Recoding Cashiers check purchase

I appreciate you taking the time to reach out about your cashier's check purchase, Blade. Let's work together to ensure that this transaction is recorded accurately in your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

A cashier's check is treated as a cash equivalent and recorded as a bank withdrawal. I recommend writing a check from your bank account and using a petty cash account to balance it as the corresponding expense account. This method will help you maintain accurate financial records and track expenses related to asset purchases.

To do this, here's how:

1. Navigate to Banking in the main menu.
2. Select Write Checks.
3. Choose the correct bank account in the Bank Account dropdown.
4. Input the bank's name in the Pay to the Order Of field.
5. Enter the Amount of the cashier's check.
6. In the Account field, select Add New to create a Petty Cash account as the offsetting account for the transaction.
7. Go to the Expense tab and select the appropriate expense account.
8. In the Amount field, enter the fee amount.
9. Click Save & Close to finalize the transaction.

Alternatively, you can create a transfer transaction to a petty cash account and record the trailer purchase as a check if the bank took the money for the check amount and the fee as one transaction from your bank account. This method is beneficial for tracking purposes. Refer to the screenshot below:

To monitor the trailer in an asset account, initiate a transfer from the petty cash account to that asset account.

Consider consulting a certified accountant for personalized financial guidance. If you don’t have an accountant, our QuickBooks ProAdvisor can provide support to optimize your financial strategies and enhance your business performance.

To further assist you in managing your accounts, I recommend bookmarking these helpful resources on reconciling and resolving reconciliation problems:

• Reconcile an account in QBDT
• Fix issues when you're reconciling in QBDT

Reply below anytime or start a new thread in the Community space if you have other concerns about recording transactions. I'll be here to lend a hand and ensure a great experience using our software. I look forward to assisting you in elevating your business.

@Aldren18  RE: In QuickBooks Desktop, we can record the purchase of a cashier's check by creating a check payment from your bank account. Then issue the trailer purchase as a check payment to the seller.

So, write two checks out of your bank account for the same money?  You know that makes no sense, right?

RE: To record the cashier's check purchase as a check payment, here's how:

You don't mention the account to use for the purchase of the cashier's check.  I'm interested in what you had in mind. An expense, perhaps?

RE: In the Account field, select an appropriate expense account like "Vehicle Purchases"

1) Buying a vehicle is not an expense. 2) A trailer is not a vehicle. It's a piece of equipment.

@Bladeworksunlimited 

RE: I am trying to record the purchase of a cashiers check from my bank account and used that check for the purchase of a trailer.

Here's one way to do this:

For the cashier's check: You're essentially trading one kind of cash for another: Cash in your bank account for a piece of paper that is worth cash. It's basically a bank withdrawal, except instead of getting actual paper money, you have a check worth that same amount of money. So, a way to do this is to write a 'check' in your bank account and use your petty cash account as the offsetting 'expense' account.  Or you could create a transfer transaction that does the same thing.  However, with a check you can also enter the fee you paid the bank (if any) as a second line item, which would be helpful if the bank took the money for the check amount and the fee as one transaction from your bank account.

For the purchase of the trailer: Assuming you'll be tracking the trailer in an asset account, then create a  transfer from the petty cash account to that asset account.

When finished, your bank account will have an entry for the cashier's check and the petty cash account will have two entries that cancel each other out, and the asset account will have one entry for the price you paid for the trailer.