One of the common denominators of small businesses is that the owner rarely seems to have enough time or enough people to get everything done that needs to be. This sometimes means that whatever tasks are complicated, time-consuming, or just plain unpleasant fall by the wayside to be handled “later, when there’s time.” Reconciling credit card transactions and updating accounting records for most people fall into one or more of those three categories. If the work does get done timely, it’s often by a pricey independent accountant who is underworked and overpaid doing basic bookkeeping tasks. An easy way to automate this is to combine QuickBooks Accounting software and QuickBooks Point of Sale to get the job done for you.
Dont fall back on your business accounting
Letting a business’s accounting fall behind is never a good idea, and paying too much to keep it current isn’t much better, but fortunately there’s a way to automate much of what needs to be done. Intuit, publisher of the QuickBooks family of accounting software, offers both POS and merchant payment processing capable of full integration.
Maximum automation means integrating QuickBooks in all possible aspects of the business. The foundation, of course, is some version of QuickBooks (Pro, Premier, or Enterprise) used to maintain the company’s accounting. This is what does most of the “heavy lifting” as far as data is concerned.
QuickBooks Point of Sale Software
The next piece of the puzzle is a QuickBooks Point of Sale system. QuickBooks POS can run on a typical desktop or laptop computer, and Intuit offers a variety of accessories such as magnetic card swipes, cash drawers, barcode scanners, and displays to convert that computer into a full-fledged POS system.
The final component is an Intuit Merchant Services account. This account will fully integrate your credit and debit card processing into your POS system. Instead of ringing up a transaction, swiping the customer’s card through a standalone terminal and keying in the information again (introducing the opportunity for a data entry error), and then entering the tender in the POS system to close the sale, QuickBooks POS can handle the transaction with a single swipe of the card. What’s more, when the credit card batch is submitted at the end of the day reconciling the card transactions against the day’s sales is automatic, not a manual process that can quickly become tedious if there is a discrepancy somewhere.
All of that sales data then moves into your accounting system without the need for manual entry. Reconciling the merchant processor’s bank deposit against the batch is similarly quick and easy. Beyond that, it’s not just revenue and credit card data that circulates between the QuickBooks POS and accounting packages. The POS system also tracks inventory levels based on sales and returns, enabling the accounting system to generate purchase orders and reconcile them against merchandise received from suppliers.
Integrate Customer Relationship Management Modules
QuickBooks POS also includes a customer relationship management (CRM) module that has a built-in loyalty program. Capturing basic customer data enables mail and e-mail contact campaigns and lets you see just how much each customer spends and what and when they buy. With Intuit Merchant Services you can even offer gift cards to your customers as well.
As a final benefit, you can also integrate QuickBooks Payroll into your system to address that major remaining accounting task: paying employees. Combining the suite of QuickBooks products can tremendously simplify the running of your retail business from cash register to back office.
Have Questions or Need Help When It Comes To QuickBooks?
If you are looking to set up QuickBooks integrations in your business, we can help with the process. As a certified Intuit Solution Provider and Premier Reseller, we have the expertise to make the complicated easy when it comes to QuickBooks software and services. For more information, just give us a call at 866-949-7267 or click here to send us an email.
