Customer Stories: Curtis McAllaster, CPA
QuickBooks® Merchant Service helps IRS problem solver stand out from the competition
Growing dissatisfied with everyday bookkeeping activities while contending with increasing competition, Certified Public Accountant Curtis McAllaster came across an advertisement that enabled him to change course in his career. He branched out into helping taxpayers with IRS problems. He says that QuickBooks Merchant Service has made it easier for him to assist his clients while making his office workflow more efficient.
"Helping people with tax resolution issues is something I really enjoy," Curtis says. "I had done some of this work in the past, but had never been compensated well for it because I didn't know how to bill properly. I wasn't very efficient at it." After purchasing training materials and learning how to better do the work, he discovered that he was good at it and, equally important, enjoyed doing it. "People seem to be more appreciative when you help them out of a bind with the IRS, more so than just providing typical bookkeeping service," he said. And providing such services has helped to keep him very, very busy.
Accepting credit card payments for services rendered is something of a rarity in the public accounting trade, and Curtis says that's what helps set him apart from the competition. That, and the fact that over the years an increasing number of his clients would ask if they could use their credit card for payment. "Basically, I got tired of telling them no," he says, "especially tax resolution clients. Sometimes the only way they can pay me is with a credit card. QuickBooks Merchant Service enables me to offer that convenience to my clients. Most doctors' offices accept credit cards. I don't know why accountants should be any different."
Before switching to QuickBooks Merchant Service about a year ago, Curtis was using another merchant service provider but found it costly and not very efficient. "To rent their card reader was extremely expensive, so my administrative assistant would take down the client's credit card information, then phone in for authorization. After that, all the information would have to be manually entered into our bookkeeping system. It was a lot of repetitive data entry, which took a lot of time."
Curtis says that because all his small business clients—it seemed—were moving to QuickBooks financial software, it made sense for him to do likewise and abandon the bookkeeping system he had been using. Adding QuickBooks Merchant Service was a natural extension. The process wasn't overly involved, he recalls, and went very smoothly. Even learning how to use the services was pleasantly simple. "Now, we just swipe the card [through the optional card reader, which he purchased], enter the dollar amount, print out the client's receipt and bam, it's done," he says. "The non-duplication of data entry is a real time saver. We don't have to go back and enter anything; it's a one-shot deal. And we don't have to call for authorization; that I really love."
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The convenience of it [QuickBooks Merchant Service] is such a big thing; it allows me to get a little bit more done in a very busy day. I wouldn't want to go back to not accepting credit cards; it's simplified my life too much to go back.
Something else that Curtis likes is that he is virtually assured of receiving payment for services rendered. "Using QuickBooks Merchant Service eliminates the 'I forgot my checkbook' excuses," he states. "For my regular tax clients, I'll send them a bill and not worry about getting paid. But for tax resolution clients who need the work done today, they have to pay today. Because their problem is generally paying the IRS, if they can't pay the government, then they probably can't pay me. So offering them another payment option makes their lives easier. And accepting credit cards up front for services to be rendered protects me."
Accepting credit cards also helps Curtis gain new clients. "If I have a notice on my door saying that I accept credit cards and the CPA down the street doesn't, the client with a credit card in his pocket who needs accounting or IRS services is going to come in here," he says. "QuickBooks Merchant Service makes that possible."
