Schulz Consulting

Consulting and Upgrades

Sleeter Group QuickBooks Conference November 9-12 Registration Open

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If QuickBooks Consulting is your forte – then be sure you register for the Sleeter Group’s annual conference (November 9-12, 2009 in Florida) which has just started early registration.

I attended the conference last year and found it to be extremely helpful in learning more about a product that we compete often against.

You may ask why we would attend a QuickBooks conference for a product that we don’t represent

The answer is simple. No one product can offer a solution that fits every business. Where our solution isn’t the right fit – we often (and regularly) recommend other possible solutions for our prospective clients to investigate. Having a good solid knowledge of the marketplace is what sets Schulz Consulting (in our humble opinion) apart from competitors who might be focussed on only moving boxes of software.

Three Days of Intense QuickBooks Training and Networking

The Sleeter Conference features multiple tracks of QuickBooks learning sessions which are offered on a variety of topics including report writing, add-ons, upgrades, new features, etc.

Each day begins with a keynote address that sets the stage for the day’s events. Intuit addresses the group and can be expected to give a road map and overall discussion about the newer features coming in any expected upgrades.

What I liked the best about the conference was not the Intuit keynotes but rather the impromptu demonstrations given by the technical support managers from Intuit. These informal demos contained loads of information, were totally live, totally interactive and didn’t contain one boring Powerpoint!

Doug Sleeter and his group also offer a great collection of training materials and users guides that any QuickBooks consultant will find helpful.

Highly recommend.

Links:

QuickBooks Consulting Conference

Sleeter Group Conference Site

QuickBooks Training Guides and Manuals

Sleeter Group Educational Guides

Sleeter Group Web Site

Sleeter

Nina Smith spotlights Billing Boss – a free online billing solution

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In her keynote address today at the Sleeter Group conference for Accounting Consultants in Glendale Arizona Nina Smith, President of Sage Software Business Management Division spotlighted a free billing solution that is accessed via the Internet and allows for both online billing and collection of fees.

This service, Billing Boss, first appeared online in July 2008. To access the free service all you need is an Internet connection and a web browser. A recent upgrade to the service expands the number of currencies that are supported from 4 to 51.

Setup of the system is simple with a wizard that walks you through entering in your company data. In a matter of minutes you can be entering and sending your first invoice. The system can create a PDF of your invoice and send it as an email attachment or you can include a link back to the Billing Boss site where your customers view and pay for your goods or services.

So long as your customer has an email address on file, Billing Boss will handle sending out the invoice for you. When a customer receives the bill in their email they have three ways that they can chose to pay via Billing Boss.

  1. Send in a check
  2. Use a credit card – you must sign up with Beanstream merchant services – strangely Sage’s own Payment Services is not supported.
    UPDATE: Billing Boss just told me via their Twitter stream that they will integrate to SPS (Sage Payment Services) within the next three months and the reason it is not now integrated is that SPS is not in Canada.
  3. Use PayPal

From The Billing Boss Site:

How much is it?
Let’s get this out of the way first. It is Free. Cool, huh?
What is it?
Billing Boss is a simple online invoicing tool that allows you to send invoices quickly to your customers and get paid online.

Who is it for?
This tool is great for small businesses who want to get invoices out to customers faster so they can get paid faster. Basically, any business can use Billing Boss. Who wouldn’t want this?

What can I do with it?
You can:

* Replace your manual invoicing process and create invoices online using your Internet browser.
* Send invoices to your customers online.
* Stay on top of your cash flow by knowing who owes you money, how much, and by when.
* Keep your customer list online for quick reference.
* Track taxes collected from invoices.
* Grant access to your data to your bookkeeper or accountant.

What can your bookkeeper or accountant do with Billing Boss?
They can:

* Access your invoice and payment information online to prepare your books.
* Get an accountant’s view of your data with information such as taxes collected and total invoices sent.

How will my invoices be sent?
They can be sent either via e-mail or as PDF attachments.

If you choose, you can also print your invoices and snail mail them.

Is my data safe?
It sure is. Billing Boss uses industry-standard 128K SSL encryption at login and payment to ensure the safe transmission and delivery of your data. Billing Boss houses your data in a secure, state-of-the-art off-site data centre that ensures that your privacy and billing transactions are safe.

Why should I use Billing Boss rather than any other online invoicing tool?
We have designed Billing Boss with both you and your accountant or bookkeeper in mind. Where other online invoicing tools do not allow you to easily share your data, Billing Boss allows you to grant your accountant or bookkeeper read only access easily and securely, without having to transfer files back and forth. Since you can see everything online, your workflow and communication between you and your accountant or bookkeeper will be faster, more efficient and more accurate.

You don’t need any accounting experience to run Billing Boss: You will get your data in a way that helps you run your business (a business process oriented view) while your accountant or bookkeeper will get the information from an accounting perspective. You can quickly become one of your book balancer’s favorite clients!

Why else should you use Billing Boss? Did we mention that it’s FREE? Unlike some other online invoicing tools, we don’t have a pricing section for Billing Boss. Use it as much as you need to – the more you use it, the better! More invoices mean that your business is growing – and that’s what we like to see!

When can I access it?
Anytime you are connected to the Internet.

How do I get started?
Just sign up and start using it. You will need either IE 6.0+, FireFox 2.0+ or Safari 2.0+ for your Internet browser and an Internet connection.

Link: Billing Boss

Sleeter Group Accounting Software Consulting Conference 2008 Gets Underway

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Day one of the Sleeter Group’s Accounting Software Consulting Conference 2008 gets underway today. I’m speaking on Thursday with the Sage Software follks about MAS90 and how it’s a next step up for anyone formerly using QuickBooks who may need a little more horsepower in their software.

The picture above is from the Monday Night Football Arizona Cardinals vs San Francisco 49ers football game. The hotel the speakers are staying in is a short 20 minute walk to the stadium -which allowed us to avoid the happy masses of football fans exiting the stadium after the 29 – 24 Cardinals win (I had to look the final score up because I left the game early to get some rest after having been up since 2am traveling to Arizona).

I’ll update the site with relevant keynote information and I will be talking to many of the QuickBooks consultants and vendors who make add ons for QuickBooks products .

If you’re at the conference – here’s my session titled Sage MAS 90 and 200: Easier To Use And More Affordable Than Ever.

Link: Sleeter Consulting Conference Schedule (Nov 11 to 14, 2008)

Sleeter Group QuickBooks conference early registration closing October 15, 2008

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If you’ve been thinking of attending the Sleeter Group Accounting Software Consulting Conference being held in Arizona later this year – hurry up and register. Early registration is closed after October 15, 2008.

The early registration cost for full conference participants is $736. Send 3 or more attendees and the cost drops to $552 each. Those of you who are already of Sleeter’s consulting alliance can pay the reduced rate of $552 as well.

Although traditionally Sleeter Group have focused on the QuickBooks line of accounting software, you’ll have more opportunities than ever to learn about other brands. Because this conference is not run by any one vendor, the opportunities to discuss competing products is wide open.

For example, I will be presenting a session on Sage MAS 90 and 200 for Sage Software and Microsoft will be well represented in sessions and as a conference sponsor as well.

There are even some bigger firms that will be presenting and discussing consulting opportunities in other vertical markets with those who may be looking to expand beyond  QuickBooks consulting.

Professional Solutions Automation vendor Deltek will be represented by Taylor Macdonald who is giving two scheduled sessions (11/11 – Var Opportunities and 11/12 – Consulting in the Mid Market). For those of you don’t know Taylor, he formerly ran  the VAR channel  for Sage Software. Before that he was an owner of the #1 Sage Software consulting firm nationwide for several years. His speech alone is probably worth flying to the conference for as it is always candid, completely unscripted and has ample opportunities for questions and answers.

There are three pre-conference sessions as well (all held on November 10, 2008):

Taking Your Practice Online – Randy Johnston
Taking Your Practice Online is an in-depth session discussing how technologies are changing the whole paradigm for the accounting services business. Online applications and Web services were once considered to be a fad, but have now become integral to a number of business processes. Reliance on technology has grown at astounding rates, and the current generation of business owners demands an increasing level of mobility and access. You will learn about the various approaches to mobile computing, and why adoption of an online working model is no longer optional for most businesses.

QuickBooks POS Consulting – Leslie Capachietti, MBA
The QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Consulting session is an advanced level course designed for accounting professionals who help clients, or wish to help clients, with QuickBooks Point of Sale software. There are no prerequisites for this course but attendees must have a thorough knowledge of QuickBooks Financial Software.

Leslie Capachietti has been working with small businesses for over 15 years, helping them both streamline and gain a better understanding of their financial operations using QuickBooks software. Having successfully owned and operated her own businesses, Leslie has a personal understanding of the unique needs and resource constraints (both time and money) of business owners. Leslie is a national speaker and trainer for Intuit and is one of the country’s leading experts on QuickBooks Financial and QuickBooks Point of Sale software.

QuickBooks Point of Sale Outline:

  • Learn What’s New in QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Version 8.0
  • Is POS right for your client?
  • How QB POS interfaces with QuickBooks Financial Software
  • Setting up QB POS properly – the first time!
  • Developing end-of-day processes for your clients
  • Importing data from other vendors and other software into QB POS
  • How QB POS Items differ from QuickBooks Items
  • Setting up QB POS merchant account processing
  • Creating QB POS reports
  • Tips and tricks to make QB POS run smoothly and avoid problems
  • Troubleshooting common problems with QB POS
  • Expanding your practice with POS installation services
  • Becoming a QB POS expert
  • QB POS Certifications
  • Marketing your QB POS services
  • The importance of training clients
  • Pricing your services
  • Scheduling post installation follow-up sessions

eCommerce with PDG Commerce Software – Andrew Abrams
ECommerce with PDG Commerce Software will provide an in-depth understanding of the skills and techniques necessary to build a Web storefront for your clients using PDG Commerce. You’ll learn how to create a web store that provides the full online shopping experience for customers, plus you’ll learn how to properly integrate the Web store with a variety of accounting software. This course will focus on the tools and applications necessary to make the shopping experience secure for both the merchant and the buyer. You will learn about how PDG Software Ecommerce solutions can benefit both you and your clients, streamlining the processes that help save time and reduce errors.

PDG Commerce was a 2007/2008 winner of The Sleeter Group’s Awesome Add-On Awards.

Link: Register for Sleeter Group’s Accounting Software Consulting Conference

Wayne Schulz to speak at Sleeter Group 2008 Accounting Software Consulting Conference

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Wayne Schulz has been invited by Sage Software to participated in presenting the only MAS 90 and MAS 200 session at the upcoming Accounting Software Consulting Conference in Glendale Arizona.  Hosted by The Sleeter Group, this conference features sessions of specific interest to QuickBooks consultants.

The session, titled Sage MAS 90 and 200 – Easier To Use and More Affordable than Ever is offered at 1:55 pm on Thursday November 13, 2008. Wayne will review the key areas of MAS 90 and MAS 200 that make it a logical next step program for companies that are outgrowing QuickBooks or QuickBooks Enterprise Suite. Wayne was selected by Sage Software to accompany them to Glendale Arizona for this conference because of his understanding of the specific features that are attractive to consultants who are interested in begining to consult on a new accounting system for their growing client base.

Wayne’s consulting career begain in 1986 at Cole, Frago, Cusick, Chestler & Company in Wethersfield CT. From there he went to Kostin, Ruffkess & Company. At each of these CPA firms he supervised the technology consulting department. In 1996 he left the CPA world behind and formed Schulz Consulting which specializes in Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200. Today Schulz Consulting supports well over 100 clients in locations as far away as Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Hawaii.

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 is more affordable than ever for companies are outgrowing QuickBooks and needing a powerful wholesale distribution system. Learn about the newest small business editions that place Sage MAS 90 or 200 accounting system within the budget of almost every company. Listen to real world examples of why clients rave about MAS 90 and 200. Ask questions and learn how you can use tools included in the software to make customizations to screens, add and change reports and even add new functionality – all without expensive programming. This will be a fast paced session focusing on the practical issues surrounding both the features of the software and also best practices in choosing enhancements, integrating with third party solutions (including the things to avoid), obtaining support, finding the companies that are a “best fit” for Sage MAS 90 or 200 – and tips and tricks for converting from other accounting systems.

The Sleeter Group’s conference is November 10 – 13, 2008 in Glendale Arizona. This is the 5th annual conference which is held annually in the fall and attracts CPAs, consultants and users looking for more information on QuickBooks and related accounting software. For more informatio you can visit their web site at http://www.sleeter.com/index.html

Contact Us

Schulz Consulting
Connecticut Office
Phone: 860.657.8544
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Available remotely nationwide.
We are a local branch of DSD Business Systems Connecticut.