QuickBooks 2014 on Demand

Introduction xv

1 Setting Up Your Company Accounts with the EasyStep Interview 1

Introduction 1

Installing QuickBooks 2

Registering QuickBooks 5

Setting Up QuickBooks in a Multiuser Office 6

Transferring Data from Older Versions of QuickBooks 7

Transferring Data from Quicken 9

Practicing with the Sample Company Files 11

Entering Data for a New Company 12

Setting Up a Bank Account 19

Setting Up Income and Expense Accounts 20

Stopping, Restarting, and Completing the Interview 21

2 Setting Up and Using Payroll Features 23

Introduction 23

Setting Payroll and Employee Preferences 24

Setting Up Employees 28

Setting Up Employee Payroll Information 30

Setting Up Employee Payroll Taxes 31

Setting Up Sick and Vacation Benefits 33

Setting Up Payroll Deductions 36

Paying Employees 39

Printing Paychecks 43

Using Direct Deposit 44

Preparing and Paying Payroll Liabilities 46

Creating Employer Payroll Reports 49

Reporting Payroll Taxes with Form 941 51

Paying Federal Unemployment Compensation

Taxes with Form 940 54

Preparing W-2/W-3 Forms 56

Setting Up Independent Contractors for 1099 Forms 59

Setting 1099 Preferences 61

Issuing 1099 Forms 62

Outsourcing Payroll 65

3 Adding or Changing Information After the Initial Company Setup 67

Introduction 67

Setting General Preferences 68

Setting Desktop View Preferences 72

Setting Accounting Preferences 74

Adding Accounts 76

Using Account Numbers 78

Sorting Lists 79

Displaying Lists on Forms 80

Adding Customers 82

Working with the Customer Center 86

Adding Vendors 88

Adding Items 92

Adding Multiple List Entries: Customers, Vendors, or Items 97

Adding Information "On-the-Fly" 98

Moving Items on a List 100

Creating Subitems 101

Editing Information on a List 102

Marking List Items Inactive 103

Deleting Entries on a List 106

Merging Entries on a List 107

Printing Lists 109

Searching for Transactions 110

4 Invoicing and Collecting Income 111

Introduction 111

Setting Customers'

Preferences 112

Creating an Invoice 116

Creating Batch Invoices 117

Previewing or Printing Invoices 121

Emailing an Invoice 123

Charging (or Billing) Expenses to a Customer 127

Setting Finance Charge Preferences 130

Creating a Monthly Statement 131

Receiving Payments for Invoices 133

Issuing a Credit or Refund 134

Recording Cash Sales/Sales Receipts 135

Making Bank Deposits 136

Receiving Advances, Retainers, and Down Payments 137

Issuing Discounts 138

Tracking Accounts Receivable 141

Using the Income Tracker 142

Working with the Customer and Payments Snapshots 143

Viewing the Open Invoices Report 145

Using the Collections Center 146

Creating a Collection Letter 148

Recording Bad Debts 151

Recording Bounced Checks 153

Working with Multiple Currencies 155

5 Making Purchases and Recording Payments 167

Introduction 167

Setting Purchases and Vendors Preferences 168

Working with the Vendor Center 171

Using Purchase Orders 173

Reporting on Open Purchase Orders 177

Receiving Goods 178

Receiving a Partial Order 180

Viewing Aging and Unpaid Bills Reports 182

Paying Bills 183

Taking Discounts 184

Using the Check Register 185

Editing Bill Payments 186

Deleting Bill Payments 188

Setting Checking Preferences 189

Writing Checks 191

Printing Checks 193

Voiding Checks 195

6 Collecting and Paying Sales Tax 199

Introduction 199

Setting Sales Tax Preferences 200

Creating a Sales Tax Item 201

Creating a Sales Tax Group 202

Charging Sales Tax to Customers 203

Entering Tax Status of Inventory Items 204

Selling Tax-Exempt Items 205

Selling Items to Tax-Exempt Customers 206

Producing Monthly Sales Tax Reports 207

Paying Sales Tax 208

Taking a Discount for Early Payment 209

7 Using Time-Saving Features 211

Introduction 211

Memorizing Transactions 212

Memorizing a Group of Transactions 213

Using Memorized Transactions 215

Scheduling Recurring Transactions 216

Changing Memorized and Scheduled Transactions 219

Removing Memorized Transactions 221

Setting Reminders Preferences 222

Using Reminders 224

8 Job Cost Estimating and Tracking 225

Introduction 225

Setting Jobs and Estimate Preferences 226

Setting Up a Job 228

Tracking Job Status and Type 232

Using the Job Type Feature 233

Tracking Other Job Info 234

Working with Estimates 235

Invoicing Against an Estimate 237

Reporting on Job Estimates Versus Actuals 239

9 Tracking Time 241

Introduction 241

Setting Time Tracking Preferences 242

Installing the Timer 243

Exporting Information to the Timer 245

Creating a New Timer File 246

Creating a Timer Activity 248

Using the Timer 249

Sending Timer Data to QuickBooks 250

Importing Timer Data into QuickBooks 252

Viewing Timer Transactions 254

Editing Timer Transactions 255

Invoicing the Customer for Timer Activities 256

10 QuickBooks Tips and Tricks 257

Introduction 257

Setting Spelling Preferences 258

Creating a Budget 259

Preparing Budget Reports 263

Setting Up Classes 266

Using Classes on Sales and Purchase Forms 268

Reporting on Classes 269

Creating Payment Terms 270

Customizing Forms Design 271

Customizing Forms Data 274

Making Journal Entries 278

Using the QuickBooks Remote Access Feature 280

Creating Mailing Labels 281

11 Using Bank Feeds and Online Banking 283

Introduction 283

Choosing Bank Feeds Mode 284

Activating Bank Feeds 286

Retrieving Online Transactions 289

Manually Importing Transactions 290

Quick Add Transactions to QuickBooks 292

Adding More Details to Transactions 294

Batch Adding Transactions 296

Automatically Assigning Names and Accounts 297

Assigning Transactions to Open Vendor Bills 299

Deleting Transactions 300

Making Online Payments 301

Canceling Online Payments 302

Transferring Money Between Accounts 304

Getting Reports of Online Transactions 305

12 Preparing Income Tax Returns 307

Introduction 307

Choosing the Correct Income Tax Form 308

Assigning Tax Lines to New or Existing Accounts 310

Using the Income Tax Reporting 311

Making Estimated Tax Payments 315

Creating a Tax Return 316

13 Data Backup and Security 319

Introduction 319

Backing Up Your QuickBooks Company File 320

Restoring Backed-Up Information 324

Using the QuickBooks Online Backup Service 326

Adding or Editing the Administrator Password 328

Adding New or Editing Existing Users 329

Closing Financial Records at Year-End 333

Creating a Closing Date Exception Report 335

14 Using Inventory Features 337

Introduction 337

Activating Inventory 338

Setting Up Inventory Items 340

Adding to Your Inventory 343

Editing Inventory Items 344

Creating an Inventory Group 346

Managing Sales Orders 348

Setting Up Reminders to Replenish Your Inventory 350

Preparing Inventory Reports 352

Counting Your Inventory 354

Adjusting Inventory Quantities 355

Adjusting the Default Price of Inventory 356

15 Recording Your Assets 359

Introduction 359

Reconciling Your Bank Statement 360

Recording Bank Account Transfers 363

Tracking Petty Cash 364

Receiving Credit Card Payments 365

Recording Deposits as Assets 366

Purchasing Fixed Assets 367

Entering Depreciation 370

Selling Fixed Assets 371

16 Recording Owners' Equity 373

Introduction 373

Understanding the Opening Balance Equity Account 374

Recording Owners' Distributions 377

Entering Prior Period Adjustments 379

Viewing Transactions in Retained Earnings Account 380

17 Recording Liabilities 381

Introduction 381

Managing Accounts Payable 383

Recording Payroll Tax Accruals Without a QuickBooks Payroll Subscription 384

Setting Up Credit Card Accounts 385

Accounting for Deposits or Retainers 390

Recording Loans 391

Using the QuickBooks Loan Manager 392

Recording Loan Payments 395

18 Working with Reports in QuickBooks 397

Introduction 397

Looking at the Company Snapshot 398

Using the Report Center 400

Setting Report and Graph Preferences 403

Modifying Reports 406

Creating and Using Report Groups 409

Memorizing Reports 411

Importing and Exporting Report Templates 412

Understanding Sharing and Contributed Reports 414

Learning Other Reporting Tips and Tricks 416

Workshops 419

Introduction 419

Project 1: Creating Your Own Favorites Menu 419

Project 2: Customizing the Company Snapshot 421

Project 3: Using Document Management 423

Project 4: Color-Coding Your Accounts 425

Project 5: Using To Do Notes 426

Project 6: Using the Lead Center 429

Index 433