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June 2006
In This Issue
1.
Management Tip: The Business Number You Need To Know
2. On The Road with BillQuick
3. Billing in BillQuick - 10 Ways to Save 4+ Hours per
Billing Cycle
4. The Challenge: Save 2+ Hours a Month
5. Do You Know About . . . Hide/Show and Customizing
Grids
6. $100 Off BillQuick 2006 + F*R*E*E Support + 20% Off
Guided Learning
7. Data Conversion Services A Big Hit!
8. Monthly BillQuick Quizzer - Win $50
9. Current BillQuick 2006 Release Information
Management Tip: The Business
Number You Need to Know
Overhead Factor.
Challenging many company managers and staff, Overhead
Factor is a critical business number you need to know to ensure
profitability. Put succinctly:
No profit, no company.
Using financial information
from your accounting system and a single
report from BillQuick, you can determine in
any situation whether you charge enough for
staff and management time to be profitable.
The Overhead Factor can also be used when
setting bill rates.
#1: Calculate the Overhead
Factor
Financial information from
your Profit and Loss Statement you need is:
-
Total Expenses for a
period of time (e.g. annual, quarterly)
-
Total Payroll for the
same period of time
If we assume Total Expenses =
$1,000,000 and Total Payroll = $400,000,
Overhead Factor is calculated as:
= Total Expenses / Total
Payroll
= $1,000,000 / $400,000
= 2.5
Now, let's use this Overhead
Factor.
#2: Salary Ceiling for
Profitability
Run the Staff Billing report
in BillQuick (Reports, Analysis menu).
Note the highlighted Hourly
Realization Rate for the employee. It is
computed by dividing the total time billed
for the employee (Amount Billed) by Total
Hours (Billable and Non-Billable).
To compute the salary ceiling
(rate per hour) for Allen Marcello (above):
= Hourly Realization Rate
for AM / Overhead Factor
= $57.63 / 2.5
= $23.05
Thus, you cannot pay Allen
more than $23.05 for his efforts to be
profitable to the company.
#3:
Calculating New Bill Rates
Another use of the Overhead
Factor relates to #2 above. When determining
new bill rates for staff and management, the
Overhead Factor is the minimum multiplier
required to remain profitable. In other
words, for each $1 raise in an employee's
pay rate, their bill rate must rise $2.50.
On the Road with BillQuick
 What
a month! Coast to coast at four trade shows
and conferences, BQE Software executives,
managers and staff got in front of over 40,000 accountants, architects, engineers
and their staffs, as well as hundreds of
QuickBooks ProAdvisors and QuickBooks users.
We demonstrated BillQuick and its family of
modules to over 800 professionals and
potential BillQuick Advisors. Thousands more
busy professionals received invitations to
our 4-times-a-week F*R*E*E online BillQuick
Presentations and took trial CDs and product
information to later review.
Talk About A Road Trip
-- BillQuick is Launched Down
Under!
In May, BQE Software launched
BillQuick in Australia and New Zealand.
Presenting BillQuick down under for the first time at
the MYOB Australia's annual multi-city
reseller conference, BillQuick received
enthusiastic response from over 3,000
MYOB Certified Consultants from throughout
Australia and New Zealand. BQE Software
gained new networks and opportunities to
expose BillQuick to thousands of consultants
and hundreds of thousands of MYOB and other
users. The BillQuick
Australia office is open and ramping up
rapidly!
Hello New York!
 On July
17-18, BQE Software
will be at the New York CPA Show at
the Hilton Hotel on Manhattan Island. As a
launch partner for Microsoft Small Business
Accounting, BQE Software will be presenting BillQuick
in the Microsoft booth to accountants and their staffs, including new features in BillQuick
2006.
Come
visit us and share your ideas and
experiences with BillQuick. Ask about data
conversions, implementation consulting,
guided learning, and more ways we help you
get up and running fast!
Billing in BillQuick - 10
Ways to Save 4+ Hours per Billing Cycle
Talking about
BillQuick Billing could be a training course
all by itself
(gosh, it is!).
BillQuick 2006 includes many new and
improved capabilities as well as proven
time-saving billing features. Often a simple
feature delivers enormous potential to turn
non-billable time into billable hours,
improving both the top line and the bottom
line. While time-saving
estimates vary, users report the features
below save them from 1 to 4 hours per billing cycle.
Remember:
Maximizing
billable hours widens the road of success.
For more
information, download the new BillQuick
white paper,
How To Save Four Hours Each Billing
Cycle, Increase Your Billable Hours.
How To Save 4
Hours
-
Invoice
Wizard - Designed primarily for first-time and infrequent
users, Invoice Wizard can be used by billers
with any level of experience to quickly and
easily bill clients. BillQuick scans
for projects due for billing (those with
unbilled, approved time and expense entries),
projects with billing schedules, and projects
with recurring contract types. Then the
wizard steps
you through various billing decisions.
You can add invoice memos and change the
invoice number. If desired, you can
print a billing review report for
offline review. When ready, you can
create a draft or final invoice and
print it. On-screen explanations help
users understand the actions to take on
the screen. Savings: 30
minutes to 5 hours per billing cycle.
-
Phased Invoice
Wizard - Like Invoice Wizard, this
wizard walks you through creating and processing joint invoices for
projects with multiple phases. After
selecting the billing period (date range for
unbilled, approved time and expenses), you select
the phases to include. If desired, you can
include completed and yet-to-be-started
phases. Typical billing decisions can be
made, including computing the net bill
amount based on the Percent Complete.
Savings: 15 minutes to 5 hours per
billing cycle.
-
Billing by
Client Manager and Contract Type -
New in
2006, you can now view billing records
by Client Manager and Contract Type
(billing arrangement). This is in
addition to viewing billing records by
Client, Project, Project Manager, Client
Group, Project Group, or Project Manager
Group. No more scanning through records
for the few you want. Bill creation time
is reduced because you match biller
preference and improve bill
processing efficiency. Savings: 5
minutes to 30 minutes per billing cycle.
-
Hide/Show -
The new Hide/Show pop-up window
(see below) lets you dynamically turn on/off 28
different fields on the Billing Review
grid. By adapting BillQuick to your billing style, billing
decisions flow more efficiently and
faster. And with one-click sorting, you
can organize billing records for quick batch
billing, by project types that require
similar billing decisions, and more.
Savings: 30 minutes to 5 hours per
billing cycle.
-
Write-Up/Down
-
In BillQuick,
you can write up or down an invoice in
several ways: Change the net bill
amount, adjust the value of a group of unbilled time records,
and adjust individual time records. New in 2006,
you can now write-up/down
(WUD) individual or groups of unbilled time
entries (work in progress) by percentage OR
by dollar amount. Also, BillQuick
tracks all write-up/downs. Detailed invoices
show the correct amounts and associated
data. On the Sheet View screen,
you can view the WUD Factor for each billed
time record along with the Invoice#. (Use
Hide/Show to turn on these fields.) Also, Write-Up, Write-Down Reports on
the Reports, Billing menu show
allocation of write-up/downs to projects and
employees (in detail or summary).
Savings: 15 minutes to 1 hour per
billing cycle, plus more
benefits from instant access to real-time information when
clients call with questions.
-
Billing
Details -
New in 2006,
Billing Details on the Billing Review screen
shows a summary of information about the
project and the billing record you select.
It includes billing decisions made before viewing it.
Billing Details is most often
used to view billing information before
producing a draft or final invoice.
Savings: 15 minutes to 30 minutes
per billing cycle.
-
Auto-Complete -
Like Microsoft Word's AutoText
feature, Auto-Complete expands
user-defined shorthand codes
or abbreviations into phrases, sentences, paragraphs,
or pages of text. Placeholder
information can be inserted in the text,
directing timekeepers, project managers
or billers to add unique information
about the time or expense record, to the
project journal, or to an invoice.
Savings: 30 minutes to 6 hours per
billing cycle, plus 4
hours to 15 hours per month of staff and
management time documenting work
performed, project issues, etc.
-
Batch
Change Memos, Invoice Numbers, Dates, More
- With Billing Review's Batch Change
feature, you can add or
change key items for a few or hundreds
of bills at one time. Add a
reminder or thank-you-for-your-business
memo to 90% of your invoices, then to
other 10% a reminder about past due
amounts. Change the starting invoice
number for all or a group of billing
records. Same for the invoice date,
allowing for processing and mail
delivery before beginning to age them.
You can even apply the same dollar or
percent discount to as many bills as
desired. Savings: 15 minutes to
20 hours per billing cycle.
-
Client
and Project Retainers - When you
want to apply a percent of retainer to a
bill, you do not need to calculate the
corresponding dollar amount. In 2006,
BillQuick calculates the dollar amount
to apply when you enter a percent. In
situations when you apply retainers
until the net bill amount is $0.00 (or
the retainer is exhausted), the new Auto Apply Retainer
(on the Options button menu) makes it
automatic. Savings: 15 minutes to
1 hour per billing cycle.
-
Web-Based
Billing - Away from the office, managers
don't need to worry about slowing cash flow
or upsetting clients because of delayed
billing. Web Suite’s Billing Review
screen allows you to bill clients and
projects anywhere, anytime. With an Internet
connection, you can create hourly, time & materials, fixed
fee, percent-complete, recurring, and
other invoices - draft or final - using
real-time information from your office.
Savings: Days, plus
more benefits from faster cash flow and
reinforcing client relationships with
timely billing.
For more
details and additional ways to reduce save
time spent billing clients and projects, be
sure to download the new BillQuick white
paper,
How To Save Four Hours Each Billing
Cycle, Increase Your Billable Hours.
Challenge: Save 2+ Hours per Month
How can BillQuick save you 2 or
more hours a month?
-
By
automatically monitoring timekeepers to
make sure they promptly record their
billable and non-billable hours. You can
even notify tardy timekeepers
automatically. (Timely recording of work
also provides faster cash flow and
reinforcement of client relationships
through more timely billings.)
-
By
automatically producing and delivering
any standard or custom report when and
where you want it. Budget-to-Actual and
other project reports delivered weekly
to project managers. Pre-billing report
on the 25th and company analysis reports
on the 5th.
-
By
immediately notifying you when
exceptions or particular events occur in
your company. More than 80% of a project
budget has been spent. Project percent
complete is greater than 25% or 70%,
prompting a project review to ensure it
is on track. Excessive vacation,
holiday, sick or comp time.
All the above automated workflow
capabilities are built into a single $95 add-on module -- BillQuick
Agent. ($395 for Agent Enterprise)
Monitor Time Cards
Automatic timesheet monitoring
eliminates the need to review time card reports to make sure
timekeepers (employees and consultants/subcontractors) have entered
at least the minimum required for them. (Yes, even part-time staff
can be monitored.) You can optionally set Agent to allow a grace
period for time entry, and how often to check your company database.
When Agent finds a delinquent timekeeper, you can view them on a
list or have Agent automatically send them a reminder email.
Typical time saving: 2 to 5 hours per month.
Report Scheduling
Forget about remembering to print
reports. Forget about waiting for reports to print. Free up your
time and admin staff time. Avoid time-pressured procrastination.
Have the right information in your hands (printer or email Inbox)
when you schedule it to be there. Efficient and effective, you are
on top of the business, dealing with issues and exceptions before
they become real problems.
Now magnify that across your company.
Project managers don't wait for project reports. Admin staff get
receivable, expense, and other reports when they're scheduled to
handle tasks. Staff receive time and expense reports, perhaps even
analyses, as part of your ongoing strategy to increase
self-management and position responsibilities.
Any standard or custom BillQuick
report can be scheduled. You set the frequency - weekly, biweekly,
monthly, quarterly and so on. You decide where to deliver the report
- the default printer or any email address inside or outside the
company. BillQuick Agent handles the rest automatically.
Typical time savings: 1 hour to 2
hours per month.
Business Alerts
Agent Alerts ensure exceptions and
important events immediately gain your attention, whether you are
in the office or on the road. You choose from 19 alerts,
including thresholds that trigger the alert for a project, client,
etc. Alerts display on your screen, can be sent to any email
address, and/or be delivered as text messages to cell phone. You do
not need to monitor multiple reports. And you avoid being put into
inefficient "reaction" mode, pulling you away from billable work.
Typical time savings: 30 minutes to 4
hours per month.
Do
You Know About . . . Hide/Show and
Customizing Grids
 Customizing grids just got a lot easier –
and faster – with in-place on/off
capabilities. Clicking
to open the Hide/Show window, you can turn
on/off columns on the following screens:
-
Activity Codes
-
Expense Codes
-
Sheet View
-
Service Fee Schedule
-
Expense Fee Schedule
-
Billing Review
-
Invoice Review
Offering a few to as many as
28 on/off fields, Hide/Show windows let you
customize BillQuick to your preferences. If
clients call with questions about the last
invoice, for example, you can turn on the
Invoice# and WUD (write-up/down) Factor
fields on the Sheet View. With a quick sort,
you know exactly what time entries were
billed on the invoice the client is asking
about, who did the work, hours spent, and
whether you increased or decreased the value
of the work. Or, you may turn on the
Start/Stop fields so you can enter start and
stop times for tasks rather than elapsed
hours.
Similarly, you can turn
on/off information to help you make
decisions when billing client projects
(see
above). And see additional
information when viewing invoices on the
Invoice Review screen.
That's not the end of
BillQuick's flexibility. You can sort and
rearrange columns of data in any grid. For
example, when reviewing time billed on a
particular invoice on the Sheet View screen,
you could sort by Invoice# only, or with a
couple quick clicks, also sort time records
by timekeeper, date, and/or activity code. These
few additional clicks makes scanning
information easier and faster. Similar
sorting of billing records on the Billing
Review screen or invoices on the Invoice
Review screen speeds up viewing and leads to
faster action.
Finally, you can filter
records in a grid, whether you are working
on the screens listed above or master
information grid lists (client, project,
budgets, etc). Filters limit the records to
only those with which you want to work. For
example, clicking the Active Projects Only
filter box, or choosing a particular project
group as a filter, you can significantly
reduce the items in the project grid list.
Rather than 20 or 30 seconds to find the
project you need, it takes half the time.
Whether you use one or all
these features, BillQuick helps you turn
non-billable hours into billable hours and
increase revenues.
$100 Off B illQuick
2006 + F*R*E*E Support + 20% Off Guided Learning
Through June 30, 2006, you
receive $100 Off BillQuick
2006, whether you need BillQuick Basic, Pro or Enterprise.
PLUS, receive 2 F*R*E*E Months of
BillQuick Support.
Want to know what value we added to
BillQuick in 2006? Then review the
booklet,
What's New in BillQuick 2006,
for a partial list (over 125 new and
improved features were added). You can
also spend a few minutes viewing the
What's New demo.
Wait! There's More!
Through June 30, 2006, you can purchase
any web-based BillQuick Training at
20% off. Choose the role-base course
that's best for you. Take it immediately or
later.
Guided
learning is the fastest way to boost staff
confidence with BillQuick and minimize
productivity impact during the "new
software" transition.
BQE Software also offers custom
training, letting you choose the topics to
cover. It's like the trainer is standing over your shoulder. BillQuick Guided Learning
courses include:
 Recognized by the
National Association of State Boards of
Accountancy (NASBA), BillQuick training
courses carry continuing
professional education (CPE) credits. Certified Public Accountants
(CPAs) who attend any
BillQuick training course can now earn
CPE credits while learning to maximize
benefits from BillQuick. (1 CPE unit per 50 minutes of live,
web-based BillQuick training.)
Sign up today and earn your CPE credits!
Remember: The deadline is
June 30, 2006.
Contact your Account Rep at
888-245-5669 or
Sales@bqe.com.
Data Conversion Services A Big Hit
BQE Software's new data
conversion service is on a Superman
trajectory!
Barriers to changing from a
painful, inadequate solution, or one that
puts the company at risk (forced changed,
loss of support), are now dramatically
lower. Rather than tying up administrative
and other staff (and maybe temporary staff)
for 5 to 12 days to manually re-enter and
validate data - and losing precious billable
hours, you can now have 90%, 95%, even 100%
of your detail data electronically
converted to BillQuick.
Wind2 users. . .Timeslips
users. . .small firms. . .mid-sized
firms. . .and many others are taking
advantage of BQE Software's time-saving,
cost-reducing, quicker payback option. They
focus on generating revenue for their firm
and outsource data conversion job to BQE
Software. We provide the technical expertise
needed to do the job quickly and
efficiently, and most importantly, done
right.
Whether it is Wind2, Timeslips,
Semaphore, Unilink or CPAS,
BQE Software will work with you to convert your data files to
BillQuick.
Contact a BillQuick Account
Rep to discuss BillQuick and our services at
(888) 245-5669 or
Sales@bqe.com.
Monthly BillQuick Quizzer
Win $50!
Be one of the
first 10 people to respond with the correct answer and win $50. You can apply it to any
BillQuick product or service.
Which of the follow statements is true about BillQuick 2006's
color-coding features?
-
On the Sheet View
and Calendar View time entry screens,
Blue text indicates the time entry is billable and
has already been billed.
-
On the Invoice
Review screen, Blue text
means the invoices has been posted, closed or printed.
-
Red text on the Sheet View or
Calendar View screens indicates the time record is non-billable.
-
All statements are
true.
-
None of the
statements are true.
Hurry and
send your answer to
BQ-Quiz@bqe.com.
You could be a winner!
Current BillQuick Release Information
Latest
BillQuick 2006
BillQuick 2006 v. 7.0.60. For details, see the
BillQuick
2006 Update Log File.
BillQuick 2006 has been
tested with all versions of QuickBooks, from
2004 through 2006. It has also been tested
with Microsoft Small Business Accounting
2006 and later, Peachtree Accounting 2005
and later, and MYOB Australia 2005 and
later.
BillQuick 2005 and QuickBooks 2006
BillQuick 2005 has been tested with QuickBooks 2006. Everything is A-OK.
Macintosh
Compatibility
Quick
reminder: BQE Software is compatible with the Macintosh in two ways: The Web
Suite
add-on modules or by using Virtual PC.
Latest BillQuick 2005 Version
BillQuick 2005 v. 6.0.124. For details, see the
BillQuick
2005 Update Log File.
Various fixes and general improvements throughout BillQuick, including
Billing Review, Payment, Manual Invoice and Memo features..
Latest BillQuick 2004 Version
BillQuick 2004 v. 5.0.102. Click to view the
changes.
If you have Internet access but do not allow BillQuick to automatically
download updates (you turned off AutoUpdate in the Other 2 tab on the Preferences screen),
go to the File menu and select Get Updates. When you exit BillQuick, the update
automatically installs.
If desired, you can download
the latest BillQuick 2004 update from the BillQuick web site. Click Save when
prompted. Next, run the setup program from the folder in which it was saved.
Happy
BillQuicking!
Thanks from
the
BQE Software Marketing Team
May Success Follow
You . . . Always |
