Inc. is capitalizing on federal electronic health record mandates in two ways: he's helping his large healthcare organization clients tailor their ERP systems to share health records with providers, and he's showing his small medical office clients how to leverage the influx of patient data using Office Accounting 2007. Learn how Onipede is making the most of his expertise on both sides of the fence. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Dow.ISVQuickPayment.asp When you keep the books straight, your clients can rest easy and concentrate on building the business. But what if you notice they're hampering their own growth by not taking credit card payments, for instance? Suggesting they try Quick-Payment, a nifty Office Accounting 2007 add-in, may be all the advice they need to get over the hump. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.PrepareForYearEnd1.asp In this two-part series, we will examine steps accountants can take NOW to reduce some of the headaches and frustrations normally associated with year-end. In this first installment, we focus on steps that can be taken by accountants working outside the public accounting space. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.IntrOA2008.asp Through the use of wizards and export/import processes, the process of setting up a data file is much simpler today than it was even just five years ago, but it can be unclear where is the best place to begin. K2's Thomas Stephens reveals the logical starting point required to successfully set-up your accounting application. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.ImportTransactionsOA2008.asp Office Accounting now supports direct import of many common transactions. Why is this important? Perhaps your clients accept orders on a web site. Or, they use a Microsoft Access database, but need to interface with Office Accounting. Up until now importing transactions required the purchase of a third party utility, but in this article we show you how to use this exciting new feature in Office Accounting 2008. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.DynamicCharts.asp Charts often present special challenges for Excel users. For instance, the data being presented may shift from month to month, such as a rolling six-month chart. Or, you may have a chart that you manually expand to show the latest month's data. In this article I'll present some techniques that you can use to make your charts automatically incorporate new data. This month we demonstrate a technique that creates a rolling six-month chart. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/dow.MemberSpotlightGreeley.asp Tired of waiting for a client's books? Frustrated by messy and incomplete data that comes in at the last minute? Elissa Greeley from ADOS Consulting, LLC, has been there and asks a simple question: "Why can't everyone do what they do best?" We'll tell you what you can do to stop diverting your time and energy away from your core compentency. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/dow.ISVOutlookBCM.asp Training your clients can in turn generate additional opportunities for you and your firm. In this article I'll describe the many built-in training aids Office Accounting provides, as well as a round-up of the exhaustive resources you can find on Microsoft's website. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.WorkingTogether.asp As organizations seek to become more efficient and more profitable, one of the key strategies used to achieve these goals is that of integrating multiple information systems and the data contained in those systems. This article examines how integration improves organizational efficiency and explores various examples of integration in place today. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.WorkingTogether.asp Through the use of wizards and export/import processes, the process of setting up a data file is much simpler today than it was even just five years ago, but it can be unclear where is the best place to begin. K2's Thomas Stephens reveals the logical starting point required to successfully set-up your accounting application. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.PhysicalInventory.asp Physical inventory is one of the most onerous tasks assigned to accountants. We'd all much prefer to do something other than tally the number of beans in a bin. However, physical inventory is a necessary business practice, so in this article we'll discuss ways that Microsoft Office Accounting makes process faster and easier. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/StartFreshwithOfficeAccounting.asp Although Office Accounting makes it easy to migrate your clients from QuickBooks or Microsoft Money, sometimes the automated approach isn't best. This article discusses your options for scrubbing data prior to import into Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.UsePriceLevelsCreditLimits.asp The concept of "one size fits all" has been replaced by "mass customization". Special pricing now is often the rule, rather than the exception. Fortunately your clients can use the Price Levels feature in Microsoft Office Accounting to tailor pricing to compete effectively in today's marketplace. We'll show you how to start using this feature today. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ConvertTrainingOpportunties.asp Training your clients can in turn generate additional opportunities for you and your firm. In this article I'll describe the many built-in training aids Office Accounting provides, as well as a round-up of the exhaustive resources you can find on Microsoft's website. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Excel2007Compatibility.asp The Quick Access Toolbar is a new feature in Excel 2007 that keeps frequently used features just a click away at all times. In this article, we'll make some suggestions on how you can best customize your Quick Access Toolbar, including an undocumented use for AutoFilter. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.QuickAccessToolbar.asp Excel 2007 is going to affect you, whether or not you choose to upgrade. For instance, if you are a user of Excel 2003 or earlier, you can be stymied when an Excel 2007 user sends you a spreadsheet saved in the new format. Fortunately some simple steps will ensure equal access for all, no matter which version of Excel you're using. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/dow.MemberSpotlightSpeller.asp For over seven years, Robert Speller, Senior Partner at Speller & Company in San Francisco, CA, has trained thousands of accounting professionals on the intricacies of Quickbooks. But recently, Speller has found his client's interest shifting to a worthy competitor: Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/LukeCelenteMemberSpotlight.asp Luke Celente, VP of Sales at Computer Solutions East in New Rochelle, NY, knows how Office Accounting 2007 benefits small business users from first-hand experience. Since making the switch himself from QuickBooks in February of 2007, convincing his small business clients to switch to Office Accounting 2007 has gotten much easier, even in an industry that is reluctant to change. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/dow.ISVCoreconFinal.asp With multiple job sites, frequent change orders, and an endless stream of subcontractors, managing the accounting for the construction industry is more than a challenge. In this article, we'll take a closer look at a set of solutions from Corecon Technologies that seamlessly integrates Microsoft SBA with a comprehensive online project management tool designed specifically for the construction in. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.hiddengems.asp If you've ever wanted get more out of your Microsoft products and services, here are the resources you need to look into. K2's Thomas Stephens gives you a peek at three lesser-known resources that provide exceptional value to accountants: Office Live, Action Pack subscription and Business-Critical Support. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.oasosimple.asp Good news: Microsoft Office Accounting truly takes the pain out of learning a new accounting-software package. Not only is Office Accounting the first accounting program to use the familiar Office interface that your clients will recognize immediately if they utilize Excel, Word, PowerPoint and/or Outlook, but Microsoft also provides the Office Accounting Learning Center. In his article, David Ringstrom shows you how the Learning Center can help you and your clients - free of charge - with training resources for all levels of users. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.resourceroundup.asp Want even more Office Accounting training resources for you and your clients? Microsoft offers a plethora of training tools - and it's all just a click away. Here's a look at Office Accounting's online resources and books, including a round-up of recent, helpful newsletter articles that you might have overlooked during the busy tax season. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.sortOrder.asp If you're not taking advantage of Excel 2007's new sorting capabilities, you're missing out on dynamic ways to sort your data. You're no longer restricted to sorting on just three columns - now you can sort data on up to 64 columns! Read on to find out how and what else you can do with Excel 2007's enhanced data-sorting functions. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sarahterry.addonroundup.asp The list of add-on products for OA is growing - and you can't afford to miss out on even one of them. There's something for every client out there now. We'll provide a list of the ISVs that will make your clients smile and solve their most harrowing business problems with the simple click of a mouse. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.payroll.asp If you think that providing payroll services to your small-business clients will forever be time-consuming yet low-margin work, think again. You no longer have to feel compelled to avoid offering payroll services. You can make payroll a profitable part of your accounting business. Check out these three surefire best-practice solutions, from K2's Thomas Stephens, that you can employ right away to make payroll a profitable service offering. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.payroll.asp Looking for more flexibility from your payroll software or for payroll services that cost less than what QuickBooks and Peachtree offer? We have the solution for you: Office Accounting Payroll Powered by ADP. Payroll by ADP gives you a choice of three levels of service, and your clients can choose to process payroll on their own, send their records for you to handle or outsource their payroll to ADP. Read on to get a sneak peek at everything that Payroll by ADP has to offer. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/MemberShowcase.thompson.asp Dennis Thompson, CPA can do it all -- from solving his small-business clients' most pressing OA questions to preparing their tax returns and financial statements. Here's how Thompson manages to keep his one-man accounting business afloat while helping his clients with OA installation and troubleshooting, and at the same time adding real value to their businesses. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.HR.asp If you use Office Accounting's Payroll feature, you know that you can manage most of your human-resource needs within the software. But when your clients need extra tools or have questions, you might not know how to help them. Fear not, because in this article, David Ringstrom gives you all the pertinent links through Microsoft's Office Online site that connect you with helpful free articles and great HR templates. This article also connects you to essential links to IRS and U.S. Department of Labor resources that you can share with your clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.conditionalFormatting.asp Conditional formatting can be one of the most useful features of Excel 2007. But if you aren't using conditional formatting, you could be missing out on the handiest ways to transform lists of raw data into visual eye-candy. David Ringstrom walks you through how to use conditional formatting in Excel 2007 and 2003 -- and shares with you a great interactive tool that will show you where to find all your favorite Excel 2003 bells and whistles in the 2007 version. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.Vista.asp Now that your IT department gave you the go-ahead to upgrade to Windows Vista, you may be wondering how to get the most out of it. K2's Thomas Stephens has all the hot-button bells and whistles that Vista has to offer - and that will make you, your team and your clients more productive and secure. Don't overlook these great Vista features for accounting and finance professionals! http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.MidYearReview.asp Mid-year is an ideal time for your clients to look ahead at their current-year tax situation and compare this year's results with last year. Find out what reports, processes and resources you can suggest to your clients that will help them with their mid-year assessments. Also, check out these free templates and small-business tutorials from Microsoft. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/MemberShowcase.meehan.asp Thomas Meehan, MCSE, CCMP, owner of TINE Associates, is a networking consultant for both accountants and bookkeepers - and his passion is educating clients about Office Accounting's capacities. Meehan offers his insights on his client's favorite things about Office Accounting and his vision for additional integrated features. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.CustomizeOA.asp Your clients could be missing out on some of Office Accounting Professional's functions that can help them streamline their Office Accounting use. The good news: We have some simple tips that you and your clients can use to set preferences and tailor Office Accounting to their specific needs and desires. You won't believe how simple customizing Office Accounting for your clients can be. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/Dynamics.AccessTek.asp If you have clients who have outgrown or are outgrowing their current accounting software and Office Accounting isn't quite right for them, introduce them to AccessTek's Business in a Box - they won't be disappointed. Read on to find out what your clients can get out of this hardware-software-services package and for how much. AccessTek's founder and CEO Lindy Antonelli gives you all the features of Business in a Box that will help your clients to thrive. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.CustomizeExcel.asp Unfortunately, many Excel users complete tasks the hard way because they are unaware of Excel's potential. In this insightful article, David Ringstrom shows you the simple environmental changes that you and your clients can make to Excel (both 2007 and 2003 versions) that can reap major benefits. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2.outlook.asp Think about it for a minute, in small business your world really consists of email, contacts, calendar items, tasks, and accounting. If we had an accounting system that would link directly into Outlook, we would really be able to get things done without having to learn or deal with two interfaces. K2 describes how your familiar friend Outlook becomes even more valuable when paired with Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.paypal.asp Built-in integration with PayPal sets Microsoft Office Accounting apart from its competition. David discusses how to include a PayPal link in e-mailed invoices, as well as how to import the resulting payments into Office Accounting. This technique is a great way to nudge your clients off the sidelines into the world of e-commerce, and to allow those without merchant accounts to start accepting credit cards today. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/amy.dixsongray.asp Felecia and Larry of Alfermann & Gray Co. CPA's, LLC pour their energy and time into consulting with both CPAs and small businesses, as well as teaching their colleagues. They've shared with us their Office Accounting success stories, and tell you about their software/people/processes integration system as well. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.bankonline.asp Many of your clients use online banking at home, and may soon want the same convenience for their business. Office Accounting offers integrated online banking, with capabilities varying by financial institution. David tells you how to get online and the different kinds of services that may be available to your clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/MISys.asp Think you can't please the ground-level production people in a manufacturing firm and make the company's CFO smile at the same time? MISys Small Business Manufacturing does the trick. Small manufacturing firms typically have no automated system for controlling their inventory, so to avoid critical shortages, their usual response is to purchase large quantities of inventory. MISys SBM -- in concert with Office Accounting 2007 -- solves this costly problem. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ringstrom.webqueriesinexcel.asp Many spreadsheet users often overlook a powerfully simple feature in Excel: the ability to automatically retrieve data from the Internet. Learn how to use the Data ribbon in Excel 2007 to monitor an investment portfolio within Excel, with instructions for Excel 2003 for those that haven't upgraded to the latest Office version. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/k2_technologyforCPAs.asp Where do you stand with respect to the productivity gains technology has to offer? Ask yourself these questions: Do I understand the technology I use daily as well as I should? Is technology saving me as much time as it has the potential to? If I had a better understanding of what technology has to offer, would I see opportunities to improve the way I work? http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sealthecracks.asp Backorders are the bane of the business world - you want what you need now! And your customers want their goods or services yesterday! Despite the demands of today's fast-paced society, not every order can be filled on the spot. In such cases Office Accounting can ensure that unfulfilled transactions don't fall through the cracks. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/KeepYourCashInOrder.asp Remember when reconciling your bank account involved the cryptic form printed on the back of your bank statement? With the advent of online banking, many of us don't even receive paper statements anymore. And if we do, we certainly don't want to use a pen and calculator to match our records to the bank's. In either case Office Accounting makes it easy to keep your cash in order. Learn more here. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ESC.asp While tracking jobs, ensuring techs arrive on time, and timely billing of work performed are critical to service companies' operation and success, the cumbersome manual processes they use take so much time that many companies simply don't do these essential functions well. ESC Small Business Service & Scheduling steps in with a creative solution that looks and feels like Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/MergingReportsInExcel.asp Office Accounting provides dozens of reports, but sometimes the information you seek spans two of them. Fortunately, merging reports is easier than you may think. David shows you how to use Excel 2007 to combine the Inventory Stock Status by Vendor report with the Vendor List. Along the way he demonstrates the new IFERROR function and, as always, provides instructions for Excel 2003 users. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/ConvertingFromMSMoney.asp Although Microsoft Money is a great tool for managing personal finances, there are limits to how well it can serve a growing small business. Encourage your entrepreneurial clients to move to Microsoft Office Accounting for their business finances. It's easy, as you'll see in this article. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/RSSFeeds.asp The Internet puts the world at your fingertips, but it's easy to get trapped in its vortex. An hour or two can melt away as you travel from one website to the next to see what's new. Smart professionals reverse the knowledge tide by subscribing to RSS feeds. These subscriptions function like a virtual concierge that gathers up the newest articles from subscribed web sites and then compiles all this information into a single screen. Learn how RSS can transform how you consume information on the Internet. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/AmortizationTable_Excel2007.asp In this continuing series on making the most of Excel 2007, David shows you how to build an amortization table. Bonus: some best practices for building spreadsheets, including formatting numbers to save time and using keyboard shortcuts to navigate large spreadsheets. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/pos.asp If your small business clients are still using a cash register in the front and an accounting system in the back, they face a significant obstacle to keeping up with their big box and other competitors. Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2007 paired with Microsoft Dynamics Point of Sale connects your clients' front and back offices, providing real-time, detailed sales and inventory data. Users get the information they need to make critical business decisions and drive profits. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sellOnline2.asp Part two of our eBay series demonstrates how to track eBay listings from within Office Accounting, download the resulting orders and fees, and manage online settings. Office Accounting makes it easy to generate additional sales or dispose of obsolete inventory with its eBay partnership. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/excel2007vs2003.asp Excel 2007 features a completely different user interface - the familiar, yet aged, menu structure has been abandoned. A majority of Excel's functionality is now only one or two clicks away. This article will walk you through converting an Office Accounting 2007 report into an Excel 2007 pivot table - and compares the steps to those in Excel 2003. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/oa2007retail.asp Office Accounting Professional 2007 has launched into major office supply and technology superstores across the country after previously being available only for a 120-day trial. Here's how to upgrade now. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/fixedAsset.asp Office Accounting gives users a new tool for their fixed asset arsenal - just in time for tax season. Users can calculate depreciation and amortization without leaving Office Accounting Professional. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/yearEnd.asp It's that time again ... out with the old accounting year and in with the new. This article offers solid guidance on dealing with year-end processes in Microsoft Office Accounting and in Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting if you haven't yet made the switch. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sellOnline.asp One of the most innovative features in Office Accounting is the ability to list items for sale directly from Office Accounting onto eBay. In this first of two parts, David Ringstrom walks you through the process of configuring Office Accounting for online sales and listing your very first item. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/payrollcenter.asp Payroll Center for Accountants is an online application hosted by ADP that you access directly from Office Accounting. You'll use one dashboard to view multiple clients and get a quick overview of their payroll status at a single glance. And you can individualize each client payroll relationship with Payroll Center's many options. Find out more about this powerful feature here. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/excel2007.asp Excel 2007 has launched, and the most dramatic change you'll see when you first use Excel 2007 is that the traditional menu structure is no more. The new Excel interface is known as the ribbon, and it's initially shocking and disruptive. But keep an open mind. Just about any task in Excel is now just one or two clicks away, and accompanied by new onscreen documentation. Walk through some of the new Excel's handiest features. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/icc.asp Internet Commerce Corporation (ICC) has partnered with Microsoft to develop ICC EDI Connect for Microsoft Office Accounting. ICC has mapped OA's data format to the required EDI formats of virtually every major retailer in the U.S. And ICC is ready to help small businesses prepare for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - and get (or keep) those big retail customers. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/revenueOpps.asp You may not realize it yet, but Office Accounting 2007 offers you at least two ways to provide value-added services for your clients - and generate more revenue for your practice: Payroll Center and Fixed Assets Manager. Here's a primer on these new features. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/multipleCurrencies.asp Don't let your clients sit on the sidelines of global commerce just because their accounting software doesn't offer foreign currency capability. Office Accounting Professional 2007 is multiple-currency ready. Now transacting business in Euros or yen is just as easy as with the good ole greenback. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/fieldReport.asp In these early days of the Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 launch, we went into the field to talk to three of your colleagues who are working with small business clients in SBA and are excited about moving to Office Accounting. Here are their insights about creating great partnerships between you, your clients and Microsoft Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/everyBudget.asp Compare features of Express and Professional to decide which version is right for your individual clients. David Ringstrom examines features for working with customers and vendors, managing payroll, and more. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/dpimport.asp DP Import Suite easily and accurately imports all transaction types - including general ledger journal entries, sales transactions, vendor transactions, employee time sheets or payroll journal entries, custom data fields and support lists. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/oa2007launch.asp Rajat Taneja talks about some of Office Accounting's greatest new features, including many features designed specifically for accounting professionals, a new version designed for small, home-based businesses called Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 and a distribution model that will put Office Accounting into the hands of millions of small businesses. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/OA2007AcctFeatures.asp Office Accounting will increase your efficiency and profitability with features like the Accountant View, Accountant Transfer, Multi-Currency Capabilities, and Expanded Journal Entry Capabilities. Get the scoop on these and other features, designed with plenty of input from your fellow CPAs. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/clientcollab.asp Office Accounting rolls out a leading relationship between online services and accounting software. Whether your clients are among the more than 700,000 small businesses that already conduct their primary business on eBay or could benefit from increasing their sales, the Office Accounting/eBay integration will save them paper, time and hassle. And with Office Accounting's partnership with PayPal, your clients can conduct their invoicing and payment process online. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/clientcollab.asp Remember when accountants had to walk to their client's office uphill both ways in the snow - just to enter monthly journal entries? Some accountants would then take the accounting data back to their office, while admonishing the client not to enter any new transactions until the books returned. Fortunately, those days are a distant memory with Office Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/OA2007ClientFeatures.asp Here are 14 reasons why your clients should consider a move to Office Accounting if they aren't already there. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/docmgmt.asp Most firms have document management on their to-do list. Before you start the project or if you have already started, step back and ask a few important questions in order to focus on priorities, meet expectations and ensure success. This tool-packed article will get you headed in the right direction. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/nofilingcabinet.asp Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting can turn the tide of paperwork for you and your clients with its innovative document linking feature. This functionality strongly distinguishes SBA from its competitors - and can bring dreams of a paperless office closer to reality. Learn about linking to customer, vendor and employee list records, as well as to individual transactions. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sbaaccess.asp SBA ships with a robust set of customizable reports. But it seems that each of your clients wants something different. Fortunately, you can meet or even exceed their expectations by using SBA's Analysis Tools with Microsoft Access. This article explores this capability and walks you through customizing an Access report and learning how to generate customer mailing labels. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/paperprotect.asp Even in today's electronic world, most small businesses are still inundated with paper. Your clients need important information at their fingertips, but that's nearly impossible in a paper-based environment. PaperSave for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting seamlessly integrates document retention and imaging to SBA to help small businesses make the leap. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/banishshoebox.asp Many businesses spring from nothing more than an idea and a credit card. These new entrepreneurs often manage their accounting by hand. You know the scenario: handwritten checks, invoices in Microsoft Office Word, and an old-school checkbook register. Even worse, these folks pile receipts into folders or horrors! a shoebox! This piece has plenty of talking points to help you show your clients how easy a transition to SBA can be. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/training.asp If you want to attract and retain the best people you can and distinguish yourself from the competition a robust training program is the best investment you can make. Developing professionals who aspire to advance their careers want training and seek out firms that are committed to it. This article gives you tools to examine and improve your current training program. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/outlookBCM.asp You probably have numerous clients with both customer data in their accounting package and some semblance of the same data in Microsoft Office Outlook. You can help these clients by providing them a better handle on their CRM - their customer relationship management with Microsoft Small Business Accounting and the free Business Contact Manager Update for Outlook. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/analyzeSales.asp With Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting you are literally five clicks away from impressing your clients with tabular and graphic analysis of their sales and purchases. This article will show you how to create a simple analysis of accounting data. This Sales Analysis tool establishes a connection between your sales transactions in Small Business Accounting and Excel - and now you're ready to tackle a pivot table to make this information even more powerful. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/mobility.asp As a small business accountant, you have a unique opportunity to deliver value-added mobility capabilities to your clients. The practical value of a mobile accounting solution can help you engage with more customers, re-engage with existing customers, and drive adoption of Small Business Accounting software. This article describes the CCPocket solution that can help your clients keep up in an increasingly mobile world. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/sbaImport.asp Here's the situation: your best client is ready to move to Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting, and their data needs to be converted. But your client isn't using QuickBooks. No sweat: use the steps in this article to help your client get started with Small Business Accounting today. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/lewis.asp Today's accountants practice in the midst of constant and rapid changes in technology, regulations and clients desires. Tools that help accounting professionals stay ahead of the curve while building close and profitable client relationships are vital to success. Accountants that serve small business clients have a particular responsibility to guide clients toward reliable and accurate accounting solutions. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/whyusesba.asp These days, most businesses are using at least partially computerized accounting, even if it's just a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and a shoebox of receipts. As you know, accounting professionals often influence the accounting software that their clients or employers use. This month we'll take a high-level look at which businesses should migrate to Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting - which includes any business that currently uses QuickBooks or Peachtree Accounting. Starting next month, we'll plunge into different user segments and tell you what works in Small Business Accounting - and why it might be better for your clients. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/useforecasts.asp While many accounting tasks focus on documenting past activities, businesses also need to look forward - both short-term and long-term. Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting has a Forecast Cash Flow feature that simplifies short-term planning. This feature on the Company menu enables you to strategically plan upcoming cash receipts and payments. When you need to look long-term, the Scenarios feature in Microsoft Excel serves as an additional tool to use in conjunction with Small Business Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/migrateqb2sba.asp Do you have QuickBooks clients that want to convert to Microsoft Small Business Accounting? Good news: doing so is a straightforward process. In this article we'll review the steps involved in migrating your client's data from QuickBooks to Small Business Accounting. You'll find additional information in the article "How to Migrate Your QuickBooks Data", which is also available in PDF format. Many accountants have painful memories of accounting system conversions. Previously, data often had to be transcribed manually from the old accounting system to the new one. There were alternatives, such as attempting to decipher Byzantine import methods or paying a significant sum to a third-party firm to convert the data for you. Fortunately, there are only a few requirements for migrating data from QuickBooks to Small Business Accounting. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/billquick.asp Managers, assistants, clerks and secretaries are more than staff to your company. They drive revenues and ultimately, profits. However each person in your company (including you) has a limitation that cannot be eliminated. That limitation is TIME. While time limitation (maximum 24 hours a day) cannot be changed, it can, however, be managed. It is the effective management of time that will make your firm profitable and set you aside from your competition. For over ten years computer software such as BillQuick has helped accountants, CPAs, engineers, architects, computer consultants, attorneys, and many other consultants maximize the value of your time. Tracking and managing time with software is the core functionality of any time and billing software. What makes BillQuick stand out is its ability to automate your business-critical tasks. http://sba.microsoft.com/apnews/goodwill.asp For many tax professionals, finding potential clients is not a problem. Developing the right relationship with new clients, and maintaining high levels of satisfaction and goodwill with existing clients, is often more of an issue. http://accounting.microsoft.com/apnews/gutberlet.asp As you can see from the above, I believe in the value of certification (these designations are used in various small business marketing scenarios), so when Microsoft asked me to help them develop a certification exam for "Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting" I jumped at the chance. And, I must say I was impressed (and that's not easy for an old accountant who is results oriented) with the rigor that went into the exam's development. http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/support/checklist/default.mspx The seven steps explain what you need to do to improve the computer security of your business or your clients. They were devised expressly for the small business owner-not for computer gurus-and break down the major computer security threats that businesses may face. We've packaged the seven steps in a variety of formats. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011684061033.aspx An accountant's job rarely stops with the preparation of a company's financial statements and tax return. These documents are required, but they often don't provide enough information to reach a reasonable conclusion about a company's health. Additional analysis of the numbers that support these documents can offer valuable information to all kinds of clients, the company's management, and potential investors. http://accounting.microsoft.com/apnews/internal_control_spencer.asp While having strong internal control procedures in place might be considered a requirement for medium and large businesses, it is no less important for small businesses. According to the 2004 Report to the Nation, issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (http://www.acfe.com), 48% of theft and fraud occurred in small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/accountants/articles/why_authentication_technology_can_help_your_business.mspx Today, more than ever, protecting one's electronic identity has become a top priority. And well it should be. As identity thieves and computer hackers devise increasingly sophisticated methods to steal confidential data, computer users must take greater precautions to protect their vital information.