What You Need to Know About the HIRE Act

The Hriing Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRe) Act offers employers tax incentives for hiring unemployed workers.

Under this act, an employer is exempt from paying the employer portion of 2010 Social Security taxes on wages paid to qualified employees between March 19 and December 31, 2010.

Using Your Point of Sale Software for Success in Retail

A good point of sale (POS) software is critical for the success of any retail operation. Not only should your POS system be able to ring up customers, but it should provide you with valuable information about what's selling and what's in stock, as well as who your best customers are and their purchase history. QuickBooks POS is a great tool for independent retailers.

Not only does QuickBooks POS give you all of that information, it also syncs seamlessly with QuickBooks accounting software giving you complete financial information without any double data entry. For a free trial copy of QuickBooks Point of Sale, contact carolyn@jones-square.com or 972-378-7787.

Make your p&l a useful management tool

A monthly profit and loss statement should be a very useful tool. However, most small businesses either don't get the report on a timely basis, or the information is not in a format that is easy to read. A profit and loss statement should be available to a business owner by the 10th of the following month for the previous month.

Creating classes in QuickBooks for each of the business divisions allows the business owner to see how profitable each of his business segments is. Seeing the gross margin by class or division can help an owner to decide where to focus his efforts and determine if pricing is in line.

QuickBooks Timetracker is a great tool for professional services firms to track and bill time. We have several clients who have successfully migrated to this flexible and cost effective system. QuickBooks Timetracker is ideal for attorneys' offices.