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SMARTBase™ Links Business Processes with QuickBooks
June 30th, 2010 by Veronica Fisher
GrowthForce has developed a proprietary Web-based Customer Relationship Management and Project Management system called SMARTBase.
SMARTBase is an application built using Intuit’s QuickBase with an added feature: SMARTBase integrates with QuickBooks.
As an Intuit Solution Provider and QuickBooks ProAdvisor, GrowthForce needed a CRM and project management application that married with its core competency: bookkeeping and controller services using QuickBooks, says James Cosman, SMARTBase lead developer. Cosman helped GrowthForce create and implement the SMARTBase system in the fall of 2009.
Prospect to Project Application
SMARTBase allows GrowthForce to manage workflow from “prospect to project” using Intuit products from start to finish. Unlike Act! or Sales Force.com, the system allows for more »
Steve King, CEO Recognized by CPA Societies
June 30th, 2010 by Veronica FisherThis spring, GrowthForce CEO Stephen King received two accolades from the Certified Public Accountants industry.
King Named to TSCPA Board
In March, King was named to the Board of Directors of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. TSCPA is a nonprofit, voluntary, professional organization representing Texas CPAs.
With 20 local chapters statewide and 28,000 members, TSCPA has the largest in-state membership of any CPA organization in the nation. The Society is committed to serving the public interest with programs that advance the highest standards of ethics and practice within the CPA profession.
King has served on the Board of The Houston CPA Society, a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, since April 2009. With this new nomination, he takes on a larger role helping to guide the direction of the Board on both a local and state level.
“Steve has been instrumental in providing guidance to the Board of The Houston CPA Society,” said Nancy A. Rutledge, Houston CPA Society executive director. “His outreach to local businesses and organizations has played a key role in creating valuable alliances. We are pleased he will now bring the same level of energy and vision to the state level.”
King Receives Visionary Award
Kathy Ploch, left, past president of the Houston CPA Society, presented King with the Visionary Award at the organization’s annual awards banquet held held at the BraeBurn Country Club on May 20.
At the event, Houston CPA Society Executive Director Rutledge called King “a true think-outside-the-box individual and definitely not your stereotypical CPA.” She noted that King has served the Society as chair of the Northeast Satellite, as a member of the Public Relations Committee and as an assistant to the Golf Classic Committee for their live auction.
“Steve challenges everyone to think ‘big box’,” stated Rutledge. “His challenges are welcomed by his conservative CPA peers.”
GrowthForce partners with webKPI
June 30th, 2010 by Veronica Fisher
GrowthForce has announced a partnership with California-based technology company webKPI. The business founded by two CPAs leverages a Web portal to provide automatically-generated dashboards of a business’ Key Performance Indicators from a client’s QuickBooks files.
GrowthForce has long been a proponent of tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPI), the information a business needs to measure in order to run a profitable operation. Typical KPI’s are related to cash position, sales, operating margin, return on equity and more »
New Insights Gained at “Scaling New Heights” Conference
June 30th, 2010 by Veronica Fisher
Three members of the GrowthForce management team attended a three day conference for Intuit ProAdvisors in Atlanta in May. Titled “Scaling New Heights,” the conference offered QuickBooks advanced training and updates.
Margaret Gow, Senior Manager Systems, obtained certifications in Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and Field Service Management. Marsha Gibb, migration manager, attended classes toward her QuickBooks Advanced Certification. The designation demonstrates the highest level of proficiency in QuickBooks.
GrowthForce CEO Stephen King said that the conference was also a chance for the company to introduce SMARTBase, a proprietary QuickBooks product for Customer Relationship Management.
While at the conference, King and Gow enrolled in the newly-formed National Advisor Network (www.nationaladvisornetwork.com), an association of Advanced QuickBooks Pro Advisors and Intuit Service Providers. NAN is a forum for the highest level of QuickBooks experts to exchange questions, issues and technical articles with each other, thus providing a bigger QuickBooks knowledge base for their clients. more »
Best practices for backing up your QuickBooks file
June 15th, 2010 by Stephen KingAs today we encounter yet another new company with a corrupt QuickBooks file in our outsourced bookkeeping business, its worth sharing the best practices for backing up your data.
QuickBooks gives you a lot of value for the price. With good values often come tradeoffs, and one tradeoff with QuickBooks is a database that can easily get corrupted.
Most people think they are safe because their server gets backed up every night and the QuickBooks file is on the server. That’s helpful, but not enough. To make sure your QuickBooks file doesn’t have data corruption, you need to more »
Firm Up Your Data Security
June 7th, 2010 by Stephen KingHere’s a great article on data security.
Summer’s a great time to take care of those critical but not urgent items. Click here to check on Your Data Security.
How to Pick a Password that is Easy to Remember and Secure
May 3rd, 2010 by Stephen KingHere’s a great blog post on choosing a strong, but easy to remember, password http://bit.ly/birE3N
The man accused of one of the juicier hacking cases of the past few years is no Internet mastermind. On June 24, a French citizen who goes by the pseudonym “Hacker Croll” will face charges that he broke into Facebook pages, e-mail accounts, and the Twitter feeds of then-Sen. Barack Obama, singer Britney Spears, and other celebrities.
How did he break in? Police say that he’s just a good guesser.
Costly Changes to 1099 Reporting in Health Care Law
May 3rd, 2010 by Stephen King
The TSCPA reported last week that there are big changes in the 1099 rules coming as part of the new Health Care law. Thanks to our friends at Harper & Pearson for sending this out to our mutual clients.
April 28, 2010 – Beginning in 2012, under a little discussed mandate of the health care reform legislation, businesses will be required to report all payments in excess of $600 for services or merchandise to the Internal Revenue Service on a Form 1099.
“Under the new law, businesses will be required to send a 1099 to other businesses for virtually all purchases,” said Chris Hesse, director of taxation at CPA firm LeMaster Daniels PLLC in Washington state, as quoted by Chris Edwards in a Cato Institute blog.
“And for the first time, 1099s are to be sent to corporations,” more »
What Do You Do About Data Corruption in Your QuickBooks File?
April 19th, 2010 by Stephen KingQuickBooks has 88% plus market share because it’s so powerful. However, it has one Achilles heel which is important to pay attention too – an increased risk of data corruption.
We are seeing more data corruption in QuickBooks files than ever before. QuickBooks 2010 was supposed to solve this problem but we’re not there yet. Data corruption in your QuickBooks file can be a potentially fatal problem. How can you prevent it and what do you do if it happens to you?
First, how do you know you have data corruption? Here are some of the problems we’re seeing in QuickBooks files: more »
Houston QuickBooks User Conference – May 12th
April 9th, 2010 by Stephen KingMark your calendar for the first Houston QuickBooks User Conference on May 12, 2010 at Crowne Plaza near Reliant Stadium. This is a great way to get educated on the new and advanced features in the Intuit product line. You’ll also see the top 3rd party vendors that integrate in with QuickBooks. If you or your clients use QuickBooks, you will not want to miss this event. For more details, go to htt://www.qbookusers.com.
If you are a CPA, you can earn 5 hours CPE credit more »