Friday, August 29, 2014

AccountingSuite Presents Foxhound Release at Midwest Accounting & Finance Showcase

AccountingSuite invites accountants and finance professionals to experience its new Foxhound release at the 2014 Midwest Accounting & Finance Showcase, held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois on August 27 and 28.

AccountingSuite is all-in-one accounting, inventory, order management and project tracking software. Cloud-based and secure, AccountingSuite lets finance professionals access critical business information at their desktop, laptop or tablet.

From startups to growing companies, AccountingSuite scales from start to exit, said Co-founder Kurt Kunselman. In-house finance professionals and independent accountants alike can choose different modules without adding costs and complexity. AccountingSuite is flexible and reliable.

The AccountingSuite team will offer demos of their web application at the showcase. They will also be available to discuss new developments in accounting software, cloud banking, the unique needs of international and product-based companies, and common misconceptions about cloud-based software.

EXPERIENCE A NEW BREED OF CLOUD ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
At booth #1727, AccountingSuite will showcase its latest version, Foxhound, released August 16 with these new features:

  • Advanced units of measure, which allows companies to purchase goods in one quantity and sell in another, while keeping accurate inventory counts.
  • Pay a bill directly without creating new or duplicate data entries.
  • Cloud banking, which allows authorized users to see current bank balances.
  • Share information with the sales team so they can sell smarter. Allow access to information on unit costs, margins, available inventory and quantities they can promise.

INTUITIVE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
Showcase attendees are invited to experience the ease of working in AccountingSuite:
  • Banking transactions appear daily, and can be tagged with category and vendor names. This cloud banking feature helps eliminate double entry of transactions.
  • Easy for end users to learn, so accountants' clients can add transactions, run operational tasks, and pull reports.
  • Mobile and secure, accessible from the office, at home and the coffee shop without uploading and downloading transactions.
  • Always updated, never an old version and no time consuming updates.

MORE POWERFUL THAN QUICKBOOKS ONLINE
AccountingSuite was built from the ground-up to work elegantly in the cloud. Compare AccountingSuite with Quickbooks Online:
  • Transactions are easy to find. Users can keep multiple tasks open and switch easily between tabs.
  • Includes sales orders, sales quotes, inventory functions and purchase orders, which are critical for companies that buy and sell physical goods.
  • Multiple warehouses, ability to manage drop-ship, project and time tracking are all built in to the software, without costly add-ons.
  • Handles multiple currencies and multiple units of measure like a champion. This helps sales and operation teams work together without the need for additional spreadsheets.
  • Salespeople can convert a sales order into a purchase order, and everything cascades perfectly into inventory counts.

To contact AccountingSuite at the show, call toll free (888) 328-8275, extension 2, or call (415) 462-5477.

The AccountingSuite vision is to give companies, employees and business partners easy, secure access to information that often makes the difference between gaining new customers and losing them to the competition.

AccountingSuite is based in San Francisco, California. AccountingSuite provides easy-to-use, no-nonsense, scalable business software for startups, entrepreneurs, and growing companies to manage their finances and day-to-day operations.

Posted on 9:55 AM | Categories:

Common Mistakes in QuickBooks Online (QBO) and How to Fix Them (click to view video)

Michelle Long for Long for Success writes: Unfortunately, many people make mistakes in
QuickBooks Online. Learn about some of the most common mistakes and how to fix them. We will cover list errors (chart of accounts, customers, vendors and the products/services list) and how to clean up lists. Plus we discuss other errors including common problems with downloaded transactions:
Posted on 9:48 AM | Categories:

Receipt Bank wins Xero Add-on of the Year, announces further expansion

nzentrepreneurs.com writes: The way we work has changed at an unprecedented rate in the last 50 years, and SaaS startups are scrambling to develop tools that help modern businesses be more productive.
Just 5 decades ago, an accountant would have had a desk filled with journals, pictures of The Beach Boys, and ledgers where accounting information would be double-entered. Xero transformed this industry when it created a cloud-based application that would allow anyone with an iPad and a Xero subscription to do their books, while listening to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” on the same device.
Another incredibly innovative company that’s disrupting the industry is Receipt Bank, which has developed software that automates your accounts payable and expense management.
The service works by allowing you to take pictures of your invoices, receipts, or bills with a smartphone app. These images are uploaded to a server where Receipt Bank extracts the key information, codes the transaction, and then sends this data, along with the attached image of the expense, straight to your accounting software, like Xero.
Alternatively, users can email their invoices to the company or even get their suppliers to email Receipt Bank directly.
The end result is that SME’s, accountants, and bookkeepers spend less time on manual data entry, thus saving hundreds of dollars on wages and making businesses more efficient.
Receipt Bank was recently able to demonstrate how much of an impact it’s making on the way companies conduct business when it won the title of “Add-on of the Year” at Xerocon 2014. This may be due in part to the fact that, while most Xero add-ons are only suitable for one or two industries, every business can use Receipt Bank.
Sophie Hossack, a partner manager at Receipt Bank, said, “Using software to automate the mundane jobs is fast becoming a more appropriate solution, providing consistency, fixed costs, and increasing capacity.”
“For example, here at Receipt Bank we have over 50 subscriptions for SaaS products like Meet.MeGo To Meeting,MailChimpZendesk – the list goes on!
“Adopting these tools has dramatically improved our productivity and helped us to scale.”
There is no better example of how software can help a business scale than Receipt Bank itself. The company was originally created in London in 2010 by Michael Wood and Alexis Prenn, and now has offices in Auckland and Sydney in addition to London. Later this year, the company will also be opening offices in Canada and America.
The rapid expansion has been challenging for the team, as the kitchen table discussions that Receipt Bank was built upon are no longer possible due to differences in location and time zone.
“We’re a pretty passionate bunch here at Receipt Bank and we’ve definitely hired people who are excited to be part of the journey and who are wanting to make a difference,” Sophie said.
“With offices all over the world in varying time zones, communication is absolutely key,” she continued. “We depend on tools like YammerTwitterSkype and Google Hangouts to keep in touch, share experiences and maintain our culture. Asking for help and receiving advice is hugely important. With good communication this mentoring happens every day, at every level.”
When asked what the most important thing about Receipt Bank’s culture was, Sophie quickly replied, “baked goods.”
“We’re big believers in cake,” she said. “Celebrating success and saying thank you over a cupcake or two is important.”
“When a company grows so quickly over a short period of time, smashing targets and breaking records seems to happen on a weekly basis!
“But it’s hugely important to keep looking forward, listening to feedback, and finding ways to improve one day at a time.”
In the near future, we can expect to see updates released for the iPhone app and user interface. The company has also started to roll out their new technology which will extract line by line details for original .PDF invoices.
“We believe every SME, bookkeeper, and accountant can benefit from using our software,” Sophie says, “so next stop North America!”
You heard it here first. Let them eat cake.
Posted on 9:44 AM | Categories:

Payroll Tax Compliance May Be A Problem For Many Tax-Exempt Organizations

Michele A.W. McKinnonMilton CernyJustin F. Trent and Keonna D. Carter for 
McGuire Woods LLP writes: On August 13, 2014, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released its report on payroll tax compliance among tax-exempt organizations. According to the report, more than 64,200 tax-exempt organizations owed almost $600 million in unpaid payroll taxes in 2012. TIGTA recommended that the Exempt Organizations unit of the IRS should (1) coordinate with the payroll tax unit to improve detection of noncompliant tax-exempt organizations and (2) periodically review existing IRS payroll tax data to identify noncompliant tax-exempt organizations. Although the IRS director of the Exempt Organizations unit rejected these recommendations, the report is a timely reminder to tax-exempt organizations to comply with payroll taxes.

TIGTA reviewed existing IRS data to determine that 64,200 tax-exempt organizations owed almost $875 million in unpaid federal taxes (including payroll taxes, unrelated business income tax, excise taxes, penalties and interest). This number is a small percentage of the almost 2 million recognized tax-exempt organizations, but future enforcement efforts are likely to impact all tax-exempt organizations. Most of the noncompliant organizations owed less than $10,000 each. However, 1,200 of those organizations owed more than $100,000 each and five organizations owed more than $10 million each. TIGTA reported that the $875 million figure is likely an understatement of the true federal tax debt owed by tax-exempt organizations.
Tax-exempt organizations should consider the following key points from the report:
  • Unpaid payroll taxes can expose organization leaders to civil and criminal penalties. While tax-exempt organizations are exempt from paying federal income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code), they remain subject to other federal and state taxes (including payroll taxes, unrelated business income tax and excise taxes). Payroll taxes include Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI or Social Security tax) and Medicare. Failure to withhold these taxes from the wages of compensated employees can expose a tax-exempt organization's leadership to personal liability for civil penalties. Willful noncompliance can lead to criminal charges.
  • Unpaid payroll taxes are on the IRS radar. The federal government has long been aware of noncompliance by tax-exempt organizations on this issue. In 2007, the Government Accountability Office found that tax-exempt organizations owed approximately $642 million in unpaid payroll taxes. As a result of the GAO's finding, the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division initiated several pilot projects to increase enforcement efforts, resulting in the assessment of taxes and penalties of more than $57 million. TIGTA's report indicates that the IRS already has the data and means to efficiently identify noncompliant tax-exempt organizations. However, the response of IRS management to the report indicates that there is some internal resistance to making better use of such data.
  • Unpaid payroll taxes may become an audit risk in the future. TIGTA found that unpaid payroll taxes could be an indicator that a tax-exempt organization is involved in various other impermissible activities. In addition to the big picture analysis of noncompliant tax-exempt organizations, TIGTA closely examined 25 tax-exempt organizations that "appeared to be among the worst examples of organizations with significant unpaid Federal tax debts." All of these organizations had unpaid federal tax debt, including payroll taxes, ranging from "$300,000 to more than $3 million per organization." TIGTA's auditors determined that almost all of the officers of these organizations were involved in "abusive activity," such as not filing personal tax returns or underreporting their wages. As a result of TIGTA's review, several of the organizations were examined by the Exempt Organizations unit for abusive activities such as "political campaign intervention, substantial legislative activities, excessive personal benefits, inappropriate loans, and other fraudulent issues." The Exempt Organizations unit also examined several of these organizations for excessive executive compensation, questionable governance practices or inconsistent tax filings. TIGTA recommended that the Exempt Organizations unit identify tax-exempt organizations with "significant" unpaid payroll taxes as a method for identifying organizations that are likely to have other tax-exempt issues.
  • IRS enforcement efforts face obstacles. TIGTA's report noted that enforcement actions against noncompliant tax-exempt organizations are hindered by the charitable nature of such organizations and by the current language of the Code. The usual IRS collection methods include levies and asset seizure, but the report noted that such methods could shut down a tax-exempt entity and eliminate the public benefits stemming from the entity's operations. Additionally, the IRS cannot revoke the tax-exempt status of an organization or require changes to an organization's governance solely for the failure to pay the payroll taxes.
TIGTA recommended that the Exempt Organizations unit treat unpaid payroll taxes as an indicator of other compliance issues with the tax-exempt rules. The IRS rejected this recommendation by taking the position that IRS data on payroll tax compliance is not relevant to the unit's function in identifying issues of private benefit. Although the rejection of this recommendation is an indication that unpaid payroll taxes will not be given special attention by the Exempt Organizations unit in the near future, the IRS could easily change its policy on this issue without notice to taxpayers. There is no requirement that the IRS publish a regulatory notice or other guidance indicating that it will begin to cross-reference payroll tax data with other data received from tax-exempt organizations. For this reason, tax-exempt organizations should ensure that they continue to comply with their payroll tax obligations.
To review the actual text of TIGTA's report, go to www.treasury.gov.
Posted on 9:41 AM | Categories:

salesforce.com, inc. CEO Marc Benioff Sells 60,000 Shares (CRM)

John Ramos for InterCooler.com writes: salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) CEO Marc Benioff unloaded 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.35, for a total value of $3,561,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) opened at 59.58 on Thursday. salesforce.com, inc. has a 1-year low of $42.11 and a 1-year high of $67.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $54.76 and a 200-day moving average of $56.02. The company’s market cap is $36.762 billion.
salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that salesforce.com, inc. will post $0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. Analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of salesforce.com, inc. in a research note on Monday. They now have a $63.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Argus reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of salesforce.com, inc. in a research note on Monday. They now have a $71.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Deutsche Bank raised their price target on shares of salesforce.com, inc. from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.47.
salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of enterprise cloud computing and social enterprise solutions. The Company provides a customer and collaboration relationship management (NYSE:CRM), applications through the Internet or cloud.
Posted on 9:34 AM | Categories: