Author Archive
Little Tips to Make Your QuickBooks Easier…
Posted on September 2, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Knowing how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this with you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I need to segment my balance sheet AND income statement into three departments (classes). Which version of QuickBooks can provide me with this capability?
A: The lowest edition you can use to have classes on both the balance sheet and the income statement is the QuickBooks Premier.
Q: It takes me all day to reconcile my bank account. I thought it was supposed to be easy in QuickBooks. Every rent check I receive shows up as a separate deposit in my check register, but when I go to the bank I deposit several checks at a time in one deposit. Why doesn’t it show up the same in my register as on my bank statement.
A; If you did not turn on the “Undeposited Funds” feature in preferences, then QuickBooks will put each received payment directly to the bank. You want the “Undeposited Funds” feature on so you can “collect” your received payments together as one deposit duplicating what you actually take to the bank. Read More→
What is Accounting & Bookkeeping?
Posted on July 28, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Knowing how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this with you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I am new to having my own business – just what is accounting?
A: Accounting is the process by which financial information about a business is recorded, classified, summarized, interpreted, and communicated to owners, managers, and other interested parties. An accounting system is designed to accumulate data about a firm’s financial affairs, classify the data in a meaningful way, and summarize it in periodic reports called financial statements. Owners and managers obtain a lot of information from financial statements. The SBA helps to:
- establish the records and procedures that make up the accounting system
- and/or may supervise the operations of the system
Once the books are in good order they can then be passed on to the CPA to either work with the owner to suggest strategies and/or prepare taxes. Most owners and managers rely heavily on the CPA’s judgment and knowledge when making financial decisions. Read More→
Reports and Graphs Can Help You
Posted on July 1, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Knowing how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this with you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: How can Reports and Graphs Help me in my Business?
A: Reports and graphs give you insight into your finances; they’re two of the most important benefits of tracking your data in QuickBooks.
Often, people’s perceptions of their business profitability don’t match the facts. If you enter your data in QuickBooks, but don’t take the time to analyze the data, your business decisions are based on incomplete knowledge. Reports let you summarize your financial data so you make decisions based on analysis of the numbers.
Reports give you the bottom line—you can see exactly how profitable your business is. If it’s not doing as well as you’d hoped, you can create reports that show you which areas need improvement. QuickBooks has dozens of preset reports, but if you have specific reporting needs, you can customize any QuickBooks report to show exactly the data you want. And if you’re interested in getting quick information, you can use a QuickReport that lets you summarize information from your lists, forms, or registers with one click of a button. Read More→
Is Today’s QuickBooks Right For You?
Posted on May 31, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Knowing how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this with you, the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: Where can I buy QuickBooks?
A: QuickBooks Software is available in most retail stores where computer software is sold. We recommend purchasing a CD copy of the software (versus a download copy) in case of computer issues later on. Warehouse clubs also offer competitive pricing.
Q: Can Quicken do the same thing as QuickBooks?
A: Quicken is specifically designed to handle personal finances while QuickBooks handles small business finances. Each product is tailored (features, reports and workflows) to meet the needs of those specific audiences. Read More→
Where is the Money?
Posted on May 2, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you, the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I printed out my P&L from QuickBooks® and it shows that the bottom line Net Income is $30,000.00 but, my bank account does not have that much in it. Where is this money?
A: Every month you should be printing out the P&L (Income Statement) AND your Balance Sheet. Each of these reports is only one half the picture, you need both together to know and understand your finances. Look on the Balance Sheet in a couple of areas: The Equity section may show where you took money from the business and spent it on personal items; or, you may have mortgages/loans for properties that you are paying every month in the Liability section. Most likely this is where the money is that is not showing up in the bank. Read More→
Tips for Using QuickBooks
Posted on April 4, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you, the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I have negative balances on some expenses on my income statement. How did this happen?
A: Negative expense numbers can happen. It is possible you made a purchase and booked it to one expense and returned it and booked the refund to a different expense. Therefore, the refund had no expense to cancel out (if there is nothing else in that account). Do a search for the original purchase and either move that to the account you booked the refund to or put the refund where the purchase is. A negative balance can show up if you made a journal entry and did not post the debit/credit transaction correctly. Just go back and reverse the entry. Read More→
Get Your QuickBooks Questions Answered
Posted on February 28, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you the members submitting questions to mailto:Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I have used my business checking/debit card to make a number of purchases that were for me personally and have nothing to do with my business – how can I fix this?
A: You have two choices: You can reimburse the company for those expenses and put them in an account (equity) called Personal Expense and then when you make the deposit you apply that to the same account. Or you can just leave them in the Equity account and this will become income to you at the end of the year.
Q: I just started to use QuickBooks and when I look at my chart of accounts I found an account called “Opening Balance Equity”. I did not create this account. How did it get there and what is it used for?
A: The account “Opening Balance Equity” is not a General Accounting Practice account; it is an account that is generated by QuickBooks specifically for setting up specific accounts that will have a beginning balance. For instance: bank accounts, credit card accounts, mortgages and several other types of accounts. QuickBooks “assumes” that the brand new user may not know where to put the off-setting entry when setting up a bank account or other type of account with an existing beginning balance. It allows the user to get their accounts set up and begin using QuickBooks. Later, your CPA will come along and re-class those amounts to their proper place in your books. This account should always have a zero balance. You should never post anything directly to this account. Read More→
Is QuickBooks Pro 2014 Right For Me?
Posted on January 24, 2014 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I have used my business checking/debit card to make a number of purchases that were for me personally and have nothing to do with my business – how can I fix this?
A: You have two choices: You can reimburse the company for those expenses and put them in an account (equity) called Personal Expense and then when you make the deposit you apply that to the same account. Or you can just leave them in the Equity account and this will become income to you at the end of the year. Read More→
What’s New in QuickBooks 2014?
Posted on December 30, 2013 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
QuickBooks® Pro 2014
If you have QuickBooks® 2012 or older and are thinking about purchasing 2014 version – you are in for a surprise on how the program looks and some new areas that have been added. I will point out just a couple here but there are many more.
QuickBooks Pro® 2014 has a “What’s New” yellow bar on the side of many of the windows that have new features. When you click on the bar an overlay feature will pop up to indicate where the new features are. Most of these are in your shortcut windows. Once you have viewed them and are comfortable that you know the features you can turn off the yellow bar under the “Help” drop down list. You can always turn it back on if you need to refresh your memory about a feature. Read More→
Year End Business Health Check Up
Posted on November 26, 2013 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz , and getting answers here in this column.
You are invited FREE!
Come to the Small Business Group for a
Year End Business Health Check Up!!
Do you know what your Safe Harbor is?
Do you know when you have reached that point in your business?
Are you getting all the tax deductions you are entitled to?
How are you keeping a good set of books?
Are you working with a Payroll Company?
Are you in compliance on 1099 employees?
Are you currently working with a CPA?
Reserve your FREE Ticket here: http://bit.ly/1bRmeKO
Q: I received a “Refundable Security Deposit” from my tenant. How do I enter this into QuickBooks?
A: This is a Liability account that you will need to payout at some later date. In your chart of accounts you should have a Liability account set up for Security Deposits Escrow – or some name that sets it apart from security deposits you paid that are owed back to you (which is an Asset). In the deposit window, instead of showing this as income you should go to this special Liability account and book it to that account. When it is time to pay the tenant the money back, less any damages if need be, you will write the check out and expense it also to this Liability account to clear the money from the account. Read More→
Do You Need Help with Reports?
Posted on October 30, 2013 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you the members submitting questions to Karen@SmallBusinessAdvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: P&L report does not match with Sales Report – how do I fix this?
A: An apparent discrepancy between P&L and Sales Reports can trace to one or more of several issues, including, but not limited:
- The accounting bases of the reports do not match.
- Sales items point to incorrect sales accounts
- The P&L report includes transactions that do not use items (e.g. The Expense Tab on a bill or a journal entry).
- List or transaction damage in the company data file. Read More→
Do You Need Help With QuickBooks?
Posted on October 5, 2013 byIt is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you the members submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.
Q: I am having difficulty reconciling my bank account. I have reviewed each entry and have found that several of my deposits do not match the amount the bank has for them. How do I see all my detail on each deposit without clicking on each one to open it?
A: Go to Reports – Banking – and look for a report called “Deposit Detail”. It will give you line-by-line detail of your deposits in one report and you can compare that to what you have in the bank. If you make copies of the checks for each deposit and put it with your deposit ticket on each one, that will give you a paper backup of what you actually gave the bank. This way if the bank made the error then you have details of what you produced to the bank. Read More→
