QuickBooks software offers a large amount of benefits.  It handles company information, customer information, vendor information, employee information, and banking information.  However, it is very easy to make an error in your QuickBooks company file.  One can minimize their errors by following a few basic rules:

QuickBooks Basic Rules

1. Do not use sample files.  Sample files exist to help one learn how to do specific tasks in QuickBooks.  These files contain basic information.  One should create their company file in QuickBooks very specifically to get the most out of their QuickBooks software.
2. Use the receive payments option.  This option should be used when one desires to create customer invoices to record sales.  This action allows one to apply payments against the customer invoices.
3. Use the apply payment option.  QuickBooks offers many ways for a business to pay their bills.  When paying a bill, one should have a consistent method.  To avoid payment errors, one should enter the bills first, and then use the pay bill option when the payment is due.  Another option to pay bills is to write checks or enter credit card charges.
4. Exercise caution when recording expenses.  One should not tie their bank account to the expense field.  If the bank account is tied to the expense field, then the money will leave the account and come right back into the bank account.  One should tie a specific expense account to the expense field such as: utilities, insurance, or rent.
5. Exercise caution when recording customer payments.  One does not want to duplicate a customer payment by recording deposits and applying it to the specific customer account simultaneously.  The deposit can be associated with a specific bank account and recorded in the owner’s bank account on the same day of the transaction.
6. Maintain important accounts.  QuickBooks creates important accounts to help business owners in setting up their company files.  Some important accounts are: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Retained Earnings.  These accounts have specific names associated with them and deleting and/or editing them can cause QuickBooks to malfunction or create errors in the owner’s financial statements.
7. Exercise caution when creating items in QuickBooks.  Items in QuickBooks include things that businesses buy, sell, or resell in their normal operations.  An item in QuickBooks may include a purchase of a product or service, shipping or handling, a sales discount, and sales tax.  Each item must be associated with a specific account that is correct for the type of item.

In conclusion, QuickBooks offers a business a variety of benefits.  However it is easy to make an error in QuickBooks.  One should follow a few basic rules to minimize their errors in QuickBooks.

At St. Louis Accounting Services, we offer a full range of QuickBooks services.  If one has questions or needs assistance with their company file, one can call us at 314-718-0956.  One can also email us at art@stlouisaccountingservices.com.  One should clean up their QuickBooks file today!

QuickBooks offers many company and financial reports.  One important company report is the balance sheet.  The balance sheet shows what a company owns and owes at a specific point in time.  QuickBooks has many different versions of the balance sheet report.  I will discuss each version:

1. Balance Sheet Standard- This report is your basic balance sheet with the total reported for each asset, liability, and equity account.
2. Balance Sheet Detail- This report shows each transaction that makes up the total for each asset, liability, and equity account.  It is very detailed.
3. Balance Sheet Summary-This report shows assets and liabilities grouped into two separate categories.  The assets are grouped into current assets and fixed assets.  Current assets are assets that are going to be converted into cash within a year.  Examples of current assets are savings, accounts receivable, and inventory.  Fixed assets are assets that are not going to change in the next year.  Examples of fixed assets are buildings, leases, and equipment.  The liabilities are grouped into current liabilities and long term liabilities.  Current liabilities are liabilities that will be paid off within one year.  Examples are sales tax liability, payroll taxes liabilities, and accounts payable.  Long Term liabilities will not be paid off within a year.  Examples are: notes payable, bonds payable and mortgages payable.
4. Balance Sheet Previous Year Comparison-This report shows the total balance of each asset, liability, and equity account for the current period and the previous period.  It also shows the difference and the percentage change.  This information is useful to compare one period to another period.
5. Net Worth Graph-This report shows the net worth in graph form by month.  Net worth is equal to total assets minus total liabilities.  It shows the value of the business.

In conclusion, the balance sheet is an important financial statement for a business.  QuickBooks offers many versions of balance sheet reports.   At St. Louis Accounting Services, we offer a full range of QuickBooks services.  If one has questions about these reports, or if one wishes to create these reports in their QuickBooks software, do not hesitate to contact us today.  We can be reached at 314-718-0956. One can also email us at art@stlouisaccountingservices.com.

QuickBooks provides several company and financial reports.   In this article, I will discuss the profit and loss reports available in QuickBooks.  The profit and loss reports are the same as the income statement.  These reports show income, expenses, and net income.  The following profit and loss reports are available in QuickBooks:

1. Profit and Loss Standard – This report has two sections: net ordinary income and net other income.  The bottom line of the report shows net income.  The first section shows ordinary income and expense items.  Ordinary income and expense items are those items that occur in each income statement.  These items are directly related to your main business activities.  This report shows net ordinary income.  Net ordinary income is the difference between total ordinary income and total ordinary expense.  The next section of this report shows other income/expense items.  Other income/expense items are items that affect your net income but are not directly involved or necessary for your main business activities.  An example of an other income/expense item is interest expense.  One can operate his/ her business with debt or choose to operate it without debt.  The sum of other income/expense items is net other income.  The sum of net ordinary income and net other income is net income.
2. Profit and Loss Detail – This report is divided like the Profit and Loss Standard report but it shows all of the detail of the income and expense items.  One can see each transaction that is behind the totals.  It is quite lengthy.
3. Profit and Loss YTD Comparison – This report shows the monthly activity for the income and expense accounts.  In another column, it shows the year to date (YTD) activity for the income and expense accounts.
4. Profit and Loss Previous Year Comparison – This report shows the current YTD activity for each income and expense item.  In another column, it shows the activity of each income and expense item from last year.  It has two additional columns to show the difference and the percentage change between the two time periods.

Finally as one can see, QuickBooks provides valuable information in their profit and loss reports.  If one has questions about these reports or wishes to create these profit and loss reports in QuickBooks, St. Louis Accounting Services can help.  Please do not hesitate to call 314-718-0956 or to email art@stlouisaccountingservices.com today.