What to Do When QuickBooks is (Not Responding)

Has this happened to you? I’m guessing you’ve seen it before: You’re trying to update your company, or make a backup, or verify your company, or run a big report.

QuickBooks gets off to a good start, but then seems to stall. You make a couple of clicks and Windows pipes up: “(Not Responding)”. Oh, great.

What do you do then?

Sometimes users panic, and Ctrl-Alt-Delete / Task Manager / End Task their way out of QuickBooks. That’s not a very good choice, because if you force the application closed, there’s a good chance that your data file won’t get closed down like it’s supposed to.

I guess an even worse choice, for those who maybe don’t know about Task Manager, is to turn off the computer. “Reach for the big red handle”, as we used to say in the old days. That’s not good either.

Either of these actions has a high likelihood of causing data corruption, meaning that your next step after that would be to restore a backup and rekey to get caught back up, or get your data repaired.

So what to do? Most of the time, the best approach is both the hardest and easiest: just wait.

A lot of times, QuickBooks isn’t really “frozen” or “locked up”; it’s just “thinking”. Give it some time, particularly if you are trying to do something in QuickBooks that is systematic: backing up, restoring, verifying, rebuilding, resorting, etc. Those functions in QuickBooks have to touch a lot of your data, which might amount to millions of pieces of information.

That can take some time. I don’t know why QuickBooks doesn’t have a more elegant, less stress-inducing way of communicating that to users. I never like to see Windows intervene in an application. I want my QuickBooks to respond, not to not respond!

So if you see QuickBooks do that, maybe that’s your cue to take a break. Go outside and get some sunshine, or go to your nearest coffee bar and get caffeinated. Hopefully QuickBooks will be ready to go again by the time you get back to your workstation.

Then, for the future, here are some things that might help it from having to take so many naps:

• Close some of your open windows, in QuickBooks and in Windows itself
• Reduce your file's size
• Configure your internet security software settings so that it ignores your QuickBooks folder
• Rebuild your file to make sure that there is no data corruption in it
• Defragment your hard drive so that QuickBooks will be able to access everything as quickly as possible
• If you are using Enterprise 11, turn off the Search feature (Edit / Preferences / Search / Company Preferences / Uncheck “Update automatically”.) Then backup your data with full verify turned on. This will blank out the TLG file (which might be huge), and relieve QuickBooks of having to constantly update its search index on the fly
• Create and then restore a portable copy backup of your file. This will reindex your file and probably enhance performance — at least temporarily — of a large file

For any QuickBooks related problems or issues call us at (416) 803-5638. We have Certified QuickBooks Advisors on stand-by just when you need them.

Watch Out for Phishing Schemes

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) warns all Canadians to beware of telephone calls, mail, or email that claim to be from the CRA but are not. These are phishing scams that could result in identity thefts.

Canadians should especially beware of phishing scams asking for their personal information, such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers. Some of these scams ask for this personal information directly, and others refer the taxpayer to a Web site resembling the CRA's where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information.

An email scam that has been recently circulating notifies taxpayers that a complaint containing evidence of involvement in tax evasion has been filed against them and the company with which they are affiliated by using the Informant Leads Program. This email is not from the CRA. The CRA's Informant Leads Program Web page warns taxpayers about this scam.

The CRA has well-established practices to protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information. For more information about security of taxpayer information and examples of fraudulent communications, go to the Security section at the CRA website.

Anyone who receives a suspicious communication should immediately report it to info@antifraudcentre.ca or to the institution that it appears to be from.

For information on scams, to report deceptive telemarketing, and if personal or financial information has been unwittingly provided, go to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Web page at: www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/phishing-eng.htm.

What Does a CFO Do?

For many privately held businesses, the decision to hire a chief financial officer (CFO) is often a difficult decision.  Beyond the issue of whether the company can afford a high-caliber financial professional, many business owners are often confused over just what it is that a CFO does or should do. 

More than just a glorified bookkeeper (or someone whose long service to the company has been rewarded with a fancy title), an effective CFO plays a number of important roles within the entrepreneurial company that are essential in providing a strong financial foundation for a growing business.  Listed below are some of the critical areas in which an effective CFO will work to provide financial support for a company’s business objectives.

Implements/Supervises Internal Controls:  A CFO is responsible for bringing important financial controls to a company.  Those controls should include the effective management of cash flow and overhead expenses, establishing credit policies for customers and working with major vendors to achieve more favorable payment terms, and implementing procedures for measuring and evaluating optimal inventory levels.  At a higher level, a CFO should also develop effective controls that provide oversight against fraudulent activities.

Handles Projects With Major Financial Impact:  Beyond implementing and monitoring company controls and systems, an effective CFO will also handle those projects that require significant quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to arrive at an understanding of the options that are available.  For example, a CFO will take responsibility for developing a company’s annual budget, interacting with the business owner and department managers to ensure that the final product accurately and objectively reflects the real requirements of the business.  A CFO might also conduct a thorough analysis of a company’s future capital investment requirements as a first step in securing additional financing.

Cultivates Relationships With Outside Financing Sources:  A major responsibility of an effective CFO is to establish good working relationships with banks as well as other financial institutions that may have an impact on the company’s ability to finance its operations.  Activities in this area can include regular meetings with officers at the company’s bank to review ongoing operations, negotiating more favorable terms for bank lines of credit, and discussions with private investors on how additional capital might be invested in the firm. 

Drives Major Strategic Issues:  An effective CFO can also be expected to play an important role in addressing major strategic issues that can have an impact on the company’s long-term future.  Such issues might include the development of an company acquisition strategy to help fuel additional growth, or the divestiture of particular product lines or business activities that no longer match the company’s business objectives.  A CFO would also play a key role in any effort to seek investment from the public financial markets or to launch an initial public offering (IPO).  

Serves As Key Advisor To Company Management:  Finally, an effective CFO is a key member of the management team of a growing entrepreneurial company.  Because of his/her financial acumen and general business knowledge, a good CFO will help the business owner and other top executives make the tangible connection between a company’s operations and its financial performance.

For more information about our Virtual Controllership or CFO2GO program, call (416) 803-5638.