QuickBooks Simple Start For Dummies E-Book

Stephen L. Nelson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 430

Beschreibung

Get expert advice on daily, monthly, and yearly activities Define your business, maintain records, manage sales tax, andproduce reports So you've pulled off the corporate highway and started your ownbusiness? Good for you! Now you need a small business accountant,and guess what? With QuickBooks Simple Start and this handy guide,it just might be YOU! Find out how to set up an accounting system,prepare invoices, pay expenses, organize your tax stuff, andmore. The Dummies Way * Explanations in plain English * "Get in, get out" information * Icons and other navigational aids * Tear-out cheat sheet * Top ten lists * A dash of humor and fun Discover how to: * Install Simple Start and understand its features * Create invoices and sales receipts * Save big on business taxes * Set up and reconcile bank accounts * Measure your profits

Leseprobe

QuickBooks Simple Start For Dummies

by Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA, MS in Taxation

QuickBooks Simple Start For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004107899

ISBN: 978-0-7645-7462-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5

1O/SS/QZ/QU/IN

About the Author

Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA, MS in Taxation has a simple purpose in life: He wants to help you (and people like you) manage your business finances by using computers. Oh, sure, this personal mandate won’t win him a Nobel Prize or anything, but it’s his own little contribution to the world.

Steve’s education and experiences mesh nicely with his special purpose. He has a B.S. in accounting, an MBA in finance and a Master of Science in taxation. He’s a CPA in Redmond, Washington. He used to work as a senior consultant and CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co. (er, yeah, that Arthur Andersen — but hey it was 20 years ago). Steve, whose books have sold more than 4 million copies in English and have been translated into 11 other languages, is also the bestselling author of Quicken 2004 For Dummies (from Wiley Publishing, Inc.).

Dedication

To the entrepreneurs and small-business people of the world. You folks create most of the new jobs.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Hey, reader, lots of folks spent lots of time working on this book to make QuickBooks easier for you. You should know who these people are. You may just possibly meet one of them someday at a produce shop, squeezing cantaloupe, eating grapes, and looking for the perfect peach.

Those folks include my acquisitions editor, Bob Woerner, and my project editor, Beth Taylor, copy editor Christine Berman, and technical editor David Ringstrom.

Thanks to all for a job well-done!

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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

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

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Beth Taylor

Acquisitions Editor: Bob Woerner

Copy Editor: Christine Berman

Technical Editor: David Ringstrom

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle

Media Development Supervisor: Richard Graves

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Production

Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez and Maridee Ennis

Layout and Graphics: Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey, Stephanie Jumper, Barry Offringa, Jacque Roth, Heather Ryan

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Charles Spencer, Brian H. Walls, TECHBOOKS Production Services

Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents

Title

Introduction

About QuickBooks Simple Start

About This Book

What You Can Safely Ignore

What You Shouldn’t Ignore (Unless You’re a Masochist)

Three Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Conventions Used in This Book

Special Icons

Part I : Getting Simple Started

Chapter 1: Preparing to Use QuickBooks Simple Start

Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe, Chose an Entity, and You’re Ready to Go

Installing QuickBooks Simple Start

Running through the Setup Interview

Chapter 2: A Quick Tour of QuickBooks Simple Start

Poking Around the Program Window

Working with the Traditional Menus

A Few Words about Document Windows

Understanding the Home Window

Using the Navigation Bar

Help on Help

Chapter 3: Creating Lots of Lists

The Magic and Mystery of Items

Customers Are Your Business

Adding Vendors to Your Vendor List

Working with the Other Names List

Noodling with the Chart of Accounts List

Working with the Terms List

Working with the Payment Method List

Part II : Daily Chores

Chapter 4: Invoicing Your Customers

Making Sure That You’re Ready to Invoice Customers

Preparing an Invoice

Fixing Invoice Mistakes

Issuing a Refund

Fixing Credit Memo Mistakes

Printing Invoices and Credit Memos

Sending Invoices and Credit Memos via E-Mail

Customizing Your Invoices and Credit Memos

Chapter 5: Paying Bills

Recording Your Bills by Writing Checks

Recording Your Bills by Charging a Credit Card

Paying Your Credit Card Bill

Editing Checks and Charges

Printing Checks

Getting the Printer Ready

Printing a Check

Expense Recordkeeping Suggestions

Chapter 6: Reeling in the Dough

Recording a Sales Receipt

Printing a Sales Receipt

Special Tips for Retailers

Correcting Sales Receipt Mistakes

Recording Customer Payments

Correcting Mistakes in Customer Payments Entries

In the Bank

Tracking What Your Customers Owe

Chapter 7: Cash Management

Writing Checks

Depositing Money into a Checking Account

Adding New Bank Accounts

Transferring Money between Accounts

To Delete or to Void?

The Big Register Phenomenon

Part III : Month-End and Year-End Routines

Chapter 8: The Balancing Act

Balancing a Bank Account

Eleven Things to Do if Your Offline Account Doesn’t Balance

A Few Words about Online Banking

Chapter 9: Paying Sales Taxes

How Sales Tax Works

Paying the Sales Tax Bill

Chapter 10: Measuring Your Profits

Closing the Accounting Period

Producing the Profit and Loss Statement

Reviewing Profit and Loss Statements

Chapter 11: Assessing Your Financial Condition

Explaining What a Balance Sheet Is

A Few Words About Closing the Accounting Period

Producing the Balance Sheet

Reviewing Balance Sheet Summary Reports

Chapter 12: More Reporting on Reporting

Reviewing the Other Reports

Customizing Reports

Crash Course on Printer and Printing

Chapter 13: Housekeeping Matters

Backing Up Is (Not That) Hard to Do

Working with Multiple Data Files

Using the File Maintenance Tools

Using a Password

Updating Company Information and Preferences

Making Journal Entries

Part IV : Real-Life Examples

Chapter 14: Accounting for Fixed Assets

Identifying Fixed Assets

Recording a Fixed Asset Purchase

Dealing with Depreciation

Recording Fixed Asset Sales

Dealing with Section 179 Elections

Chapter 15: Processing Payroll

Getting Ready for Payroll

Depositing Taxes

Filing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns

Computing Annual Returns and Wage Statements

Doing the State Payroll Taxes Thing

Chapter 16: Bookkeeping in a Service Business

Setting Up for a Service Business

Recording Invoices and Sales Receipts

Recording Business Expenses

Chapter 17: Retailing with QuickBooks Simple Start

Setting Up for a Retail Business

Recording Invoices and Sales Receipts

Recording Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold

Recording Non-Inventory Business Expenses

Other Bookkeeping Stuff

Part V : The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Tips for Business Owners

Sign All Your Own Checks

Tag-Team Check-Signing in Partnerships

Don’t Sign a Check the Wrong Way

Review Canceled Checks before Your Bookkeeper Does

Choose a Bookkeeper Who Is Familiar with Computers

Find a Smart-but-Economical CPA

While You’re at It, Find a Good Attorney, Too

Choose an Appropriate Accounting System

If QuickBooks Simple Start Doesn’t Work for Your Business, Upgrade

If a QuickBooks Upgrade Doesn’t Work, Look Around a Bit More

Chapter 19: Tips for Handling (Almost) Ten Tricky Situations

Tracking Asset Depreciation

Selling an Asset

Selling a Depreciable Asset

Owner’s Equity in a Sole Proprietorship

Owner’s Equity in a Partnership

Owner’s Equity in a Corporation

Multiple-State Accounting

Getting a Loan

Repaying a Loan

Chapter 20: (Almost) Ten Little Ideas for Saving Big on Business Taxes

Trick 1: Benefit from the Appropriate Pension Device

Trick 2: Don’t Take Any More Personal Vacations

Trick 3: Don’t Depreciate — Expense

Trick 4: Incorporate

Trick 5: Consider the Sub S Election

Trick 6: Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds

Trick 7: Create Some Legitimate Job for Your Kids

Trick 8: Relocate Your Business

Part VI : Appendixes

Appendix: If Numbers Are Your Friends

Keying In on Profit

In the Old Days, Things Were Different

What Does an Italian Monk Have to Do with Anything?

Two Dark Shadows in the World of Accounting

The Danger of Shell Games

Part I

Getting Simple Started

In this part . . .

All accounting programs — including QuickBooks — make you do a bunch of preliminary stuff. Sure, this is sort of a bummer. But getting depressed about it won’t make things go any faster. So if you want to get up and go with QuickBooks Simple Start, peruse the chapters in this first part. I promise that I’ll get you through this setup stuff as quickly as possible.

Chapter 1

Preparing to Use QuickBooks Simple Start

In This Chapter

Choosing an appropriate entity form

Installing the QuickBooks Simple Start software

Running through the Setup Interview

I know you’re eager to get started. You’ve got a business to run. But before you can start using QuickBooks Simple Start, you need to perform some up-front work. You need to install the software and set up the containers you’ll use for your accounting.