QuickBooks 2021 For Dummies

Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA, MS in Taxation provides accounting, business advisory, tax planning, and tax preparation services to small businesses. His more than 100 books—including all editions of QuickBooks For Dummies, have sold over 5 million copies.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Quickly into QuickBooks 5Chapter 1: QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business 7Why QuickBooks? 7Why you need an accounting system 8What QuickBooks does 9Why not QuickBooks online? 10What Explains QuickBooks’ Popularity? 11What’s Next, Dude? 12How to Succeed with QuickBooks 13Budget wisely, Grasshopper 13Don’t focus on features 14Outsource payroll 15Get professional help 16Use both the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet 16Chapter 2: The Big Setup 17Getting Ready for QuickBooks Setup 17The big decision 18The trial balance of the century 19The mother of all scavenger hunts 21Stepping through QuickBooks Setup 23Starting QuickBooks 23Using the Express Setup 25The Rest of the Story 32Should You Get Your Accountant’s Help? 33Chapter 3: Populating QuickBooks Lists 35The Magic and Mystery of Items 35Adding items you might include on invoices 37Creating other wacky items for invoices 45Editing items 49Adding Employees to Your Employee List 49Customers Are Your Business 51It’s Just a Job 55Adding Vendors to Your Vendor List 59The Other Lists 63The Fixed Asset Item list 63The Price Level list 64The Billing Rate Levels list 64The Sales Tax Code list 65The Class list 65The Other Names list 65The Sales Rep list 66Customer, Vendor, and Job Types lists 66The Terms list 67The Customer Message list 67The Payment Method list 67The Ship Via list 68The Vehicle list 68The Memorized Transaction list 68The Reminders list 68Organizing Lists 69Printing Lists 69Exporting List Items to Your Word Processor 70Dealing with the Chart of Accounts List 70Describing customer balances 70Describing vendor balances 71Camouflaging some accounting goofiness 71Supplying the missing numbers 77Checking your work one more time 80Part 2: Daily Entry Tasks 81Chapter 4: Creating Invoices and Credit Memos 83Making Sure That You’re Ready to Invoice Customers 84Preparing an Invoice 84Fixing Invoice Mistakes 91If the invoice is still displayed onscreen 91If the invoice isn’t displayed onscreen 91Deleting an invoice 92Preparing a Credit Memo 92Fixing Credit Memo Mistakes 96Printing Invoices and Credit Memos 96Loading the forms into the printer 97Setting up the invoice printer 97Printing invoices and credit memos as you create them 100Printing invoices in a batch 101Printing credit memos in a batch 103Sending Invoices and Credit Memos via Email 104Customizing Your Invoices and Credit Memos 105Chapter 5: Reeling in the Dough 107Recording a Sales Receipt 108Printing a Sales Receipt 112Special Tips for Retailers 114Correcting Sales Receipt Mistakes 115Recording Customer Payments 116Correcting Mistakes in Customer Payments Entries 121Making Bank Deposits 121Improving Your Cash Inflow 124Tracking what your customers owe 124Assessing finance charges 125Dealing with deposits 129Chapter 6: Paying the Bills 131Pay Now or Pay Later? 131Recording Your Bills by Writing Checks 132The slow way to write checks 132The fast way to write checks 138Recording Your Bills the Accounts Payable Way 140Recording your bills 141Entering your bills the fast way 145Deleting a bill 146Remind me to pay that bill, will you? 147Paying Your Bills 149Tracking Vehicle Mileage 152Paying Sales Tax 153Chapter 7: Inventory Magic 155Setting Up Inventory Items 156When You Buy Stuff 157Recording items that you pay for up front 157Recording items that don’t come with a bill 157Paying for items when you get the bill 159Recording items and paying the bill all at once 161When You Sell Stuff 161How Purchase Orders Work 162Customizing a purchase order form 163Filling out a purchase order 163Checking up on purchase orders 166Receiving purchase order items 166Assembling a Product 167Identifying the components 167Building the assembly 168Time for a Reality Check 169Dealing with Multiple Inventory Locations 171Manually keep separate inventory-by-location counts 171Use different item numbers for different locations 172Upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 172The Lazy Person’s Approach to Inventory 173How periodic inventory systems work in QuickBooks 173The good and bad of a periodic inventory 174Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook 175Writing Checks 175Writing checks from the Write Checks window 176Writing checks from the register 177Changing a check that you’ve written 179Packing more checks into the register 180Depositing Money in a Checking Account 181Recording simple deposits 181Depositing income from customers 182Transferring Money between Accounts 185Setting up a second bank account 185Recording deposits into the new account 185About the other half of the transfer 187Changing a transfer that you’ve already entered 187Working with Multiple Currencies 188To Delete or to Void? 188Handling NSF Checks from Customers 190The Big Register Phenomenon 190Moving through a big register 191Finding that darn transaction 191Chapter 9: Paying with Plastic 193Tracking Business Credit Cards 193Setting up a credit card account 194Selecting a credit card account so that you can use it 195Entering Credit Card Transactions 196Recording a credit card charge 197Changing charges that you’ve already entered 199Reconciling Your Credit Card Statement and Paying the Bill 200So What about Debit and ATM Cards? 201So What about Customer Credit Cards? 201Part 3: Stuff You Do from Time to Time 203Chapter 10: Printing Checks 205Getting the Printer Ready 205Printing a Check 208A few words about printing checks 209Printing a check as you write it 209Printing checks by the bushel 211What if I make a mistake? 214Oh where, oh where do unprinted checks go? 215Printing a Checking Register 215Chapter 11: Payroll 219Getting Ready to Do Payroll without Help from QuickBooks 219Doing Taxes the Right Way 220Getting an employer ID number 220Signing up for EFTPS 221Employees and employers do their part 221Getting Ready to Do Payroll with QuickBooks 221Paying Your Employees 223Paying Payroll Liabilities 226Paying tax liabilities if you use a full-meal-deal payroll service 226Paying tax liabilities if you don’t use a full-meal-deal payroll service 226Paying other nontax liabilities 227Preparing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns 228Using the Basic Payroll service 228Using a full-meal-deal payroll service 228Using the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll service 228Filing Annual Returns and Wage Statements 229The State Wants Some Money Too 230Chapter 12: Building the Perfect Budget 231Is This a Game You Want to Play? 231All Joking Aside: Some Basic Budgeting Tips 232A Budgeting Secret You Won’t Learn in College 233Setting Up a Secret Plan 234Adjusting a Secret Plan 237Forecasting Profits and Losses 237Projecting Cash Flows 238Using the Business Planner Tools 238Chapter 13: Online with QuickBooks 239Doing the Electronic Banking Thing 239So what’s the commotion about? 239A handful of reasons to be cautious about banking online 240Making sense of online banking 243Signing up for the service 243Making an online payment 243Transferring money electronically 245Changing instructions 246Transmitting instructions 246Message in a bottle 247A Quick Review of the Other Online Opportunities 248Part 4: Housekeeping Chores 249Chapter 14: The Balancing Act 251Balancing a Bank Account 251Giving QuickBooks information from the bank statement 252Marking cleared checks and deposits 254Eleven Things to Do If Your Nononline Account Doesn’t Balance 258Chapter 15: Reporting on the State of Affairs 263What Kinds of Reports Are There, Anyway? 263Creating and Printing a Report 266Visiting the report dog-and-pony show 268Editing and rearranging reports 269Reports Made to Order 272Processing Multiple Reports 275Your Other Reporting Options 275Last but Not Least: The QuickReport 276Chapter 16: Job Estimating, Billing, and Tracking 279Turning On Job Costing 279Setting Up a Job 280Creating a Job Estimate 281Revising an Estimate 284Turning an Estimate into an Invoice 284Comparing Estimated Item Amounts with Actual Item Amounts 286Charging for Actual Time and Costs 287Tracking Job Costs 288Chapter 17: File Management Tips 289Backing Up is (Not That) Hard to Do 289Backing up the quick-and-dirty way 291Getting back the QuickBooks data you backed up 296Using the Accountant’s Copy 298Working with Portable Files 299Using an Audit Trail 300Using a Closing Password 300Chapter 18: Fixed Assets and Vehicle Lists 303What is Fixed-Assets Accounting? 303Fixed-Assets Accounting in QuickBooks 305Setting Up a Fixed Asset List 306Adding items to the Fixed Asset list 306Adding fixed-asset items on the fly 308Editing items in the Fixed Asset list 309Tracking Vehicle Mileage 310Identifying your vehicles 310Recording vehicle miles 312Using the vehicle reports 313Updating vehicle mileage rates 313Part 5: The Part of Tens 315Chapter 19: Tips for Handling (Almost) Ten Tricky Situations 317Tracking Depreciation 317Selling an Asset 318Selling a Depreciable Asset 319Owner’s Equity in a Sole Proprietorship 320Owner’s Equity in a Partnership 320Owner’s Equity in a Corporation 321Multiple-State Accounting 322Getting a Loan 323Repaying a Loan 323Chapter 20: (Almost) Ten Secret Business Formulas 325The First “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula 326The Second “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula 328The “How Do I Break Even?” Formula 328The “You Can Grow Too Fast” Formula 331How net worth relates to growth 331How to calculate sustainable growth 332The First “What Happens If ?” Formula 333The Second “What Happens If ?” Formula 335The Economic Order Quantity (Isaac Newton) Formula 337The Rule of 72 338Part 6: Appendixes 341Appendix A: Installing QuickBooks in Ten Easy Steps 343Appendix B: If Numbers Are Your Friends 347Appendix C: Sharing QuickBooks Files 365Index 375