November Newsletter 2022
4 min read | Written by Jeanette Tan
Hello,
Happy end of harvest! I hope you are enjoying the gorgeous fall colors. Here at QBWS, we are busy preparing budgets and forecasts for next year, in addition to wrapping the 2022 books. But we have a few news items for you. So enjoy reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving feast!
Wine Expo 2022 - Use Code QBW120 for a free pass
Team QBWS is headed to the North Coast Wine Expo
For the first time, we will have a booth at the Expo on Dec 1st at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Use code QBW120 when you check out for a FREE pass to the trade show floor. This code is good until November 30th. Check out the deals (including ours) on the Expo Website. Drop by booth #120 in Grace Pavilion to say Hi and pickup some swag. (Silver Club members: We have a special gift for you.)
We will have our new SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) with us, so you can check them out.
Crystal Ball for 2023
It seems that our crystal balls have been on the fritz the last few years, and now everybody has been worried about what 2023 will look like. Until the Silicon Valley Bank State of the Wine Industry report comes out, you will have to rely on other metrics. Does Costco provide a crystal ball? Check out this article from www.WineEconomist.com
Mini Course: Sales Tax Made Easy
Now available
Do you stress when it is time to file your Sales Tax Returns? Check out our Mini-course: Sales-Tax made easy to see an easier method of running the reports to calculate your taxable sales. You have life-time access, so check it out now and get your books in order so that your can fly through this process the next time you file.
Coming in January - Jeanette will be teaching Happy 2023! Happy 1099! in early January. This will be a live webinar, where we show you yet another easy-to-do process. Here’s a hint: we DO NOT use the built in process in QuickBooks because our method is faster. We will have more details next month. In the meantime, review your vendor list and check that you have received a W-9 from all of your eligible vendors. Don’t know if a vendor is eligible? Get it anyway, then come to the webinar and find out.
Are you focused on sustainable packaging?
Many folks are taking a hard look at the packaging costs these days due to the difficulties with the supply chain and due to the increase in the cost, particularly the cost of glass. It seems that all of the options to reduce the packaging cost also support sustainable practices. This is one of the few situations where becoming “more green” makes economic sense. Some of the conversations I have heard are:
Looking into alternative packaging, particularly boxed wine or Bag-in-the-Boxes.
Switching to lighter weight glass. This has a benefit of reducing shipping costs.
Switching to just one or two glass molds (shapes), because there will be less waste
Switching to paper labels instead of silkscreening so that the left over bottles are not thrown away.
Check out these articles by Decanter on Alternative Wine Packaging and Wine bottles: A Heavy Price.
QuickBooks 2023 was released
There is an exciting new feature called Inventory Categories, and this will be helpful to wrangle that cased goods inventory and merchandise list in to order. BUT I have not tested this feature. Stay tuned for an update.
Even though QuickBooks 2023 has been released, please DO NOT upgrade at this time. We recommend that you wait until you have closed out 2022, because there are often bugs in the new version and it takes a few months to fix them.
Support for Windows 8.1 is ending by Microsoft.
Microsoft announced that they are ending support for Windows 8.1. This means that they will not issue any additional technical or security updates. If you are working on a really old computer, this would be a good time to upgrade. Just know that if you plan on upgrading to QB 2023, you must be running Windows 10 or newer.
Silver Club News
Join us for the last Office Hours of 2022, Tues, Nov 29th at 10 am Pacific. We answer your questions about QuickBooks and managing a profitable winery in a live group setting.
Note: There is no Office Hours in December.
If you cannot attend, please hit reply and email us your questions.
The recording will be in the Learning Library soon after the session.
Something Fun
Harvest recap: When you do your after-action-review with your harvest team to discuss what went well and what needs improvement next year, did you discover that your “support needs” (lucky shirt, no shaving rule, new playlist, etc) worked or didn’t work? If you need to revamp that list, here are some suggestions.
Dr Liz Thach, is a distinguished Professor of Wine, at Sonoma State University and has written numerous books on the wine industry. This article turns the tables on Dr Thach. Read more here
