NYS Sales tax for June, July & Aug. due today.  Here's the link if you're doing it yourself http://www.tax.ny.gov/online/.  If you need help, please reach out.

Thanks,
The Tunstall Organization

We've all seen the movie or read the story or even experienced a situation where an injured participant is left on the battlefield and must wait for reinforcements to rescue them.  Sometimes being a small business can feel like being the injured participant left for dead.  I'm talking about outstanding receivables.

You performed admirably and stood side by side with your customer, however, it has been months and still no payment. Yes, you knew they were a behemoth of a company with 90 day terms but you thought it would all work out.  Or maybe they are focused on other issues...or they have their own problems. Whatever the reason, you don't really care because you may not even be able to continue the work you are doing unless cash comes in soon. You've got your own bills and they are piling up.  The need for reinforcements (cashflow or payout) is imminent.  You can see the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel seems longer than you originally thought.

If you find yourself in this position, my sympathies and prayers.  You should definitely take appropriate steps to put yourself in the best position to get paid, however, you should also stay patient and stay encouraged. Oftentimes there are factors beyond your control affecting these situations and getting down or stressing out could magnify the problem. So expect good things to happen and enjoy it when they do.  But if they don't, lick your wounds, bounce back up and take steps to work with the right type of customers going forward.

I am at Xerocon in San Francisco to learn more about what Xero has to offer and to meet some of the folks here and other Xero Partners.  The following are some of the exciting things I've seen and heard:

Client Accounting

• Purchase orders are coming soon.  They will flow into Bills and fully editable.  Quotes are improved and they feed directly into Invoices.
  

Notes:  this will help retail stores and wholesale become able to utilize basic inventory management within Xero.
Suggestions/questions: 'Sales' should be renamed Revenue and 'Purchases' should be renamed Expenses. Would also be great if there was a payment button for multiple invoices on statements.

Files

• Files can now be accessed and attached to Xero invoices, chart of accounts, journals, etc. goes live in Oct. 2013

Note: can email invoices & bills into Xero and drag and drop them to respective xero transactions. 
Suggestions/questions: What is the backend? Drobox? Box? Gdocs?  Either one would be amazing.

Reporting

• Much more customization: formulas, columns, tracking, filtering - basically, everything you'd want.
• Report packs for accountants: makes scaling easier for similar verticals

Note:  This comes live in 2014.  Could have more once I get my hands on it, but seems like this is a solid update.
Suggestions/questions: Would like it sooner but c'est la vie.

Payroll

• Seamless accounting and payroll: payroll is embedded, all entries made immediately into P&L and Balance sheet
• Basic HR function with visual graphic for who's on, who's requested time off, when, etc.
• Direct deposit, efiling, epayment all the good stuff you'd want.
• Employee dashboard including iphone app
• Basic Timesheets, although open API to connect with other 3rd party services (out in 2014)

Note: Should be awesome. Pricing is more attractive than Intuit Online Payroll.  Accounting plus 10 employees for payroll is $70/month.  Seems like they are bringing payroll and HR embedded into the program. Expected Nov. 22nd 2013
Suggestions/questions:  Needs to be perfect as it is embedded. Would like a full rollout on efiling for all states, but rolling out Fed & CA first and then to other states after that.

Overall, exciting features to look forward to.