New to quickbooks and am having to reconstruct an account that was misused by a former employee. How do I make entries into my account?

Welcome aboard to the QuickBooks Community, @drjonurey.

You can get the most out of the program by using our automation feature. Manually adding entries is no longer necessary since connecting your bank to QuickBooks will do the task.

Our Online Banking feature allows the software to automatically import data. All you need to do is approve the work to have an up-to-date view of your sales and expenses with virtually no data entry required. 

Here's how to upload your most recent transactions to QBO:

1. Choose Banking on the left panel.
2. Click on the Add account button. 
3. Select your financial institution from the list or enter the name in the search field.
4. Enter your bank login credentials and click on Continue.
5. Complete the security verification if prompted, and select Securely connect.
6. Then select the bank emblem you're trying to connect and choose the type of account you're adding.
7. Hit on Connect. 

Take a look at this article and video tutorial for the detailed instructions: Connect bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online and How to connect bank and credit cards.

However, if you wish not to utilize the feature, manually recording entries can be done by clicking the Create icon or + New button. There's no need to go through different pages to add common types of transactions (invoices, estimates, expenses, or checks) in the program.

Please see screenshot for reference:

For more information, read through this article: Record transactions using Create ⨁.

Since you're also new to QuickBooks, I'm adding a resource that can help you get started. Click this link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/tutorials.

Add a comment below if you need assistance with anything else. I'm more than happy to help. Have a great day!