Go Climb a Tree

This is part two of Bob Jones’ headaches with Paychex and handling his payroll for BJC.
Resuming our episode, Bob hired Paychex to handle the payroll for his company, Bob Jones Company (BJC) several years ago. BJC is a California corporation but has an employee in Florida (FL). When BJC added this FL employee to its existing payroll, no one at Paychex bothered to ask Bob to complete a form to apply for a Florida ID number (IDN). This IDN is typically requested from any state with which you have payroll. It ties your company name to a number so the state can keep track of your tax liability.

So now, the scene is set that BCJ thinks Paychex is handling the payroll tax return filing and payment for FL and Paychex is indifferent to whether or not it is being handled by the client. In walks Business-keepers Consulting (BKC) which was hired in May 2011 to get BJC accounting in order and maintain it on Quickbooks (QB). Upon reviewing the payroll, we discovered FL hasn’t been paid and now the tax notices are rolling in. Paychex states they cannot file a Florida IDN on behalf of the client and provides a Power of Attorney (POA) to give Paychex power to deal with Florida payroll issues. This suggestion of a POA for FL is two years after the Florida employee was hired and at no time is it mentioned that this POA could help them solve this FL ID issue. Paychex just realized they should have one on file.

What does this look like to an outsider peering in? Paychex calls our client every other week to run payroll. Every two weeks for two years (26 x 2), 52 times, the Paychex payroll representative, whom we will call George, called and asked for payroll but never once followed up and asked how the Florida IDN is coming along.

Have you had problems with Paychex’s indifference? How do you view customer service through the eyes of your customers?

I am going to write multiple blogs about Paychex that reflect my struggles with their payroll and 401k plan services over the last several years and in particular the last few months. I believe I am obligated to my readers to share my struggles about Paychex in order that others will not fall prey to their poor services.
Let me first start by saying that to state Paychex has poor customer services sounds trite. I think one word better describes Paychex’s attitude towards their clients: indifferent.

I welcome comments, ideas, and questions regarding these blog postings about Paychex. However, for the sake of my clients’ privacy I will use pseudonyms of the companies and the owners. I will also use pseudonyms of Paychex’s employees. I don’t necessarily blame the employees for their indifference. I believe that you learn by example and that Paychex’s attitude as a whole is emanates indifference. I also give a disclaimer that my clients do not endorse these blogs in any way, shape, or form.

I’m going to start with the Paychex error that cost the least amount of penalty for my client, whom I will call Bob Jones of BJ Company (BJC).

Bob Jones hired us in March 2011 to do BJC’s bookkeeping for 2010. Bob was using Paychex for his payroll service for a while. BJC has employees in California (CA) and Florida (FL). In May 2011, I discovered that Paychex was not electronically filing the FL returns for two years because they “didn’t have proof of the FL Identification Number.” Bob, meanwhile, thought all along that Paychex was filing the payroll tax returns with CA and FL. CA was being handled but FL was not. In all fairness to Paychex (and most of the other payroll services out there), Paychex was mailing the paper copy of the FL returns for two years to the client with generic instructions for Bob to sign and mail with a check for the taxes owed.

Bob is a very busy person, like all of our clients, and doesn’t open his mails that often since most of his important messages come through email or phone calls. Also, it has been our experience with clients that even when they do open payroll envelopes, the literature is not user-friendly, and it is easy to just put in a file and assume whatever it is, that the payroll service is handling it on their end.

A note to remember: When a payroll service sets up a new client, they usually get the new client to sign a Power of Attorney (POA) so they can legally handle the payroll on your behalf with the IRS, EDD, etc. This is standard procedure. Paychex only sent Bob the request for the POA for FL after I discovered that they were not filing the FL returns. They sent it on May 20th, 2011. Immediately, I made sure: A) the FL POA was signed by the client which enabled Paychex to handle any FL issues from then on, and B) helped the client complete, sign, and mail the FL form requesting an ID number be issued to BJC.

Meanwhile, I requested Paychex to email the two years’ worth of FL returns that had not been filed. I had the client sign, cut checks and mail the money in. The taxes only amounted to about $200 for two years.

That was at the end of May 2011. The FL issue was not resolved until this month, January 2012. I will write another blog installment soon about why it took Paychex eight more months to finally get BJC set up to electronically file the FL returns and how it cost the client $2400 in penalties due to Paychex’s indifference.

This is going to be a stream of conscience based on a webinar I recently sat through.

Added Lead Center: This is QB way of adding a CRM into the software. Now you can enter prospective names without adding them to your Customer list in Quickbooks. The Lead will also let you add phone numbers, notes, names.

Enhanced Excel exporting features. If you leave the excel report open and you make a change in Quickbooks, go back to Excel and click the Update and it will re-populate the data in Excel from the changes in Quickbooks. Big enhancement

Document storage attached to Quickbooks is free, as long as the document is stored locally on your system (and not in the cloud)

USPS has been added to Shipping Manager in Quickbooks. This feature books the info directly into the customer’s invoice. Easy for tracking your customer shipments. The Shipping Manager has been a feature in Quickbooks since 2007 and included Fedex and UPS. Now USPS is in the game.

There is a new tab for Transaction to Transaction Panel. When you open up an Invoice to a customer, you see the other invoices you have invoiced them earlier. The Transaction tab allows you to see all the transactions tied into that Invoices, such as estimates, Purchase Orders. Then it also allows you to add notes just for this invoice without eating up your Memo section.

There is now an Inventory Center in QuickBooks. You can add an image of the inventory item so your staff knows what the “widget” you are selling looks like.

You can send a QuickBooks period copy of the file. For example if you wanted to let someone see your company for one year you can select a copy of the file from 1/1/2010 to 12/31/2010. Very cool.

You can now condense a very large QuickBooks file by globally removing all data up to a certain date, then you have to load in your beginning balances in Balance sheet accounts. This is a major feature for QuickBooks Pro Advisors and accountants who need to make large QuickBooks files smaller.

QuickBooks Enterprise 2012 now can handle FIFO inventory. Too much to describe in this blog.

Enterprise 2012 with Enhanced Inventory: Lot Tracking and Serial Number options added. This too is too much to describe in this blog.

For more details on these features and more, here is the link the webinar I just sat through and you can sign up for the free repreat on 9/28. http://scalingnewheights.com/FreeWebinars.htm

It depends on how much work goes into the paper. Some consultants like to say they know Quickbooks but how do you know they do? Check their paper. They should be certified through Intuit’s Quickbooks Pro Advisor program. But there is a caveat: You do not have to know accounting to pass the Quickbooks certification program. This Intuit certification only means you know more than just the basics of the software, but you can know that without ever knowing the difference between and debit and a credit. You don’t even have to know how to read a Profit and Loss statement or a Balance Sheet. You need only know how to run the report.

Another piece of paper that helps you know if your Quickbooks consultant really knows what they are doing is verify that he/she is a Certified Bookkeeper (CB) which is earned through the American Institute of Public Bookkeepers (AIPB).This organization has put together a certification program whereby you are tested for your knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting (non-tax) competency. You also have to submit proof of bookkeeping experience hours in the public sector and maintain 60 hours (every three years) of Continuing Education (called CPEs) to maintain your CB status.

Lastly, paper can do so much. A good Quickbooks consultant should come with high recommendation from various types of sources (i.e. CPAs, EAs, clients, and vendors).

How much paper is behind your Quickbooks consultant?