Today I made the transition from QuickBooks version 2006 to QuickBooks online. I’ve been contemplating an upgrade or possibly a switch from QuickBooks to a newer version or possibly even over two Microsoft’s new accounting system.

I’ve been using QuickBooks for about two and half years now and it has been a fairly reliable system for me. I am an accountant, and I have always felt like this particular software program was a little bit of overkill for the needs that I had. In addition to QuickBooks 2006 was not compatible with Microsoft Vista. To get a QuickBooks version that was compatible with Microsoft Vista you had to go with the 2007 version or something newer. QuickBooks is relatively expensive, and if you contemplate any or all of the modules that go with it can be downright expensive.

I have a relatively simple bookkeeping system and I didn’t really need most of the functionality that comes with QuickBooks. However there were times I wish I had some of the added features that do come with the other modules.

Well today I finally made a transition and I ended up going with QuickBooks online. The online system does not require an upfront payment of several hundred dollars like the software version does. The online version charges anywhere from $10 a month to about $35 a month with an additional $17 a month if you want to accept credit card transactions. The nice thing about this system is that it is scalable in cost and scalable in service and options. I don’t ever have to worry about installing or updating the software on my machine which was a bit of a pain in the butt with the software version in the past. In fact I’ve been prompted with QuickBooks 2006 to install an update on my machine for about a year and a half now every time I login. The only problem is that update cannot be installed on my machine for some of obscure reason I’ve never been able to find an answer for.

With the online version of QuickBooks I don’t have to worry about upgrades anymore I can leave that to Intuit. I will always have the most up-to-date version and I won’t have to worry about software eating up resources on my machine. On the downside, I will always have to be logged into work with my books. That can be a problem if my Internet connection is down, however I do have multiple backups for connections. I run three different Internet connection services for my business: one cable Internet, one DSL connection, and one 3G Internet connection as well. So if the Internet is down for me, then I will probably have bigger problems than trying to access my books online.

So far the interface for QuickBooks online seems almost identical to the interface that I’m used to with the software version. For anyone worried about having an interface that’s different, or getting used to a new interface and having to train or retrain people, from what I’ve seen so far the difference is extremely minimal. Most of the items from my old version of QuickBooks, the actual company data, was able to be uploaded to the online version, and within about 10 minutes I was able to transition all my book work from my hard drive to the online version of QuickBooks.

That seemed pretty impressive to me, and I do not seem to have lost any information or data with the single exception that my invoice formatting has disappeared. If you have elaborate invoice setups already done in QuickBooks I could see how this could be a problem area I lost my logo and the setup for my invoices.

I don’t personally have elaborate invoices and so this is not too big of a deal for me, however I do know from past experience working with many other companies that invoice customization can be a lot of work and if you have to redo that during the transition from a software version of QuickBooks to the online version of QuickBooks, that could be problematic and could cost you a couple weeks worth of work. That said all things considered, I think I made a wise choice and immediately post-transition, I’m very happy with the results.

I should also add that you don’t have to pay anything up front for the online edition. I’m currently on a free 30 day trial, even though I definitely anticipate paying for the subscription. My first question will be, what level of subscription will I need to continue doing business way I’m used to doing business.

From everything I’ve seen, I think I will be able to continue at about $9.95 per month. From mine perspective that definitely beats paying $250 or $300(about the cost of a big lcd monitor) out of pocket buying the software at Sam’s Club or even downloading online. Even if I have to pay $16 or $20 a month for a slightly more advanced version of the online system I don’t think it would be that big of an issue, and if the day ever comes where I’ve spent more money on the online version that I would’ve on the software, I think it will probably be a wash if I consider the amount of time to spend installing the software, maintaining the software, and dealing with a few issues that always come with a new software program that you install on your computer. Freeing up resources on my computer for the things that actually generate revenue for my company, well that’s just priceless.

I worked as a Finance Manager for a number of years. Over that time I oversaw a number of complex collections groups and at times we outsourced our collections to factoring companies.

There is a right time and a wrong time for a company to factor their invoices through a Factoring Service. The decision should not be made lightly but can be advantageous both for your company’s bottom line but also for the credit of your customers. Factoring invoices and outsourcing the collection on those invoices to a company specializing in those services can save you time and money and overhead. Your invoices are not something that can just be handed off and forgotten about soon after. It takes a good amount of time to properly plan the transition and plan the management of the new relationship with your future factoring partner. Any company that does their homework in these two areas, can definitely save money, save overhead, offer their customers lower prices and help their customers build out better credit. Factoring prices are reasonable and can be comparative to the costs that many companies reserve for bad debt and pay for inhouse collections. However, if a company attempts to hand over the invoices and ignore the partnership no savings will be found. To put it a different way, you do not want to outsource a broken inhouse process. Fix your culture and your process first, and then factoring can be a useful service.

Note. For anyone considering factoring services, I have offered my consulting services in this area since 2005.

If you are not currently covered with travelers insurance by your employer nor covered by your credit card company, or if they do not cover you fully for a number of different scenarios you may want to consider picking up travel insurance when you travel outside the United States or the country that you reside in.

A recent press release by TravelSafe Insurance, a company that has been providing Travel Insurance for the last 37 years, highlights the benefits of a person can receive from protecting themselves with travel insurance.

When you travel abroad, your health insurance does not always cover you in hospitals located in foreign countries. Even if it does cover you sometimes it cannot pay for the service upfront and you must do that in cash or with a supplemental policy. American Express may reimburse your travelers checks if they’re lost, but sometimes it takes travel insurance to reimburse you for lost luggage and clothing. Furthermore if you have to cancel the trip because of the hurricane or some other event, travel insurance can reimburse you the cost of the plane tickets.

The gold standard was replaced with a floated currency during the Great Depression after the stock market crash.  This was a US only activity and the rest of the world did not follow suit (even though some countries did eventually.)

There was a time when using gold for engineering purposes was considered a good thing due to the maleability and condutivity of gold.  But advances in technology have decreased the engineering benefits of gold a bit.

This has reduced the potential that someday world governments would natioanlize gold to be used solely for engineering purposes, a move that in theory could have decreased the value of gold significantly.

Our sponsors at the Monex Deposit company have recently provided a release discussing the historically continuation of a trend where the value of gold continues to increase.

They offer collectors the ability to purchase artistically rendered gold coins and ingots made of gold, silver, and other precious metals.  These artistic renditions may someday have a value greater than the market rate of gold (this is where the collectibility factor comes into play and its not something that you can look at if you are a pure investor) but if you like to gamble on collectibles MDC provides a wide selection of products that you can purchase.

Many years ago I read a story about a man that journey’s back in time to the present with gold wire wrapped around his waist as a belt. In the future gold has lost its investing appeal and is only used for engineering purposes. If that future were a possibility, then people would need to sell their gold now.

History has shown us however that gold investing is likely to continue for many years to come as people for thousands of years have demanded gold for many reasons that are not always practical. Our sponsor Monex, through their recent press release, continues to offer gold ingots and bullion for investors trusting in the human propensity to continue demanding gold for many many generations to come.

In 1967 A.E. Feldman Associates, Inc. founded and created a staffing and recruiting firm which has become dedicated to providing service across the nation for firms and corporations looking to fill executive positions from the associate level to the partner level and from the top executive level down to the middle management level.

They cover many different roles and positions within an organization from legal services, to communications, technology, finance and risk management.

They focus on providing services for industry leading clients and high-quality candidates. According to their latest release their forty years of experience helps them to find a way to place the best candidates for the roles targeted by their clients.

Over the centuries several countries have been defined by their ports and their open marketplaces located at those ports.  From Amsterdam to London to New York to Hong Kong to Singapore massive trading and centrally located ports have shaped the growth, build out and stability of the countries and sometimes portions of the continents that they occupy.

Many believe that the road to peace in the Middle East will begin as we continue to financially engage the countries of the Middle East.  The theory espoused in The World is Flat is that once the countries of the Middle East become stakeholders in the economic success of the rest of the world they will have much more to loose from conflict.  Plus, the continued interaction from commerce will help to open the cultures to understanding that will grow into closer relationships between cultures in the years and generations to come.

Dubai located in the United Arab Emirates will be the port and marketplace that will make this connection.  It is already an extremely important port and the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) is one of the primary driving forces behind greater economic progress in the area.  It did not just spring up overnight.  It has operated as a connection point between marketplaces, manufacturers, buyers, and traders from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.  You can learn more about Dubai through the palm dubai within a UK site, DubaiVenture.co.uk.

The Palm refers to an island city being constructed to encompass even greater free trade. When I say being constructed I mean the island itself is being constructed itself and the infrastructure and buildings are following.

Many growing organizations and even some large developed organizations are constantly working on systems and accounting algorithms that will enable the company to properly assess IT development charges to the appropriate groups.

Determining these charges appropriately can mean the difference between pricing a product or service out competitively and in managing budgets across multiple departments. Setting up a systematic means of doing this rapidly and efficiently is also necessary for many companies to get their books closed on a monthly, quarterly, yearly basis and be able to perform real time analysis on those results so that they can make the most accurate operating decisions possible.

Plus, this same information becomes the backbone for future financial modeling, planning and forecasts that will help senior leadership tack towards a successful strategy without receiving a nasty surprise in an unexpected budget allocation. The worst thing that can happen to a senior executive sometimes is receiving an unexpected number that they can not explain to their investors.

Some organizations may try to wing it on occassion, but the more a company grows and develops the more important it becomes for senior leaders to not only receive the right answer but to have the backup and proof instantly available that shows how the right answer was derived and why it truly is the right answer. Leaders need tools that allow them to look critically at the data they are provided, slice and dice it and insure that everything is rock solid.

Acorn Systems provides IT value management software for customers looking to track IT chargebacks through a company and come up with the appropriate ABC cost assumptions and put those assumptions to work to allocate and track direct and indirect costs precisely and efficiently.

Their solution deliverss the following utilities:

• Rate-based cost allocations or usage-based cost allocations, using a consumption driven Activity Based Costing model.
• Data integration and data capture.
• Web-based reporting with robust drill-down for IT as well as business units.
• Invoice and cost analysis reports.