QuickBooks Basics - East Brunswick Public Library | … Classes at The Library East Brunswick Public...

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Introduction to QuickBooks Level I Spring 2011

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QuickBooks Basics

Part I - Introduction An overview of the major QuickBooks components and interface follows.

Parts

Forms

The QuickBooks database is based on customized forms for data entry. They are generally easy to fill

out. The beauty of QuickBooks is that once you fill out a form it does all of the accounting tasks for you

in the background.

Lists

These are another QuickBooks basic. You access forms by selecting a form from a list of forms organized

by type - customer, vendor, employee, inventory… However, first you have to enter the data.

Registers

Your QuickBooks checkbook register is where you record all of your transactions, deposits, checks,

withdrawals. Each account has its own register.

Navigation - Moving around in QuickBooks:

Menu Bar

Icon Bar

Home page with Centers and

work flow diagram



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Menu Bar

The Menu Bar contains all of QuickBooks commands. Click on any item on the menu bar to see available

commands by subject area.

Icon Bar The Icon Bar is another QuickBooks navigation tool. This gives you quick and easy access to the various

QuickBooks centers such as the Customer Center, Vendor Center, Employee Center and more. It also

contains shortcuts to several of the most commonly used features in QuickBooks, such as Create

Invoices, Enter Bills….

Centers

Centers supply quick access to all of the common tasks by type, whether vendor, employee, customer

related… This is also where you go to update information about any of them, to add new customers,

vendors, employees and transactions. Each Center will open in a new window with 2 tabs: (1) the list of

employees, vendors, customers… and (2) transactions types for each center. Also available in the top

right corner of each center are links to Quick Reports and Open Balances for each.

Customer:

Access to all of your customers and jobs, with contact and billing info, as well as each customer’s jobs.

QuickBooks contains historical information about each customer as well, not just current transactions.

Vendor:

Here you can find all of the information that you input about your vendors – contact and billing

information, and any transactions that you may have with them.

Employee:

All of the basic information about each of your employees is stored here, from contact information to

Social Security numbers, to payroll deductions…

Home page

The home page in QuickBooks gives you a visual picture of your essential business tasks in a work flow

order. It is organized into 5 groups: Vendors, Customers, Employees, Company and Banking. The

arrows on the screen indicate the logical flow of input. This is where you return when you hit the Home

button on the Icon Bar. The Right column also contains a quick link to your company’s account

balances (which can be hidden or displayed depending upon the logon permissions), reminders and

alerts and links to more information.

QB Coach

QuickBooks also has a coaching feature called the QuickBooks Coach to guide users thru business

workflows using the home page. When you turn it on you will see a Coach icon (a little i in a circle next

to each workflow item.) When you hover over the icon instructions and the proper workflow for

entering transactions appear on the screen. To turn this feature on:

Go to Edit in the Menu Bar



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Click on Preferences

Click on Desktop View and

Put a checkmark next to Show Coach Window and features.

Click OK.

Then click Start working with QuickBooks Coach.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Managing Open Windows

Note the following when you have multiple open windows:

Each time you open a new window without closing the old one, it

appears on top of the old one.

To navigate between windows you can Go to View in the Menu Bar and

click on Open Window list. An Open Windows pane will appear on the

left side of your screen. Click on the Window name to view it.

You must save any new contents for each open window individually.

You can click on Window in the Menu Bar and choose Close All to close

all open windows at the same time and return to the home screen.

Open Windows Navigation Aids

These are context sensitive and depend upon the window that you have

opened, but in general:

If you click on a Center you get options at the top of the opening

window for navigation in addition to the navigation pane at the left side

of the screen. Subsequent windows also have navigation options at the

top of the window.

Many windows also contain buttons with drop down menus at the

bottom of the screen. This is not always where you first think to look

for them so if you are lost, look at the bottom of the screen.

Reports have a “Button Bar” across the top of each report.

Help

QuickBooks has a number of Help options when using the program.

There is on-screen help that will provide step by step instructions that

you can access from the Help button on the Icon Bar. It is context

sensitive so if you are in the Vendor Center, a list of topics pertaining to

it display by default. There is also a Search button which allows you to

do a keyword search to get a list of related topics. Keyboard shortcut =

F1.



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Tutorials are also available from the QuickBooks Learning Center by topic. In QuickBooks Coach

in the right column

click View Tutorials.

Choose the area

with which you

need additional

help. A list of topics

and the running

time for each video

will appear in the

window. Click on

the item of your

choice to view.

Live Community is a

third type of

QuickBooks help.

Click on the Live

Community tab in

the Help Bar and type in your question in the box to solicit answers from the other QuickBooks

users or share in the responses from the online Intuit Community on previously answered

questions.

Accounting Basics for Non Accountants

Basic Business Terms

Chart of Accounts – This is your business’s flow of money through various accounts. It shows you where

the income come from, where you put it, what your expenses are for and what you use to pay them.

Two types of accounts:

1. Balance Sheet – Checking and Savings accounts –

2. Income and Expenses – where your transactions are recorded and grouped by type to report on

them.

Assets – This is what you have and what your customers owe you. Money owed to you is accounted for

in Accounts Receivable. What you have can be in various accounts – checking, savings, petty cash,

monies received that are yet to be deposited and fixed assets like equipment such as computers or

company vehicles and your inventory.

Liabilities – This is what you owe – all of your outgoing monies. Money you owe is accounted for in

Accounts Payable. This can include loans, outstanding bills, sales or payroll taxes you owe to the state

and the federal government.



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Make a backup copy of your database!

Equity – Assets minus Liabilities - your company’s net worth. This comes from 3 sources. Investors, net

profit and retained earnings from earlier period not yet distributed.

Bookkeeping methods –

Cash - with this method you enter any income and expenses at the time that the money actually

changes hands.

Accrual – With this you record income and expenses at the actual time the transaction takes

place. Not when you receive the money or pay for an expense.

Many accountants feel that accrual gives you a better picture of your company’s financials.

Related reports:

Balance sheet gives you a measure of your company’s profitability.

Profit and Loss Statement shows income expenses and net profit and loss.

EXITING QUICKBOOKS Choose Exit from the File Menu or Click on the X in the top right hand corner.

To make a backup copy, go to the File Menu and choose Save Copy or Backup. Choose a storage

location on your network that is not in the same location as the original file on the computer you are

using.

Moving between company files

o Go to File in Menu Bar

o Click on Open

Previous

Company

o Choose from the

list of companies

in the submenu.

o You can customize

the number of

companies that

you want to

display in this list.



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Part II – Creating your company in QB You need to make a number of decisions to make ahead of time:

Select a start date for your company. Once you select a start date you will need to enter ALL of

your company’s transactions since that date. So you should choose a start date that is not too

far back in the past. You could choose the last day of a financial period, such as the end of the

fiscal year, last quarter or last month. If having a lot of historical data is important to you (such

as for your end of the year accounting for tax purposes), then you need to choose a start date as

close to the beginning of your fiscal year as possible. Click on Help in the Menu Bar, click on the

Search Button and then type in Start Date. Click on QuickBooks start date definition.

QuickBooks will give you a lengthy explanation of what to consider in setting up your start date.

QuickBooks can be used to set up a number of companies. It is usually best to set up each

company individually. One company for each business enterprise you report on your tax forms.

The Interview Very easy. It’s guided. I.e. it walks you thru it step by step. You need to gather up the info about your

company and have it ready. (Although you can leave the Interview and return to it later. QB will

remember what you have already entered for that company.)The answers that you give will affect the

display of your Home page and options. Some decisions are changeable after the fact.

Set Up – Tip You will need a large block of time to enter your data into your company files once you have gone thru

the interview. You will want to make your data as complete as possible. This includes entering all of

your customer information, vendor information, employee information, as well as invoices and monies

paid and received, your product lists and more. However, if you have a large amount of data, you might

want to enter your largest customers and vendors, or most recent customers and vendors first. Or hire

someone to do the data entry for you.

Add Your Data – Customers – Vendors – Employees – Accounts – Items Use the Customer centers to do this. You can enter your data as you do your daily business such as

entering a vendor name and other info when you fill out an invoice, or, you can enter your old data up

front. There is a Quick Add and Set up. Quick add simply adds the new name to the list and you can

add the rest later. When you use Set Up you can enter all of the details up front.

The types of info you add for:

Customers

Name and address, contact, phone number(s) ship to, email address, customer type, any special terms,

tax code, payment info, and job info. You don’t have to add all of this information in one sitting if you

are pressed for time. You can add more information later on as you have the time.



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Vendors

Enter the same type of information

for each vendor. You can include a

company contact, your account

number, terms …

Items

You need to add anything that your

company buys, sells or resells. This

also includes shipping charges,

discounts, and sales taxes. Rule of

thumb - include anything that

shows up as a line item in an invoice

or purchase order.

Accounts

You can add new accounts to track different

types of monies – e.g. petty cash may not be

set up, new credit card accounts, new bank

accounts, new expense accounts…

Enter historical transactions. Depending upon your start date,

you will also need to enter all past

transactions so that you have

complete financial record from the

start date forward.

Enter historical info in this order:

All sales (sales receipts,

invoices, or statement

charges)

Customer payments

received for outstanding

invoices after your start

date

Bills received since the

start date

Deposits made to any of the accounts since the start date

Any other checks written (other than to bills) since the start date.

BREAK



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Part III – Lists Use lists to organize the wide variety of information that you are storing in QuickBooks. This includes

customer data, vendor info, products and services that you are either buying or selling and more. Using

the list feature allows you to enter multiple entries at one seating so that you never have to enter it

again.

Editing Accounts in the Chart of Accounts Go to Lists in the Menu Bar OR – go the Company section on the Home page

Select Chart of Accounts

At the bottom left corner of the

window click on the down arrow

in the Account button

Select Edit.

Choose the type of account

Choose the account name

Add a description if desired.

Click Save & Close

Adding Subaccounts

Go to Lists in the Menu Bar OR –

go the Company section on the

Home page

Select Chart of Accounts

At the bottom left corner of the

window click on the down arrow

in the Account button

Select New.

Choose the Account Type – Note the description in the right column as you click on the radio button

next to each type. Click on the More… link for even more information.

Click Continue

Type in the name in the Account Name field.

Click on the Subaccount checkbox and then select the account from the drop down menu

Type in a description if desired.

Click Save and Close.

Close the Chart of Accounts.

Lists of Customers and Jobs How to add new customers:

Click on the Customer Center on the

Icon Bar



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Click on the New Customer and Job Menu button

Select New Customer (the new customer window displays – see program title bar)

Type in the Company/Customer Name in the Customer name field (for residential customers enter

last name, first name for correct alphabetical sorting within QuickBooks).

Press TAB to navigate to the next field

Click in the bill to field

Click Enter to put your cursor in the next line after the company name which was automatically

supplied

Type in the company address

Note that you press TAB to navigate from field to field, but enter to move down a line within a field on a

form.

Click the copy button to have QuickBooks fill in the Ship to information

Click OK.

Enter additional information as you have it.

Click the Additional Info tab. This is where you can add other information about the customer for

reporting purposes, or provide terms for payment and more.

The Payment Info tab is where you add customer account numbers and credit limits

When you have finished entering the customer data in the form, click OK.

Close the Customer Center.

Lists of Employees – the Employee

Center

Add a New Employee

Click on the Employee Center in the Icon

Bar

Click New Employee – the new employee

window displays

There are 3 tabs – Personal, Address &

Contact, and Additional Info

Use Personal to enter the employee title,

first name, last name, middle initial, how

the name should be printed on checks, the

SSN, gender and date of birth

Click on Address and Contact to fill out the home address and contact information

Click on Additional to add Employee ID Number (if used) and other possible personal info.

Now that the basic information about the employee has been filled out, click on the Change tabs down

arrow and select Employment Info from the drop down menu. Here you will fill out Hire date and

release date and employment details.



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(We will fill out Payroll and Compensation information in lesson 12.)

Click OK.

Close the Employee Center

Lists of Vendors – the Vendor Center

Add a new vendor

Click on the Vendor Center in the Icon Bar

Click on New Vendor

Type in the Vendor Name, (last name, first name if

the vendor is an individual)

There are 3 tabs to fill out vendor information – Address Info, Additional Info, Account Prefill

Again, press TAB to navigate from field to field.

Type in the name in the Company Name field

Type in the rest of the address in the Name and Address field (the company name automatically

prefills) using the Enter key to move down a line with in the field.

Type in the Contact’s name, phone numbers, fax, email … as you have it.

Click on the Additional Info tab to supply the account number, the type of company and any

payment terms.

Type in the credit limit if know and click TAB

Click OK to save and close

Close the Vendor Center.

Adding custom fields to Customers, Vendors, and Employees You can do this from any of the Centers – Customer, Vendor or Employee and choosing a name.

Add a Custom Field

Click the Customer Center in the icon bar

Choose the customer name from the Customers & Jobs list.

Click the Edit Customer button

The Edit Customer window displays

Click the tab where you want to add more information. E.g. Additional Info

Click Define Fields to name the new custom field

Click below the last field in the label column and type the name of the new field.

Click the Customer and the Vendor Column to add that field to both lists.

Type in a custom field that has to do with employees – e.g. date of last review.

Click in the Employee column

Click OK.

Add that field’s information to the customer that you have open.

Click OK.



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Adding Customer Fields for

Items Perhaps you want to further refine how

you track your items by adding a Style field

for an item.

Click on Lists in the Menu Bar

Choose Item List

Choose the type of item you are

refining the description and tracking of

The Edit Item window opens

Click the Custom Fields button on the

right.

Any custom fields already defined for

this item appear.

Click Define Fields.

Click in the first empty field under label and type in the field name

Click the Use column next to the field name to allow this new field to be used.

Click OK.

Now in the Custom Fields for the items the newly defined style appears.

Fill it in and click OK.

Close the item list.

List Management

Sorting

There are two ways to sort an open list –

clicking and dragging the list item using the

diamond to the left of the name to the

location on the list where you want it

(manually), or alphabetically, by clicking on either the up or down arrow displaying next to the Name

(Balance, Attach,…) column headers… (To see all of the fields available for sorting in, for example, the

Customer and Jobs list, click on the Collapse arrow to the right of the Active Customers drop down

window. Re-clicking the arrow will return the list to its original

display.

To return the list to its original order click on the Account button

in the bottom left corner of the window and select Re-sort List.

Click OK.



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Merging List Items

It is possible to combine list items into one. You might need to do this if you find that you have entered

two customers because of different spellings when you really need only one. Note that once items have

been merged, it is permanent. You cannot unmerge them. QuickBooks recommends that you back up

your file before you merge any lists items.

To merge Vendors:

Click on the Vendor Center

Double click in one of the vendors to be merged.

The Edit Vendor window appears.

In the Vendor name field, type in the name of the vendor that you want to merge with.

Click OK.

QuickBooks asks if you want to merge the names.

Click Yes.

There is a Note field. I would put in a note with a date stamp about the merge.

Click OK

Close the Vendor Center.

Renaming List Items

FYI, when you do this, QuickBooks automatically updates all

transactions containing the item.

Click on Lists in the Menu Bar

Choose a list (for Example) Chart of Accounts

Click on an account (e.g. Checking)

Click on the Account button at the bottom left on the

page.

Select Edit Account

In the Account Name box type in the new name.

Click Save and Close.

Note the new name in the list.

Close the list.

Deleting List Items and Making Them Inactive

This can only be done if you haven’t used them in any transactions. If you want to delete something

that has already been used you can make it inactive instead.

Click the List type on the home page – E.g. Click the Customer button on the left side of the home

page.

The Customer Center opens.



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Choose a name on the list.

Right click on the name and choose Make Customer: Job

inactive.

The customer name has an X next to it on the list.

You can see inactive items in your lists. Note that the View fields

shows Active Customers by default. To see all customers, including

those who are inactive click on the drop down arrow in the View field and choose All Customers.


Printing Lists

You can print lists of customers,

vendors … from QuickBooks. To see

how this is done.

Open the Customer Center.

Note the Printer icon in the

menu at the top of the window.

From the drop down menu there, choose the list type that you want printed.

QuickBooks suggests that you print a list report instead so that you can alter the formatting.

The Print Reports window opens. You can print to a printer or save to a file; you can select

orientation, and other options that normally appear on the print dialog box.

Click Print.

To print information on only one customer, select the printer whose account information you want

to print. Click the Print Button

Make your selections from the printer dialog box.

Click Print.

To print details for

selected customers

(plural) do the following:

Click on the Reports in

the Menu Bar

Click on List

Click on the type of list

you want in the

submenu. The Report

opens.

Click on the Modify

Report button in the

button bar at the top of

the window.



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Click on the Filters Tab.

Select Customers in the filter list on the left.

In the drop down menu choose Multiple Customers/jobs

Using the scroll bar, go thru the list of customer names, clicking on the ones to put a checkmark on

the ones that you want included.

Click OK.

Click OK again

Now, click the Print button in the button bar.

Select the printer settings from the printer dialog box.

Click Print

Close the report answering NO if you don’t want to memorize the report.


Editing Multiple Items at once

Making changes to multiple items

at one time is possible for certain

items in the Customers, Vendors,

Service Items and Non- inventory

Parts in QuickBooks.

E.g. You can change the zip code

for multiple items.

Go to Lists in the Menu Bar.

Click on Add/Edit Multiple List

entries.

In the Add/Edit Multiple List Entries window choose the List from the drop down box. (In this

example – customers.

In the View drop down – select All …

Use the Find field to type in the selection criteria from the list of all ….

Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom to navigate to the field that you want to change. In this

case Bill to 3.

Click in the field and change the zip code

Right click on that enter and select Copy Down

This will change every Bill to 3 field displaying.

Click Save Changes

If you change the zip codes for the customers living in a town, you also will need to do the same to the

vendor list. Repeat the process above for the vendor list.

QuickBooks Basics - East Brunswick Public Library | … Classes at The Library East Brunswick Public...

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