So what are the best practices to keep data in your financial planning software out of the hands of nefarious cybercriminals?

1. Financial Files Should Be Password Protect

Protecting files in your financial planning software with iron-clad passwords gives your data an extra layer of protection. Passwords prompt user familiarity when accessing the file. And if a cybercriminal attempts to crack the code, they're instantly thwarted. Password protect your entire client database to go the extra mile.

2. Trust Your Instincts

Nothing beats common sense. Even if your organization deals with cold hard facts, going with your instinct can prevent a major breach. Daily monitoring of data in your financial planning software allows you to stay on top of any sudden change. Understanding client behavior helps as well. For example, if a customer typically calls or prefers to interact in person when dealing with their finances, stop and think if they suddenly begin to email or text. Cybercriminals only require one opportunity to strike, leaving financial planning organizations vulnerable when not keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior. Always have a fail-safe plan once old habits get questionably broken.

3. Stay Educated

Regardless of your job description, it's always a good idea to stay on top of the latest phishing and hacking techniques. Make an effort to educate the employees of your accounting firm on new cyber threats. If your company is not large enough to hire a dedicated security specialist, assign or have someone volunteer to host monthly sessions informing employees about security concerns. Choose one day of the month to provide lunch catering, thereby, enticing employees to attend a company meeting during lunch. These meetings provide a tremendous ROI with minimal cost to your organization and reduce the likelihood of a financial planning software breach.

4. Limit the Amount of Information Collected

Even with the most state-of-the-art security systems and protocols, clients can't help but worry about the safety of their financial identity. To mitigate this concern, limit the amount of personal client information collected to first and last name, age, state of residence, and email address. Stay away from collecting social security numbers, date of births, physical addresses, and employment information. Anything that will give away their identity is serious bait for cybercriminals.

5. Limit Access

If your financial planning software allows you to collaborate with multiple users, limit their functionality depending on the user. Sure, this feature allows other financial advisers, attorneys, or accountants to access the files remotely, but it also expands a cyber criminal's reach.

As the creator of the best in PDF financial file converters, MoneyThumb uses Pinpoint OCR, (optical character recognition) our proprietary algorithm that instantly flags questionable transactions. This is just one more way you can help protect your clients' sensitive financial information.

The post 5 Ways Financial Planning Software Protects Your Accounting Clients' Data appeared first on MoneyThumb.

1. Preferences Aren't Set Up Correctly--One of the first things you should do when you begin using QuickBooks for your accounting purposes is set up your email template preference, reporting options, charges for late payments, and add your default bank account for paying bills and receiving payments. If this is done first thing, you won't have issues down the line with these preferences.
2. Misusing the Undeposited Funds Account--When receiving payments from customers and your cash account isn't increasing on your financial reports, you are most likely using undeposited funds incorrectly. Once payment is received from a client, open up the deposit module, batch checks together that you're taking to the bank, and record them as one single deposit in the software.
3. You are Not Using the Purchase Order System--Don't fret, this is a common error on the part of accountants and/or bookkeepers getting started in QuickBooks. For optimum use of the software, you should create a purchase order every time you buy the product from a vendor, then when you receive the product always check it against the PO. This will save you a lot of time and headaches.
4. Reconciling Your Bank Account--This issue is not the same as entering every transaction into QuickBooks. Rather, it's about monitoring the transactions to make sure they're in the right place for the right amounts. To accomplish this, open the reconciliation module monthly and go through each transaction. Make sure each transaction was posted to the right account and has cleared the bank.
5. Your Items List is Not Organized and/or Streamlined--QuickBooks defines your products as 'items.' Over time it is easy to let your items list become overwhelming and outdated. To clean up your items list, deactivate items you no longer handle or sell, make sure each item is correctly labeled, check your stock and make sure the numbers are correct, update the cost of each item.
6. Incorrect Report Settings--Do you want Cash Reports or Accrual Reports or Both? Make sure your report settings reflect the correct preference. Cash Reports: show you the cash in/outflow of transactions within your company. Accrual Reports: show you the overall performance of your company.
7. Unknowingly Deleting Transactions--QuickBooks transactions are linked together, so if you change one transaction you could be deleting other transactions in error that is attached to it. Check to make sure this is not happening.
8. Runs Slow in Multi-User Mode--This is a very common problem for bigger businesses. To solve this issue you will need to use a larger amount of RAM and hard disk to handle the heavier load of multiple users.
9. Lost Administrative Password--This is one of the most occurring issues. If you lost your admin password it is recommended to reinstall QuickBooks software on your system. There are many software programs available in the market which can break the admin password but simultaneously there also is a need to protect your data from such threats. So, the safer path is to reinstall.
10. Other Issues--If you find you have an issue that we have not covered above, you can visit the INTUIT, QUICKBOOKS ONLINE COMMUNITY and hopefully get your question answered there.

The Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb sincerely hopes this post has helped you resolve any QuickBooks issues you are having as an accountant. And remember, MoneyThumb has the best PDF financial file converters on the market to help you convert your accounting clients financial information quickly and easily.

The post 10 Common Issues Accountants Have With QuickBooks and Solutions appeared first on MoneyThumb.

But before we begin, we'd like to point out a couple of crucial things to keep in mind. One, very basic accounting systems require little to no upfront investment, but they will be next to impossible to upgrade. Two, as your company expands an overly complicated program takes weeks to learn, making it difficult to quickly enter information and generate the reports and data you need to effectively run your business.

In this article, PC Magazine reviews 10 accounting systems for small businesses and lists the pros and cons of each one. That article can be a big help in making your decision, but you should also consider the following six factors before choosing your business accounting system:

Room for Expansion

As your company grows, it is going to rely on more people to handle its finances and accounting. Unfortunately, many basic programs only allow one user at a time to change files and enter information, with no way to expand the number of people who are able to use the program simultaneously. When a company grows to the point where it needs multiple people to handle the bookkeeping and accounting, it’s typically not a good time to install a new accounting software package. Plan ahead by investing in a program that will give your company room to expand.

Communication with your Bank

Long gone are the days when a business would reconcile its books with a mailed bank statement once a month. Today, it’s critical for your business to be in constant communication with your bank; your accounts are updated every time a new transaction occurs. Look for an accounting system that can easily receive and read files from your banking institution.

Ability to Generate the Reports You Need

Accounting software doesn’t provide your business with any benefit if you can’t get the data you need from the information you enter. Carefully review the types of reports that a program can produce, and consider if they will meet all of your business’ needs now and in the future. If a program cannot provide the functions that you want, and there is no simple way to add to the program to get those functions in the future, keep looking.

 Ease of Use

An accounting system should be simple enough to use so that you or your accounting staff can figure it out with a minimal amount of time devoted to training. While larger, more complicated programs may require advanced training for some staff members, there’s no need for every person in the department to be stuck in months of training seminars. There are plenty of options available on the market that are intuitive when it comes to entering data such as invoices and bills. Many programs also come with excellent Help, Tutorial, and Troubleshooting programs and/or websites that can explain how to perform more advanced or rarely used functions.

Compatibility with Other Software Programs

Your accounting software will need to be able to generate reports that can be opened and read by everyone from your accountant to your customers. Make sure that it produces them in a format that has wide compatibility.

Security

Your accounting software will contain some of the most sensitive data about your company, your employees, and possibly even your personal finances. Even though you’ll still need to take steps to protect your computer system, take a few minutes to read reviews regarding a program’s internal security.

By taking all of the above information into consideration, you should be able to acquire just the right accounting system that fits your business needs. MoneyThumb offers PDF financial file converters specifically designed for small businesses which will compliment whichever accounting system you to decide to use.

The post 6 Things to Consider When Choosing Your Business Accounting System appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Unfortunately, both the IRS and banks place a high priority on keeping these two aspects of life separate.  Personal accounting software can help with this problem in several different ways. The Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb has listed those ways below:

1. Instantly Separate Expenses--One of the biggest issues for many business owners is assigning a category to each expense.  If you frequently find yourself purchasing items for business at the same time or place that you shop for personal items, you need the ability to quickly click and sort a receipt into categories.

2. Assign a Percentage of Expenses to Categories--If you work out of a home office, then you need to be able to assign a percentage of your utility and rental costs to your business and the other to your personal finances.  Even if you’re paying for everything out of the same account, this will be important when you need to compute how profitable your business is.

3. Generate Expense Reports for Tax Purposes--The main reason for keeping your expenses separate is that the IRS needs to know what you spent on your business.  Doing this by hand means that you’re probably going to miss a lot of things that can be tax deductible.  Fortunately, personal accounting software will scan all of your expenses and determine which items are of interest to your tax preparer.

4. Track Different Revenue Streams--If you earn money from several different business ventures (or if there are multiple income earners in your household) it’s important to keep track of the source of each dollar your household sees. Not only will this be crucial information to have during tax time, but it’s also good for keeping track of which business ventures are actually bringing in income.  In addition, personal accounting software is a good idea for families that have a lot of investments outside of their business, such as rental property or stocks.

5. You’ll Save Time--Of course, you can do any of these things without the help of accounting software, but odds are that unless you’re very dedicated to bookkeeping, you’re going to have issues with receipts and bills that go missing or get misfiled.  Ultimately, you have to decide if personal accounting software is a good way to avoid spending hours struggling with your business and personal finances.

If this Rules of Thumb blog post from MoneyThumb has helped you decide it's time to begin using personal finance software to separate your personal and business spending and income, The Balance offers this article with The 8 Best Personal Finance Software Choices for 2019. Another great way to assist your business is by using our PDF financial file converters which are specifically designed for small business owners. Between the advice we have offered here on personal finance software and our MoneyThumb tools, your business can begin to soar as it should.

The post How Personal Accounting Software Can Help Your Business appeared first on MoneyThumb.

One of the frustrations facing accountants and QuickBooks advisors often comes in the form of a client offering bank statements, credit card reports and other financial documents in paper, digital PDF and/or Excel spreadsheet format which must be reconciled. If you are lucky, the data is precise and has been downloaded from the bank. Often times, however, the data is paper, marked up by the client or their staff and is hard to interpret. Sometimes it is scanned, but the scan is nearly indecipherable.

The reality is that you are going to run into this dilemma on a regular basis, with statements and other paperwork being inconsistent from month to month causing you to have to figure out what is there.  Entering all that data is tedious, and not very rewarding.

There is a solution. 2qbo Convert Pro+ from MoneyThumb. PDF Statements downloaded from the bank or scanned paper statements can be converted and reconciled.  Spreadsheets are not a problem either, with 2qbo Convert Pro+.  In fact, 2qbo Convert Pro+ actually lets you perform basic spreadsheet editing of transactions in the conversion process.

The converter has a reconcile feature that will try to reconcile the credits/debits found with the starting and ending balances printed on the bank statement.  Given that reconciliation is an important step, having it in the converter is a big deal.  Below is a bit of the description of the product from the MoneyThumb website:

• "2qbo Convert Pro+ is a streamlined collection of MoneyThumb financial file converters created especially for the needs of professional QuickBooks advisors who need to convert import transaction from any type of bank statement into QuickBooks.  2qbo Convert Pro+ allows you to transform bank statements and financial files into the QBO format, convert data in and out of Excel or other spreadsheet programs for editing, convert multiple files in a single step, and even perform basic editing of transactions.  2qbo Convert Pro+ combines a lifetime of 2qbo Convert Pro license with a one-year PDF+ license so that you can now easily convert both scanned and text-based pdf documents from your bank, credit card or brokerage firm into.QBO files for import into QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online"

2qbo Convert Pro+ can also handle large volumes of information. Whether you have a large number of transactions spread across an ordinary number of statements, or a large number of ordinary-sized statements, 2qbo converters can help you process these documents all the way from paper into QuickBooks. Leading features include advanced PinPoint OCR for paper conversions, standard handling of multi-page PDFs and batch processing for large jobs. Money Thumb believes so strongly in this product that you can take a test drive. 2Convert Trial versions will write up to 10 transactions.

If you are interested in purchasing 2qbo Convert Pro+, visit the product page here.  Not ready to buy yet?  You can review the product screenshots of how it works, descriptions of all the features, and learn about MoneyThumb's PinPoint OCR scanning technology, which combines powerful optical character recognition with intelligent analytic capabilities that are integrated into the logic of the recognition engine itself.  Whereas many OCR technologies require the user to find a needle in a haystack when confronted with unintelligible/problem characters, PinPoint OCR offers a set of capabilities to overcome this inefficiency.

The post Why Accountants Love MoneyThumb's 2qbo Convert Pro+ appeared first on MoneyThumb.

If you aspire to be a QuickBooks expert, the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb would like to offer the following 5 ways that you can become a QuickBooks expert. These tips come from personal experience of current QuickBooks experts:

5 Ways You Can Become a QuickBooks Expert

1. Determine Which Version is Right For You.

One thing you need to know is that you can choose between online and desktop versions of QuickBooks. It’s also important to know that they are totally different types of software programs. QuickBooks has versions for every type of need, whether for simple personal finance organization and maintenance or to handle major business clients as an accountant or CPA. Be sure you choose the right version for your needs.

2. Establish the Right Design and Structure.

QuickBooks is a list-driven system. Your success with getting the reports you need from QuickBooks depends upon the design and structure of those lists. Each of these lists requires planning and careful consideration. The up-front time you spend to get these right will save hundreds of “down-the-road” clean-up hours. Creating the correct design and structure for your QuickBooks implementation is critical to success.

3. Get High-Quality Training.

If you have never used QuickBooks before, jumping right in and trying to use it without learning how it works first is a recipe for wasted time and frustration. When you purchase the software, you will receive detailed instructions on how to use it. However, those who really want to become experts at QuickBooks search out more advanced, high-quality training for those who are already experts at using the product.

4. Follow Popular QuickBooks Blogs and Watch Training Webinars

To really get serious about becoming a QuickBooks expert, begin following the most popular and relevant blogs about QuickBooks. The company has its own blog, which you can find here, and they also offer weekly free webinars.  By stepping up your gain with advanced training and research like this, you are on your way to becoming a QuickBooks expert.

5. Become a QuickBooks Certified Pro Advisor

Now you are at the final step to becoming a QuickBooks Certified Pro Advisor. This distinguishment will definitely set you on the fast track to gaining clients and making more money. You can self-pace your training before taking the exam and getting your certificate announcing yourself as a Pro Advisor. There are college credits available at each stage of the process.

Becoming an expert at QuickBooks, as you can see from the suggestions above, all have to do with the level of expert you want or need to be. From an expert to make yourself proud and handle all your friends and families taxes, to becoming a certified Pro as a professional accountant, like everything else in life, you get back what you put on. And just so you know, MoneyThumb's PDF financial file converters work perfectly with QuickBooks.

From the Rules of Thumb blog and the MoneyThumb team, we hope you have a great weekend and a very Happy 4th of July!

The post 5 Ways You Can Become a QuickBooks Expert appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Quickbooks Online Review: Best Small Business Accounting Software

Our 2017 research and analysis of accounting software leads us to again recommend Intuit QuickBooks Online as the best accounting software for small businesses. We chose QuickBooks from dozens of accounting software options.

Business News Daily list a few of the following reasons they chose QuickBooks as the best:

• Best Price
• Ease of Use
• Time Saving Features
• Customer Service

Read the full review here.

Another big plus about the review is that at the end of the text are links to reviews of other suggested accounting software. Just reading the titles of these reviews helps put it all in a nutshell, what is best for what type of person, business or accounting needs. Below are these links:

Ready to choose your accounting software? Here's a breakdown of our complete coverage:

• How to Choose an Accounting Software
• The Best Accounting Software for Small Business
• Quickbooks Online Review: Best Small Business Accounting Software
• Wave Accounting Review: Best Free Accounting Software for Small Business
• Zoho Books Review: Best Accounting Software for Really Small Businesses
• FreshBooks Review: Best Accounting Mobile App for Small Business
• Xero Review: Best Accounting Software for Mac
  

We hope the links we have offered and the reviews of accounting software therein has helped our readers choose the best software for their particular needs.

The post QuickBooks Chosen as 2017 Best Accounting Software appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Not all OCR programs are created equal…

Optical recognition technology evaluates image files and translates them into usable data. As science-fiction as that may sound, OCR has quickly established itself within a real-life context. Law firms use it to search for information in 100-page depositions. Businesses can classify and index invoices with OCR barcodes. The post office uses it to sort mail by zip code. You may have even used OCR when depositing a check into an ATM.

Though this technology can be used within a variety of frameworks, the function is the same. OCR programs begin by creating a hierarchy of information. First it analyzes the layout of an image file (such as a PDF), identifying tables, columns, and text blocks. It then breaks down that information into lines and characters. Most programs then cross reference the structure of the document with the recognizable characters and an internal dictionary to provide a comprehensive overview of the content. This entire process of analysis and conversion of a page into usable data take less than a minute.

…For that matter, nor are PDFs

Many documents that you will encounter in the accounting sphere are text-based PDFs. Invoices and bank statements are often transmitted from institution to individual in this format. In these types of PDFs, you can select and copy items to paste into spreadsheets and accounting forms. But there may be times when you get an a PDF that doesn't have any clickable fields; what do you do then?

Your file is most likely image-based. Image-based PDFs are large, high-resolution photos or scanned copies of physical documents. On rare occasions, you may receive a PDF that looks and behaves like it is text-based, but when you paste a selection onto a form, it shows up like this:

You’ve just come upon an encrypted PDF. These PDFs are meant to keep sensitive information confidential, but very few banks use them. Often, internally encrypted PDFs must be converted into image-based PDFs for processing.

Although image-based PDFs are an easy and accurate way of conveying information from one person to another, it relies upon human interpretation. Upon receiving the image, you (or your team member) have to read and manually enter that data. Not only is this time consuming, but the accuracy of data entry is subject to human faults, such as fatigue, boredom, and simple error. During periods of high volume—such as tax season—this puts your information at risk.

PinPoint OCR for the most accurate financial forms.

The use of an OCR program can drastically cut down on time and substantially reduce the possibility of error, but we take this a step further. MoneyThumb's new PDF+ line uses PinPoint OCR to integrate with our standard text-based converter products to give you the first character recognition program designed specifically to recognize elements within bank statements. This contextual format provides superior structural analysis and error correction.

Extracting data from financial documents such as credit card and brokerage statements for your personal finance and accounting files has never been easier. Explore our PDF+ products and see what we mean.

[ Compare PDF Convert Products ]

The post OCR and the Future of Financial Data Entry appeared first on MoneyThumb.

For many small business owners and home accountants, keeping track of where money is coming from and going to started on a spreadsheet. After all, practically every computer comes with some type of spreadsheet program, and nearly everyone knows the basics of how to use it. At first glance, online accounting programs can look more complicated than the familiar spreadsheet standby.

The truth is, however, that online accounting systems can be a lot easier to use than most spreadsheet programs. These programs come loaded with the data fields that business owners need: they’re easily able to perform complicated functions, and they produce reports that make your business data understandable to others.

Easy Spreadsheet Set Up

The most time-consuming part of using an ordinary spreadsheet to track your financial data is setting up the file. Starting from a blank grid, it can take hours to create a few basic forms that just allow you to track expenses and income received. More complicated forms, such as sheets to track tax liabilities, can take much longer to set up. Furthermore, every time there is a change in tax law or your billing/tracking methods, it’s necessary to change the spreadsheets. With an online accounting program, however, the forms and fields are already set up. Entering client and supplier data or revenue and expense data is simply a matter of data entry; there’s no need to set up new fields. A valuable feature of online systems is the ability to download bank data directly into your spreadsheets – a major time saver.

Simple Calculations

Once your data is entered into a spreadsheet, managing the program to give you the numbers you need can be tricky. While it’s fairly easy to add or compute an average, more complicated functions can be difficult to figure out. For example, if you want to compute the average of a group of prices that falls between a certain date range, you need to be an advanced user to understand how your spreadsheet organizes data and the functions needed to reorganize it the way you want. With an online accounting program, however, these functions are already built into the program. With the click of a button, you can re-organize your data and find sums and averages for any range of data that you specify; complicated functions are no longer out of reach, and comparisons of data groups are simple.

Clear, Customizable Reports

Finally, online accounting programs are able to generate reports that are easily understood by people both inside and outside of your company. In addition to standard accounting reports, with these programs you can effortlessly pull data for your tax consultant, provide a report on specified clients or suppliers for review by government regulators, or produce easy to view charts and graphs for potential investors. You’ll be able to produce a report on only the data you want to show in a matter of minutes.

An online accounting system is almost always a better choice for a business owner than setting up and managing an in-house, unique set of spreadsheets. While a new online accounting program may take a few minutes to learn, it can pay off many times over in the hours of time saved and in its ease of future use.

The post How Online Accounting Systems are Simpler than Spreadsheets appeared first on MoneyThumb.

However, MoneyThumb’s 2Convert line of financial file converters can easily convert your financial transaction data from virtually any source into the financial industry’s .ofx format that is used by accounting and personal finance packages such as: Xero, Kashoo, Zoho,  GoDaddy Accounting, Sage, Fresh Books, MYOB, iBank, AceMoney, YNAB, Moneydance, GnuCash & Microsoft Money’s Sunset Edition.

PDFs & Historical Transaction Data

A variety of personal finance software users faced a challenge in importing bank, credit card or brokerage transactions that are 6 months or older. This is because a large number of financial institutions only supply historical transaction data in .pdf format, which programs like Xero, Kashoo, Zoho,  Sage, MYOB, AceMoney, YNAB and others do not natively import. Fortunately, MoneyThumb’s pdf2ofx Convert+ makes use of advanced algorithms to compare your .pdf file against those supplied by hundreds of financial institutions and ensures that your .pdf to .ofx file conversion process is smooth and easy. Or if your accounting software needs QIF format file, consider pdf2qif Convert+.

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Convert QIF to OFX

You may want to move your personal financial data from an older version of Quicken or other program that uses the .qif format into financial software that uses .ofx. Our qif2ofx Convert software easily handles conversions from Quicken to OFX.

Convert CSV to OFX

Any financial transaction data in a spreadsheet can easily be converted so it can imported into other financial programs. Convert from .csv to .ofx to make the process quick and hassle-free. csv2ofx Convert makes that conversion with a single click.

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