New knowledge base articles in QuickBooks Community

Why do I need to choose a sales tax category?

KyleMcDougall — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:19:13 GMT

Intuit Hosting Powered by Right Networks

arahn — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 19:57:12 GMT

Discover a whole new way of doing business with our new QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting. It offers protected anytime, anywhere, and on any device access to your data. Your team all works with the same information, at the same time - no matter where they are and no matter if they're using a Mac, PC, or tablet. Now, everyone can get more done.

Intuit Hosting Powered by Right Networks

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QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Subscription With Hosting Pricing

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Your Right Networks users need to match your QuickBooks user count. Example; If you have a 5 User Enterprise Solution subscription, you can have up to 5 hosting users.

How do I add users to Right Networks?

If you already purchased the right number of QuickBooks users and just need to create Right Networks users, you can add them through the Right Networks My Account Portal or by contacting Right Networks support.
If you need to add more QuickBooks and Right Networks users, you can contact us to add more seats to your QuickBooks license. Once you've added additional QuickBooks users, you can then add the same number of Right Networks users.

What does hosting mean?

Hosting is another term for in the cloud. It means your QuickBooks software and data are stored (hosted) on an enterprise-level web server at a protected facility, instead of locally on your office computer. You access them over a protected Internet connection rather than via your local network.
You're not tied down to your office to run QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. You can access it anywhere, anytime, and on any device, including Mac.

How safe is my hosted data?

We offer our hosting service through Right Networks, one of the leading providers of enterprise-level hosting. Enterprise-class anti-virus technology, firewalls, encryption and multi-layer access controls help protect your files and transmissions. Right Networks IT professionals continuously monitors the system and handles all updates and upgrades.

What are the benefits of choosing QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting over QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise (local access only)?

Anywhere, anytime access to applications and data
- With your applications and data hosted, you can connect anytime from anywhere with an Internet connection using a simple client program. Simply launch the remote access application and log in with your user ID and password. Your QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is ready to use. There's virtually nothing new to learn because the software looks and works just like it does on your PC.
Data security
- QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is hosted in top-of-the-line data centers that provide true enterprise-class scalability and reliability, including full-time security personnel, closed-circuit video surveillance, continuous and redundant power systems with backup generators, fully redundant network systems with multiple-backbone access, advanced network firewalls, and hazard avoidance and alert systems.
- If a disaster strikes your office, you'll be able to access your business-critical information from computers at another site. Whether the disaster is as small as a PC crash or as catastrophic as a hurricane, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting can help keep your business running.
Data protection and backup
- We protect your hosted data with encrypted transmission, firewalls, multi-layer access controls, and encrypted backups. In addition, your data is automatically scanned with enterprise-class antivirus technology. We back up your hosted data nightly, and retain backups for 90 days. So, if you accidentally delete a file, it may be recoverable.
No server or network maintenance required
- If you currently store your company data on file servers on your network, you know how much time and money it takes to keep the systems patched, scanned for viruses, access-controlled, etc., in addition to the hassles and risks of making the servers available from remote locations. You can eliminate the need to have servers and virtual private networks (VPNs) in your office. Instead, keep your data in a protected data center, and stay focused on your business.
- And with your applications running in Right Networks data centers, you no longer need to install and maintain them on your own computer. All you need on your PC is a simple client program that is built into Windows Vista and Windows 7.8

Do I need my own network?

No. The Internet is the only network you'll need, and if you're reading this, you've already got it!

How long does it take to learn?

If you're familiar with QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, no time at all. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting has the same look and feel. If you're new to QuickBooks, we offer multiple ways to get up-to-speed fast, including the comprehensive support site, Everything Enterprise, which includes exclusive training videos for Full Service Plan members (login and valid Full Service Membership required).
Right Networks provides 24/7 support. If you have any questions, its experts are there to help you.

How does the speed compare to running it on my PC?

As with any Internet-based service, you'll need a good-quality, fast Internet connection. While experiences may vary, some customers have noticed improved speed and functionality after switching. In addition, you can increase the number of users without losing performance.

What is the difference between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting?

Both are Internet-accessible solutions, but QuickBooks Online is designed for early-stage businesses that don't require advanced features and functionality. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with the Hosting Service offers advanced functionality for growing, small-to-mid-sized businesses that are managing more complexity and may operate from multiple locations or facilities.
Additionally, you access QuickBooks Online directly through a Web browser. Most Hosting Service users access their QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise through a remote access application, although it can also be accessed directly through Internet Explorer.

How does Microsoft Word and Excel work with QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Hosting? And how does my email work?

Microsoft Word and Excel work with QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and the Hosting Service the same way as they do with the desktop version. If you have Microsoft Word and Excel installed, you can export QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise reports to Excel and estimates, invoices and statements to Word.
Additionally, if you'd like to access hosted versions of Word and Excel over the Internet, you can lease Microsoft Office directly from Right Networks for an additional fee. Your Enterprise Hosting Service will cover the hosting for those applications at no additional charge, and you can access them over the same connection.
For your email, you have several options. You can use QuickBooks email services, configure QuickBooks to use Web mail, or add Outlook to your Right Networks account.

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For questions related to QuickBooks usage, Error messages, Payroll, Intuit Payments, or adding users , Contact Intuit.
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Start Here with QuickBooks Desktop

arahn — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 22:59:16 GMT

Everything you need to get started with QuickBooks Desktop. Accounting is a process. There’s an order to everything, from completing sales transactions to running financial reports and reconciliations.

These resources are to help you through the download, install, and activation process to get your books up and running. You too, can become a QuickBooks Ninja!

System Requirements

Before installing and using QuickBooks Desktop, it is important to know the necessary system requirements. This will ensure QuickBooks is compatible with your setup and will help avoid issues when you start using the program.

Downloads and updates

Install

After you install

If you run into issues

Try the following tools and resources in the order suggested to get you up and running. We try and make the download, install, and activation process as easy as possible but we know sometimes it doesn't go as planned.

Sales Tax in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 22:53:44 GMT

Enhancing Invoices and Sales Forms

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 17:47:39 GMT

Invoice and Sales Form Basics

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 17:47:58 GMT

Managing and Avoiding Payment Holds

AmyBivin — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 17:06:45 GMT

If you have an Intuit QuickBooks Merchant Account who uses our credit card or ACH processing services, then this is an informative article for you. Learn how to deal with a payment on hold. Learn how to get your money faster and avoid unecessary fees.

Understanding Payment Holds

AmyBivin — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 01:15:58 GMT

Getting paid is important to everyone, especially small business owners. So when something goes wrong, it is important to understand why, how to manage the issue and how to minimize these in the future. In this article, we will guide you through the what the typical payments process cycle looks like and some specific scenarios where holds occur. If you are currently experiencing payment holds, additional guidance is provided in our next article, “Managing and Avoiding Payment Holds”.

In order to have the best possible experience, we encourage you to read through this entire article to gain a thorough understanding of payment holds. If you are short on time and need some quick guidance, you can also click on the individual links below to jump to the areas that interest you the most.

Contents

When to Expect Funds in Your Account
Good to Know - Credit Card Processing Cycle
What Triggers a Hold?
What Happens When Funds Are Placed On Hold?
What Happens When You (the Business Owner) Void a Credit Card Transaction
What Happens When Your Customer Voids a Credit Card Transaction

When to Expect Funds in Your Account

When you are using an electronic payments system, it is important to have the right expectations of when funds will hit your bank account. The time it takes to process payments can vary based on a number of factors, such as the time of day. For QuickBooks Online Payments users, credit card payments typically deposit in about 2-3 business days and free ACH Bank Transfer payments deposit in about 2-7 business days.

Good to Know - Credit Card Processing Cycle

What Triggers a Hold?

When something unexpected occurs in your transaction(s), a hold may be placed on the funds. Here are some common reasons for holds:

When your payment processing exceeds the established maximum dollar amount expected on your account
When a transaction is processed after several authorization attempts and failures
When certain transactions require verification of your business type to ensure it is compliant with the Intuit Acceptable Use Policy
When our systems identify processing patterns that pose a risk to any of the parties involved: You, your customer or to Intuit.

What Happens When Funds Are Placed On Hold?

Intuit will attempt to contact you via the phone number you have provided on your merchant account. You will then receive an email with detailed instructions on what additional information is needed in order to complete our review. For example, we may ask for a detailed invoice with the cardholder's name and billing address as they are reflected on file with their bank. To resolve the issue as quickly as possible, please submit any requested documents as soon as possible.

When will Intuit release these funds?

We are unable to deposit any money from funds on hold until we complete our review. Once all of the requested information has been provided, the review is typically completed within 2 business days.

What Happens When You (the Business Owner) Void a Credit Card Transaction?

If you void a transaction prior to batching, the authorization for that amount remains, placing a hold on the customer’s credit card for around 7-10 days (or up to 30 days, depending on the policies of the cardholder’s issuing bank).

What Happens When Your Customer Voids a Credit Card Transaction?

A chargeback is a transaction that has been disputed by the cardholder or card issuer. Here are the most common reasons for chargebacks. Listed below each bullet is a list of documents to dispute the chargeback.

The cardholder claims they did not get the merchandise or service.
- Rebuttal addressing the Cardholder's claims.
- Proof of Delivery.
- Signed proof of pick-up.
The cardholder claims the merchandise or services were not as initially described or were received in defective condition.
- Rebuttal addressing the Cardholder's claims.
- Proof that merchandise/service matched the description.
- Proof that the Cardholder did not attempt to return the merchandise.
- Proof of ongoing negotiations between the Cardholder and the Merchant.
- Outside opinion from a third party expert in support of the Merchant's rebuttal.
The cardholder claims the transaction was cancelled and/or the merchandise was returned.
- Rebuttal addressing the Cardholder's claims.
- Proof that the Merchant's return/cancellation policy was properly disclosed to the Cardholder at the time of sale.
- Proof that the Cardholder's cancellation/return was not in accordance with the Merchant's properly disclosed policy.
The cardholder does not recognize the transaction.
- A copy of the Transaction Record with showing what was purchased.
The cardholder claims fraud or unauthorized charge.
- A copy of the signed and swiped receipt (if applicable).
- Rebuttal letter, Invoice, proof of delivery.
- Compelling evidence (i.e. photographs, emails, etc.), to support that the Cardholder made the Transaction and has received the merchandise/service.

Duplicate transactions.
Failure to respond to an inquiry (American Express only).

Please note: Even if you work with Intuit to successfully reverse a chargeback, you still need to pay a chargeback fee. The chargeback fee is not a penalty fee but a processing fee for handling the issue on your behalf.

If you have received a chargeback, DO NOT issue a credit to the cardholder since they already received a credit from their bank upon the processing of the chargeback.

If you have need help with payment holds, please continue reading more in our next article “Managing and Avoiding Payment Holds.

Data structure when converting your QuickBooks for Windows file to QuickBooks Desktop for Mac

BrandonT — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:35:14 GMT

You can convert any company file to a Mac version from a U.S. version of QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Premier Accountant Edition for the same year as your version of QuickBooks for Mac or the two previous years. In other words, if you have QuickBooks for Mac 2019, you can convert your file from QuickBooks for Windows 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Before you start, be sure that you are familiar with what data is converted from QuickBooks for Windows to QuickBooks for Mac.

Data that is and is not converted from QuickBooks for Windows to QuickBooks for Mac

Although Intuit has used reasonable efforts to include all features affected, Intuit disclaims that all features are included in these lists. Be sure to compare the newly-converted data with the original data to learn what data was not converted.

Data that is converted from Windows to Mac

Account list (chart of accounts)
Customer list
Vendor list (notes will not be converted)
Item list
Payment terms list
Shipping via list
Customer type list
Vendor type list
Employee list (notes will not be converted)
To do list (alerts will not be converted)
Other names list (without notes)
Job types list
Payment method list
Customer message list
Classes
Reminders (alerts will not be converted)
Links between pay items and other items
Custom field definitions
Transactions and their links:

Invoices
Bills
Deposits
Payments
Transfers

Memorized transactions
Multiple estimates per job
All list reports
History of QuickBooks versions used with the data file
Transaction statistics
1099 categories
Notes
Audit trail
Preferences

Company name and address
Which features are enabled

Time and activity records
Budgets
Reconcile
Address book data
Income and expense tracking by class (available in QuickBooks for Mac using Profit & Loss by Class reports)
Job costing data (available in QuickBooks for Mac using Job Profitability reports)
Vehicle list

Data that is not converted from Windows to Mac

Important: QuickBooks for Mac does not support multiple currencies. Since accounts and balances are affected by the multiple and home currency settings, these settings cannot be changed in QuickBooks for Windows once they have been set. If you have used multiple currencies in your Windows company file, you will not be able to convert your data for use in QuickBooks for Mac.

Some features and data will NOT be converted from Windows to Mac, including (but not necessarily limited to) the following:

Any data if you have used multiple currencies in QuickBooks for Windows.
Intuit integrated payroll and payroll list items (QuickBooks for Mac uses Intuit Online Payroll)
Online banking transactions that have not been accepted into a register (transactions that have been accepted will appear as payments, deposits, and transfers with associated links)
Online banking aliases
Customized settings for forms like invoices, estimates, statements, and purchase orders (forms can be customized in QuickBooks for Mac)
Multiuser data, such as usernames
User passwords (QuickBooks for Mac supports administrator password)
Memorized reports
Business planning, expert analysis, and business optimization tools
Customized price levels
Integration with third-party applications, including Microsoft Word, Outlook, and ACT!™
Merchant account services (you’ll need to set this up again in QuickBooks for Mac)
Sales order and back order tracking (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows)
Assembly items (available only in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows) will be converted into non-inventory part items
Budgets created without an associated account
Transaction type “EFP payroll” (will convert into a payroll liability check)
Workers comp list
Fixed asset item list
Multiple “ship to” addresses, Preferred Send method, and payment information for Customer:Jobs
User-added columns to lists

Unsupported reports

The following preset reports are currently not supported by QuickBooks for Mac 2019. You can, however, create many of these reports using the customization, filtering, and memorization features in QuickBooks for Mac.

Profit & Loss Unclassified
Open Purchase Orders by Job
Sales Tax Revenue Summary
Pending Builds
Income Tax Preparation
Profit & Loss Budget Performance
Fixed Asset Listing
Voided/Deleted Transactions (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Voided/Deleted Transactions History (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Closing Date Exception (available only in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Open Sales Orders by Customers (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Open Sales Orders by Item (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Adjusted Trial Balance (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Adjusting Journal Entries (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Forecast Overview (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
Forecast vs. Actual (available in Premier versions of QuickBooks for Windows®)
All payroll and workers comp reports

Unsupported report filters

The following report filters are currently not supported by QuickBooks for Mac. The balances of memorized reports that were created using these filters will not match balances in the original data file.

Name Email
Paid Thru
Sales Tax Code
Template
Online Status
Printed Status
Voided
Workers Comp Code
Is Adjustment

Coming back to QuickBooks Mac from QuickBooks Online - What to Expect

BrandonT — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 18:53:30 GMT

How to Reconcile an Account in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:39:41 GMT

Account reconciliation is the process of matching transactions entered into QuickBooks Online against your bank or credit card statements. This review should be done on a regular basis, once a month at the very least when you receive your statements.

The process itself can be done fairly quickly if you connect your online bank accounts to QuickBooks Online and perform regular upkeep throughout the month. It's also important to learn how to use the Undeposited Funds account so transactions in QuickBooks match what's recorded on your bank and credit card statements.

Why do I need to reconcile my bank accounts in QuickBooks Online?

The balances in QuickBooks Online need to match your bank and credit card records so you have accurate financial data. Naturally, financial reports are only valuable if the base information is precise.

Moreover, your records need to be accurate when its time to file your taxes. By compiling and maintaining your account data throughout the year, you'll be well ahead for your next filing.

There are other underlying benefits as well. If you regularly reconcile your accounts, you'll know exactly how much money your business has in the bank and that you're always working with accurate data. Equipped with this knowledge, you can make smart, informed business decisions.

If you don’t already, build account reconciliations into your routine. Future you will thank you.

Get started reconciling your accounts in QuickBooks Online

Select the Accounting Tab from the Nav Bar and then the Reconcile sub-tab. Start with your checking account and work your way through each connected bank and credit card account one at a time.

Enter the Ending Balance and Ending Date as they appear on your bank statements. If the number you enter doesn't match the beginning balance recorded in QuickBooks, that's ok - we're about to figure out why.

Tip - print out paper versions of your bank statements and collect them in the same, accessible place (a folder, a drawer, anywhere but the floor). Having printed copies makes a side-by-side comparison much easier. When you're done, file these papers away and clear the space for next month's documents.

Go through your accounts in QuickBooks line-by-line, checking that individual item amounts and aggregate totals match what's on your bank statement. Do this until the difference between the QuickBooks account and your bank statement(s) is $0.

Check out the reconciliation basics video above. The pro-tips at (0:52) and (1:12) will help you breeze through reconciliations and tackle any unforeseeable roadblocks.

Remember, the difference between what’s recorded on your bank or credit card statements and the relevant QuickBooks account should be...

If you don't get to $0.00, don't worry. As the video notes, bank service charges, checks that are not cleared by your bank but are entered in QuickBooks, and transactions that posted to the bank but aren't recorded in QuickBooks are a few common causes for slight ending balance variations.

Generally, these problems can be avoided if you only record transactions as they occur in real-time (or very soon after) and reconcile accounts frequently - it's far easier to recall month-old details compared to 6 months old.

Track down these anomalies systematically. Take it slow and check these common problem areas first before calling your accountant. There's a solution for each of these scenarios.

Following a procedure (whatever works best for you) will surely lead to a resolution. To start, narrow down the scope of your search: if there's a big difference, there may be one or several skewed transactions; if the difference is marginal, it's probably a fee or missing sales tax.

What happens if there's a different opening balance in QuickBooks this month, even though you reconciled your accounts correctly last month? That means there's a discrepancy somewhere in the books. Reconciliation discrepancies can be caused by one of the following reasons:

Previously reconciled transactions have been modified, deleted, or added
Reconciliation adjustments (Journal entries, etc.)

If you have a discrepancy, follow the steps outlined in this troubleshooting guide. For a deeper dive into common reconciliation questions, check out these issue-specific articles:

Any other tips I should keep in mind to be successful?

Make reconciliations habitual. Do them the same time every month, preferably soon after you receive your bank statements so you can make quick corrections.
As we mentioned earlier, when done regularly, bank reconciliations will make filing your taxes much easier. If you don't have all of your accounts connected to QuickBooks, note that your end of year numbers won't reflect the breadth of your business. Adding accounts retroactively may be quite difficult since you won't have nearly as much time to review the numbers.
If you prefer a visual reconciliation guide, try this article from the QuickBooks Resource Center.

What’s Next?

Check your Progress

Am I Ready to Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online?

How to Send Paper Invoices in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:06:11 GMT

While many businesses send digital invoices via email, some customers still prefer carbon copies. If records are stored digitally, they're easy to access and organize. Creating, sending, and managing paper records in QuickBooks requires a bit more planning and forethought. Do what makes sense for your operation, but always consider your customers' preferences.

Why should I send a paper Invoice?

Let’s reframe the question: if customers request a carbon copy, can you encourage them to go digital?

The advantage of digital Invoices is you can never really lose them. A deleted Invoice can always be recovered from an email trashcan, and in extreme cases, you can instantly send them another copy. There’s also virtually no wait time and thus no additional delays in payments. This a huge plus for busy buyers and sellers. If customers absolutely need a carbon copy for their records or simply prefers sticking to their routine, they can always print out the emailed version.

Then again, going the extra mile and sending them a printed copy may pay dividends in customer satisfaction.

Get started sending paper invoices

To create a paper version, follow the normal Invoice creation process (if you need a refresher, check out “Your First Hour with QuickBooks Online”): add your customer’s contact information, the items being purchased, and check the tax and totals.

When you’re ready to print the Invoice, scroll to the bottom and click Print or Preview.

You’ll see a PDF preview of what the Invoice will look. Decide if you need to make any adjustments and if everything looks good, click Print.

Once you have the paper copy in hand, close the preview and go back to the Invoice. To record the Invoice, go down to the bottom of the form but instead of clicking Save and Send, click the arrow and select Save and Close.

By clicking Save and Close, the transaction gets recorded into QuickBooks but the digital form isn’t sent to your customer’s email, thus avoiding the confusion of receiving multiple copies. When you receive the payment against the paper invoice, you would follow the same process as a digital invoice and continue to digitally record the accounting.

Any other tips I should keep in mind to be successful?

While you may be tempted to send customers digital and paper versions of the Invoice, to avoid confusion, it’s best to stick with only one method. If you really want to send both, write “void” or “this is a copy” somewhere on the printed form so customers don’t accidentally pay you twice. Unless your customers are exceedingly organized, sending multiple copies complicates the process unnecessarily.

What’s Next?

Check your Progress

Am I Ready to Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online?

How to Review Open Invoices and Send Payment Reminders and Balance Forward Statements in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:58:07 GMT

Being proactive means keeping a close eye on open invoices. Knowing what customers owe you, developing clear policies, and planning accordingly are incredibly for sustaining your business.

In QuickBooks Online, there are a few tools and simple review techniques you can incorporate into your workflow that will help you professionally manage open and overdue payments.

How to Add Independent Contractors and Track Them for 1099s in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:49:43 GMT

Many small businesses hire short-term or bring on independent contractors to complete projects. Properly accounting for expenses associated with their work is mission critical.

If you are using QuickBooks Online Plus, you can track these expenses and file 1099-MISCs for your independent contractors. It’s essential that you follow the process outlined in this article, not only for good accounting but legal reasons as well. There are also hired-wired 1099 features that only work up if you utilize these workflows.

How to Customize Financial Reports in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:08:21 GMT

Use custom reports to get the data that matters most to you.

While general reports in QuickBooks provide tons of actionable financial data, custom reports let you pull the exact data you need to dive into the nitty-gritty details of your business. This depth of understanding leads to better insights. Better insights lead to better decision-making and actionable outcomes.

Why do I need to customize financial reports?

Foremost, customize your reports so the data makes sense to you. At the end of the day, a report is only useful if you understand what the data is telling you. The filters in the customization module can be used to eliminate extraneous details or pull additional data points so you can easily zero-in on account specifics.

Moreover, narrowing the scope of reports helps you learn more about how each part of your business impacts its overall health. These insights empower you to make more informed financial decisions.

Get started customizing financial reports

Most reports can be customized using a consistent set of filters and display settings. These are particularly useful for narrowing the scope of the data in order to simplify your analysis.

Start from the Reports Tab. Select the “All” sub-tab to browse through the complete list of reports in QuickBooks Online, or use the search bar to find a specific report.

There are two ways to customize reports and both paths lead to the same customization modal:

Method one: click the () next to a report on the list and select “customize.”

Method two: if you’re already viewing a report, click the button to apply customizations.

Before going deep into the customization modal, all reports have a basic set of filters at the top of the page. These let you adjust the report period and toggle between cash and accrual calculation of the report.

Once you click customize, a variation of following modal will appear (the filters available vary from report to report):

Use the expand arrows () to bring up the nearly limitless customization options. It’s up to you to figure out which filters and display options work best for your needs.

Rows/Columns- lets you modify which columns and rows display on reports.
Filter- lets you select the specific accounts, sub-accounts, customers, vendors, and items that appear on reports.
Header/Footer- lets you toggle data tables and other information that appears reports, such as date and time prepared.

Remember - your ultimate goal is generating data that informs your financial and operational decisions. The data is only useful if you know how to interpret it.

Show me why I should run a custom report

Let’s customize a Profit and Loss Report so it’s easier to understand. QuickBooks has a number of semi-customized reports available. Personally, I prefer using the “Profit and Loss Report by % of Total Income Report” over the standard Profit and Loss Report because I can easily distil my business’ performance at a glance - it breathes life into what are otherwise flat numbers.

I also prefer percentages over raw numbers because I don’t have to do any calculations to understand the relative significance of particular income and expense categories.

For this Profit and Loss Report by % of Total Income Report, I applied the following customizations:

Items as% of income - so I can quickly see which areas of my business are having the biggest impact on my bottom line ( Customize > Rows/Columns )
Columns by month- so I can compare performance trends month-over-month ( Customize > Rows/Columns )
Negative numbers in red- so I can see where I’m taking the biggest hit
( Customize > General )
Removed the company name- so there are fewer words on the page ( Customize > Header/Footer )

I made one additional customization that’s visible when I expand the report - Items as a % of Row ( Customize > Rows/Columns ). This lets me see which items brought in the majority of my income for the month and which month had the most sales for each item.

In a few seconds, I know that Fountain and Garden Lights sold well in January, Plants and Soil has brought in the most income to-date, and my combined Landscaping Sales account for roughly 44% of my total sales income in December. February wasn’t such a good month. Maybe it was the season?

Thanks to customization, I know Spring is an opportunity to rally.

Any other tips I should keep in mind to be successful?

If you want to email, print or export your report, click the icons at the top of the report page. This is the easiest way to share data with your team. Don’t forget to provide a brief summary of your findings.

Once you’ve found your perfect set of filters, you can save your customizations by clicking the “Save Customization” button at the top of the report. Give your custom report an accurate yet catchy name so it's easy to remember.

If you create a report group, you can choose who can access these custom reports. You can even schedule reports to run and be sent out automatically via email (with the option to attach it as an excel file).

Check your Progress

Am I Ready to Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online?

What’s Next?

Understanding (and Separating) Owner Funds and Company Funds

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 18:04:34 GMT

We see lots of questions on QBCommunity about how to handle scenarios where the owner either puts money towards their business out of personal funds or uses business funds to pay for personal expenses.

These are both common scenarios and for more than financial reasons, it’s imperative to account for these types of transactions properly.

This will reapply some of the techniques we learned from the “Creating and Managing Accounts” tutorials as you may need to create some new accounts. For the workflows below, it’s very important to follow them in order and exactly as directed so your accounts remain accurate.

How to Record Business Expenses: Paying with Owner Funds | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Let’s start with a scenario where you, as the owner, paid for an expense for the business out of your own pocket. Create an “Owner’s Contributions” equity account (Accounting > Chart of Accounts > New Account) that you will use going forward.

Now, enter the Expense the same way you'd record a typical expense transaction, entering the date of the purchase and the payment method. In the line item section, enter the expense and then add an additional line item posted to your new Owners Contribution account for the same amount as a negative value. This effectively “zeros-out” the expense. By doing this, your checking account (or whatever account you are paying from) records remain accurate - - you can track what you as the owner have contributed without impacting those numbers.

It’s also wise to utilize the memo section if you want to add an explanation for why personal funds were used – the more documentation you have, the easier tax season will be. You can even create sub-accounts of Owner’s Equity if you want to separate one-off payments from other types of purchases, like assets.

We recommend checking your Owner’s Equity Account in the CoA (click “view register” for more details) and your Profit and Loss Statement after entering an Owner’s Contribution. A quick review shouldn’t take more than a few seconds.

Give it a try - simulate a few of your recent purchases as if you, as the owner, had paid for business expenses out of your own pocket in Quick Books Online Test Drive.

How to Enter Personal Expenses: Paying with Company Funds | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Now, let’s look at the opposite scenario when business funds are used to pay for an owner's personal expenses. Create an “Owner’s Personal Purchases/Owner's Draw” equity account (Accounting > Chart of Accounts > New Account) that you will use going forward.

The detail type can also be “Personal Expenses” if you want to further differentiate this account from the Owner’s Contribution account you just created (note that the Category and Detail Type can be exactly the same, but the name distinguishes the two).

Enter the expense (in the case of the tutorial, a meal) and use your new Owner’s Draw account. When you go into your Balance Sheet or CoA, you will see the company payment method you used when you entered the expense has been reduced and your Owner’s Draw Account now has a negative balance.

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Creating and Managing Accounts

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:43:47 GMT

This entry focuses primarily on the Chart of Accounts and associated reporting tools that pull information from those accounts. Most of the time, you create accounts as you work, such as when you first create a new product or service, log an expense or connect a bank account. If you need to modify an existing account or create new ones from scratch, you’d do so from the Chart of Accounts. This is essentially a list of your accounts that determines how transactions are categorized and interpreted (i.e. whether a transaction adds or deducts from an account).

We generally recommend not making too many changes to the Chart of Accounts (referred to as CoA from here on) – it's complicated territory that should be explored once you’re completely confident using QuickBooks. However, we also believe every user should have a basic understanding of what the CoA is, how it organizes your finances and when to go in and make adjustments.

Here are some quick tips:

If you haven’t done so already, review accounting and bookkeeping basics and the Accounting Terms You Need to Know
Keep your CoA simple - - that means keeping the number of accounts to a minimum and giving accounts relevant yet understandable names
Pay extra attention to Account Types as these are what determine transaction categorization
If you don’t know what type of account to create, ask the community or follow the tutorial creators’ advice and create an “Ask my Accountant” account to house all transactions you’re unsure about

Understanding the Chart of Accounts | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

The narrator uses the term “posting transaction” to describe transactions that impact your accounts - - which is most of them. There are non-posting transactions in QuickBooks Online that don’t affect your accounts in any way, such as Estimates, Delayed Charges or Delayed Credit, because those may or may not be processed.

Notice how a single transaction impacts a number of accounts. When the narrator makes a bank deposit for a single loan, both the checking and liability account increase for the $15,000 amount. By creating and categorizing accounts, QuickBooks automatically manages and runs the calculations.

Why don't you try creating a few transactions in Test Drive (above) and poke around the COA to see the results - - you may be surprised just how many calculations occur during a single transaction.

How to Set Up Your Chart of Accounts: Understanding the Basics | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

This video is very important, so you may want to watch it a few times. We recommend creating new accounts sparingly. QuickBooks Online already provides you with most standard accounts and creates new ones when you do activities like connecting a bank account. Less is more - - meaning more time and less to manage.

If there’s one key take away from this video, think broadly about your account organization and structure them in ways that make sense to you and your accountant. A second and equally important point is the available types in the CoA:

Category type – determines if the accounts on the Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss Sheet. This is the more important of the two because the category type determines how transactions hit your books.
Type detail – doesn’t determine how an account is used, it’s there for detail and tracking purposes. Think of it like a secondary description that will help you quickly distil lines on a report.
If you need a refresher on reports and how these types impact them, click here.

Our trainer makes key distinctions between accounts that show up on your Balance Sheet vs. the Profit & Loss Report. You’re probably familiar with the Profit and Loss Report, which looks at all of your Income and Expense accounts, but you may not recognize some of the heavier accounting terms tied to the Balance Sheet. Essentially, the Balance Sheet shows your asset (what you own), liability (what you owe) and equity accounts (income and expenses).

Sub-accounts are a critical organizational feature for the CoA. Instead of having separate expense accounts for various utilities, you can create a “Utilities” parent account and separate “gas and electric” and “telephone” sub-accounts. You can go four levels deep with sub-accounts so you can break this down even further by different cell carriers if you wanted to.

Important - Going forward, remember to add transactions to the appropriate sub-accounts and not the parent account (in the case above, in either “gas and electric” or “telephone,” not “utilities”) which becomes the aggregate for the child accounts.

Opening balances, as the video explains, are typically added when you have an existing account outside of QuickBooks that you’re recording for going forward with funds already in it, such as a bank checking account or an asset account.

How to Use Journal Entries | QuickBooks Online 2018

Journal Entries are tricky business. While par-for-the-course for accounting professionals, they should be a “last resort” for entering transactions. They follow strict accounting rules that may seem simple on the surface but can have a drastic impact on your accounts.

When transactions involve customers or vendors, use the standard transaction process. Journal Entries are generally used for making adjustments or obscure entries that aren’t part of your normal workflow. You would typically use Journal Entries for entering things like Depreciation.

Immediately, you’ll notice the terms “debits” and “credits” used, which we went over briefly in the QuickBooks Encyclopedia. The Journal Entry process (often referred to as JE) draws from one account and adds to another in order to keep everything balanced, a process that may not be familiar to non-accountants.

These types of entries are complicated. If you’re at this level of complexity in your accounting, make sure you connect with your accountant for best practices.

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Financial Reports and Reporting Features

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 01:29:51 GMT

This article is all about reports and financial reporting tools available in QuickBooks Online. Reports really are the core of your accounting. They frame all of your sales, expenses and everything in-between to tell you about the health of your business.

Of course, reports are only useful if you’ve entered complete data, so make sure you’ve entered all of your business income, expenses assets and liabilities entered into QuickBooks so you get a comprehensive, accurate snapshot of your business every time you run a report.

How to Use Reports Center: Categories, Insights & Information | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Reports appear on the Reports Tab Dashboard list (Reports Center), or you can search for something specific from the search field at the top. There are tons of reports available. Most will follow this titling convention:

(What you want to know) by (the criteria specified)

Some have very specific use-cases, giving you lots of options. There are common reports you’ll want to run on a daily or weekly basis such as:

Balance Sheet (which follows the Balance Sheet Equation) – tracks assets, liabilities and equity of your business – what you “own” and “owe” within a given time period.

Assets - Make sure you understand the difference between current assets (plan to sell within 1 year) and fixed assets (large purchases you plan to use over the course of several years).
Liabilities – again, know the difference between a current and long-term liability so you know how to enter things like open bills and loans appropriately. Note that while liabilities are what you owe and you’d assume this should be a negative number, it’s represented as a positive value here.
Equity – the value of your business from the perspective of the owner (including their contributions, owner’s draw and net income [activity from income and expense accounts]).

Profit & Loss Statement - tracks your income and compares it against the cost of running your business (i.e. expenses).
- This is the most common report you’re likely to run. It’s essentially a summary of your income and expenses so you can see your cash flow.
- Net Income is your profit after your total income, expenses and Cost of Goods Sold have been factored in. This line shows up at the bottom of your Balance Sheet under Equity (above).
Sales by Product/Service Report – the easiest way to track your sales that can be customized to show varying levels of detail.

How to Use Reports: Understanding When to Use the 3 Types | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

There are three primary types of reports and each has their uses.

Summary Reports – for pulling “overview” data with some applied analysis, which is what you will probably use most often or on a recurring basis.

List reports – for pulling broad data, such as all your existing accounts or products and services.

Detail reports – for pulling “by-line” datasets within a specified date range, such as looking at your sales by customer.

How to Use Summary Reports: Summaries & Information | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Summary Reports focus in on specific data points (such as you’re A/P or A/R or total income by accounts) without getting too lost in the line-by-line details. Instead, get a mid-ranged overview of your accounts.

These types of reports are particularly useful for looking at long-range trends between specified periods of time.

How to Use Detail Reports: Transactions, Expenses, & More | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Detail Reports are for when you want to get into the nitty-gritty of your accounts.

These provide account summaries as well as individual line-by-line transaction details. “Customer Balance Detail” and “Sales by Customer Detail” Reports are common and useful for zeroing in on very narrow information or identifying a specific set of transactions.

The “group” function is also a great way to identify trends while having the specific details displayed side-by-side on the same page.

How to Use List Reports: Looking Up Customers, Vendors

List Reports are useful for looking at everything in your QuickBooks system, from Products and Services to Employee information to Payment Methods used by your company. Most are broad, but some can get fairly narrow -- want to see all the bills you’ve paid in QuickBooks over the last 3 months? There’s a report for that.

Want to hand your team a list of contact emails but not their phone numbers? Run a Customer List Report and customize with the phone number column removed.

Another use for List Reports is to clean up your data. Let’s say you want to remove inactive customers from your books but you have a large sales team: pull a CSV for (or print) a Customer List Report, sharing around your team to identify who is no longer a customer and hand it back to a single team member to make those customers inactive.

How to Customize Reports: Basics, Sorting & Date Ranges | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Running custom reports in QuickBooks lets you narrow in on the data that matters, render the data in ways that make sense to you and eliminate extraneous details so you can easily zero-in on account specifics. Moreover, going narrow with reports means knowing more about how each part of your business impacts its overall health, which ultimately helps you make more informed financial decisions.

Custom reports offer a lot of flexibility: you can apply various filters, sorting tools and ranges to pull very specific data sets. But some custom reports need not be complicated – a Profit and Loss Report scheduled to be run and emailed on a Monthly basis is a simple one with powerful insights about the trajectory of your business.

You can apply these customizations at the top of the form in these two areas:

Depending on the report you use, different customization options will be available – not all reports have the same sets of filters, but most do. Don’t forget to hit “Run Report” to apply your customizations. Customizing also enables some other cool features which we will go into later in the article.

How to Filter Reports: Customers, Vendors, & Products | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Customizing reports with “filters” brings you down to the ground from a high-altitude view of your business. Clicking “Customize” from either the report page or the vertical ellipses tool next to the report on the list gives you access to a number of filters for both row and column report data.

Rather than browsing at the enormously diverse array of customizations available to build a report, ask yourself “what data am I really interested in?” Use that answer to find the necessary filters to arrive at your answer - through this process you, will learn what is available.

How to Add Columns to Reports: Comparing Customers & Time Periods, | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Customizing reports by adding, removing or reordering columns is another great to render the data in ways that make sense to you and eliminating information that is not as useful or potentially distracting, getting you to the insights you need most with the least amount of friction.

Displaying figures as percentages, rather than raw figures, is just one compelling reason to dive into the reporting features.

How to Save Customized Reports | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Once you find the perfect set customizations, rather than reenter the same set every time you want this data, you can save a customization. Give saved reports a unique name to distinguish them and click “save customization” at the top of the report page.

Here are a few custom reports you might want to create and have on hand at all times:

Monthly Balance Sheet

Filters applied: (“All Dates,” “Date-you-opened” to “1/1/2020,” Display columns by “Months”)

Sales by Customer Detail Report for a high-value customer John Freeman

Filters applied: (“All Dates,” Customize - Filter “Customer - by “Freeman Sporting Goods”)

Profit and Loss Report for only Landscaping Installation Income (Service)

Filters applied: (“All Dates” Display columns by “Months,” Customize – Filter Products/Service “Landscaping Installation”)

Profit and Loss Report for weekly utility expenses

Filters applied P and L report: (“All Dates,” Display columns by “week” – Customize – Filters Distribution Account “Gas and Electric” and “Telephone”)

Saving reports also allows you to group them so you can set permission for who can access and view the data – which might be important if you’re working with sensitive information across a wide team.

Remember too that reports automatically update with fresh data every time you run them.

How to Automatically Email Reports | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

The more features you can set on auto, the more time you will have to focus on more important business matters.

There are cyclical reports you can schedule right away that coincide with financial periods, such as a monthly Profit and Loss Report or a weekly Balance Sheet. Remember, custom reports don’t have to be complex and the interval may be enough to put it on this “recurring” email basis.

If there are custom reports you run regularly or you want constant updates on a particular report, consider scheduling them. At first, schedule them to send more often than you’d think you need and adjust from there – it’s better to get more information ahead of time than too little information too late.

To email reports, click on the Reports Tab and then the “Custom Reports” sub-tab. Select the report you want to modify, click “edit” and you can enable permissions for the report – which is separate from who will receive the email. Once you turn on “set email schedule,” you can designate the date, time interval and even set an end-date (or “none” for indefinite sending).

How to Create a Management Report: Different Kinds, Editing & More | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

These are stylized “presentation-worthy” versions of reports that allow you to include notes. You can also export these into PDF or DocX files and even edit them to have a table of contents. Your team may prefer the standard format, but management reports are a great way to send a professional-looking PDF to share good news around to the team.

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Setting up Inventory in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 06:01:53 GMT

This set of videos focuses on QuickBooks Online Inventory, which is available for QuickBooks Online Plus. The inventory tool offers basic quantity-on-hand tracking and reporting features.

While adding and managing basic products and services is a fairly straightforward process, the full inventory experience is quite a bit more involved and requires regular upkeep.

It’s best to start with inventory as you set up your product list, but you don’t need a clean slate to get set up (just know it will require some extra work). If you are converting from QuickBooks Desktop with existing inventory, there is a different workflow (found here). Note that inventory should be set up immediately after conversion, not later.

How to Create an Inventory Product | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

After enabling inventory tracking (Gear Icon [ ] > Account and Settings > Sales > Products and Services > Track Inventory Quantity on Hand), you will use the same basic workflow to create inventory items as non-inventory and service Items.

For the most part, creating an inventory item will feel very familiar. You're already well aware of how to enter information for sales price/rate, sales tax, and income accounts (if you need a refresher, review "Setting up for Success - Adding Products and Services, Customers, and Vendors"). There are, however, a few key differences and new data fields that now appear in this module.

Initial Quantity on Hand – this should be the number you have in stock right now, at this very moment. Now might be a great time to do a physical inventory of your storeroom, just to make sure. This is important to get this right because going forward, any time you sell or purchase more of an inventory item, this number will change.

Reorder point – set this to whatever feels comfortable to you. There are a number of factors to consider: the size of your storeroom, the frequency of sales (this is where reports come in handy), and how quickly your vendors can send new shipments. You will know best.

Inventory Asset Account – this is an “Other Current Assets” account created by QuickBooks to record the current value of your inventory assets.

Purchasing information – add whatever information your vendor typically provides when you place an order (i.e. model number, part/item name or SKU shows up on the invoice you receive). Also, enter the price you pay.

Expense Account - the chosen Expense account will be the Cost of Goods Sold account which will now appear on your Profit and Loss Statements. QuickBooks will calculate the cost of purchasing these inventory items after you sell it against the revenue from said item.

Inventory products will now display with this additional information on your Products and Services screen.

How to Record Sales of Inventory Products | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Recording the sale of inventory products is identical to how you'd record sales of any non-inventory product …

… save the addition of the quantity field. You can mouse-over the quantity field to see the remaining quantity on hand. Also, be very cognizant of what you put in the quantity field as this will automatically deduct from your standing inventory.

∨

How to Track What You've Sold: Inventory, Summary Reports, & More | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

The Sales by Product/Service Summary Report is the same report you’d typically run to track your overall sales, but the Cost of Goods Sold and Gross Margin columns only apply to your inventory items. You will see the average sales price alongside the COGS figure. The Gross Margin is the revenue made from the sale of the product minus the COGS expense.

QuickBooks Online uses the First-in-First-Out (FIFO) method to average the purchasing costs for COGS when the price of an inventory item is variable. Sound complicated? Don’t worry, QuickBooks calculates those price variations for you. If you're curious about the details on how this works, check out this article.

Keep an eye on your Costs of Goods Sold numbers and the profit margin from those inventory items – make sure what you’re selling makes financial sense to your business.

How to Enter Purchase Orders: Recording, Tracking & More | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

The easiest way to track which items need reordering (based on the quantity you set) is to keep tabs on the stock bar at the top of the Products and Services list. Make it a habit to check every time you navigate to this menu.

When you use purchase orders to reorder goods from vendors through QuickBooks Online, the program will automatically update and accurately track quantities.

It’s also wise to use stock numbers as a reminder to do physical inventory – any time you see a low stock notification, set aside time to look over your stock room to make sure nothing else potentially needs reordering or quantity adjusting in QuickBooks.

Remember, purchase orders are your intent to purchase inventory products. No inventory will be received or processed at that point.

When you're are ready to place an order for more inventory, create a purchase order (Create button [] > Purchase Order). You can pull in existing vendor information, designate a shipping address, and even send purchased items directly to customers when they become available.

You can save customized Open Purchase Order Detail Reports and help your team stay on top of open orders by scheduling them to be emailed on a weekly basis (set for “All Dates” and called something like “Our weekly open purchase orders”). Learn more about customizing and scheduling reports.

How to Handle Inventory From a Vendor: Expenses & Backorders | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Once you (or your customer) receives the inventory from the purchase order, process the open Purchase Order (PO). Select either an expense, check, or bill (review the expense workflow if you’re unsure) depending on when and how you pay your vendor. For all three options, all open purchase orders for the specified vendor will appear on the right after you select the vendor. You can add the transaction to the form or open it to make sure it’s the correct one.

If any numbers were different between the PO and the bill/expense, such as the quantity or amount due, adjust them now. Using this workflow closes the open PO (unless you only received a partial order). Whatever adjustment numbers you entered will be used going forward.

How to Make Adjustments to Your Inventory Levels | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Use the inventory adjustment tool very, very sparingly.

Life happens. Items get lost. Accidents occur. Food spoils. There are a host of use-cases adjusting inventory, but try not to make it a habit. The more changes you make, the more complicated your accounting and explanation of your business’ assets will become.

If you’re constantly finding misalignments between your physical inventory and what’s recorded in QuickBooks, identify the source of the problem and shore it up early. If items are consistently damaged or going missing, work with your team towards operational solutions.

As the narrator notes, QuickBooks will already have Inventory Shrinkage (Cost of Goods or Expense Account) and Charitable Contributions (Expense) Accounts created for you. You can use these accounts for inventory adjustments, but you can also create your own account in the Chart of Accounts (learn more). Quantity adjustments show up on your Inventory Valuation Detail Report (below) alongside other changes that impact inventory quantities.

We’d also recommend utilizing the memo section to write notes detailing the reasons for the adjustment, written so anyone on your team can comprehend the notation.

How to Use Inventory Reports: Tracking, Maintaining, & More | QuickBooks Online Tutorial 2018

Inventory Valuation Summary Report – a “status check” of your current inventory with the calculated average cost per inventory product (based on FIFO).

Physical Inventory Worksheet – hand this to your team when they do a physical count of your stockroom.

Inventory Valuation Detail Report – think of this as a line-by-line history of your inventory products and any changes (i.e. start, bills, purchase orders, and transactions that diminish quantity on hand) that affect them.

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How to Customize Invoices in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 06:46:39 GMT

What impression do you want your invoices to leave on your customers?

A customized invoice, even semi-stylized ones, is an opportunity to enhance the perception of your business. The Custom Form Styles module in QuickBooks Online lets you edit the layout, design, and data fields that appear on your invoices.

There’s nothing wrong with plain invoices. Customers aren’t going to abandon your brand because you use generic sales forms. Invoices do, however, make them think something.

Unlike other branding solutions, this one requires very little effort and has no added cost. You don’t need an MFA to create an eye-catching invoice template. Anyone with QuickBooks Online Essentials and QuickBooks Online Plus can use the Custom Form Styles module to create an attractive, professional-looking invoice.

Why do I need to customize my invoices (and other sales forms)?

Customizing invoices give your communications a bit of texture. Simple changes, such as layout and logo location, can make the difference between staying top-of-mind or getting lost in the noise of email inboxes.

As ProAdvisor and ParkWay Inc. CTO Matthew Fulton reminds us, “It can be easy to forget that to someone else, your invoice is no different than the other 9 forms in front of them.”

You also need to provide customers with the right information. Consider those on the receiving end of an invoice - at a minimum, customers deserve an invoice with relevant information presented in a clear format.

Get started creating customized invoices

To begin, click the Gear Icon () and then select Custom Form Styles. From the Custom Form Styles dashboard, you can manage and edit templates for Invoices, Estimates, and Sales Receipts.

While you can create multiple iterations of a form from a master, you can only apply one template at a time.

Let's create a new template from scratch. Click the New Style button and select “Invoice” from the drop-down.

There are four sections of the customization module: Design, Content, Emails, and Payments. You’ll spend the majority of your time in the Design and Content sections.

The Design Tab

This is where you choose fonts, color-schemes, and your logo. This is also where you can adjust the overall template layout.

The Content tab

Your company information automatically appears in this tab, but you can decide what you want (or don’t want) displayed on the final form.
This is also where you modify data fields (more on that below) and adjust the width of columns.

The Emails tab

You can create a unique invoice email message if you don’t want to use the default.

The Payments tab

This tab is simple but very important if you want customers to pay you electronically directly from the form. If you’re using QuickBooks Payments, QuickBooks Online will automatically update sales information once the payment is processed.

When you’re done editing the template, you can click Preview PDF or Save and Exit to return to the Custom Form Styles dashboard.

The first invoice template you create will become your master default template. To change the default form, click the Arrow Icon () next to the form you want to designate and select “Make Default."

Designing Custom Invoice Templates

When designing your invoice, ask yourself the following:

Appearance – Do you want your brand to appear everywhere on your invoices, or do you prefer a more subtle approach? Try to match your existing marketing efforts to create a sense of uniformity.
Data-fields – What information matters most to your customers? How much information is too much? Do you provide clients with specific units of measurement? How about tracking information, like drivers’ names, to add peace of mind? These can always be updated later on.
Format – Are your invoices easy to read? Where does the most important information appear on your forms? Which data fields are absolutely necessary? Do your customers prefer larger fonts for improved readability? Start with the basics, then add icing to the cake.
Personality and Tone – Is being approachable important to your business? Do you want to sound casual or official? Design accordingly.

Creating a custom logo

When you first create your QuickBooks Online company file, you can add your business logo. This same logo will appear on all of your invoices and sales forms, so take pride in its design and presentation.

Logo edits should be made outside the program before uploading the image. Note that square and circular logos with white backgrounds tend to look the best on invoices. Logos files have a few technical requirements:

Must be one of the following formats: .gif, .bmp, .jpg, .jpe, or .jpeg
Be smaller than 1MB (this helps with loading speed)
Have a bit-depth (aka color-depth) of 24-bits or less and use standard sRGB

Customizing data fields

You can add, remove, or rename certain data fields from the Content Tab. To edit a section, click on the pencil icon () on the preview form. Each section has its own set of customization features.

There are numerous available customization options. We won’t go over everything, but we will highlight a few important areas:

In the “Header” section (top section), you can add up to three custom fields by clicking “+ Custom Field”
In the data table section (middle section), you can edit, remove, or rearrange the item description, quantity, and rate data fields.

Click the blue “Edit Labels and Widths” title at the top to enable the column and data field editor. There’s underlying flexibility in this particular module – for instance, if you prefer to display unit quantities in “lbs,” “grams,” or “boxes,” simply enter the unit of measure into the text box.

To change the order of the columns, grab the square icon and drag it until the solid line becomes dotted.
Use the slider bar to adjust the width of each column. Column width is relative and finite – you may need to narrow columns that are taking up space before you can adjust others.

The “Products/service” line in the data table section includes item categories by default. You can turn these off, but product categories provide customers with more information and you get better data (learn more about item categories – Introduction to Categories in Products and Services).

Any other tips I should keep in mind to be successful?

Let your invoices portray you and your brand in the best light. Treat them you would any other type of communication, be it email, phone call, or face-to-face meeting. Keep them simple but impactful.

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Adding Products and Services, Customers, and Vendors to Lists

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:54:48 GMT

The following tutorials focus on the “items” that you add to lists and use to create sales forms: product or service items, customers, and vendors.

Every time you create a new customer, vendor, or product and service item, you’re adding it to a list. By extension, QuickBooks uses these structured data points to organize your transactions and accounts.

Quick Conversion Reference - Converting from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 16:20:57 GMT

The Quick Conversion Reference briefly outlines the features and benefits available for both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop product lines. Identify which tasks and features you need for your business from the left-hand column and see whether it can be done in either Online or Desktop on the right.

The QuickBooks Guide to Converting QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 03:45:33 GMT

This guide is for anyone converting from QuickBooks Desktop (Pro or Premier) to QuickBooks Online. Each section offers step-by-step guidance and includes visuals, tips and hyperlinks to important resources. Start your conversion from the "Before you Start" section or use the links below to jump to specific points in the conversion process if you've already started.

How to Add Social Media Links to Your Invoice Emails in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:15:52 GMT

Social media is a great way to grow your business' online footprint and requires minimal input. The simple addition of social links can greatly increase awareness of your brand online and offline, which in turn can lead to boosted sales.

In QuickBooks Online, rather than embedding social media buttons in the body of sales forms, you can add clickable hyperlinks to the email message portion of invoices, estimates, and sales receipts.

Why should I add social media links to my Invoices and Sales Form emails?

Adding clickable “like us on Facebook” or “follow our Instagram” hyperlinks to invoice email messages is a simple way to stay connected with your customers, enabling you to broaden your brand’s reach without additional (or costly) marketing efforts. This approach separates

branding and business so the prior doesn’t get lost amongst line items and figures (or vice versa). In short, keep the actual invoice form focused on business.

You should add whatever social channels resonate with your brand. Add your most popular channels, but also consider boosting your newer or less popular outlets if their growth will benefit your long-term strategy. Be sure to add personalized "call to action" messaging to go along with.

Using this creative opportunity to make your brand stand out may have a very positive effect on your bottom line.

Get started adding clickable social media links to Invoice and Sales Form email messages

There are two ways to edit the messages you send to customers when they receive an invoice. From the start, decide whether you want your branded messaging to be part of your default message or a custom template you only send to certain segments of your customer base.

Add social media links for all sales forms (i.e. your default message)

Starting from any page, click the Gear Icon () and select Accounts and Settings (or Company Settings).
Click the “Sales” tab on the left and scroll down until you see the “Message” section. Click the pencil icon () to edit the default email message.

Now, add an enticing “call to action” message and include the full hyperlink for your social media channel with the "http://" or "https://" prefix.

Tip - While you might want to add an eye-catching subject line, don't let that eclipse the purpose of the invoice email. Customers need to know first and foremost that this is an email for a sales form. Strike a balance and don't add unwanted noise to the sales process.

Important - The hyperlink won’t appear clickable while you’re editing the message but don't worry, your customers will be able to click the link once the invoice reaches their inbox. You can always email yourself a copy to confirm it looks perfect.

Click Save and you’re done.

Create a custom template with specific social links for segmented customers

You know your clientele better than anyone else. If you believe certain clients would benefit from connecting over certain social media channels, create a custom form linked to those specific channels.

From any page, click the Gear Icon () and select Custom Form Styles. You can either edit an existing invoice template or create a brand new one for this modest branding campaign.

Go immediately to the “Emails” tab of the Custom Form Styles Module. Write a simple yet compelling “call to action” and add the full hyperlink, including the "http://" or "https://" prefix.

Again, the clickable hyperlink won't appear while you are editing the template or if you go back into the form to make edits.

We recommend trying out a few variations of your template to see which has the biggest impact. Subtle changes to the "call to action" wording, layout, and format can make a significant difference.

Show me why I should add clickable social media links to Invoice and Sales Form emails

My business Facebook account has quite a few followers and I want to grow my Instagram following since it has proven to be a great lead-generation channel. Now, every time I send invoices or sales receipt to customers, there’s a new opportunity to attract more business through branding.

While I have other social media channels, I only want to add ones I want to grow and know will have the biggest impact. Adding too many links will clutter up the email and my customers' inboxes.

Know your audience and match their expectations – if you sell art or photo products, lead with a visually-driven channel like Instagram; if you make instructional videos for the items or services you sell, add a link to your YouTube Channel.

Any other tips I should keep in mind to be successful?

Keep it simple. Less is more.
Make sure you start hyperlinks with "http://" or "https://" or else they will not be clickable.

You can add a URL to the memo section of an invoice or sales receipt, but it will not be a clickable link. In any case, it's best not to mingle marketing and sales information. Keep this type of branding off sales forms.

Check your Progress

Am I Ready to Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online?

What’s Next?

QuickBooks Encyclopedia – Basic Accounting Definitions

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 00:05:53 GMT

Here we cover basic accounting terms and how they are related to QuickBooks. Luckily, QuickBooks doesn’t require you to know complex accounting concepts, but it's good to have a basic understanding of what goes on during the bookkeeping process.

Bookkeeping Workflow Tips

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 08:06:41 GMT

When you’re new to QuickBooks Online, you have an amazing opportunity to learn and incorporate new workflows into your daily routine. Today, we’re bringing you tips and tricks to help you process transactions faster and more efficiently.

While some of these shortcuts are merely for added convenience, others can drastically reduce the time it takes you to complete tasks in QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks Encyclopedia – Essential QuickBooks Online Definitions

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:43:37 GMT

Do more with QuickBooks by knowing exactly what each feature is and does. In this entry, we cover the essential features and workflows of QuickBooks Online.

How to Record Bank Deposits in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:18:48 GMT

After you’ve sent an Invoice and received the payment into your Undeposited Funds account, you need to deposit these payments into an account in QuickBooks (typically into your savings or checking account), just like you would visit the bank at the end of the workday. Remember, transactions in QuickBooks should reflect real life scenarios - if money is in the actual bank, this should be reflected in QuickBooks!

How to Use the Undeposited Funds Account to Receive Payments in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 06:08:21 GMT

The Undeposited Funds account in QuickBooks Online serves a similar function – it’s a special temporary account that QuickBooks uses to hold payments received from invoices before you deposit them into in the bank. This workflow is especially important for QuickBooks users who don't process transactions through QuickBooks Payments and import payment data from external processing services.

How to use Online Banking, Connect Bank Accounts, and Review your Bank Feed in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 15:59:13 GMT

Connecting your bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online is a great way to track your income spending without having to manually enter every transaction. Only recording your income through sales forms while leaving out your expenses provides an incomplete perspective of your business’ overall health, but creating records for every transaction can be a huge task.

If you connect your online bank accounts in QuickBooks Online, the program will automatically download the last 90 days of transactions recorded by your bank. The program will match existing entries already in QuickBooks online and add new records for incoming transactions without a matching entry. This feature ensures your accounts are always up-to-date and drastically reduces the amount of data-entry you need to do on a daily basis.

How to Adjust Invoice Payment Terms in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:16:47 GMT

Invoice payment terms are an agreement between you and your customers regarding when invoice payments are due. “Net” refers to the number of days before the expected payment. Adjust your payment terms to fit the pace of your business, industry, and your relationship with your customers. Even simple things, like net payment terms, set expectations and tone for all parties involved.

Am I Ready to Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online?

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 22:23:37 GMT

We’re here to ensure all the pieces are aligned and everything is set up correctly in QuickBooks Online so you can send your first invoice with confidence.

QuickBooks Online – The Big Picture

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 06:17:17 GMT

For this set of videos, there are no exercises to follow along with. Instead, we insist you simply absorb the broader accounting and workflow concepts introduced in this article. Taking a few minutes to contextualize your business within the broader “how’s” and “why’s” of accounting will go a long way in preparing you for sustain success. So sit back, relax, and let it all sink in.

Your First Hour with QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:34:25 GMT

The dust has settled and you’ve successfully set up your QuickBooks Online in just 15 minutes. Now, let's start building a robust company file and ensure all the parts are aligned. By the end of the hour, you’ll have everything in place and ready to handle the fundamental account tasks for your business.

While we recommend certain time-frames, please go at a comfortable pace - - what's important is following the series in order. If you prefer an activity-based setup workflow, check out our series “Setting up for Success with QuickBooks Online."

Minute 15: Customize your Invoices (and Sales Forms)

(Gear Icon [] > Custom Form Styles > New)

You can start sending invoices using the default template, but you should spend time designing and personalizing them. Even small changes can have a big impact. Sending your first invoice is a milestone for your business, so invest a few minutes towards making a good first impression.

The Custom Form Styles module is where you create and manage your invoice (and sales form) templates. There are lots of tools that will help you enhance different aspects of your invoice. You can make basic layout and design modifications from the "Design Tab." The "Content Tab" is where you can adjust column widths and data fields – not all data fields are enabled by default and there are some you may want to omit. You can also customize the message customers receive along with their invoice in the "Email Tab."

Once you’re done, save the template so you can use it again and again. You can create and save multiple templates for Invoices, Estimates and Sales Receipts. For the complete guide, check out “How to Customize Invoices in QuickBooks Online.”

Minute 20: Decide how you want to get paid for Invoices

(Gear Icon [] > Custom Form Styles > New)

Don’t leave the Custom Form Styles module just yet. Out of the box, customers can’t pay you electronically for invoices until you enable QuickBooks Payments.

QuickBooks Payments is the easiest way to accept invoice payments. Once a payment is received, the system will automatically update your books. While there are nominal fees for processing credit cards, consider signing up for the $0 “Pay as you go” plan so you can at least accept ACH Bank Transfers for free. If you already have a processing service you like and don't want to process credit cards through QuickBooks Payments, we encourage you to continue using it.

To enable online payments, while you're still in the Custom Form Styles module, go to the "Payments Tab" and click the link at the bottom to complete your payments profile (you make changes to from Accounts and Settings > Payments) and follow the step-by-step guide. When you’re done, you’ll be able to select which payment methods you want available to your customers when you create templates in the Custom Form Styles module. This applies to all invoices using the specified template.

If you ever want to disable payment options for a particular customer, you can toggle them off as you’re creating the invoice.

This is what your customer will see when they receive your invoice:

Minute 27: Learn about Receiving Payments and the "Undeposited Funds" Account

Learn more in The QuickBooks Encyclopedia

Take a minute to study the workflow below. In QuickBooks, there are a few types of sales forms: Invoices, Sales Receipts, and Estimates. Which one you use to record payments depends on when your customer paid you.

You use invoices when you sell a product or service and expect to get paid in the future. Once the invoice is paid and the money is received (whether through QuickBooks Payments or some other means), you record the payment in QuickBooks.
You use sales receipts when you sell a product or service and are paid at the time of sale. The payment will be recorded and accounted for in QuickBooks once you send the sales receipt since you’ve already received the payment. This means you don't have to complete the receive payment step.

Upon receiving an invoice payment, process the invoice by clicking () and selecting “Receive payment.” From there, you'll receive the payments against the invoice and deposit those payments into your “Undeposited Funds” account. This is the default “deposit to” account for the Receive Payments feature. Once you receive the payment into the Undeposited Funds account, you need to use the “Bank Deposit" function to record these payments to the correct account in QuickBooks.

You can also receive single payments and deposit them directly into a checking or savings, but there are advantages to following the Undeposited Funds workflow. We’ll cover all of this in the next article after you've received your first invoice payment. For now, we wanted to introduce this concept since this workflow is unique to QuickBooks.

Minute 33: Send your first Invoice

(Global Create []> Invoice)

The foundations have been laid -- you're ready to send your very first invoice!

Click the Global Create () button to start an invoice. Right away, you’ll notice you don't have any customers or products and services to add from the drop-downs, though you do have several default accounts we can use when you begin creating these items. Let's go over each highlighted area of the invoice.

You have two methods for how you build out your customer and products and services lists: build lists all at once or build them as you work. We go over both methods in detail in the QuickBooks Encyclopedia.

For now, let’s get started the latter and create some items as we work. Eventually, you can decide which method you prefer.

(1) Let’s start from the top with your first customer. Since you have anyone in the system yet, click the drop-down and select “+Add New.”

You can simply add their name and click “save” to get rolling with your invoice, but we’re going to dive a bit deeper. Instead, click “+ Details” to bring up the complete customer profile module.

Here’s an important tip - even if you decide to stick with this build -lists-as-you-work method, seize every opportunity to fill out the complete customer, vendor, and product and service information sooner rather than. A few extra minutes spent inputting accurate sales form data will save time in the long run and prevent potential, cascading errors. If you are in an absolute rush, write yourself a note to go back later.

(2) Head down to the product/service table to add your first product and service item. Again, since you don't have anything in QuickBooks yet, click the drop-down and select “+Add New.” The following module will appear:

If you have QuickBooks Online Plus, you can enable Inventory Tracking to track quantities and create purchase orders to send to Vendors from QuickBooks when your stock runs low. Setting up for Inventory is a fairly involved process that applies to specific users, so we will cover that in a different article.

For now, select either a non-inventory product or service your business offers. If you're curious, the bundle option combines multiple products and services into a single item. Depending on whether you selected non-inventory product or service, you’ll see one of two similar variations of the following:

Fill out as much information as you can for the product or service item. The same guidance for customers (and vendors) applies here as well – invest your time entering complete data now rather than later. This is especially important for products and services - - prices and sales tax errors are very difficult to correct after the fact.

What data you enter for a product or service depends on what information you have on hand and what you’re planning to track (for instance, if you use SKUs). Here are some tips to keep in mind as you build your first product or service item:

It’s wise to add a brief item description so customers feel confident about what they’re purchasing.

Adding a picture will help you stay organized, but images aren't isn't customer facing.

The “I sell this product/service to my customers” box is automatically enabled when you create items from a sales form and cannot be turned off. When you create non-inventory items you want to track but don’t sell, you’ll have to create those from a different workflow.

“Is taxable” is automatically enabled when creating a new item (which is why we already set up your Tax Center in the previous article). If you’re selling products, unless you’re selling to states that don’t require, you’re probably going to charge sales tax. In most cases, you don’t charge sales tax for services, but it depends.

Sales Tax can get complicated. You probably already know the sales tax rules for your business or industry. If so, proceed with confidence. If you aren’t familiar with sales tax codes, do some research online (state tax boards are a great place to start) and reach out to a tax professional.

You can create categories for items for better data tracking, but this feature isn't necessary. We will go over categories in more detail in a later article.
The Income Account you select determines how sales income is tracked once it's processed. Basically, this tells QuickBooks what money from the sale of this product or service is for and thus how it should be recorded. QuickBooks Online comes with several essential income accounts right out of the box and we will teach you how to create new ones in the next article.

Initially, it's a good idea to create income accounts that are somewhat broad, but not as general as "products" or "services." Was income related to your design work? A specific type of product? Create incomes accounts at the "category" level. This is also where "sub-accounts" come in to help you stay organized. For instance, you may offer multiple "Design" services and want to track income for each service. You can create a "Design" parent account and sub-accounts for each specific design service you offer.
The sales price/rates you enter are applied every time you add an item to a sales form. You can adjust the rate directly from an invoice, but this change only applies to that specific invoice. If you plan to have special rates for certain customers, it’s best to create two separate items with differentiated prices.

That's all it takes to create a product or service in QuickBooks. Soon, this process will feel very second nature. Keep adding items to your Invoice until you’re finished.

(3) Make sure your payment terms and due date are what you want to offer to with your customers. Learn more about Net Payment Terms.

(4) Since we already set up your online payment options, you can enable them at the top for this invoice.

Tip - As a quick check, always check the “Balance due,” subtotal and sales tax total before hitting send. Ask yourself, do these numbers look right? Are taxable items being taxed? If something's off, these numbers will tell you immediately.

(5) If you want to save and send this invoice later, check the box at the top. There’s another feature called Delayed Charge that saves anticipated charges so they can be added to future invoices so you don't have to create and hold several invoices for long periods of time.

(6) At the bottom, you can preview the invoice or print out a paper version to send. We highly recommend sending Invoices via email so you always have a digital record and can send reminders.

Click “Save and Send” and you’re done.

Congratulations, you’ve sent your first customer invoice in QuickBooks Online!

Minute 41: Build your Products and Services List

(Sales > Products and Services > New)

The next two sections lead with the “build-lists-all-at-once” methodology, which we encourage you to spend the rest of your hour doing. If you want to skip ahead to the next concept at minute 52, please do so.

From the left navigation bar, click on the Sales Tab. The proceeding dashboard is where you can see all of your invoices (including the one you just created). Click the Products and Services sub-tab to bring up the following screen:

Click “New” and create a few more items. This is module is exactly the same as the one you used on your invoice. Spend a few minutes creating 5 or 10 more items from scratch, remembering to include the important information like sales tax and descriptions. With a bit of practice, this entire workflow will feel second nature.

Minute 45: Create your Customer list

(Sales > Customers > New)

Let’s do the same process for your customer list. Click the Customer sub-tab at the top of the Sales Tab dashboard.

You will see your solo customer on the list. You may also notice that you have 1 open invoice (in the grey box). This bar at the top shows all outstanding/open, overdue and paid invoices within the given time periods. Click on squares to sort the list for the segment you’re interested in.

When you click “New customer,” the same familiar module from the invoice will appear. Try adding a handful of your customers to get a solid grasp of the workflow.

Minute 52: Decide if you want to track inventory sooner rather than later

(Gear Icon [] > Accounts and Settings > Sales) or (Sales > Products and Services > New)

We're always talking about planning ahead. If you plan to track inventory quantities, now is the time to set this up. If you have QuickBooks Online Plus, go into Accounts and Settings (Gear Icon [] > Accounts and Settings > Sales) and enable “Track quantity on hand.” We cover the whole inventory set up process here.

Take some time to think about it. If you don’t use inventory now, will you need to track quantities on hand in the future? What about two years from now?

If the answer is yes, it’s best to start using the Inventory feature from the beginning. Going back to re-edit your entire list of products, not to mention the related vendor and expense accounts, is a heavy lift. Instead, save yourself the work and build your Products and Services list for inventory tracking.

Minute 53: Familiarize yourself with the Online Banking feature

(Banking > Add Account)

One the many areas QuickBooks Online shines is Online Banking. You don’t have to decide now, but consider whether or not you want to enable this feature sooner rather than later so you get in the habit.

If you connect your bank accounts to QuickBooks Online, the program will automatically import and create records for transactions recorded on your bank and credit card statements. You can always record individual transactions manually, but this saves a ton of time. This will encourage you to track all income and expenses for your business you have a complete perspective of your business’ overall health rather than specific streams of cash-flow.

You can connect multiple bank accounts to QuickBooks (including credit card and PayPal) from the Banking Tab. Once you connect an account, QuickBooks will download all transactions from the last 90 days. Learn more about "How to Connect My Bank Account in QuickBooks Online."

Finished!

Take a moment to reflect …

As we build your QuickBooks accounts from the ground up, here are some key organizational and operational principles to keep in mind. These will help you feel confident with every decision going forward:

Everything is a process – this is true of most tasks in life, but it's especially true for accounting. Most activities in QuickBooks Online, from Invoicing to Payroll, follow a particular set of processes in very a particular order.

There’s an assumption that QuickBooks has a learning curve. Learning how to do things right takes practice. The methods we recommend in the Getting Started series may not always be the fastest, but if you invest the time to learn these workflows and plan ahead, you will avoid many problems in the future.

Context Matters – accounting is contextual. Many accountants will tell you there’s a “right” way to do accounting. This is a true statement, but “right” is highly dependent on circumstances and industry. There is no single accounting method that will work for everyone. How you get to step 3 for your business depends entirely on how you did steps 1 and 2, information only you (and your accountant) will know.

Make everything simple, relevant and personal – there are names and data points (your Chart of Accounts, for instance) that should be kept fairly standard. At the same time, you have opportunities to personalize your accounting experience. In general, feel free to give customers “nicknames” and rename non-standard accounts (like Undeposited Funds). as long as the names remain relevant and easy to understand for whoever does your bookkeeping. The little things do matter.

Less is more – time and time again, we hear professional accounts recommend the same advice: create fewer accounts and only enabling features/apps you really plan to use. You’re already busy running your business, so aim to make QuickBooks as manageable as possible.

You’ve come a long way in one short hour. When you're ready, check out a few more lessons on the Getting Started with QuickBooks Home Page or see what we recommend for "Your first day with QuickBooks Online."

< Setting up for Success: The Big Picture

Setting up for Success: Next >

> Want a bigger overview? Start with the “Setting up for Success with QuickBooks Online” series

> Want to jump right in? Check out our “How to Use Basic Features and Functions in QuickBooks Online” series

The Fundamentals of QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:33:06 GMT

These videos cover the absolute fundamentals of QuickBooks Online: basic navigation, program structure, the importance of sales forms and lists in QuickBooks Online, online banking and how these all lead you to what is likely your first task – sending an invoice.

Your First 15 Minutes with QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 23:26:43 GMT

Welcome to QuickBooks Online! This is an exciting time. We're going set your business up for success from the start. Before you start sending invoices, there are a few decisions you'll need to make about your accounts and associated preferences.

The QuickBooks Encyclopedia

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:30:14 GMT

Do more with QuickBooks by knowing exactly what each feature is and does. The QuickBooks Encyclopedia is designed for everyone -- those who are brand new to QuickBooks as well as those in need of a quick reference.

How to Use Features and Functions in QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:29:11 GMT

These guides are the source of truth, the what, how, and why behind every feature and function in QuickBooks Online. They provide facts, figures and detailed visual walkthroughs to help you do your QuickBooks accounting quickly and efficiently.

Am I Ready to Get Started in QuickBooks Online?

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:28:19 GMT

When it comes to accounting, many believe it’s better to do things right than do them quickly. We’re here to show you how to accomplish both – including the essentials in the most efficient ways possible.

Follow our checklists to review your progress and ensure everything is in order. If you’ve already completed the task, you can confidently move on. If you need help, click the link and go to that section – and don’t forget to check it off your list!

Setting up for Success With QuickBooks Online

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:27:28 GMT

“Setting up for Success” is a series of snack-sized, task-oriented tutorials curated around specific accounting workflows and the fundamental concepts behind them.

Each article includes a few comprehensive video tutorials and accompanying highlight summaries. While we've handpicked these tutorials for first time QuickBooks Online users, this series is an excellent resource for anyone needing a refresher on QuickBooks Online and accounting basics.

We recommend watching all of the videos as a set so you can confidently complete the specified tasks in QuickBooks Online. If you do decide to skip ahead to specific sections, do set aside time to go back and read the article in its entirety so you have a firm grasp of the fundamental process end-to-end.

Your First Time with QuickBooks Online - Everything You Need for Successful Bookkeeping

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:26:18 GMT

“Your First Time with QuickBooks Online” is a series geared towards first-time QuickBooks users who want to get started bookkeeping right now. These articles cover all of the setup and accounting workflows you need to know for a comprehensive setup, guiding you from your initial sign up through your next financial quarter and beyond.