We at ProOnGo talk a lot about QuickBooks online banking, because we love it! Company cards are something that virtually every business uses – after all, the only people carrying around a checkbook these days are the same people who are bumping MC Hammer on their walkman. It is no longer hammer time.

Hopefully you’re already recording your expenses to your credit card register in QuickBooks by clicking the “Add Credit Card Charges” button. This screen will look pretty familiar to you:

Normally you’d record expenses through this screen, then go to the Credit Card register to see all of the charges.

If you’re already doing everything right, why make the switch to online banking?

Online banking is faster:

A pretty normal way businesses run, expense-wise, is by use of expense reports. Employees spend money, then submit their receipts along with a list of expenses to their manager. This is time consuming and can easily be pushed aside if the employee in question has more important work to do. So, you’re left waiting for the expense reports. By the time everything finally gets recorded, you could have fallen days, weeks, or even in some cases months behind.

Once you finally get the expense reports, it then takes time to enter in all the information to QuickBooks.

Online banking eliminates all the bother of what I’ve just described. When you have online banking set up, QuickBooks constantly downloads transactions from the bank as they happen. So, there’s no more waiting for expense reports from your employees, who will be very happy to not have to fill them out anyway.

Online banking is more accurate:

When you use online banking, the transactions are downloaded directly from your bank, so you know there won’t be any errors. If you’ve had to manually enter in tons of expenses, you know the feeling of frustration that occurs when the ending balance that you created doesn’t match that on the credit card statement. You also know that it’s virtually impossible to not make a single mistake while entering in so much information. Avoid all of that by using online banking, and letting QuickBooks do the work for you.

Using online banking allows you to also use add-ons:

There are a plethora of apps and add-ons which sync to QuickBooks, but they all require online banking to work. Apps can fit a variety of needs and even make QuickBooks fun!

ProOnGo is all about making expense reporting easy, so it’s no coincidence that we sync with your credit card online banking. By giving you access to your credit card register right on your smart phone, we’re taking the convenience and availability of online banking to the next level. Instead of logging in to QuickBooks and spend time categorizing a list of expenses, why not do it right when the expense is incurred? Your employees can file and categorize their expenses too without gaining access to your QuickBooks company file. Even better, do all of this from your smart phone!

If you’re interested in online banking, you can check out our instructions on how to set up credit cards in QuickBooks.

Did you know: When you have online banking set up, you can use ProOnGo to sync with your credit card register, allowing you and your employees to categorize, edit, and add receipt images to your credit card transactions from any smart phone, any where, and at any time. Check out our Credit Card Sync.

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, Intuit put out a new infographic about the trend of the mobile payment industry. In it, they have some very interesting findings about the habits of consumers using mobile payments.

A few things we found:

• Millenials represent approx 40 percent of all mobile payment users. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as Millenials have proven themselves to be willing and able to try out any and all new technology.
• Mass Transit companies are the most focused group of merchants focusing on mobile payments
• Oddly enough, vending machines are the least focused on mobile payments. Do people still use vending machines?
• Mobile Application providers (those that create and/or distribute the app) are the quickest group to adopt mobile payments, compared to mobile carriers, financial institutions, payment service providers, handset manufacturers and merchants.
• The most popular mobile payment protocol in the future is slated to be NFC – Near Field Communication – built into mobile devices.

Most of this information isn’t entirely surprising, although it is nice to have confirmation of some hunches.  To add credence to application developers being the first to adopt mobile payments, ProOnGo does accept mobile payments and we have found that more and more users are willing to pay for subscriptions using their mobile device. However, by and large, the majority of our users pay for subscriptions using a credit card.

We fully expect mobile payments to take off, that’s why we made sure to include BlackBerry carrier payments in our latest BlackBerry build, meaning ProOnGo subscriptions show up on the phone bill instead of a charge to a credit card. Whether that is more convenient or not remains to be unknown, but we fully expect this trend to continue.

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.

QuickBooks is an amazing resource for CPAs and Bookkeepers. One shudders to think about the Dark Ages before QuickBooks; a past filled with file cabinets, six inch thick ledger books …white out…remember white out?

When thinking about the innovation we have in the bookkeeping world today, it’s amazing that small businesses were able to keep track of their own numbers without these amazing tools.

Well, with the recent launch of the Intuit App Center, we’re about to pass another Rubicon where we think, “how on earth did we ever survive without this?”

This new innovation is Intuit App Center and it’s the equivalent of the Android Market for Android phones or the iTunes App Store for iPhones. Intuit App Center contains a bunch of applications made by third-party developers that enhance the functionality of QuickBooks by providing you tools that specifically meet your needs.

However, unlike the Android Market and the iTunes App Store, nothing is downloaded—all of these applications are considered to be SaaS (Software As  A Solution), providing the distinct advantage of being available from any computer.

Applications Tailored Just For Your Need

It’d be nearly impossible for Intuit to make an application for every business need for every segment in every industry; so instead, they’ve left the development of these applications to third-party companies.  Because of this, the applications found in Intuit App Center tend to address very specific needs of business, such as analytics, expense tracking and payroll.

And because the App Center isn’t very crowded at this point in time, nearly all of the developers can be reached for personal support.

How It Works

CPAs and Bookkeepers just have to browse to AppCenter.Intuit.com to browse all of the available applications that can plug-in to QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. Once a user decides to try out the application, it is “installed” in their user account. QuickBooks users can than activate the applications using the Intuit Blue Button which appears in the upper right hand corner of all of the applications.

Here at ProOnGo, we utilize QuickBooks for our bookkeeping and have installed a few apps that help us get some day-to-day tasks completed. Here are some recommended applications to get you started:

• ProOnGo Expense – shameless self promotion, we do your expense tracking.
• Audit My Books – double-checks your books and business policies to make sure no fraudulent practices occur inside your company.
• Transaction Pro Importer – Helping you merge outside information into your QuickBooks account.

If you’ve ever tried to keep a receipt around for more than a couple months, you know that expense tracking can get kind of gross. Chances are you have more than one flimsy, fragile, off-colored receipt you have crammed in your wallet too. As if that isn’t bad enough, you have to key in all the information from there.  Then you submit it to your boss, hope there aren’t any errors, and wait for what seems like weeks upon weeks to get reimbursed. What a pain!

ProOnGo lets you approve or deny expenses from anywhere!

Not only can you file expenses from any phone at any time, but if you’re a manager you can also view and approve expenses from any phone at any time. Increase transparency, efficiency, and impress your employees by getting their reimbursements out promptly!

We have a really nifty receipt reader.

No one likes keying in information from who knows how many receipts. It’s boring, it’s time-consuming, and too much of it can give you carpal tunnel. ProOnGo features a really neat Receipt Reader which does all of that for you – simply snap a photo of your receipt, and chill out as all the information is populated for you. Then just categorize your expense, add a memo, and save.

We sync to QuickBooks in an AWESOME WAY.

A lot of people like to say that they sync with QuickBooks, but let me assure you: ProOnGo offers the most complete synchronization to QuickBooks Online and Pro of any expense reporting app. You can use your information from ProOnGo to create a Vendor Bill or Write a Check. Plus, all of your QuickBooks expense categories, items, vendors, and clients will be magically imported into ProOnGo.