Historically, the approach of a year-end has given many business owners the start of that nervous feeling. Did we buy that photocopier this year or last year? Where did we put those receipts? How organized are our records? Business owners need to ask these questions to ensure they are in a good position to take advantage of all the benefits of tax reporting. Preparing yourself and keeping tidy records throughout the year can help you ensure accessing the information you need at tax time will be as easy as taking a sunny stroll down Carson Beach. Thankfully, times have shifted from the paper method to an almost effortless online experience with programs like QuickBooks® Online (QBO).
QuickBooks® Online is a software to enhance recordkeeping and maintain updated records of all your business activities in electronic form. However, the benefits for your company do not stop there. Now that you have the accounting organized in QBO, what’s next? Reporting.
QBO not only offers a variety of standard reports; it also offers custom reports, allowing you to tailor your reports to include the data that matters most and helping you easily share the data with your management team for timely decision making. Here are some custom reporting ideas your company may find helpful:
- Specific customer or product activity
- Specific vendor or payment activity
- Comparison of budgets to actual spending
- Comparison of dollar or percentage changes over various time periods in one report
- Analysis of certain key general ledger accounts
- Department (Class)
Improve your financial visibility…
QBO’s customizable reports can give you access to key insights about your business. For example, you can create a custom sales trend report, so you can focus on selling more of the products and services that are increasing your profits and consider changes to those that are underperforming.You can customize reporting to obtain details on key customers, vendors, products, sales and purchase accounts to review this analysis for any periods during the year. You can also focus on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that make sense for your business.
Customize report layouts with ease…
QBO allows you to customize reports and change the way the layout appears, making it more user-friendly for your company’s needs. You can add a set of Management reports to always have available. This eliminates the need for transferring the accounting data to multiple spreadsheets. With QBO, you can easily customize the layout of reports, using a number of drop-down menus and filters. After the layout has been perfected, you can save the custom report as a template to use whenever you need to in the future. Once you have created a customized report in QBO that you like, save it and name it. All your pre-set settings will remain. This makes it easily accessible to use to get a snapshot of your business focused on the areas that are most beneficial to you.
Share your finances and small business data with business partners…
Not only can you create professional customized reports on your business’s data, but QBO also has a feature that allows you to share that information with your management team, business partners, and professional advisors. You can either select a QBO user from the Share with drop down menu or simply email it to the recipient. This gives everyone the visibility of key metrics that are above and beyond the standard Balance Sheet and P & L.
Using QBO’s customized report feature gives you a clearer view of your financial standing anytime during the year when needed with the information and focus that is important to you. You’ll also be ready when the time comes for tax planning and to file your year-end taxes. These reports provide information that is also helpful for your accountant. Sharing this information can help keep you and your CPA as happy as clams when the next wave of tax planning and preparation rolls in.
Contact LGA
LGA’s Outsourced Management Accounting Team is comprised of Certified QuickBooks® ProAdvisors and qualified staff who possess the knowledge and experience to assist with bookkeeping setup or clean-up, advise on report customization, and provide troubleshooting and support. We can recommend or implement processes for organizing, cleaning and maintaining your QuickBooks® data file, as well as implementing new features. If you’d like to learn more, contact me today!
Janine is a Partner at LGA focused on serving businesses located both domestically and internationally with forward looking accounting guidance and tax planning. Janine recognized that her clients were not able to make timely, well informed strategic decisions as a result of their difficulty in attracting and retaining accounting personnel with the appropriate skillset. As a result, Janine built the LGA outsourced accounting practice group. Her diverse client base includes for profits and nonprofits in professional services, manufacturing, technology, hospitality, and real estate services.
