Quickbooks Training

Get hands-on training to master QuickBooks’s functionality! This training is designed to help you navigate and operate QuickBooks efficiently without diving into bookkeeping techniques. We’ll focus on the software itself, giving you the skills you need to manage your business transactions with confidence.

TRAINING DETAILS: 

• Virtual Training: $65 per session
• Onsite Training: $75 per session (available for local clients)

REMOTE TRAINING: 

• 3-Hour Package: $180 for 3 hours (save $15)
• Additional hours: $65/hour after the initial 3 hours.
• 4-Hour Package: $240 (save $20)
• Additional hours: $65/hour after the package.

ONSITE TRAINING: 

• 3-Hour Package: $210 for 3 hours (save $15)
• Additional hours: $75/hour after the initial 3 hours.
• 4-Hour Package: $280 (save $20)
• Additional hours: $75/hour after the package.

WHAT’S INCLUDED: 

• Step-by-step guidance on using QuickBooks
• How to set up your company file
• Managing customer and vendor information
• Creating invoices and processing payments
• Recording expenses and managing bills
• Running basic reports to track your business performance

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: 

• Training on bookkeeping principles
• Assistance with cleaning up books or fixing errors in financial records

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: 

• Business owners and team members who want to learn the ins and outs of QuickBooks
• Those looking to streamline their day-to-day financial tasks

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Virtual training sessions are conducted over video conferencing and are recorded for future reference.
• Onsite training is available for clients within the local area and is subject to scheduling availability.

Ready to streamline your QuickBooks experience? Contact us to schedule your training session today!

Mobile Notary

Powers Bookkeeping, your trusted mobile notary service. We provide professional, convenient, and reliable notary services at your location, whether it’s your home, office, hospital, or any other setting.

Our certified notaries come to you, making notarization easy and hassle-free. We specialize in a wide range of documents, including real estate closings, legal forms, affidavits, power of attorney, and more.

With flexible hours and prompt service, we’re here to accommodate your busy schedule and ensure your documents are handled with care and precision.

Cities Served:

• Lincoln
• Wheatland
• Rocklin
• Roseville
• Granite Bay
• Citrus Heights
• Auburn
• Fair Oaks
• Carmichael
• Antelope
• Sacramento
• Folsom

Book time with Tina Mosier: Mobile Notary

Pros and Cons of Bookkeepers vs the DIY Method

There are two options available for you for bookkeeping: hiring a bookkeeper or the DIY method. 

At first glance, you may think the options are easy to characterize. Bookkeepers offer benefits, such as providing a more wholesome look at your bookkeeping. The DIY method, while more cumbersome, could save you money. However, there's more to both bookkeeping methods that can make your choice harder to decide.

We've listed the pros and cons of bookkeepers and the DIY method below...

Pros of a Bookkeeper

Whether you hire a bookkeeper for external bookkeeping or work with one in your business, having a bookkeeper offers small business owners several pros.  

• External Bookkeepers: Neutral Oversight and Specialist Support: An external bookkeeper, being detached from your business, offers an unbiased perspective of your financial health. They can effectively manage your accounting tasks, thereby enabling you to concentrate on other crucial business matters.
• Risk Mitigation with Professional Assistance: With an external bookkeeper, you can stave off potential complications, such as an IRS audit, or tax underpayment or overpayment. Their professional expertise can significantly reduce the risk of such incidents.
• Internal Bookkeepers: Accessibility and Familiarity: Having an internal bookkeeper ensures constant access to your financial records, saving you both time and money. Given their close association with your business, they also have a deeper understanding of specific transactions that may potentially pose issues.

Pros of DIY Bookkeeping 

If you decide to go the DIY route for your bookkeeping, there are a couple of pros.

• Cost-Effectiveness of DIY Bookkeeping: One key benefit of DIY bookkeeping is that you're not spending on external professional help. This approach suits those who are comfortable with tasks such as tax filing, document sorting, and proficient in the required bookkeeping software.
• Confidentiality in DIY Bookkeeping: An added advantage of DIY bookkeeping is the privacy of your business records. For businesses placing high importance on maintaining the confidentiality of customer and employee data, this approach is particularly beneficial.

Cons of a Bookkeeper

While a bookkeeper, whether hired or within your company, is convenient, there are cons associated with them. 

• Software Compatibility: When hiring an external bookkeeper, one might face issues such as different software preferences. They might opt for a software different from the one your business uses, potentially leading to compatibility issues.
• Process Inefficiencies: Involving an internal bookkeeper could pose challenges too. Potential errors in the bookkeeping process due to lack of full comprehension of your industry's requirements could lead to issues with financial transactions and require additional time for assistance.
• Time Constraints: Regardless of whether the bookkeeper is external or internal, time management can be an issue. If the bookkeeper doesn't have all the necessary financial records or if an important transaction is overlooked, time is needed to rectify these errors. The need for document retrieval in the event of an audit also contributes to time pressures, which can cumulatively become significant.

Cons of DIY

There are cons associated with doing bookkeeping on your own. If you're managing your bookkeeping needs yourself, there are several cons for you to consider. 

If you decide to DIY your bookkeeping, you'll need to remember to keep track of all of your receipts and records. In addition to running your business, you'll also be responsible for the administrative side of your finances. This is a huge drain on time that could be better spent expanding your business or working on your marketing.

• Time Investment: DIY bookkeeping requires considerable time to collect, sort through, and upload financial transactions to your bookkeeping software. It becomes even more time-consuming if you need to correct mistakes, particularly in response to IRS queries.
• Risk of Errors: Unless you possess professional bookkeeping skills, there's a substantial risk of making errors in your records. These inaccuracies could lead to false tax information, potentially resulting in fines or even an audit.
• Cost Implications: Handling your own bookkeeping may seem like a cost-saving strategy in the short term. Any errors could lead to larger financial losses in the long run. Source

What Is an Audit Trail?

An audit trail is a date and time-stamped record of the history and details around a transaction, work event, product development step, control execution, or financial ledger entry. Almost any type of work activity or process can be captured in an audit trail, whether automated or manual. Different fields will have audit trails that exist in a variety of forms to capture their unique areas of focus, but the overarching theme and purpose of the audit trail is to track a sequence of events and actions in chronological order. In today’s fast-paced IT and risk environment, viewing an audit trail or audit log in or as close to real-time as possible may be part of an organization’s day-to-day operations.

Specific to the healthcare and medical devices, an audit trail would track access and authentication to a patient’s medical record (typically in an Electronic Health Record or EHR), any updates made, and when that sensitive data was accessed.  In the financial sector, institutions like the SEC and NYSE will use an audit trail to uncover and review detailed information on trades when there are any questions about the accuracy, legality, or validity of trade data. Most information technology systems will also have a detailed audit trail for user activity, and some IT systems are built to aggregate inputs from other systems and create audit trail data from that.

What Are Audit Trails Used For?

Audit trails provide a record of events that are time-stamped and provide data to varying degrees. Some audit trails may only capture errors, and a few simple details, like in the anti-virus example above. Other audit trails are deeply complex, and require some technical expertise to read and process.

A simple example of an audit trail covering a transaction is a grocery store receipt. You enter the store to buy a lemon and walk out with a receipt recording the transaction. It will include what you purchased, the exact time that it happened, and the location where the transaction took place. In a more complex scenario, an audit trail is used to verify the source of funds for a down payment on a home by a mortgage lender. Financial regulators examine complex audit trails from brokerage firms when they want to investigate the suspicious market activity.

Audit trails are valuable evidence used to support audits, access controls, financial statements, investigations, security, and many other functions in an organization. They provide a way to prove the integrity of a transaction or activity, validate an activity, and ensure that key transactions, controls, and actions are being performed. Source

Why Cash Receipts are Important for Your Business

Many businesses operate using only debit cards, credit cards, and checks, which leave a digital paper trail in your bank account, but that isn’t necessarily the case when buying and selling with cash. Whether your small business makes an occasional cash purchase or relies on cash as a primary method of doing business with customers, it’s important to keep close track of the details using cash receipts. If you have not been keeping track of cash transactions in the past, it’s not too late to get started. Here’s a closer look at how cash receipts may work for your business and why it’s so important to track every dollar that goes in and out of your company.

What are cash receipts?

Cash receipts are documented records of the amount of cash that has changed hands in a transaction.

You’re likely familiar with them, but if you need a refresher, go to your local retail store and buy something with cash. You should automatically get a receipt explaining the purchase details, including a line indicating how you paid (cash) and how much you paid in total. While this is likely the most common type of cash receipt you’ll encounter on a day-to-day basis, cash receipts may also play an important role in your business.

Cash receipts don’t necessarily need all the details that are automatically included on receipts from big-box retailers. To qualify as an official record, they only need to record that cash changed hands, who was involved, when the transaction took place, and details of what was purchased. However, more details can be helpful later on. Cash receipts can be computer printed, handwritten, or digital. What’s most important is that they contain a clear record of key transaction details.

What are cash receipts used for?

Cash receipts are used to create an official record of a cash-based transaction. They may also be used when payment is made via check or store credit. But, as the name implies, you’re most likely to see them when a transaction uses actual cash.

To better understand how they work, here are two examples:

    1.) Purchase Transaction

Let’s say your business makes hand-made crafts to sell online. You like to buy supplies from a local vendor that works as a cash-only seller. Every time you make a purchase, it’s crucial to get a cash receipt to record what you spent on supplies. These records will come in handy later on when you’re reconciling your accounting records and may be important if there are any questions about your taxes.

    2.) Sale Transaction

Pat lives on a large property with a small orchard and likes to sell organically grown, local produce at weekend farmer’s markets in the area. Pat makes most sales using a mobile debit or credit card reader, but many customers prefer to buy in cash. Pat uses a tablet-based digital cash register to track cash-based sales to understand which products are performing well and how many were sold.

How to use cash receipts

Cash receipts play a critical role in business bookkeeping and taxes. It’s necessary to track every transaction and dollar that goes in and out of your business, both for tax reporting purposes and making the best financial decisions for your business. Follow these steps to use cash receipts as a seller:

• Generate a cash transaction: First, your business must make a sale where the customer wants to pay with cash.
• Create a cash receipt: When the sale occurs, create the cash receipt in your sales system. If you don’t have one, it’s okay to create a sales receipt by hand. It doesn’t have to use a fancy form, but branded receipts make your business look more professional. Provide a copy to the customer and keep a copy for your business. If the customer has paid using a check (remember, those count as cash for these purposes), be sure to note the check number on your copy of the sales receipt.
• Enter the receipt in your bookkeeping system: If it doesn’t happen automatically, you’ll have to type the receipt details into your bookkeeping and accounting system so you can create accurate financial reports.
• Deposit your cash payments: Make sure your bank deposit slip amount matches your cash receipts journal (more on this in the next section). Hang on to your deposit receipts in case of any discrepancies.

If you use a point-of-sale (POS) system, your cash receipts may be recorded without having to do any additional work. Companies that frequently make cash sales and don’t use a cash register should consider keeping a cash receipts journal to ensure they don’t miss recording a sale.

Benefits of tracking cash receipts

While creating and tracking cash receipts takes some effort, there’s a big payoff. Here are some of the most significant benefits of tracking cash receipts:

• Proof of sale: The first benefit of tracking cash receipts is having proof of a sale. If there’s a dispute with the customer or a refund, having a record of past cash purchases may be very helpful.
• Accurate accounting records: Accurate accounting records help you make sound business decisions. They are also needed to generate an accurate tax return, which is required by law. Without cash receipts, you could under-report sales, which would lower your taxes and get you in trouble with the government, or you could under-report expenses, which would mean over-paying your taxes.
• Evidence if audited: If you wind up on the wrong side of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit, you’ll be glad you have detailed records. You may need to provide your receipts as evidence that your taxes are correct in this situation. Source

Bookkeeping Review : Book Now!

Limited Spots Available!

If you’ve been meaning to take a closer look at your business finances but keep pushing it down the to-do list, now’s the perfect time. For a limited time, Powers Bookkeeping Service is offering a complimentary, personalized bookkeeping review to help you feel confident about your numbers and your next steps.

This one-on-one review includes:

• A look at your current bookkeeping setup
• Recommendations to streamline and improve your process
• Insights into potential issues before they become problems

Whether you're behind, unsure, or simply want a second opinion, we're here to support your success.

Only 7 reviews available this month – schedule yours today before spots fill up!

Contact us today!!!

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping

For many small business owners, keeping up with bookkeeping can be time-consuming, stressful, and distracting from core operations. That’s where outsourcing comes in. Hiring a professional bookkeeping service like Powers Bookkeeping offers several key benefits that can help your business thrive:

1.) Saves Time and Reduces Stress

Outsourcing your bookkeeping frees you from hours of data entry, bank reconciliations, and paperwork. You can focus on running your business while knowing your financial records are being handled accurately and efficiently.

2.) Improves Accuracy

Professional bookkeepers are trained to catch errors, track expenses properly, and stay current with changing tax rules and reporting requirements. This reduces the risk of costly mistakes and keeps your books audit-ready.

3.) Cost-Effective

Hiring an in-house bookkeeper means paying a salary, benefits, and training expenses. Outsourcing offers expert help at a fraction of the cost, without the overhead.

4.) Provides Better Financial Insight

With up-to-date reports and financial data at your fingertips, you can make informed business decisions, identify trends, and plan for growth with confidence.

5.) Scales with Your Business

Whether you’re just starting out or expanding rapidly, outsourced bookkeeping can grow with you. You get the support you need—when you need it—without having to constantly hire or train new staff.

At Powers Bookkeeping, we offer reliable, customized solutions that take the burden off your shoulders and keep your financial foundation strong. Let us help you simplify your books so you can focus on building your business.