Frequently Asked Questions
Following is a list of frequently asked questions. If you do not see what you are looking for here, please contact us so we can first answer your question, and then add it here!
Bookkeeping and Tax Questions
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What is bookkeeping, and how is it different from accounting?
Bookkeeping is the data entry part of accounting, and, so it is a piece of the accounting puzzle. It is the record keeping of daily business transactions, such as paying bills, invoicing customers and receiving payments and reconciling accounts.
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Do you do more than just bookkeping?
No! We help with more than record keeping alone. We can assist you with budgeting, cash flow management, financial statements, customized reports, business planning, sales tax, administrative services and even graphic design!
Learn more about our services.
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Why should I hire a bookkeeper?
There are many good reasons to hire a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers take all of your sales, expense receipts, and other financial paperwork, analyze the data and condense it down to just a few short reports. These reports will help you monitor your business's progress and growth, show real profits, and can aid you in planning the future of your small business.
We manage your finances so you can focus on what you do best.
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Why hire a bookkeeper instead of a CPA (Certified Public Accountant)?
There are many good reasons to hire a bookkeeper instead of a CPA.
CPA’s are great for getting taxes done, but most charge $100 an hour or more and specialize in tax-centralized knowledge. We offer bookkeeping services at a fraction of the cost, and since we specialize in QuickBooks record keeping year round, we are experts in what we do.
We do encourage all of our clients to work with a CPA or EA (Enrolled Agent) to have their taxes properly prepared each year. Lux Bookkeeping works closely with many of our current clients CPA’s to ensure easy transfer of information at the end of the year for pain free, timely, and accurate tax preparation.
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Can you help me do my bookkeeping myself?
Yes, we offer bookkeeping and QuickBooks training so that you can perform bookkeeping functions for your business or personal finances yourself. We provide customized training packages so you can spend as little or as much time as you have to invest, and let us do the rest.
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Why should I use QuickBooks?
QuickBooks from Intuit is the #1 small business financial software - nearly 70% of users say QuickBooks helps their business to be more profitable.
QuickBooks can be easy to use, accurate, and a powerful reporting tool for record keeping. This popular software can help you to save time and money by getting you organized today. Lux Bookkeeping can help your business get set up and started in a matter of hours.
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Can you get me a discounted copy of QuickBooks or other Intuit products?
Yes, we have QuickBooks discounts.
We offer QuickBooks, and QuickBooks checks and supplies at a significant discount to our customers:
- QuickBooks discounts are up to 20% off MSRP
- QuickBooks Checks and Forms are 10% off your entire order
- Free Shipping on all purchases
Get 20% off QuickBooks now, plus free shipping.
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Do you do catch-up bookkeeping?
Yes, tax catch-up bookkeeping is one of our most popular services!
Many small businesses come to us months, or even years, behind in their bookkeeping and financial data and tax returns. Lux Bookkeeping can take the stress off by gathering all of your documents and organizing your financial data into an orderly system in a matter of days, getting you ready for tax preparation in a week or less. Never put off filing your taxes or file an extension again, let us help today.
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Do you prepare tax returns?
No, we do tax pre-preparation helping ease the burden of year-end tax return preparation.
We strongly encourage all of our clients to work with a CPA or EA (Enrolled Agent) to have their taxes properly prepared each year. Lux Bookkeeping works closely with many of our current clients CPA’s to ensure easy transfer of information at the end of the year for pain free, timely, and accurate tax preparation.
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Do you work with my tax preparer, accountant or CPA?
We are glad to.
In fact, we strongly encourage all of our clients to work with a CPA or EA (Enrolled Agent) to have their taxes properly prepared each year. Lux Bookkeeping works closely with many of our current clients CPA’s to ensure easy transfer of information at the end of the year for pain free, timely, and accurate tax preparation.
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Do you support PayPal and EBay sellers?
Yes, we have helped many sellers on PayPal and EBay start tracking their online business and organize their sales using, including sales tax. We treat PayPal like a regular bank account, tracking all expenses, sales and other transaction just as you would in a normal checking account, including monthly reconciliations.
Worried about large volume? Not a problem because Lux Bookkeeping uses SimplePort from Simple Business Systems to make PayPal/EBay and QuickBooks integration a snap.
Billing and General Questions
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How do I get started?
Call today to set up a free consultation at 619.630.0776 to discuss your unique business situation and financial needs. Once we have collected information about how you work, where your business is at, and where you would like it to go, we can create an estimate for your specific needs.
If during your initial consultation an accurate estimate cannot be created due to lack of information, we will help you create a detailed action plan to gather the needed information.
If you approve of your estimate, the next steps include:
- Review and sign our simple and straight forward contract
- Gather your financial source data, such as banking statements, invoices and receipts
- Sit back and let us work for you!
Learn more about our services.
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What are your hours?
Feel free to contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by emailing us, leaving a message or use our Client Login if you are an existing client.
Check here for our normal office hours.
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Is my business too small for you to help?
Never.
We are focused on small businesses, home based businesses, the self-employed and even those just needing to manage their personal finances. We understand that bookkeeping can be an important missing piece to your financial success, and we want to help, whether you need 2 hours of help a year or more than 20 a week.
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Do you help businesses outside of San Diego County?
Yes, we offer completely remote services for our long distance clients. Utilizing the online project collaboration tool Basecamp from 37signals, we ensure all of our client’s projects communications and schedules are centralized, organized, and archived by date and topic. The system is accessible from any computer with Internet access anytime, so you can always check the status of your project.
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How do I get my documents to you?
We are proud to partner with Basecamp from 37signals for digital file management. This is a leading online project collaboration tool that ensures all files are centralized, safe, and archived by date. They even have version control!
Files are kept with related information attached to messages, comments, milestones, or to-do lists. With support for all popular file formats you can upload, share and enjoy automatic image previews of your files.
Of course, you can always physically hand them to us the old fashioned way too.
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What is the typical turnaround time?
Most projects are completed within 3-5 business days.
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How does pricing and billing work?
Lux Bookkeeping does not require any minimum monthly dollar or hour investment, we are just here when you need us. We strive to run our business with honesty, and that includes up front pricing and accurate estimates. We never want to surprise our clients with big bills or high prices.
Payment Policy
Lux Bookkeeping typically offers our bookkeeping services on a retainer structure on a per hour basis based on the nature of the work performed. Each client’s hourly rate is clearly stated on their straight forward contract.
We also offer flat rate services if that is more in line with your business needs.Invoices for ongoing services are sent out every two weeks and due on the date stated on the invoice. Regular services will be interrupted by an overdue account. Payments received past the due date will incur a 2% interest charge per month, until the account is settled in full.
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Do you bill for every call and email?
Absolutely not. You can call, email, or Skype (the list goes on...) anytime for advice on bookkeeping and related matters. You will not be charged for the first hour of support services provided to you each calendar month. Each hour after will be billed at your normal billing rate stated on your contract.
Available during office hours only.
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Do I need to sign a contract?
Yes, if you are an on-going client we have a simple and straightforward contract for you to sign. It outlines what we will do for you, our client confidentiality policy, payment policies, referral guidelines (earn service credits!) and our service guarantee.
Since our clients are the sole judge or our performance, if at any time you are unsatisfied with our work you may cancel your contract with written notice to Lux Bookkeeping. Any retainer balance after all outstanding invoices are paid will be gladly and humbly returned if this were to ever happen.
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When will my financial reports be completed?
Most financial statements are ready by the 15th, or middle, or each calendar month (depending on when your account statement closes each month). This allows for all accounts to close out and be properly reconciled and checked.
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How do I keep my QuickBooks file secure?
There are many precautions you can take to keep your QuickBooks file secure. Here are some tips and tricks:
- Only allow personnel access to your QuickBooks file if needed
- Set up an administrator user and password for your file
- Ensure all personnel have an individual QuickBooks user and password
- Ensure that your administration password and personnel passwords are secure. The best passwords include numbers, punctuation and mixed case. This type of password is exponentially harder to discover than a simple phrase or word. Memorize your password and do not store it in an obvious location, if at all. Here is a great article on how to choose a secure password from wikiHow.
- Do not allow bookkeepers and financial personnel to sign checks or have direct access to bank accounts, keep these types of tasks separate
Back-up your financial data regularly, preferably not on your local hard drive - Keep your file in one place, and do not move it from computer to computer if possible
- Setup a firewall to secure your Internet connection
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Do you outsource bookkeeping offshore?
No, and we never will.
We hire and support local financial professionals here in San Diego, allowing us to always offer high quality services with the option of actual face to face meetings.
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Can I trust you with my financial data and other sensitive information?
Yes, we take our responsibility to keep your data safe at all times seriously; So seriously that we have had zero issues since we started in 2006.
We pledge that all client information we receive is treated with confidentiality and grave respect. Physical records that are taken off of our client's premises are stored securely in a locked metal filing cabinet unless currently being worked on, or until returned. All electronic records are on secure servers with high security passwords and firewall protection.
Learn about our online project collaboration tool and 37signals security. Using Basecamp, all projects and related information, communications and files are perpetually backed-up and kept safe.
