The Problem
A small business owner was challenged by the amount of time and cost of data entry and bookkeeping.
In addition to the 15+ hours each week the business owner spent entering bills and receipts into QuickBooks, the business was also paying nearly $1,000 per month to an outside provider for support and analysis. Simply, the business owner was having trouble keeping up and spending too much time in the back office.
The Solution
FOSS Business Solutions found that the business owner was entering too much data into QuickBooks.
This is quite common and we’ve seen this many times. For example, each bill was being recreated in QuickBooks, line by line, word for word. Also, bills were being double entered into both QuickBooks and their online banking bill pay. Additionally, daily sales data from their CRM and billing system was recreated in QuickBooks because the system did not integrate with QuickBooks.
For a small business, this was too much wasted effort. FOSS recommended entering data at a higher level while still maintaining the integrity of financial reports needed for tax reporting and internal analysis. Bills are entered without the line by line details, unless a split is required; however, the need to enter each word is not necessary. We implemented a virtual A/P system where bills are only entered once and synced with QuickBooks, removing double entry.
Also, with billing systems that do not integrate with QuickBooks, we recommend creating a monthly journal that ties QuickBooks to the billing system. With all of the new processes above, the foundation is letting the details reside on the source documents, not in QuickBooks.
The Outcome
By simplifying data entry and bookkeeping processes, FOSS was able to provide bookkeeping and the Executive-level analysis needed by the business for less money than they were already paying.
The real value is the 15 hours each week reclaimed by the business owner to focus on the business. Business owners need to find the right balance of time and cost versus what they really need to get out of QuickBooks. Sometimes “Less is More”.
