Hi Jo Grundy,
It's great that you're making sure everything in your books gets recorded accurately. Setting up long-term assets purchased in a prior period goes a long way in producing more insightful reports, allowing you to always have a clear understanding of your business' finances. Depending on how things have been recorded so far, the ideal approach to this will vary. I'll be happy to help get this started.
There are several types of asset accounts which can be created in QuickBooks Desktop. Here's some brief definitions of ones that could be used to track a GIC:
- Fixed Asset: Typically used to track assets held for more than a year (such as buildings or vehicles).
- Other Asset: This is to track other fixed assets.
- Other Current Asset: Short-term assets you plan to convert to cash, which aren't bank accounts or receivables.
- Bank: Used to track liquid accounts such as chequing, savings, or money market.
As GICs typically have a maturity over one year in the future, it would make sense to set this up as a Fixed Asset. These definitions are meant as basic guidelines to help you manage your books, so feel free to select a different type. Once you've decided, we have a few options to create the account. This can be recorded as a purchase, or as an opening balance. This is just a few easy steps:
- Open the Lists menu and select Chart of Accounts (you may decide to add this to your Fixed Asset List later).
- Click Account and select New.
- Choose your type of choice then click Continue.
- Enter the account details you need.
- (If you choose to enter an opening balance - recommended if it's before your QuickBooks start date) Click on Enter Opening Balance and specify the Balance and Date.
- Click OK, then Save & Close.
If you choose to record the original purchase, disregard step 5 and select Transfer Funds from the Banking menu and enter the original Date and Amount. If you're unsure how to approach this, your accountant is the best person to help. They're an expert with these things, and can ensure you won't have any issues going forward. Check out our Find an Accountant page to find a QuickBooks pro in your area. You can enter in your postal code to find accountants near you, and filter for the product you're using.
Don't hesitate to reach out any time you'd like help!
