QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies PDFDrive com QuickBooks® 2017 For Dummies® Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc , 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 5774, www wiley com Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley So.QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies PDFDrive com QuickBooks® 2017 For Dummies® Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc , 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 5774, www wiley com Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley So.
QuickBooksđ 2017 For Dummiesđ Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright â 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc and may not be used without written permission QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners John Wiley & Sons, Inc is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002 For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-ondemand Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com Library of Congress Control Number: 2016952683 ISBN: 978-1-119-28146-7 (pbk); 978-1-119-28147-4 (ebk); 978-1-11928148-1 (ebk) QuickBooks® 2017 For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box Table of Contents Cover Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here Part 1: Quickly into QuickBooks Chapter 1: QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business Why QuickBooks? What Explains QuickBooks’ Popularity? What’s Next, Dude? How to Succeed with QuickBooks Chapter 2: The Big Setup Getting Ready for QuickBooks Setup Stepping through QuickBooks Setup The Rest of the Story Should You Get Your Accountant’s Help? Chapter 3: Populating QuickBooks Lists The Magic and Mystery of Items Adding Employees to Your Employee List Customers Are Your Business It’s Just a Job Adding Vendors to Your Vendor List The Other Lists Organizing Lists Printing Lists Exporting List Items to Your Word Processor Dealing with the Chart of Accounts List Part 2: Daily Entry Tasks Chapter 4: Creating Invoices and Credit Memos Making Sure That You’re Ready to Invoice Customers Preparing an Invoice Fixing Invoice Mistakes Preparing a Credit Memo Fixing Credit Memo Mistakes History Lessons Printing Invoices and Credit Memos Sending Invoices and Credit Memos via Email Customizing Your Invoices and Credit Memos Chapter 5: Reeling in the Dough Recording a Sales Receipt Printing a Sales Receipt Special Tips for Retailers Correcting Sales Receipt Mistakes Recording Customer Payments Correcting Mistakes in Customer Payments Entries Making Bank Deposits Improving Your Cash Inflow Chapter 6: Paying the Bills Pay Now or Pay Later? Recording Your Bills by Writing Checks Recording Your Bills the Accounts Payable Way Paying Your Bills Tracking Vehicle Mileage Paying Sales Tax Chapter 7: Inventory Magic Setting Up Inventory Items When You Buy Stuff When You Sell Stuff How Purchase Orders Work Assembling a Product Time for a Reality Check Dealing with Multiple Inventory Locations The Lazy Person’s Approach to Inventory Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook Writing Checks Depositing Money in a Checking Account Transferring Money between Accounts Working with Multiple Currencies To Delete or to Void? Handling NSF Checks from Customers The Big Register Phenomenon Chapter 9: Paying with Plastic Tracking Business Credit Cards Entering Credit Card Transactions Reconciling Your Credit Card Statement and Paying the Bill So What about Debit and ATM Cards? So What about Customer Credit Cards? Part 3: Stuff You Do from Time to Time Chapter 10: Printing Checks Getting the Printer Ready Printing a Check Printing a Checking Register Chapter 11: Payroll Getting Ready to Do Payroll without Help from QuickBooks Doing Taxes the Right Way Getting Ready to Do Payroll with QuickBooks Paying Your Employees Paying Payroll Liabilities Preparing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns Filing Annual Returns and Wage Statements The State Wants Some Money, Too Chapter 12: Building the Perfect Budget Is This a Game You Want to Play? All Joking Aside: Some Basic Budgeting Tips A Budgeting Secret You Won’t Learn in College Setting Up a Secret Plan Adjusting a Secret Plan Forecasting Profits and Losses Projecting Cash Flows Using the Business Planner Tools Chapter 13: Online with QuickBooks Doing the Electronic Banking Thing A Quick Review of the Other Online Opportunities Part 4: Housekeeping Chores Chapter 14: The Balancing Act Balancing a Bank Account Eleven Things to Do If Your Non-Online Account Doesn’t Balance Chapter 15: Reporting on the State of Affairs What Kinds of Reports Are There, Anyway? Creating and Printing a Report Reports Made to Order Processing Multiple Reports Your Other Reporting Options Last but Not Least: The QuickReport Chapter 16: Job Estimating, Billing, and Tracking Turning On Job Costing Setting Up a Job Creating a Job Estimate Revising an Estimate Turning an Estimate into an Invoice Comparing Estimated Item Amounts with Actual Item Amounts Charging for Actual Time and Costs Tracking Job Costs Chapter 17: File Management Tips Backing Up Is (Not That) Hard to Do Accountant’s Copy Working with Portable Files Using an Audit Trail Using a Closing Password Chapter 18: Fixed Assets and Vehicle Lists What Is Fixed-Assets Accounting? Fixed-Assets Accounting in QuickBooks Setting Up a Fixed Asset List Tracking Vehicle Mileage Part 5: The Part of Tens Chapter 19: Tips for Handling (Almost) Ten Tricky Situations Tracking Depreciation Selling an Asset Selling a Depreciable Asset Owner’s Equity in a Sole Proprietorship Owner’s Equity in a Partnership Owner’s Equity in a Corporation Multiple-State Accounting Getting a Loan Repaying a Loan Chapter 20: (Almost) Ten Secret Business Formulas The First “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula The Second “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula The “How Do I Break Even?” Formula The “You Can Grow Too Fast” Formula From this point, when someone opens the QuickBooks file, QuickBooks asks for a username and password So for another person to access the QuickBooks file, she must enter the username and password that you set Specify the user’s access QuickBooks displays a dialog box (not shown) asking whether you want the person to have access to all areas of the QuickBooks file or only some areas If you specify that you want to give access to only some areas — the usual case, probably — QuickBooks displays a series of dialog boxes that enable you to set permissions for each area You select the No Access option button to make a particular area (such as banking stuff) off limits for the user, or select the All Areas of QuickBooks option button to give the user permission to create and print transactions and reports in the area, or mark the Selected Areas of QuickBooks option button to give partial access to the area If you choose the Selected Areas option, you need to specify the limited access by stepping through the wizard’s pages and describing in rigorous detail the access you want the user to have You can also specify whether other applications (such as TurboTax) get access to the QuickBooks data Review the user’s access After you finish stepping through the Set Up User Password and Access dialog boxes, QuickBooks shows a summary of the permissions for a user Click the Back button if you need to go back and change permissions for an area, or click Finish to indicate you’re done specifying what the particular user can do QuickBooks displays the User List dialog box again, with the new user added Click Add User to add another new user, click Edit User to edit the selected user, or click Close to close the dialog box A user can log on and open a QuickBooks file from any computer on the network as long as the computer has QuickBooks installed and has network access to the QuickBooks file If a person attempts to open a restricted area or perform an unauthorized action, however, QuickBooks displays a message box indicating that the person lacks the permissions necessary to perform the action Specifying Multiuser Mode For more than one person to work with a QuickBooks file at once, users must work with the QuickBooks file in multiuser mode The first person who opens the file needs to specify multiuser mode for others to be able to open the file To specify multiuser mode, choose File ⇒ Switch to Multiuser Mode You can tell that you’re working in multiuser mode because the QuickBooks title bar indicates so When other people open the QuickBooks file, it automatically opens in multiuser mode For another user to work in singleuser mode, the other users must close the QuickBooks file, and the user who wants to work in single-user mode needs (or may need) to choose File ⇒ Switch to Single-User Mode Working in Multiuser Mode Sharing a QuickBooks file over a network involves a couple of tricks First, you need to make sure that no one who is in single-user mode is using the file that you want to open If someone is using the file, and you try to open it, QuickBooks displays a message indicating that someone is using the company file in single-user mode Tell the person to switch to multiuser mode and then click the Try Again button As soon as you begin creating or editing a transaction, QuickBooks locks the transaction This way, no one else can edit the transaction while you work on it You can tell whether you have a transaction open in edit mode by what QuickBooks displays in the title bar at the top of the form: Editing Transaction Other users can open the transaction while you edit it in edit mode, but they can’t make changes in it until you’re finished If you attempt to edit a transaction that your co-worker Harriet already has open in edit mode, for example, QuickBooks displays a message that reads (and here, I paraphrase) Excuse me, Bubba Harriet is working with that transaction You need to come back later About the Author Stephen L Nelson, CPA, MBA (finance), MS (taxation), has a simple purpose in life: He wants to help you (and people like you) manage your business finances by using computers Oh, sure, this personal mandate won’t win him a Nobel Prize or anything, but it’s his own little contribution to the world Steve’s experiences mesh nicely with his special purpose The managing member of a CPA firm in Redmond, Washington, his business experience includes a stint as an adjunct professor of taxation (S corporations and limited liability companies) at Golden Gate University graduate tax school and a few years working as a senior consultant and CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co (er, yeah, that Arthur Andersen — but, hey, it was nearly 30 years ago) Steve, whose books have sold more than 5 million copies in English and have been translated into 11 other languages, is also the bestselling author of Quicken For Dummies Dedication To the entrepreneurs and small-business people of the world You folks create most of the new jobs Author’s Acknowledgments Hey, reader, lots of folks spent lots of time working on this book to make QuickBooks easier for you You should know who these people are You may just possibly meet one of them someday at a produce shop, squeezing cantaloupe, eating grapes, and looking for the perfect peach First, a huge thanks to the wonderful folks at Intuit who helped me by providing the beta software and other friendly assistance for this and past editions of this book Another big thank-you goes to the editorial folks at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., including Charlotte Kughen (project editor), Kathy Simpson (copy editor), and Katie Mohr (executive editor) Thanks also to David Ringstrom for his technical assistance and superb attention to detail and my work colleague Matt Donohoe, who helped assemble the art for this book Finally, thanks, too, to the composition staff Publisher’s Acknowledgments Executive Editor: Katie Mohr Project Editor: Charlotte Kughen Copy Editor: Kathy Simpson Technical Editor: David Ringstrom Editorial Assistant: Matthew Lowe Sr Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Production Editor: Antony Sami Cover Image: © Diego Cervo/Shutterstock Take Dummies with you everywhere you go! Go to our Website Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch us on YouTube Join us on LinkedIn Pin us on Pinterest Circle us on google+ Subscribe to our newsletter Create your own Dummies book cover Shop Online WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT Go to www.wiley.com/go/eula to access Wiley’s ebook EULA ... ISBN: 978-1-119-28146-7 (pbk); 978-1-119-28147-4 (ebk); 978-1-11928148-1 (ebk) QuickBooks? ? 2017 For Dummies? ? To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www .dummies. com and search for ? ?QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box... additional relevant content at the www .dummies. com website: The online Cheat Sheet is available at www .dummies. com You can find the Cheat Sheet by typing QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search field at www .dummies. com... Windows User’s Guide or one of these books on your flavor of Windows: Windows 7 For Dummies, Windows 8.1 For Dummies, or Windows 10 For Dummies, all by Andy Rathbone Part 1 Quickly into QuickBooks IN THIS PART … Understand the big picture stuff about why, how, and when you install