Number Crunchin' News
November 2006
Dear SBBA Members,
I would like to thank the committee involved in putting together our Non-Profit Seminar last month ~ Vicki St. Martin, Pam Allman, and ESPECIALLY Virginia Graves as she did a lot of the work. It turned out to be a great event and I think everybody that attended got more education about non-profit bookkeeping than expected. Brad Stoltey, CPA, gave us an advanced overview of the important differences between for-profit and non-profit bookkeeping, and the discussion was very lively.
It’s been a very educational month for me. I just got back from four days of QuickBooks training at the annual Sleeter Conference in Las Vegas. If you don’t know about the Sleeter Group, check them out on the web. There were awesome keynote speakers each day, 30 vendors demonstrating add-on products for QuickBooks, several 1 hour break-out classes with topics for non-profit, wholesale, manufacturing, sales tax, POS, how to grow your business, how to hire the best employees, and much, much more. They also spent a great deal of time discussing the expected changes in the industry over the next 10 years, and how Microsoft’s accounting software will now be included in all new computers for FREE, will be creating a lot of competition for QuickBooks (Intuit). The (second) best part was that Intuit had 20 employees there, and they were the software developers that write the programs. They were available to problem solve for any specific issues you had, and they really wanted feedback on the program. The BEST part was that I won report writing software called Adagio FX ($500 value), that you can use to create very customized reports that read directly from QuickBooks. And, as the QuickBooks data changes, the reports do also, so no more exporting to Excel for specialized reports! Can you tell I’m still excited about this???
I would encourage any of you that want to truly enhance your QuickBooks knowledge, or grow your business, to attend this conference next year!
I hope to see everybody at this month’s meeting!
Karen Ziegler-Mora
Please email your RSVP for the November 19th Monthly Meeting to Karen Mora at: scubaz@cox.net
SECRETARY’S MINUTES
The October meeting of the Santa Barbara Bookkeepers’ Association was held at Mulligan’s Café on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006.
Meeting was called to order by
Karen Mora, President.
Guest and New Members introduced
themselves.
The SBBA Non-Profit Seminar on Saturday, October 28th was announced and people were reminded to please send their payment in.
We had table topics regarding specific parts of the Balance Sheet. Discussions involved year-end reconciliations and adjustments needed for each section. Each table shared a condensed discussion of their topic with everyone in attendance.
There was no free lunch drawing this month
Rosemary Chidester, SBBA Secretary
Annual Holiday Party
Our Annual Holiday Party is scheduled for Tuesday, December
19th at 11:30 a.m. at Stella Mare’s Event Center
again this year. Flyers with the event details will be
passed out at our next meeting as well as emailed soon.
The
QuickBooks Users Group meeting has been changed from November to December as noted below.
QuickBooks Users Group Meeting
Monday, December 4, 2006
Santa Barbara City College.
West Campus – Business & Communications Building
721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara
Room BC214 – Conference Room
6:00 – 8:00 p.m. - $20.00 (Snack included)
To reserve a seat, send check payable to:
QB Users Group, P.O. Box 3302, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Topic: Year-end related issues – Bring your questions
The Group is for ALL levels of QuickBooks users and is open forum to share experience, knowledge and support. PLEASE JOIN US!
For further information, please email: Bonna Hamilton at Bonna@silcom.com
2007 IRS Mileage Rate
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has increased the standard mileage deduction for business use of a motor vehicle to 48.5 cents per mile in 2007. Employees or the self-employed may use this optional amount in computing the deductible cost of operating an automobile, van, pickup or panel truck for business purposes. The rate for 2006 is 44.5 cents per mile. Employers that use the IRS rate or lower may deduct that amount as a business expense. However, employees who are reimbursed at a higher rate may be required to pay taxes on the difference between their reimbursement rate and the IRS standard mileage deduction because the IRS considers that amount to be wages.
What Should You Do?
Retirement in Focus: Evaluating your Life Balance Sheet
By Don Silver
Readers of this Retirement in Focus column are more used to counting their dollars than their blessings. Planning for your future is more than a financial consideration. While we grieve for those who died, were injured or are still missing and also for their loved ones, take a moment to reflect on your balance sheet in life.
Your Assets
Retiring comfortably takes more than a 401k account. Have you been too busy to call or reach out to family members or friends? Is there a rift in a relationship that should be mended now that you've had a chance to see the big scheme of things? Family and friends fill needs that money can't buy.
Your Liabilities
Sure you make room in your budget to pay the credit card or contribute to your IRA, but what about making room in your budget for some truly vital expenditures. Can you give more time and money for others in need and make this a regular part of your busy routine?
Your Net Worth
Life and death are random. If you were to pass away today, how would your life be valued apart from dollars and cents? Will you be remembered the way you want to be? Will you have accomplished all that you set out to do? Your total worth in life is so much more than a monetary balance sheet.
The most Important 15 minutes of the day
Adams-Hall Publishing
Probably the most productive 15 minutes you can spend each day is the 15 minutes you should spend planning the next day's activities. Before you end each work day, update your planner, to-do list and/or calendar to reflect your priorities for the next day. Planning ahead has many benefits: you unleash your creative subconscious to solve the next day's challenges while at the same time you relieve stress by knowing exactly what you will be focusing on the next day. Try it!
Welcome Committee
A big thank you to Lynne Klinkenberg and Lucy O’Brien for volunteering to be a part of the SBBA Welcome Committee. It’s our goal to help new members feel welcome, particularly when attending their first meeting.
Please note that the SBBA list server and newsletter is for bookkeeping related content, and not for personal postings or advertisements of any kind. All submissions will be included at the discretion of the newsletter committee and the editors.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
November's Newsletter was prepared by Patricia Mayer..........Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!
The Not So Fine Print