| This Quickbooks tutorial will examine what you | | | | structure of your accounting system. You will |
| should be thinking about prior to setting up the | | | | likely want to structure your reports to easily |
| program, but will also be useful to those who | | | | report your payables and receivables. |
| have an existing Quickbooks installation. Of course | | | | Do you operate in multiple currencies? If you |
| the same will be true for any accounting program | | | | currently sell to customers or buy from vendors |
| you may use now or in the future. | | | | in countries other than your own, the |
| In anything you do, whether in your business or in | | | | multi-currency feature will need to be enabled. |
| your personal life, you will get the best results if | | | | Do you create estimates for customers? If so |
| you begin with the end in mind! | | | | you can easily transfer that estimate to an |
| That's the case whether you are training for the | | | | invoice. Doing so is not only a time saver but also |
| New York marathon or planning a Thanksgiving | | | | prevents data entry errors. |
| dinner for all your relatives. | | | | When do you record expenses into your books? |
| When analyzing your accounting needs, give some | | | | This gets to the issue of whether you are on the |
| thought to how many features in the accounting | | | | "cash" basis or the "accrual" basis. In the former, |
| software you will really need. Are you going to | | | | you record the expense only when the money is |
| use the software as kind of a "glorified | | | | spent; and in the latter, you enter the expense |
| checkbook", merely recording your revenues and | | | | immediately when you receive the bill. Any good |
| expenses so that you can have an accurate cash | | | | accountant will do his or her best to encourage |
| balance and streamline your tax reporting, or are | | | | you to use the accrual basis; it doesn't really take |
| you needing to have a full-blown job costing | | | | much more work and it allows much better |
| system? | | | | management reporting. |
| Either approach is fine, or anything in between. It's | | | | Do I need to track inventory? Tracking inventory |
| your choice. | | | | is optional but highly recommended, and |
| As will many other areas of life, it will benefit you | | | | Quickbooks gives you a great amount of flexibility |
| greatly to invest the time in learning the | | | | in how to handle it. |
| capabilities of Quickbooks before settling on any | | | | Do I (or should I) charge interest to customers |
| one plan in setting up the software. Again, give | | | | who don't pay in a reasonable amount of time? |
| some serious thought to your current or | | | | Do I charge my own or staff time to customers? |
| anticipated needs. What features would make | | | | If so, you can enter time sheets just once, and |
| your life or that of your staff and accountant | | | | then easily push that time to invoices. |
| easier? | | | | Use the functionality in Quickbooks for your |
| Here are some questions that need answering: | | | | benefit - you can enter a transaction just once |
| How often do you contact your customers, and | | | | and if your reporting is set up properly, you can |
| what method or methods do you use? If you | | | | produce all kinds of reports that will track |
| collect your customers' full mailing addresses and | | | | expenses by department, location, or whatever |
| email addresses as well as company name, the | | | | works for your business. |
| result will be a list that you can use for market | | | | Quickbooks is such a full-featured program that |
| more products and services to customers that | | | | you can learn something new, even if you are an |
| you know want to buy from you. | | | | experienced user. If you keep an open mind, you |
| Who do you owe, and who owes you? This | | | | can use the program to its full advantage. |
| relates to accounting processes as well as the | | | | |