Benefits of Using a Time Clock at You Business

Why should you buy a time clock?

Time clocks provide a great way to show job costing, and help improve the accuracy of your payroll. Every company, from the small shop to the large business, needs to have accurate time records. These time records can prevent labor disputes and help improve your bottom line. Below are 5 examples why you need to have a time clock at your business.

1. Time Clocks Allow Precise Tracking of Hours

With no time clock, the employee is responsible to track their time.This method can easily be abused, and even if there is no time theft, the employee may incorrectly estimate hours worked. Estimating the beginning and end of break is where most mistakes occur, since most people take short breaks that are paid and longer breaks that are not. Without a time clock, figuring out which is which can lead to a lot of errors and cost a company thousands of dollars

2. Time Clocks Clearly Define When an Employee Begins and Ends Work

At one point or another, most employees find themselves heading out the door right when something requires their attention. Someone asks a question; some piece of equipment breaks; or an important client finally calls back. The employee can either stay late to deal with the issue, and possibly not get paid, or the employee can leave and risk being perceived as irresponsible. A time clock resolves the issue by making it clear whether or not the employee is actually still working during standard break or lunch times. Anyone who works overtime gets paid for it.

3. Time Clocks Make Payroll Processing Easier

The payroll clock records all payroll information and transmits it to a central file, eliminating transcription errors and delays. Not only does this reduce the workload for payroll staff who must physically do the transcribing with manual clocks, it reduces the hassle of dealing with employee complaints when errors in payroll do occur because of manual transcription. Digital transcription eliminates all these burdens.

4. Time Clocks Can Enforce Company Policy

Time clocks can be programmed with the schedule of each employee and can call a manager if an employee attempts to clock in late or if an employee has not taken a lunch by the end of an eight-hour shift. This helps managers discipline tardy employees and encourage hard workers to take breaks.

5. A Biometric Time Clock prevents "Buddy Punching"

RFID time clocks, pins, magnetic card swipes, can all be abused to allow another employee to punch in another employee. The time lost when another employee "buddy punches" another is around 10 minutes. This may seem like a small number, however, if you multiply the theft of 10 minutes by 5 days a week times 52 weeks this amount can easily be over tens of thousands of dollars. A biometric time clock stops this type of theft.

QuickBooks Compatible Time Clocks

Imagine reducing your payroll expense by 5% a year. Would you do it? Businesses with employees can expect to pay anywhere from 20 to 30% of their gross revenue to cover payroll expenses. It is easy to see how 5% would help reduce expenses.

How would you save 5%? Simply installing a time clock in your company. Want further savings? Make the clock a biometric time clock.  The reason is two fold. A time clock will ensure accurate time reporting. This means, if you have manual timesheets, that employees wont be able to "fudge" the hours. It is common to see employees add a few minutes to their timesheets or come back from lunch a little late but report that they arrived on time when they turn in their hours. 

Now that we see why a clock is very important controlling your payroll expenses, but how to choose a clock that is effective but affordable. 

Ideally the time clock would be able to export to your payroll processor of choice such as ADP, Paychex or QuickBooks. 

So which clocks would be ideal? 

I have used EC200 from Easy Clocking. It is an affordable biometric time clock. The system it comes with is basic software that allows you to export to excel files. The one clock we have has an additional fee you can export the punches directly into QuickBooks via IIF file. Basically for the price of the clock (found cheap in here) and the exporter which the vendors on amazon can sell to you. 

I will be producing YouTube videos about the clocks shortly, and if you have any questions, I can answer them for you.

QuickBooks for Real Estate Agents Part II

Real Estate agents have very unique financial needs than the more stable hourly, salary employees. Many agents are paid as 1099 independent contractors. This means keeping track of your finances is not only useful for your personal needs, but very important for tax purposes. 

Now, many individuals will jump into Quicken Home and Business, and that isn't really a bad choice. It is a good program. It can manage your business, track investments, handle portfolios  and report on your personal finances; however, every time I see Quicken Home and Business, I think: A jack of all trades, a master at none.

If you are using Quicken Home and Business and it's working for you, then continue. If you are still looking for a solution to track your finances, then continue reading.

People go with Quicken for business needs because of the idea that Quicken would be faster and easier to learn then QuickBooks. Let me say this. Both have moderate learning curves, and you will always learn of new things to do in each one. My suggestion is to go with QuickBooks first. Spend the time to learn how to use QuickBooks (or have me help you) and your accountant will thank you later. 

The reason to use QuickBooks Pro instead of Quicken is simple. QuickBooks is designed for a businesses. When you are a 1099 independent contractor you can write off expenses and other tax maneuvers that will help reduce your year end taxes. QuickBooks Pro can track fixed assets  vehicle mileage, even do cost accounting. 

Image being able to see which client generates the most income? Do sale of condos offer higher profits than single family homes? Is it worth the expenses and time to sell multi-family dwellings? QuickBooks Pro is designed to help answer theses questions using jobs, items, and billing features. Expenses can be assigned tax codes to make tax season a breeze. 

To further help you make your choice, think of this: Are you paid as an employee? Then use Quicken or YNAB. If you are paid as a 1099 contractor, then QuickBooks Pro  is the way to go and also think about starting a LLC. 

2nd Quarter Change Up

Today is my birthday. I am now 26 years old. For the past quarter century I've been living the typical young person's life. I was in school, hung out with friends, and had a girlfriend. But starting in my early twenties I've changed into a more mature individual. I got married, bought a house, and I am a father (many of these things happened before I was 25).

Now, the first quarter is done and history. Today starts my first day in the 2nd quarter. When I think about the this time, I think about having a career, and settling down in a location that I'll be in for a while; however, this economy says different. Jobs and careers are moving toward freelance and temp work. Mobility is going to become more important than ever. People need to start viewing themselves not as employees, but as freelancers and business owners. If this doesn't sound appealing, then just remember you'll be competing with other people for less pay and reduced benefits. Also, health care is going to more expensive, so with all this doom and gloom what can we do? How can I make the 2nd Quarter better?

Two goals. Run my business through my iPhone as much as possible, and to better myself, follow the Quantified self movement.

My new goals will follow the SMART goal planning. I will also track my heart rate (stress levels), calories, movement, and how I spend my time. The apps I am using are: My Fitness Pal, Cardiio, Moves, and Chronos.

For my business, I am researching some KPIs and other metrics to help me achieve my goals.

I know being 26 is going change everything!

QuickBooks For Doctors

Doctors juggle multiple responsibilities, from being an advocate for their patients, a consoling family members,  to being a business owner. It is very easy to put off seemingly less important tasks like bookkeeping or use sub-par methods to track finances. 

This post will give an overview how a doctor or a small medical practice would use QuickBooks Pro 2013 to manage the finances and employees.

QuickBooks Premier professional services might sound like the right choice for your practice, and you may need it later down the road if you would like in-depth reports specifically geared toward businesses that offer professional services; however, many practices will do just fine using Pro for their financial software. 

Let me point out one many thing, do not use QuickBooks for insurance billing. Most doctors have specialized software that will handle the codes and the billing, it might sound odd having two programs that are able to track receivables, but QuickBooks just isn't the right solution for medical billing.

What you would use QuickBooks for is to record the deposit, checks that are written, manage payroll, and run financial reports at the end of the year for tax purposes. You could uses QuickBooks to track individuals who pay with cash for services (which might benefit the doctor office and the patient). 

If you have a small payroll, you could easily get started with Basic payroll for $20 per month and $2 per employee. The $2 fee cover direct deposit, so there is no need to write manual payroll checks. Basic payroll means you still have to pay and file your own taxes at the end of the year, but QuickBooks has plenty of reports that will help you.

If you decide to not go that route, I would suggest full service payroll. It cost $79 per month and $2 per employee. With his service you only need to enter the hours in QuickBooks. Intuit will handle calculating the taxes and paying the payroll taxes. All you need to do is make sure there is an account for them to withdraw the funds. If there are any problems with your filing, Intuit speaks on your behalf. If there are any penalties because of errors, Intuit pays them, not you.

There are numerous benefits using QuickBooks to manage your company's financial information and I hope this post shows some of the reasons why any medical office should use QuickBooks.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

QuickBooks For Etsy Sellers

You are great at crafting, you found your niche, your item was listed in the 'Handpicked' gallery on the front page of etsy, and now the sales are coming in. Or, you just started and want to build a good foundation before your store takes off. Let me tell you something, you own a business. Even if you sell only a couple of times a month, you are a business owner, and you should be damn proud of yourself. 

Managing your business finances important to your business success, but when do you need a dedicated accounting program? When is excel no longer an efficient way to manage your business finances? And, most importantly, how can you manage your finances without spending a lot of money?

QuickBooks is the defacto accounting program for small to mid sized companies. Many of you probably know about QuickBooks or have a friend or family member that uses it, and you may wonder if QuickBooks would be 'too much' for your business.

In my opinion, you should only use QuickBooks if you gross over $5,000 per year. The reason is that at this point it would be advantageous to track your expenses and income so you can improve your business processes and handle your taxes. 

The QuickBooks you should look into is Pro which is the cheapest desktop version of QuickBooks and is perfect for a crafting business. Pro will keep your taxes in line and will help you at the end of the year for filing taxes.

If you need a mobile solutions, QuickBooks Online Simple Start for $12.95 per month. 

In the next couple of post I'll be creating a chart of accounts for a crafting business, and business practices to help keep your business finances in line. 

Accounting for Real Estate Agents

As a Realtor  your paychecks completely depend on your abilities to sell a house. Unlike others types of employees who receive steady paychecks, Realtor paychecks fluctuate wildly from each sale. For this reason, managing your finances is a paramount importance. 

The major question you may ask is what financial software should you use? This should be your second question, your first question to ask is if you are a independent contractor or employee. 

If you are an employee for your brokerage, then you can use any time of personal finance software to manage your money. I would suggest YNAB for its budgeting capabilities read more here, however, if you need to track expenses for tax purposes then using Quicken Premier/Deluxe would be best. 

Independent contractors should aim use QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Online Essentials. These programs help make tax season a breeze and will reduce the number of times your accountant rolls their eyes when you come in to have your taxes done. While Quicken does handle businesses, QuickBooks will place your taxes in a format that your account would be familiar with, namely using P/L statements, Balance sheets, and other business reports that accountants use for tax filing. 

QuickBooks has a robust tax line mapping compared to Quicken, and it is solely a business accounting program unlike Quicken home and business. If cost is something you are worried about and you also need a mobile solution. QuickBooks Online Essentials will give your the tax reports, mobility, and excellent money management for less than $30 dollars per month.

If you have any questions about setting up your QuickBooks company file or deciding which program to use, leave a comment!