Read the Vine & Branches background information below before proceeding to the assignment
instructions.
The family is currently keeping the accounting records for the Vine & Branches entities in separate tabs
of an Excel workbook, but the businesses seem to be outgrowing Excel. John and Mary have contacted
you, their accountant, for advice on transitioning to an accounting software like QuickBooks. Write a
professional memo to your clients in which you discuss:
• The potential advantages and disadvantages of transitioning to an accounting software like
QuickBooks.
• The available options, such as QuickBooks, Sage, etc.
• The potential costs (both monetary and nonmonetary) of transitioning to a more comprehensive
accounting software.

The objective of the essay is not to provide John & Mary with a firm recommendation on a specific
software program, but to instead summarize the information related to this transition for them.

Vine & Branches Vine & Branches is owned by the husband and wife team of John and Mary Peters (both 38 years old).
John and Mary both come from entrepreneurial backgrounds, and wanted to start their own company in
order to have more time with their three children, Samuel (age 16), Elijah (age 12), and Josephine (age 8).
Together, they had a vision of creating a company that their children could one day take over. The first
issue that arose was the type of company they wanted to run. Before long, they had three very distinct
companies; yet, the three companies could work together.

Pinnacle Home Builders
Before John met Mary, he worked for his father Silas in a custom home building business. John was
exposed to all the different areas of the custom home building business, from bidding jobs, financing of
jobs, actual construction, to final delivery. John gained a wealth of experience, especially in the field where he learned how to do everything from concrete to finish work. With the collapse of the housing market,
Silas chose to close his business and focus on his wife and grandchildren. While John went to work as a
project manager for another construction company, the hours were much longer, the pay was less, and
John didn’t get to do what he really wanted to do – build. Then he met Mary. John continued to work for
the other company until they too chose to close their doors. Currently, John is a project manager for a
local general contractor that does mostly commercial buildings.
John and Mary decide that John could start a small hometown custom home building business. John knew
several highly qualified workers he could hire, as they had all expressed interest in working for him if he
ever started his own business. Several of John’s friends also requested he build homes for them – they
saw the work he did when he built his own home!
So, in March 2015, John and Mary started Pinnacle Home Builders in recognition of the successes they
had achieved in the past, and of what was still to come. In their first year, they were able to complete one
custom home for a very satisfied couple. They took their time, and did it right. As a result, they project
they will be able to build at least two average sized custom homes per year, utilizing two crews. In
addition, Samuel was able to gain valuable knowledge in the field of construction, and expressed interest
in one day carrying on the tradition of Pinnacle.

Walnut Grove
As John was building his first custom home, he quickly realized not all suppliers were the same,
and neither were their prices. Despite knowing John and his family, John had to pay much higher
prices for some of his supplies than some of his competitors. This caused him to not make as high
a profit, but it also bothered John that there seemed to be two different scales – one for those
the suppliers liked, and one for those the suppliers didn’t. The suppliers seemed to like John, but
John never felt right about the prices he was being charged. After encouragement from Mary,
John contacted a manufacturer directly, and asked what kind of prices the manufacturers would
be willing to give him, if he bought direct for his own business (Pinnacle Home Builders) and if he
became a retailer for them. The prices were considerably lower than what John had been paying
– almost half! John and Mary couldn’t believe how much they could save. And, those savings
could easily be passed on to their customers.
After discussing a line of credit with the bank, John and Mary opened Walnut Grove on October
1, 2015, in recognition of one of the sturdiest types of wood, much like the sturdiness of their
family. Now, not only could they save money on the purchase of construction materials, other
builders in the area could also save. It was a win for the community and the Peters family!
By the time the store opened, Silas had grown weary of all the traveling, and was restless at
home. Silas’ wife, Elizabeth, encouraged Silas to help his son, much like John had helped him.
Silas and Elizabeth quickly found themselves as new employees of Walnut Grove. Silas handled
all of the ordering and customer service, while Elizabeth ran the counter and kept the books.
Since most of their customers were construction companies, like Pinnacle, there wasn’t a lot of
foot traffic from individuals. Having four additional part-time employees, and only being open
from 7:00 am until 1:00 pm - Monday through Saturday, helped John and Mary to manager their costs. They knew eventually they wanted to also manufacture custom cabinets – Silas’ specialty, and possibly rent small tools. In order to do so, they would need even more employees, and
would also need to extend the store’s operating hours. Furthermore, Elijah expressed interest in
the cabinet side of the business, as his woodworking shop class exposed him to this field. This
would allow him to one day take over the store. For now, the material and supply shop was all
the Peters family could handle.

Sunflower Designs
Mary loved being a stay-at-home mom. Now that the children were older, and were interested in other
things, Mary found she had more time to do the things she liked to do, one of which was designing. She
would occasionally go into Walnut Grove when someone called out sick, or if someone needed a day off.
She loved being able to help John in this way, but she often found herself sketching when customers
weren’t around. One day, a new customer came in looking for a ramset. He had already been to all of the
other supply stores, but Walnut Grove was the only one that carried the tool in stock. As Mary was ringing
up the sale, the customer noticed Mary’s sketches. He picked the sketches up and began commenting on
much his wife would love them. He asked if he could take a picture of them to show her. Thinking he was
being polite, Mary thanked him, and didn’t think anything else about the conversation.
Two days later, a woman walked into the store and asked to speak with the designer. Elizabeth was
working the front counter, and politely told the woman they did not have a designer on staff. The woman
insisted that her husband had been there just two days prior and had spoken to her. The women then
showed Elizabeth the designs on her cell phone. Elizabeth quickly recognized the designs Mary had drawn,
as they were of the very same window treatments Mary had designed for her! Just then, Mary walked
into the store to deliver lunch for everyone. She did that on occasion, as she felt it was important to show
all of the employees how much she and John appreciated them. Before long, the woman hired Mary to
do all of the interior design work for her own personal home, as well as that of several of her husband’s
customers. She even received an advance payment for all of the work!
After the woman left, Mary quickly called John and told him what had happened. Later that night, they
tried to come up with a name for their new company. As they watched their children working on
homework, Mary noticed that Josephine was sketching a sunflower – something she used to do when she
was her age. They knew immediately they had their name and their logo - Sunflower Designs, to symbolize
the loyalty they had for each other and their family. With the substantial advance, no additional monies
were needed in the short-term, and Mary had found a potential very part-time assistant in Josephine.

Vine & Branches
Now with three companies fully functioning, John and Mary chose the name, Vine & Branches to serve as
the umbrella for the individual companies. Each company was a separate entity, which had advantages;
however, John and Mary knew there were also advantages to having them all under one name. Since each
company was an extension of themselves and their skills, the name Vine & Branches seemed to fit. Some
companies would be larger, and small would be smaller, much like vines are small compared to branches.