Quickbooks For Dummies

Veechi Curtis

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781742468969
• eBook ISBN: 9781742468983
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Bookkeeping & Budgets
• Index: Business

Discover expert tips for taking charge of your finances

Want to spend less time doing bookkeeping and more time on your business? This book shows you how to bill customers, process payroll, track payments and expenses, and produce financial reports. QuickBooks For Dummies, 2nd Australian Edition, is a guide for everyone, whether you're a business owner or an employee charged with making QuickBooks work.

• Create your first company file — set up QuickBooks with a minimum of fuss

• Bill customers with ease — prepare customer invoices, record sales and pay bills

• Customise templates to suit your business — create professional forms for maximum impact

• Create your own Profit & Loss reports — take control of your business finances (as easy as 1, 2, 3 . . .)

• Report for GST — keep tabs on how much GST you owe, generate Business Activity Statements and lodge online statements

• Learn about payroll and managing employee pays — master employee tax, super, leave entitlements and more

• Manage your tax obligations — keep your tax affairs in tip-top shape so you can sleep easy at night

• Build your confidence — discover how to check your own work and allocate transactions correctly

Open the book and find:

• Details of all new features in the latest software releases

• Step-by-step instructions for all key activities

• Tips for doing your books faster and smarter

• How to calculate employee payments correctly

• Health-check systems for ensuring accurate accounts

• Techniques for creating standard and custom reports

• Strategies for building business success

Learn to:

• Get QuickBooks up and running, the easy way

• Generate customer invoices, record expenses and pay bills

• Become a whiz at payroll

• Prepare your own Business Activity Statements

Part I

Preparing for the Journey

Glenn Lumsden

In this part . . .

If you’re new to QuickBooks, then reading the two chapters in this part is akin to fuelling your vehicle before setting off on a road trip — a necessity if you’re going to last the distance. Chapter 1 runs you through the QuickBooks setup process, and Chapter 2 explains all about the four lists that make up the backbone of every transaction: Your Chart of Accounts, your Customer List, your Supplier List and — last but not least — your Item List.

If you’re an old hand at QuickBooks but recently upgraded to the latest version of QuickBooks, don’t be tempted to skip the fine literature that makes up Chapter 1. Marked with handy Upgrading icons throughout, this chapter points out some of the QuickBooks features that can make you divinely happy, cure you of all diseases and generally transform your life.

Chapter 1

Hit the Road, Jack!

In This Chapter

Deciding on D-Day — your financial start date

Dealing with the QuickBooks EasyStep Interview

Taking the QuickBooks grand tour

Getting help the moment you need it

Starting a new day and quitting when you’re done

In the same way as one day I’ll sit my daughter down and tell her everything-I-wish-I’d-known-before-I-married-and-had-three-kids, in this chapter I share with you everything-I-wish-I’d-known-before-I-stuffed-up-QuickBooks-and-mastered-how-to-use-the-software. (The only difference is that I dwell slightly less on floundering romance, sleepless nights and owner-built homes, and focus more on timing, patience and getting rich quick.)

If you’re feeling in any way daunted by what lies ahead, then cast your cares to the wind. Usually, the very people who are the most unsure about QuickBooks when they begin using the software are the same people who do the best job in the end. That’s because going slow and taking things step by step pays off in the long run. (Not just with QuickBooks, but with one’s choice of life partner too — back to those life lessons again.)

Enough rambling. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get started.

Laying the Foundations

Brick by brick, barrow by barrow, it’s time to lay the foundations for your immaculate palace.

Planning for what lies ahead

I’ve done hundreds of accounting software setups over the years, which can take something like 30 minutes for a simple service business to several days for a complex manufacturing business with 25 employees. For businesses that are already established (as opposed to new businesses that are just getting started) I often find that setting up QuickBooks in two stages works best: Sometime in early July, I get the client started with setting up accounts and lists and entering transactions. A few months later, when the client’s accountant has finalised the tax returns for the previous year, I return to the client and fix up the opening balances.

So, bearing in mind that setting up QuickBooks can be spread over several weeks, not to mention months, here’s my step-by-step guide to what’s involved.

1. Decide on a start date and organise all your paperwork.

If you’re not sure what your start date should be, skip to the section ‘Picking a start date’ later in this chapter. Get all your paperwork in order up to this date (customer bills, supplier accounts and so on) and ensure that all your essential financial information is close to hand (if you’re not sure what this entails, make your way to the section ‘Gathering all the information you need’ later in this chapter).

2. Install QuickBooks.

Instructions for installing QuickBooks software are explained in your QuickBooks user guide.

3. Follow the steps in this chapter to complete the EasyStep Interview.

The EasyStep Interview walks you through setting up your first QuickBooks company file, a straightforward process that only takes 15 minutes or so. See ‘Waltzing Through the EasyStep Interview’ later in this chapter when you’re ready to start.

4. If you’re new to QuickBooks, take a moment to have a good old stickybeak.

In the thick of this chapter, in the section ‘Getting Acquainted’, I take you on a grand tour of QuickBooks.

5. On your QuickBooks home page, go to the Company area and click on Chart of Accounts. Customise this Chart of Accounts to fit your business.

I always recommend tweaking your Chart of Accounts to fit your business — adding accounts, changing account names or deleting accounts that you don’t need. I explain all you need to know about this process in Chapter 2.

6. Create listings for customers, suppliers and items.

Again, Chapter 2 is the place to go to find out about setting up your Customer List, Supplier List and Item List. If you’re in a hurry to be up and running, it’s okay to enter names only for customers and suppliers — you can always complete other contact details later on. And yes, if your business buys and sells goods for resale and you need to include inventory in your Item List, motor on to Chapter 8.

7. Have a go at entering a couple of basic transactions, such as withdrawals, deposits, sales and payments.

These transactions form the guts of QuickBooks — there’s nothing like getting your hands dirty and leaping straight in. Chapters 3 to 9 cover everything you need to know.

8. Think about how you can adapt QuickBooks to be even better.

You...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Part I: Preparing for the Journey
• Part II: Everyday Transactions
• Part III: Digging a Little Deeper
• Part IV: The Part of Tens