Quickbooks For Dummies, 2nd Australian Edition E-Book

Veechi Curtis

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 565

Beschreibung

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

Leseprobe

QuickBooks® For Dummies®, 2nd Australian Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

How to Use This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Different Products and Versions

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book is Organised

Part I: Preparing for the Journey

Part II: Everyday Transactions

Part III: Digging a Little Deeper

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Special Icons

Part I: Preparing for the Journey

Chapter 1: Hit the Road, Jack!

Laying the Foundations

Planning for what lies ahead

Gathering all the information you need

Picking a start date

Waltzing Through the EasyStep Interview

Creating your first company file

Telling QuickBooks what you’re all about

Getting Acquainted

Feeling your way around

Understanding how QuickBooks stores info

Viewing tricks: Now you see it, now you don’t

Expressing yourself

Customising your home page

Signing up for an instant health check

Calling Out for Help

Getting In and Out

Closing QuickBooks and going home

Starting a new day and opening QuickBooks again

Registering with the powers-that-be

Chapter 2: Lists, Lists and More Lists

Understanding Your Chart of Accounts

Picking your account type

Adding a new account

Finding your way around

Deleting unloved accounts

Sorting your accounts, every which way

Grouping things together

Working with Customer and Supplier Lists

Navigating to the centre

Creating a new customer

Viewing your Customer List in different ways

Creating a new supplier

Changing, deleting and merging

Looking up stuff in lists

Sorting customers into groups

Getting on Top of Your Item List

Creating a new item

Picking your item type

Part II: Everyday Transactions

Chapter 3: Billing Your Customers

Defining Your Preferences (No Holds Barred)

Recording Your First Sale

Creating an invoice, quick as a flash

Getting invoices where you want ’em

Billing for itsy-bitsy bits of time

Whispering sweet nothings

Creating not-quite-ready-yet invoices

Adding discounts and subtotals

Keeping Within the Law

Producing a Tax Invoice

Choosing tax codes

Calculating GST backwards

Fixing Things Up (Nobody’s Perfect, After All)

Finding a sale after you’ve recorded it

Changing a sale (but think before you act)

Deleting or voiding a sale

Raising credit (or adjustment) notes

Invoicing Tips

Working faster, playing much harder

Memorising transactions

Recalling memorised transactions (what’s your name again?)

Working with Estimates and Sales Orders

Printing Sales Forms

The simple way

The not-so-simple (but quite efficient) way

When printing blues call

Emailing Invoices (Anyone Can Do It!)

Chapter 4: Staying in the Black and Getting Paid

Seeing Who Owes You What

Recording Customer Payments

Understanding the mystery of undeposited funds

Where to go, what to do

Finetuning

Working with sales receipts

Depositing funds into your bank account

Troubleshooting Payments When Things Go Wrong

Finding customer payments

Fixing up mistakes

Dealing with overpayments

Processing customer refunds

Matchmaking credits with their debits

Recording Payments Made in Advance

Recording Other Sources of Income

Processing supplier refunds

Recording interest or investment income

Receiving loans or capital contributions

Figuring out which account to pick

Choosing the correct tax code

Bringing in the Dough

Doing the asking, reaping the rewards

Sending letters, sweet and sour

Keeping track of who promised what

Giving up, and writing it off

Chapter 5: Shelling Out the Cash

Recording Business Expenses

Spending money, time after time

Figuring out which tax code to choose

Working with multiple bank accounts

Picking the right expense account

Splitting hairs

Making electronic payments

Memorising transactions

Transferring Funds between Accounts

Finding and Changing Transactions

Checking out your Banking Register

Sleuthing in the Supplier Centre

Deleting your mistakes

Changing transactions after the event

Playing with Plastic

Owning up to your credit cards

Confessing your spending

Paying the piper

A Petty Affair

Giving with one hand, taking with the other

Securing your cash under lock and key

Getting even pettier with GST

Recording Bank Fees

Chapter 6: Keeping Suppliers Sweet

Deciding if You Need This in Your Life

Recording Purchase Orders and Supplier Bills

Creating your first purchase order

Receiving items when there’s no bill

Receiving a bill (items only)

Recording bills for services, rather than items

Calling Up Your Purchase Records

Sending Purchase Orders

Whipping your purchase order into shape

Printing purchase orders, easy as anything

Emailing purchase orders into the ether

Understanding GST

Tax codes — a guessing game

Calculating GST backwards

When GST doesn’t quite add up

Getting Everything Just Right

Destroying the evidence

Closing off purchase orders

Assessing the Damage

Taking a look at reality — how much do you owe?

Recording supplier payments

Paying suppliers electronically

Paying suppliers using your credit card

Recording part-payments or discounts

Letting suppliers know you’ve paid ’em

Keeping Things in Tune

Recording supplier credits

Applying supplier credits to outstanding bills

Finding supplier payments

Fixing up supplier payments

Tidying up odd amounts

Chapter 7: A Balancing Act

Deciding Which Accounts to Reconcile

Setting Up Opening Bank Balances

Step 1: List uncleared transactions

Step 2: Enter the total value of uncleared transactions in a special account

Step 3: Check your beginning balance

Reconciling Your Bank Account

Seven Sticky Situations

Sticky situation number 1: Figuring out where to start

Sticky situation number 2: Forgotten bank charges or interest

Sticky situation number 3: Transactions that don’t show, but you know exist

Sticky situation number 4: Transactions are definitely missing

Sticky situation number 5: Transactions that are (sadly) wrong

Sticky situation number 6: Customer payments aren’t listed

Sticky situation number 7: You haven’t reconciled your account for years

When Your Bank Account Just Won’t Balance

Tricks to try before you kick the cat

Tricks to try before you kick the computer

Tricks to try before you kick the bucket

Troubleshooting Beginning Balances

Generating a reconciliation discrepancy report

Undoing the previous reconciliation

Deciding When to Print

Chapter 8: Stocking Up

Getting Started

Creating your first inventory item

Telling QuickBooks where to go

Drilling down on GST

Stating your preferences

Working with Units of Measure

Organising Items into Groups

Playing happy families

Creating groups for speedy billing

Producing a new item using other items

Adding detail and custom fields

Doing Your First Head Count

Counting is as easy as 1, 2, 3

Ensuring your inventory records tally

Giving Your Item List the Once-Over

Finding items

Deleting items

Hiding items (and making them inactive)

Merging items

Pricing to Sell

Pricing one item at a time

Pricing a few items at a time

Setting different price levels

Digging Yourself Out of a Hole

Adjusting the quantity of an item

Adjusting the cost of an item

Troubleshooting transactions

Standing Up and Counting Down

Getting ready for the countdown

Doing the grand reckoning

Balancing Your Inventory Account

Chapter 9: Setting Up Opening Balances

Customer Opening Balances

Creating an item for historical data

Recording historical transactions

Checking your totals

Supplier Opening Balances

Inventory Opening Balances

Account Opening Balances

Entering a few balances to get started

Taxing torture — made easy

Reviewing what you’ve done so far

Recording the remaining opening balances

Troubleshooting opening balances

Chapter 10: Understanding GST

It’s Elemental, my dear Watson

Preparing QuickBooks for GST

Step 1: Customise your accounts for GST

Step 2: Tell the ATO where to go

Step 3: Set up your Tax Item List

Step 4: Set up your Tax Code List

Step 5: State your preferences

Step 6: Enter opening balances

Cracking the Code

Mapping tax codes in your Chart of Accounts

Keeping everything squeaky-clean

Coding transactions when you don’t have a clue

Coding transactions even if they’re not reportable

Recording transactions when GST isn’t 10 per cent

Getting personal

Psyching Up to Produce Your Business Activity Statement

Making sure the raw data is right

Running reports, considering the results

Setting Up Your Business Activity Statement

Configuring your BAS (hey ho, what fun)

Linking items to each box (slightly scary, but essential)

Saving your settings (easy, but important)

Lodging your Business Activity Statement

Generating your first activity statement

Making sure the whole deal is spot on

Lodging your statement with Reckon GovConnect

Recording Your BAS Payment or Refund

Paying the piper — when you owe them

Claiming the dosh — when they owe you

Getting PAYG to balance

Part III: Digging a Little Deeper

Chapter 11: Adapting QuickBooks to Fit the Bill

Imagining a Program Designed Just for You

Changing what you see before you

Getting results that are spot on

Working with Templates

Customising your first template

Adding logos

Deciding which columns to display and which columns to print

Working with the Layout Designer

Fooling around with fonts

Adding borders and lines

Deleting stuff you don’t need

Inserting new text

Adding extra information

Lining everything up

Copying, Creating and Importing Templates

Creating a new template from scratch

Taking on pre-designed templates

Deleting or hiding templates

Sharing templates

Troubleshooting Blues

Chapter 12: Managing Payroll

Heading for the Centre

Getting the ball rolling

Turning payroll on

Sweating through the interview

Tweaking accounts to make things easy

Getting Acquainted with Payroll Items

Wages, holiday pay, sick pay and more

Allowances, reimbursements and holiday loading

Union fees, donations and other deductions

Tax, in every flavour possible

Superannuation, guaranteed

Finalising Employee Pays and Details

Grouping pays together with schedules

Checking the setup for each employee

Processing Employee Pays

Doing your first pay run

Viewing pay transactions and payslips

Working with timesheets

Avoiding payroll hiccups

Deleting or changing pays

Taking a Break

Setting up leave

Catching up on ancient history

Recording leave taken

Reporting Super Contributions (RESC)

Setting up salary sacrifice super

Figuring out what to do with additional super paid by the employer

Paying Your Dues

Paying employee liabilities

Balancing employee liabilities

Recording tax payments

Keeping Everything Shipshape

Printing Payment Summaries

Chapter 13: Reporting on the Situation

Creating Different Kinds of Reports

Heading to the centre

Creating your first report

Querying individual accounts, customers or suppliers

Narrowing things down

Getting Reports to Look Good

Mucking around with columns

Fitting everything in

Bringing out the artist within

Saving and Sharing

Saving reports for next time around

Sharing memorised reports with others

Downloading reports from other sources

Reporting to the Outside World

Sending reports to Excel

Emailing reports around the globe

Creating a silk purse from a sow’s ear

Battling those Printing Blues

Chapter 14: Managing Profit and Growing Your Business

Distinguishing Fool’s Gold from the Real Thing

Analysing transactions, reporting on profit

Imposing a class system

Allocating classes to transactions

Generating reports by class (or cost centre)

Managing Projects and Individual Jobs

Adding jobs to your Customer List

Reporting on the profitability of every job

Looking at the Big Picture

Telling a story with your Profit & Loss

Taking a photo with your Balance Sheet

Checking business health with one click

Customising financial reports

Working to a Budget

Budgeting as if you mean it

Gazing into the future

Chapter 15: Looking After Your Company File

Getting Your Bearings

Backing Up to Save Yourself from Doom

Deciding how often to back up

Backing up your company file on a local drive

Backing up your company file online

Creating a portable file instead

Redeeming Yourself in the Nick of Time

Restoring your file

Running a rescue mission

Taking Care of Your Data

Dealing with a file that’s too big for its boots

Cleaning up your company file

Locating your company file

Staying honest, keeping clean

Rebuilding your file

Avoiding data hiccups in the first place

Upgrading to Windows 7

Protecting Private Information

Creating an administrator password

Restricting employee access

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 16: Ten Tips for Electronic Payments

Go the Whole Hog

Be Prepared (Before Diving In)

Get Employees and Suppliers Up to Speed

Use a Clearing Account

Group Payments Together

Keep Track of ABA Files

Never Enter Anything Twice

Share the Good News

Clean Out the Dead Wood

Guard Yourself against Online Fraud

Chapter 17: Ten Tricks for Speed

Take the Short Way Home

Forget That Furry Mouse

Get Smart When Searching

Work Those Fingers

Memorise Regular Transactions

Become a Copycat

Get Columns Just Where You Want ’Em

Stop Printing

Give QuickBooks a Boost

Add Key Reports to Your Icon Bar

Chapter 18: Ten Tips for Working with Your Accountant

Cultivate Your Inner Pedant

Audit Yourself (Better You than Someone Else)

Create an Accountant Copy

Review Changes before Merging

Don’t Jump the Gun

Tell Your Accountant about QuickBooks

Set a Closing Date

Communicate

Keep Track of Your Assets

Anticipate the Obvious

Appendix: The QuickBooks Family

Retail Point of Sale

Reckon Payroll Premier

Quicken Personal

QuickBooks® For Dummies®, 2nd Australian Edition

by Veechi Curtis

Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

QuickBooks® For Dummies®, 2nd Australian Edition

Published byWiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd42 McDougall Street Milton, Qld 4064

www.dummies.com

Copyright © 2012 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: Curtis, Veechi.

Title: QuickBooks For Dummies/Veechi Curtis.

Edition: 2nd Australian ed.

ISBN: 978 1 74246 896 9 (pbk.)

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: QuickBooks.Small business — Finance — Computer programs.Small business — Accounting — Computer programs.

Dewey Number: 657.90420285536

All rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design and icons, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Contracts & Licensing section of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, 42 McDougall Street, Milton, Qld 4064, or email [email protected].

Cover image: © iStockphoto.com/monkeybusinessimages

Screenshots copyright © Intuit Inc. All rights reserved.

Microsoft Excel screenshots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Typeset by diacriTech, Chennai, India

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Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Making Everything Easier, dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

About the Author

Veechi Curtis is passionate about Australian business and the potential that people have to realise their dreams, achieve financial independence and contribute to the society around them.

Born in Scotland, Veechi attended university in Bathurst, NSW, where she completed her degree in Accountancy and Business Management. She has been a business consultant specialising in accounting software for more than 15 years, training all kinds of businesses in how to make QuickBooks software work for them. As a journalist, she has written for many publications including Australian PC World, Australian Personal Computer, Australian Reseller News and CCH Australia Limited, and has also been a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald

Behind the scenes, Veechi’s business consulting practice provides valuable insights into how best to configure accounting software and generate meaningful reports. Veechi is also author of the Australian edition of Small Business For Dummies, as well as co-author of the Australian edition of Business Plans For Dummies.

Veechi has three children and lives with her husband in the beautiful Blue Mountains of NSW.

Author’s Acknowledgements

Thanks and much love to my husband John, and to my children Daniel, Isla and Finbar. Love to Mum and Dad, and to my extended family all around the globe.

I’d also like to say thanks to the team at Wiley Publishing Australia for their valuable support and editorial guidance. Also thanks to everyone at Reckon Software, particularly Gerald Chait, Dean Darke, Kevin McDermott and Samantha Stone. Last, but not least, thanks to Nathan Elcoate for his excellent leave-no-stone-unturned technical review.

Publisher’s Acknowledgements

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial and Media Development

Project Editor: Maryanne Phillips

Acquisitions Editor: Rebecca Crisp

Editorial Manager: Hannah Bennett

Proofreader: Liz Goodman

Production

Cartoons: Glenn Lumsden

Indexer: Veechi Curtis

Introduction

As I sit writing this introduction, the sun streaks through the picture windows and the sound of kids running feral outside on the street (a couple of whom are mine) provide the background music. The phone rings from time to time — a few business calls, a couple of personal ones — and I think to myself, this balance of work and lifestyle is what small business is all about.

Most people start their own business not because they’re seeking fame and fortune, but because they’re seeking some kind of autonomy in their life. Luckily, by making the boring stuff like bookkeeping and tax as swift and painless as possible, QuickBooks frees you up to enjoy the more pleasurable things in life.

In QuickBooks For Dummies, I don’t forget for a moment that QuickBooks is a means to an end, and that you want to get your books done as quickly — and, of course, as accurately — as possible. Hopefully, I can help you achieve just that.

How to Use This Book

I don’t recommend that you sit down and read QuickBooks For Dummies avariciously from cover to cover. If I did, then my publisher would probably have to attach some kind of health warning.

However, if you’re setting up QuickBooks for the first time, I suggest you read Chapter 1, ‘Hit the Road, Jack!’ and Chapter 2, ‘Lists, Lists and More Lists’, before moving on to other areas. That’s because a number of the decisions you make when getting started affect everything else that follows. A clean start takes a bit of planning and, hopefully, these early chapters help you with that process.

As well as reading the first two chapters, when it’s time to do your first Business Activity Statement, pour yourself a fine glass of your preferred poison and devour Chapter 10 in earnest, page by page. And if you have employees, Chapter 12 makes for a scintillating (and fairly essential) read. After these initiation rites, pause to consider whether you’d rather have had your two front teeth knocked out.

After checking out the essential stuff, a pick ‘n’ mix approach is probably the best idea: Read a little here, browse another bit there, or head for the end without missing a beat. Or, pluck this book off the shelf only when something is causing you grief. If you have a specific question, look it up in the index.

Conventions Used in This Book

On occasions, I supply you with step-by-step descriptions of tasks. For each task, I highlight the action itself in bold. If you understand this process, you don’t need to read the blurb underneath, meaning you can whiz through the instructions in a few minutes flat. For example:

1. Go to your Supplier Centre.

The easiest method is to click Supplier Centre on the Navigation Bar. Alternatively, select Supplier Centre from the Suppliers menu.

My point? If you already know how to get to the Supplier Centre, you don’t have to plough through a long-winded description telling you how to find it.

If a step-by-step instruction consists of menus within menus, then I simplify things further:

1. Choose Customers⇒Create Estimates

This command means you need to choose the Customers menu, followed by the Create Estimates command.

You may also come across keyboard combinations such as:

Ctrl-P

This combination means you press and hold the Ctrl key, type the letter P and then release the Ctrl key. (If you can type, shortcut keys are a great way to speed up your work.)

Different Products and Versions

QuickBooks For Dummies covers all seven core members of the QuickBooks family: QuickBooks Accounting, QuickBooks Contractor, QuickBooks Hosted by Reckon Online, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Plus, QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise. If you’re working with one of the more junior family members, such as QuickBooks Accounting, you may come across references to features that don’t exist, such as payroll. In this situation, I try to point these differences out, explaining which products have these features, and which ones don’t.

Foolish Assumptions

Over the years, I’ve learned to assume as little as possible. However, to write this book, I did have to make two small assumptions about you, dear reader:

Your knowledge of computers and how they work is a little more advanced than knowing where to find the on/off switch.

You already have a copy of QuickBooks software, or you plan to purchase a copy of QuickBooks.

How This Book is Organised

This edition of QuickBooks For Dummies is divided into four parts:

Part I: Preparing for the Journey

The first part of this book is the stuff you need to know when you first set up QuickBooks. I talk about the initial setup interview, as well as how to set up lists for customers, suppliers, accounts and items.

Part II: Everyday Transactions

This part deals with everyday business transactions: Making sales and receiving money (the fun bit); making purchases and shelling out money (the not-so-fun bit); handling inventory; and understanding GST.

Part III: Digging a Little Deeper

This part covers a range of topics including customising templates, paying employees, customising reports and looking after your QuickBooks company file. There’s also a whole chapter dedicated to understanding financial statements and analysing where you make your money (and where you don’t).

Part IV: The Part of Tens

This is the list (but not last) part of the book. You discover a list of tips to help with electronic banking, a list of tips to help speed your work and a list of things to consider when working with your accountant. Sneaking into the final pages, I also include an appendix about the QuickBooks family, listing the shining characteristics and foibles of each product.

Special Icons

Throughout this book little icons in the margins flag special information sure to be helpful as you peruse a chapter. Here’s a brief description outlining their functions:

Although Chapter 10 is exclusively about GST and nothing else, the truth of the matter is that GST affects almost every transaction and forms a steady theme throughout this book. Because of this, I flag any content relating to GST with this special GST icon.

Don’t forget these snappy pearls of wisdom. Remember, remember, remember . . .

This icon flags tricky procedures or in-depth detail. Depending on your level of skills, you may want to ask your accountant or QuickBooks consultant for further advice on topics marked with this icon.

Tips are the little ways to make life easier, including shortcuts and handy brainwaves.

This icon flags new features in the latest release of QuickBooks.

Warning icons are serious stuff. If you want to keep your accounts clean and mean, read warnings carefully and take heed.

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.)