One thing that sets ProOnGo apart from other expense programs is its unique workflow. Employees submit their expenses to managers, who can then approve or deny the expense from their mobile device, and even send it to QuickBooks.

A lot of users are now taking advantage of our awesome credit card sync feature, and are left wondering about the workflow of those expenses? They want to know, am I supposed to approve/deny credit card expenses just like I do for reimbursable expenses?

First, you should understand a little bit about how our Credit Card Sync works. You and your employees spend money using a card that you’ve decided to connect to QuickBooks, and QuickBooks syncs the transactions into a credit card register automatically. From there, it syncs to ProOnGo – in the ProOnGo app, you and your employees can edit the expense. Those edits will go back to QuickBooks and live happily ever after.  That way, your employees don’t have to come find or sign into QuickBooks, they only have access to this specific subset of your company’s QuickBooks information.

The question of workflow happens when those expenses are sent to ProOnGo – they arrive in the app as “Submitted” – and we’ve been getting the question “what exactly does that mean?”.  Well, lets start with what it doesn’t mean:

• Whether you approve of the expense or not… it’s still a transaction that deserves to be in the credit card register in QuickBooks.  I.e., even if you believe the employee spend was a poor decision, the fact is that the transaction did indeed occur, and thus no matter what you do with the workflow state in ProOnGo, we won’t delete the credit card transaction from QuickBooks.
• Your monthly statement from your credit card provider still has to be paid… regardless of whether or not you are happy about the particular expenses that the employee transacted this month.  And, of course, changing the workflow state in ProOnGo, doesn’t change that.

So, with that in mind, what does it actually mean, to “Approve” or “Deny” a credit card expense that is sync’d between ProOnGo and QuickBooks?  Your own business rules are the key to answering that, but here is one answer that is gaining popularity amongst our user base:

• A “Denied” credit card expense means… that although the transaction will live on in QuickBooks, and will have to be paid by the company when the credit card statement is paid, the company will manually withhold the amount from the employees’ paycheck or otherwise require the employee to reimburse the company for the “Denied” expense.
• An “Approved” credit card expense means… that the manager has looked at the expense, memo, and categorization, and is satisfied.  Thus, the manager Approves the expense, and adjusts his/her expense filter to show only Submitted expenses, to make it easy to spot which transactions have not-yet-reviewed memo and category choices.  We bet that managers are busy folks, and that they won’t instinctively remember which 758 credit card transactions out of 1,043 in total, have been scrubbed to ensure that the employee did a good job of selecting the appropriate categories.  So, the Approved/Denied decision and the Filter, should add some sanity to that process.

So, use our credit card sync feature to not only be kind to your employees (who will benefit from the pre-filled transaction list), but also to be kind to your managers (who will be able to keep track of which credit card expenses have been adequately categorized).

For more information about other aspects of ProOnGo Expense’s workflow capabilities, check out this blog post.

Today, we launch our fifth QuickBooks mobile application since Friday, drawing a close to our Five Apps and Five Days project. We’ve had a lot of fun launching these applications, but more importantly we’re glad that we were able contribute to the QuickBooks market five applications that fill genuine needs for our customers.

The application for today will continue in that same vein of meeting a genuine need for mobile QuickBooks users; it’s called “View Time” and like our other recent applications QuickBooks mobile applications, it is a single function application designed to quickly deliver valuable information from your QuickBooks system to wherever you might be.

Contractors, accountants, lawyers and consultants are just a couple of the industries that require accurate time tracking, and they will love using this application, as it gives them a quick and accurate snap-shot of their employees’ time activities already registered in QuickBooks.

So if your employees are using an application that allows them to record time expenses and post them into QuickBooks (like ProOnGo Expense), you can just swipe through your employees time expenses to get a summary of time activities, and launch the register to view the specific time activities the employee has recorded.

The proverb ‘time is money’ was originally coined by Ben Franklin to illustrate that spending your time unwisely is the equivalent to wasting money. While that statement is truer now and it has been ever with the productive capacity crammed in to every minute our smartphones have given us, there’s also another way to think about ‘ol Ben’s quote; if you lose time, you also lose money. So make sure to check out the View Time application, available now on Intuit App Center and iTunes App Store to start saving your business money.

So, you’re ready to explore the world of QuickBooks apps. The first thing you need to do is set up Intuit Sync Manager.

Step One: Create An Online Business Profile

Intuit requires a company username to use the Sync Manager. This is easy to set up – go to appcenter.intuit.com and click the ‘Sign In’ button. Or, just click here. From there, click the ‘Create’ tab and fill out the form.

Step Two: Set It Up!

Open the QuickBooks company file you’re trying to sync with apps. Then, go to Online Services > Set up Intuit Sync Manager.

From there, Intuit will ask for the credentials you created in step one and lead you through an installation wizard. There are only a few steps in this wizard, so I’m confident that you can successfully complete it.

Step Three: Explore App Center

Intuit’s App Center contains apps of all shapes and sizes; may we recommend ProOnGo Expense for your expense tracking?

Also, if all of this Sync Manager stuff is enough to make your head spin, maybe it’s time to move to QuickBooks Online (which makes your data available to you from any web browser).  If you are thinking about making the switch, try this handy calculator to price out the possibilities.

Simply put, Intuit Sync Manager is a simple program within QuickBooks that allows you to connect your QuickBooks company file to third party apps and services. These apps can open up your QuickBooks experience to new levels of convenience and compatibility. The Sync Manager is easy to use and easy to set up.

It should be noted that Sync Manager is only meant to link QuickBooks to apps. You could not use the Sync Manger to combine two company files, to transfer a company file from one computer to another, or to restore a company file.

If you’re interested in apps and services, you’ll use the Intuit Sync Manager. Here are a couple links that you’ll find helpful:

Setting Up Intuit Sync Manager
Trouble Shooting Intuit Sync Manager
Questions About All Things Sync Answered

Updated on Aug 8 2012:  If all of this Sync Manager stuff is enough to make your head spin, maybe it’s time to move to QuickBooks Online (which makes your data available to you from any web browser).  If you are thinking about making the switch, try this handy calculator to price out the possibilities.

Having problems with the Intuit Sync Manager? Maybe you’re getting an error message, or maybe it just isn’t working. Here are a couple things you should try:

Making Sure You’re Updated

In QuickBooks, go to Help > Update QuickBooks. Make sure ‘Automatic Update’ is ON.

If you didn’t have that turned on, here’s how to update the sync manager manually:
Go back to Help > Update QuickBooks. Go to the Update Now tab and select ‘Get Updates.’ Updates will download, and then you’ll have to install them.

Before installing the updates, make sure you exit Intuit Sync manager.

Then, go into QuickBooks and open your company file. Go to Online Services > Manage Services and select ‘Start Sync Now.’

Resetting the Sync Manager

Go to Help > Manage Data Sync > Reset Intuit Sync Manager.

Note that this will clear out all of your sync manager settings, so you’ll have to re-sync with any apps you’re connected to.

Then, go through and set up the sync manager just like you did the first time.

Repairing the QuickBooks Program

Go to Computer > Uninstall or Change a Program and scroll down until you find QuickBooks. Select it and continue through the wizard until you get the option to either Repair or Uninstall. You should Repair.

Follow the wizard, then restart your computer.

While these steps can fix most problems with Intuit Sync manager, it may still behoove you to contact a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor or QuickBooks tech support.

Your employees have incurred expenses for a specific job, and now that you’ve reimbursed them, you want to pass the cost on to the client. You can use the expense information from ProOnGo to instantly create an invoice, or add to an existing one. This is yet another way ProOnGo saves you time and improves your QuickBooks experience.

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Create the Expense In ProOnGo

The first step is to create the expense! Just go through the regular process of creating an expense in ProOnGo. First, use our receipt reader to record the expense information, or enter it manually. Then assign the correct Client to the expense and change the Type to “Billable.”

Once the expense is approved, you can send it to QuickBooks as you normally would, either as a Vendor Bill or via Write Check. In this case, we used Write Check.

Step 2: Reimburse That Expense

Open Write Check in QuickBooks and hover over the “Recent” button. You’ll see the expense!  You’ll notice that the expense is already assigned to the Client and marked as “Billable.”

Step 3: Create the Invoice in QuickBooks

Go to Clients, then Create an Invoice. If you’ve already created an invoice and want to add to it, no problem! Just select the correct Customer:Job.

Check the box next to “Billable Expense Charges” and your expense will be added to the invoice.

That’s it! No keying in information for you; you’re far too advanced for that. Creating invoices in QuickBooks is easy with ProOnGo!

Traveling abroad for work can be a great way to see the world, but it’s also a great way to mess up your expense reports. Currency conversion rates change, plus, who wants to do the extra math? ProOnGo has you covered – you can enter your expense in the foreign currency of your choice, then let ProOnGo convert it to USD for you. You can always set your home currency as something other than USD, too, so no matter where you are in the world, ProOnGo is useful to you.

Here’s how to set it up:

First, load ProOnGo to your phone. Then go to Options.

From Options, select “Currency Exchange Rates”

Enter your home currency – that is, the currency you’re submitting your expenses in – then enter the currency that you’d like converted.

Press back, then “Save.”

Then, when you go to create an expense, you will automatically be prompted to enter the expense in the foreign currency. ProOnGo calculates exchange rates and adjusts the amount accordingly.

That’s all there is to it! ProOnGo makes a great travel companion. You can get this feature by  subscribing to ProOnGo.

What should the equipment and materials we purchase to complete jobs for our customers be listed as:   Cost of Goods Sold or Expense?

That’s a great question which often confuses QuickBooks users (including this one!) Before we start on this blog, it should be noted that if you REALLY aren’t sure, it’s always wise to contact a CPA. Also, most engagements come with contracts that outline expense information, so you should probably check with that, too.

When thinking about Expense vs Cost of Goods Sold, first it’s important to understand that both of these are “expense” accounts. It’s also notable that there are tax regulations on what counts as an expense (again: contact a CPA). The easiest way to figure out whether or not an item should be listed as COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) or an Expense is to ask yourself three questions:

1. Is this item something that we have in our inventory and are selling/charging a client for?  If you answered yes, then this is most likely a COGS item.
2. Is this item something that you will use to create something else (ex: you buy hinges for kitchen cabinets that you are installing for a customer)? If you answered yes, then this is most likely a COGS item.
3. Is this item something you personally had to purchase because you were working on a specific job (ex: travel costs)? If you answered yes, then this is most likely an Expense item.

Most business that do not have inventories or are not involved in construction probably won’t use Cost of Goods Sold for anything. Expenses such as meals, entertainment expenses, computer software, gas and travel costs, and lodging costs are usually expenses. Most COGS items are purchased by companies, whereas most expense items are purchased by individual employees of a company. If you still aren’t sure, feel free to leave a brief explanation in the comments of this blog, and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.

Did you know: You can use ProOnGo to track your reimbursable expenses and company credit card expenses in QuickBooks! Check out all the ways we sync to QuickBooks.

How do reimburse an employee for mileage in QuickBooks?

Say your employee made a 100 mile round trip to attend a meeting. The meeting went great, but now you have to reimburse your employee for those 100 miles. Since miles aren’t a tangible item, you’re a little confused on how to reimburse them. Plus, mileage reimbursement follows tax regulations – the current reimbursement rate per mile is $0.555, but you should check with your accountant or irs.gov before you start issuing reimbursements.

You’re ready to reimburse an employee for mileage in QuickBooks. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create an expense account for mileage, if you haven’t done so already.
2. Create a Vendor Profile for the employee.
   NOTE: If your employee is already listed in the employee center, you’ll have to slightly alter the name of the Vendor slightly. So, if Jane Doe is your employee, the you would create a vendor named “Jane Doe.”.
3. Create a Vendor Bill from that vendor.
   a) assign the expense to the expense account you made in step 1, and enter the dollar amount (# of miles x 0.555)
4. Go to Pay Bill, and pay the bill.

Note that if your employee took more than one trip, you’ll have to enter an expense for each trip taken which can take up your valuable time. If you and your employee had been using ProOnGo to track mileage expenses, you could spend way less time keying in information and way more time doing important tasks (or looking at cats on the internet, whatever your thing is).

Did you know: You can use ProOnGo to track mileage, then send it to QuickBooks, right from your smart phone! Check out our mileage tracking for QuickBooks.

Since we’ve become so focused on our QuickBooks integration lately, we received a lot of expenses regarding employees and reimbursement. Since our on-staff QuickBooks Pro Advisor, Amber, is hard at work answering these QuickBooks questions, we figure we might as well post some of the common questions we receive.

How do I reimburse employees in QuickBooks? I use QuickBooks for payroll but I don’t want the reimbursement to affect their w2’s.

So, your employees have incurred expenses, and you’ve approved them already. You’re confident in your employees and they’re confident in you getting their reimbursements into their next paycheck. The only problem is, you don’t know how! Oh no!

Reimbursement via QuickBooks payroll is a little more complicated than reimbursement through the Write Checks or Vendor Bill methods, but it’s definitely doable.

Here’s how:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. From the Lists drop down menu at the top of the screen, click “Payroll Items.”
3. Click “New Item.”
4. You’ll have to go through the EZ Setup to create a Miscellaneous Addition.
   1. The expense will be shown in the Payroll Items list; right click it, and select “Edit” to label the item correctly – QuickBooks will guide you through a series of steps to properly address the question of tax status, and other details.
   2. From the home screen, click Pay Employees.
   3. Click the Pay Employees button, and select the employee you’d like to pay.
   4. Click Open Paycheck Detail .
   5. Under the Other Payroll Items menu, find and select the item you just made.
   6. Click Save & Close, and continue with the normal payroll process.

And there you have it! Your employee’s expense reimbursement will be on their paycheck.

Did you know: ProOnGo supports payroll items! Check out how we sync to QuickBooks.