Set up advanced settings

[0:00] This is Jason from the QuickBooks team. Advanced settings has many features that can have a big impact on how QuickBooks works for your company. For example, you can change report settings, set up classes to track sales and expenses in specific locations, and turn on different automation features. Let's go over advanced settings so you can decide what works best for you.

[0:26] To get started, go to settings and select Account and Settings. Then select the Advanced tab. These are your advanced settings. Let's start with something basic, your fiscal year. If your fiscal year doesn't start in January, you can change it here. You can also set the first month of your income tax year, as well as the accounting method you use to run reports and file taxes.

[0:53] This is also where you can close your books at the end of the year. This prevents users from making changes to any transactions or accounts prior to the closing date. This is important since you used these exact numbers when you filed your taxes. When's your closing date? After you file your taxes, most businesses set the last day of the previous fiscal year as their closing date.

[1:16] In the next section, you choose which tax form your company files. If you're not sure, choose Other/None for now and consult your accountant. Other features help with tracking. For instance, account numbers help you organize your Chart of Accounts. This lets you assign numbers to accounts. You can use the number instead of the name when you record a transaction.

[1:38] You can also show those account numbers on reports. You can assign the accounts that QuickBooks uses when you charge customers for shipping, record tips received, or mark up billable expenses. QuickBooks has default accounts, but you can always change them. Here's a unique feature in QuickBooks. Classes lets you divide your income and expenses between different parts of your business.

[2:01] If your business has multiple offices, you can track them with locations and even set up separate sets of contact information for each location. This lets you track profitability by departments, groups, orgs, funds, locations, or anything else you want to track. QuickBooks can also warn you when you don't enter a class on a transaction.

[2:23] Pre-fill forms with previously entered content can help you save time. With this feature turned on, QuickBooks automatically fills in transactions based on the last transaction for that customer, vendor, or employee. If you want QuickBooks to automatically apply credit memos to open invoices, make sure Automatically Apply Credits is checked.

[2:42] If you charge customers for your expenses, you can check this box and QuickBooks will remind you to invoice outstanding billable expenses or even automatically invoice your customers for those charges. The last setting in this section only applies if you use bank or credit card registers. With this turned on, QuickBooks tries to apply money out transactions with open bills from the selected payee.

[3:08] Do you need to track the profitability of your projects? Make sure you turn on the Projects feature. This enables a whole new section in QuickBooks with features specifically designed to help you manage projects. This menu lets you switch between Business and Accountant View.

[3:25] Accountant view is for users who are familiar with accounting, while Business view is for users who are new to accounting and mainly want to focus on things like tracking sales and expenses. You can switch your view at any time you like. If you want to track what specific services your team performed when working for a client, check the Add service field to timesheets checkbox.

[3:48] This adds a field to timesheets. You can also let your employees and vendors see how much you charge clients for their work. And with this menu, you can change the first day of the work week to a different day. Turn on Multicurrency if you do business with customers, vendors, or bank accounts that use different currencies.

[4:07] In the last section, you can change the date and number format and change how QuickBooks refers to customers. This is handy if you'd rather refer to customers as Donors, Clients, or anything else you see on this list. We always recommend you turn on warnings for duplicate numbers. This helps to ensure that you don't enter the same bill, check, or purchase order twice.

[4:29] And finally, you can choose how long it takes for QuickBooks to log you out if you're not at your computer. Now you're ready to set up your own advanced settings.