QuickBooks Point of Sale

Our office will be closed on Monday May 26th in observance of Memorial Day and we’ll return for normal business hours of 9am - 5pm PST on May 27th. See the NOTE below.

If you haven’t implemented the QuickBooks system or you are on an older version, you may want to take this time to download the free trial and give it a try. The free trials give you the opportunity to become familiar with the interface and some of the features. The QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) provides robust tools to help retailers view their business at a glance and perform everyday tasks more efficiently. No more cash registers and hand written receipts! The QuickBooks Financial software (Pro, Premier, and Enterprise) is an automated way to be more organized while saving time. It integrates with the QBPOS so you can manage your finances more effectively.

QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS). Click the yellow button to download free trial.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (QBES). Click the yellow button to download the free trial.

There are promotions available that you may be able to take advantage of so that you’re not paying full price & you can receive free product. Those are always good incentives! As a Solution Provider, we want to help you every step of the way to ensure you choose the correct product for your needs, that it’s properly installed, & the staff is trained so that you are successful in using your system. Visit our Promotions page.

NOTE: During our closure on Monday: QuickBooks customers that require technical assistance or have an emergency may do one of the following:
Contact Us: Toll free 877-467-0451 or local to San Diego 858-467-0400 & follow the automated prompting for emergency help.
Use our Contact Us form or send an email to info@englishmgmt.com. Our billable rate will apply
*For non-emergencies, leave a message or send an email & we'll assist you the following business day.

Contact Intuit Support: Fees may apply:
* Point of Sale: 1-800-4INTUIT (800-446-8848), * Enterprise Solutions: 866-340-7237, * Merchant Services: 800-558-9558

You want and expect to get the most out of your QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) and QuickBooks Financial (QBF) system.

We now offer a variety of QBPOS classes, held in a webinar format, where you will learn from one of the nation's QuickBooks experts, Will English. Webinars make the classes easily accessible from any computer, tablet or smartphone.
Will is also teaching QBF for San Diego SCORE, an organization that offers small business mentoring and counseling plus low cost education.These classes are onsite in San Diego County.  See below for more information about the speaker and the schedule of all classes.

*If you are new to QBPOS, you need to start with the Fundamentals so you learn the necessary daily tasks. The most fundamental step is learning the building blocks of the software.  

See the 2014 schedule for the EMS Webinars. Register by sending us an email, fill out the online form, or call us.
QuickBooks Point of Sale Fundamentals
QuickBooks Point of Sale Beyond the Fundamentals (various topics)

San Diego SCORE QuickBooks Financial classes. View the schedule, class details and locations.
QuickBooks Financial Basis: July 16th from 1 - 4pmPST

As a business collecting revenue from its customers, you may take payment in various forms including either credit or debit cards. You have probably heard of the phrase ‘PCI Compliance.’

PCI stands for Payment Card Industry (American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International). Payment card industry compliance is adherence to a set of security standards developed to protect card information during and after financial transactions. These guidelines were developed due to the ever increasing security concerns about the protection of card data. See the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI DSS) website.

PCI applies to all organizations or merchants that accepts, transmits or stores any cardholder data. Basically, if any customer pays a merchant using a credit or debit card, the PCI requirements apply. The PCI DSS applies to all payment channels, including retail (brick-and-mortar), mail/telephone order, and e-commerce. Nothing is more important than keeping your customer’s payment card data secure. The size of your business will determine the specific compliance requirements that must be met. Enforcement of merchant compliance is managed by the individual payment brands and the same is true for non-compliance penalties. The PCI Security Standards Council is available to help merchants through maintaining and enhancing the PCI Security Standards.

*Check with your merchant service provider for details on their adherence to the compliance standards. They should also help guide you through the compliance process and provide monitoring and reporting to help protect your business from a breach.

Let’s take a look at some requirements as listed on the Intuit Online Security Center website:

The PCI DSS offers a single approach to safeguarding sensitive data for all card brands. PCI DSS includes the following requirements:

• Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
• Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
• Protect stored cardholder data.
• Encrypt the transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
• Use and regularly update anti-virus software.
• Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
• Restrict access to cardholder data.
• Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
• Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
• Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
• Regularly test security systems and processes.
• Maintain a policy that addresses information security.

How do I comply? To achieve PCI DSS compliance, merchants and service providers must adhere to the PCI DSS requirements set forth by the PCI Security Standards Council, which offers a single approach to safeguarding sensitive data for all card brands.

Why is it important? By complying with the PCI DSS, entities can protect their business and their customers while building a culture of security that benefits all parties in the payment system.

What happens if I am not PCI DSS compliant? If you are non-compliant, you could be subject to fines from the card associations. If your security is compromised because of your non-compliance, you risk financial loss, additional fines, loss of business, damage to your brand's reputation, and other loss of critical systems.

Here’s a link to an excellent article posted on the PCI Security Standards Council website: “Why Comply with PCI Security Standards?”

NEW PROMOTION: We just found out today! Open a new Intuit Merchant Services (Payments) account and purchase the QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) V2013 software for 50% off MSRP through April 25, 2014!
Offer valid with QBPOS V2013 purchase and an approved POS Payments Account!

If you already have the QBPOS system, we can help you when you are ready to expand, upgrade, and/or add additional services such as Payment Solutions & Payroll.

Learn more:
QBPOS
Intuit Payment Solutions
Intuit Payroll Solutions

Q&A with Will English:  Recently one of our retail clients experienced a computer crash, and it was their main computer. What should they do if they can only find the QuickBooks files for last year to extract but not this year? Why is it important to make regular external backups?

Client: I had my main computer crash on me last week and it’s not recoverable.  I have a computer company trying to extract the files out of QuickBooks Financial and QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS), however, they are only coming up with data through 2013; all of 2014 is missing.  Is there a file/folder somewhere that perhaps they aren’t looking at/for that I can guide them to where maybe the software automatically backs up the information?  I did backups myself but even those are missing some of the data as I didn’t do it on a daily basis.  Do you have a suggestion for recovery?

Will: So each time you exit out of the POS program, it should create a backup file depending on the setting.  It will be a folder as follows
c:\users\Public\public documents\Intuit\QuickBooks Point of Sale X.0 (where X is your version)\data\X (where X is your company file name)\backup
The newest backup there can be restored.  If you want to try to get the data file, it has the file name qbpos.db and is in the company file name folder.

As for QuickBooks Financial, the backups could be anywhere. Search for *.qbb for the backup files and *.qbw for the QuickBooks files.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Make external backups on a regular basis so if anything ever happens to your computer, your data will still be stored for easy access.

Q&A with Will English

Q: How do you look at a previous year’s gross receipts in POS?

A: Easiest way is to run a Z-Out store close and change the dates to the previous year.  It will show gross sales, returns, net, discount, etc. If you need more information and additional help, please contact us.

We cover many QuickBooks POS topics such as running the Z-Out Drawer Count report, processing end of the day procedures, etc. in our QBPOS Store Operations Handbook. Learn more here. You can order in our webstore or contact us.

Will is an integral part of the QuickBooks network of Consultants & ProAdvisors. One of the members needed some input on a QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) issue their client was having.

Initial question/issue: My client is using QB POS 8.0 Pro level with QB Financial Pro 2009. He is aware that these products are no longer supported by Intuit, but everything has been working smoothly until now. The last POS import to QB was unable to be completed, because the maximum item list limit had been reached. 
Total accounts = 111; Total names = 2164; Total items = 14500
The items do not appear in the Items list in QB Pro.

It has been awhile since I have worked with POS, but since the items "live" in POS, why has the limit been reached on the financial side? What am I not seeing? This is not a great time for upgrading.
Thanks for any insight you POS gurus can offer. 

Answer from one colleague: QBPOS marks the items as inactive so if you changed your view to active items, you would see them. You are in a situation that I have been in before. You could advise the client to upgrade to Enterprise which would immediately solve your problem. Other options would be to build a new file in Pro or condense the file in Pro. The issue though will be how many items do you have in POS currently? If your answer is close to the 14,500 or will be again soon, then Enterprise is your answer. If your client could or already did delete a bunch of items in POS, then you could look at the new file option.

Another colleague replied: Actually the items are in QB Financial Pro, they simply are all 'inactive'. Point-of-sale does this so that QB users are not tempted to make item changes inside QB rather than inside POS. The only way you prevent POS from updating QB with items is to turn off the 'detail level' of sending data to QB from POS. If you ever send details to QB, then items are sent with them; otherwise, the details would not appear within the transactions.

Your client probably should have started a new QB file as of the first of this year, after having gone through and eliminated no-longer sold/stocked items from QB.

Karl at

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! You may be wondering what that has to do with QuickBooks & your company. I’ve thought of a few really important reasons.

There are some great promotions expiring tomorrow! *see below.

This is an excellent time for you to think about what’s important to you & your company. Implement some new company procedures & fine tune existing ones.

Bookkeeping: Do you have a Bookkeeper on staff or work with an outside firm such as our company? Are your financial records accurately managed so that you don’t have to stress over it, so you can focus on running the business?

Is your Payroll provider meeting your needs, handling the tasks they promised, & charging a fair rate?

Merchant Services: this is always a hot topic. If you’re using the QuickBooks (QB) software, does your Merchant Service fully integrate with QB so that you can process transactions directly through your QuickBooks Financial software & QuickBooks Point of Sale? Have you done a rate review to make sure you're paying a competitive rate?

If you haven’t already, how about you put into place an accounting software & a Point of Sale (POS) system?! As a business owner, you must know how your money is spent & what revenue you take in. Implementing the QB computerized accounting system is inexpensive & will quickly pay for itself.
Retailers, are you still handwriting receipts & using a basic cash register? Is your “inventory management” not really managed at all because you simply don’t have the appropriate software?  Or have you implemented a system but the staff is not fully &/or properly trained to use it? Don’t let the frustration continue! Do something good for yourself & your company on Valentine’s Day.

Also, there are usually local events that you can get involved with on Valentine’s Day to show love & encouragement to others. You can check social media sites, web search engines such as Google, your local news, & newspapers for opportunities to help others.

PROMOTIONS EXPIRING 2/14/14
The QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Trade-In Promotion: Current users of QuickBooks Financial Pro & Premier V2011-2013 can trade in their software for QBES. Customers can receive up to 50% off when they upgrade to QBES V14.0. Offer may not be combined with other QBES promotions.

QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS): Customers are eligible for a 20% off MSRP discount when upgrading their current POS Software to V2013.

Q & A with Will English: We have a client who owns a feed and supply retail store. He uses the QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS) and the QuickBooks Pro Financial (QBF) accounting software. He was recently trying to merge some vendors in POS and QBF. Read his question and Will’s reply. The client followed his steps and was successful.

Can you give me some advice please? I merged a couple of vendors in QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS) and in QuickBooks Financial (QBF). In POS they appear fine, but in QuickBooks the vendors do not appear, however, when I update from POS, duplicates (with a _1) come across. When I try to enter the vendor again, it says it already exists but can't be seen.
Is there a utility to fix a possibly corrupted vendor file?
Everything else looks ok with the transactions. It is the vendor file only that looks like it has issues.

Will’s reply:  I have seen cases where you need to both merge in POS and in QBF.  In POS, bring up the vendor and select merge.  Note that they list the QuickBooks name at the bottom of the merge screen.  Make sure that you then go and merge those same vendors in QBF and let me know if that helps. 
 

Q&A with Will English:

One of our nursery clients in FL purchased the QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS) V2013 system from us  that included an All-in-One POS terminal and the accompanying peripherals. We also performed the installation and training.

They have a retail garden center and a wholesale center. In an effort to have the system ready and the staff trained prior to their projected go-live date, they planned ahead and started the process a few months ago, but there are always some questions that come up once a client actually starts using the system. It’s inevitable. Even though we train them on how to do the overall tasks as well as the ones specific to their business needs, whenever a client begins working with the software, they run into some bumps and need a little guidance to get over them. For example, where to find certain information, they realize they want to run a particular report, there may be a little check box that needs to be marked on a specific screen, etc. Ongoing support is crucial.

Hi Will, We went live this week. I have a few questions.
1. Hourly sales seem to be only in graph form. Is there a way to change that? I only need numbers. The only hourly report is a graph.  There are date comparison reports. 

2. When we close out financials all seem to drop into undeposited funds. Is there a way to separate which account each one goes to. (credit cards, cash, checks).  Cash should go into an account called cash in drawer.  We can set up separate “accounts to deposit” but would like to understand why as it will create extra work.

3. When we take a gift certificate, we put it in the total gift certificate amount and then we give back a gift certificate for the difference. We do not give back cash. The report at close out shows that we are over. Is there any other way besides putting in the exact amount of the gift card (GC)? This is a problem.  Maybe using store credits with the account payment type.

4. We set the POS up on mine and Marvin’s computers. His seems to work (and I can sign in on his computer). On my computer, I can sign into the POS and when it comes up on my screen, everything is shadowed like I have no access to it. Also the only way to close out of it is to end task (and I don't have them running at the same time).   I will need to log in to take a look. How about Monday morning? I will be in Florida for the TPIE conference.* I will try remote first as it is a bit of a drive, but could come onsite if needed.
NOTE: in this situation, Will is going to be within a close proximity of the client’s site so he can go to their location if he needs to. Usually, though, he can perform all of the necessary work by remotely logging into the customer’s system and providing phone support.

Also at the end of the day, when the QuickBooks POS connects to QuickBooks Financial, the customer job says counter sales. I can't seem to find where it is in Financial. I looked under customers and it's not there. I would like it to link up with the customer name that we were using before.

*See our next blog on the TPIE conference