Receiving Payments in QuickBooks Online

Posted on August 30, 2014 by admin

It’s probably your favorite activity in QuickBooks Online: recording payments from customers. Here are the options.

QuickBooks Online was designed to make your workflow fast, intuitive and easy. This is especially true of the interface upgrade that some of you are seeing now (Intuit is rolling out this new look in stages; screen shots displayed here come from the new version).

Receiving payments from customers has never been particularly difficult or time-consuming in any version of QuickBooks, but recent changes have streamlined the process even more friendly to use.

What really streamlines the process of getting paid, though, is the ability to accept credit and debit cards. We highly recommend that you provide this option to your customers. If you’re not yet set up with a merchant account, we can help you get started.

A Common Scenario

The timing of your payments mandates the type of transaction you’ll use to record them. Probably the most common scenario occurs when you send invoices and your customers submit payments.

There’s more than one way to accept those payments in QuickBooks Online, but probably the easiest involves simply clicking on the Customers tab in the left vertical pane. Then click on the colored tab at the top of the screen that displays a dollar amount and the total number of open invoices.

QuickBooks Online displays a table listing all of the customers with open invoices, the number unpaid and the current balance due. From this screen you can click the Receive payment link to complete the process.

In QuickBooks you’ll be able to record a payment using the customer’s credit or debit card (major cards are supported). When the customers receive invoices, they’ll be able to send their payments back electronically, which will have a positive effect on your accounts receivable and cash flow.

If your system has not been set up for Online Payment or not yet ready to accept cards, let us know and we can assist you in the configuration and any training you or your staff may need.

Other Options

If a customer should pay you at the same time that the products or services are received, you may want to use Sales Receipt and complete the appropriate field.

There are multiple ways to receive payments in QuickBooks Online, depending upon the particular transactions. My note over here is intended to cover cash sales and credit sales. In the near future we plan to cover how best to handle customer deposits, retainer and loans. Please note that the last three items involve a profound accounting knowledge in particular to the concept of accruals.

We are here to help in all your accounting and QuickBooks needs, system review & configuration, training and general support.

Thank you and please contact us if you need any additional information or got questions for us.

Ben Derebie, MBA, CMA

Certified Management Accountant

Advanced Certified QuickBooks & Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor

 

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Do you Manage your Fixed Assets for your Business?

Posted on April 22, 2014 by admin

Managing your Fixed Assets

Do you Manage you Fixed Assets for your Business?

Much of the work you do in QuickBooks is short-term. You send an invoice and it gets paid. Your purchase order is fulfilled, and the products move into your inventory. You run payrolls and submit their related taxes and other payments.

Managing the life cycle of your fixed assets is an exception. Simply, fixed assets are physical entities that you purchase to help your business generate revenue, like property, a vehicle or a commercial oven. By definition, they must be in use for over 12 months.

QuickBooks can help you track these, for both the value of your company and your tax obligations.   The process involves life of the asset and a sale price, should you eventually sell the assets affects the depreciation.

Managing your company’s fixed assets is a complicated process, one that may require some extra assistance.  You may need our help in depreciating the book value of your fixed assets, for your company’s asset management and as well as for your tax obligation.

When to START Tracking:

The best time to start taking care of your fixed asset is right at the beginning of creating the transaction.  At the time you Enter Bills, Write Checks, Enter Credit Card Charges you may want to create the items before you move to the Fixed Asset Manager module.  To do this, click on the Lists menu and select Fixed Asset Item List and populate the field.

Please make a note that, your fixed asset records are critical elements of your QuickBooks company file as it help you create a comprehensive accounting system for your business.

It is possible that you may find the process to be a bit more involved.  If this will be the case, please let us know.  We will be glad to assist you in configuring the asset management and depreciation for your QuickBooks company file. Remember that it takes us a lot less time & money to take preventive steps than to troubleshoot a broken one.

Ben Derebie, MBA, CMA, Advanced Certified QuickBooks & Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor

www.acctbusol.com

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QuickBooks Online – Company Settings & Configuration

Posted on April 22, 2014 by admin

Company Settings & Configuration – Online vestion

QuickBooks Online is designed to work for a tremendously wide variety of business types. Each, of course, has its own workflow and functionality needs. So the site comes with a number of preset defaults, settings that are commonly active in many companies.

You can change these, of course. Click the little gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen and select Company Settings. Please note that this is meant to give you, just the idea.  We will not able to cover the whole setup issues in one or two page article.

Some of the options you deal could be:

  • Service Dates. Do you want a separate field that will distinguish this from other dates on the sales form?
  • Shipping. Do you want invoices, etc., to contain separate fields for this information? Ask us if you’re not sure which account should be used.
  • Terms. The default is Net 30, but you can select from other options.
  • Automatically apply credits. Should your invoices automatically apply existing customer credits?

The Form Delivery area of Company Settings covers a lot of ground. The first issue is major: Customize forms.  Customizing forms may not be easy for every one as you want to change the look and content of your forms.  However, adding or changing your own contact information and visuals like fonts, text size and colors can be done by many users.

You can also change the Delivery method default (print, email or none) and edit the standard message that appears in emailed sales forms.

QuickBooks on Line is one of the easy to use Intuit products.  It is true that you don’t have to be necessarily an Accountant to use the system.

The next section begins with an innovative tool, Invoice Automation that should be used with caution. This allows QuickBooks Online to create invoices for all customers with unbilled activity on a schedule that you specify. You have at least three options here:

  • Request reminders that invoices are waiting
  • Let QuickBooks Online create the invoices, but notify you, or
  • Let QuickBooks Online create the invoices without telling you.

We will be glad to work with you in particular when automation, chart of accounts, and configuration in QuickBooks is involved.  Working with us can help you avoid any potential in having scrambled books, poor cash flow and/or confused customers if this isn’t handled properly.

Vendors & Purchases is up next. You’ll specify your preferences here like billable expenses, markups, terms and automatically-applied bill payments (the latter can be tricky; please let us help here). You’ll also spell out any need for custom fields and custom transaction numbers in purchase orders.

Do you plan to use Time Tracking? You’ll first have to indicate whether you sell services and bill customers for time.

Some sections are pretty straight forward.  Yet, some of the setups are fairly more complicated.  You’ll probably want our assistance with this and let us know.

If you’re new to QuickBooks applications, a good dose training in accounting and the software maybe imperative.  We will be glad to share you our experience, and expertise in Accounting and QuickBooks.  Contact us and you will certainly find us that Accounting & Business Solution is flexible and affordable for your business needs.

We are a one-stop for your Accounting, Bookkeeping, QuickBooks System Setup and support.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you,

Ben Derebie, MBA, CMA, Advanced Certified QuickBooks & Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor

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Spring-Clean Your QuickBooks Company File

Posted on April 1, 2014 by admin

Spring-Clean Your QuickBooks Company File

You might have observed the clues that indicate trouble with your QuickBooks company file. A lot of hiccups out there!  Is it time for a check-up and tune-up?

After a ridiculously long winter, you’ll probably hear few complaints about things like puddles in the street, summer heat and spring cleaning. Most people are eager to throw open the doors and windows, and attack the dirt that the season left behind, both inside and outside of the house.

It’s not hard to see when your home is dirty. QuickBooks company file errors are harder to detect, but they’re there, including the common ones such as:

  • Slow Performance
  • Inability to execute specific transactional operation
  • Program crashes
  • Missing data (items, accounts, names, etc.)
  • Incomplete transactions, and
  • Mistakes in reports etc.

Why does this happen?

One of the reasons QuickBooks files get corrupt is simply because they grow too big and or due to some errors caused by functional users.  This could be a sign for a lack of periodic maintenance by a professional.

We understand the file structure of QuickBooks company data, and we have access to tools that you don’t. We can analyze your file and take steps to correct the problem(s).  In such circumstances, the best you can do is probably to contact us for help.

 What to watch for:

QuickBooks contains some built-in tools that help you manage your QuickBooks performance effectively.  If you are not an Accounting & QuickBooks professional, it is possible that using the tools may do more harms than benefit.

Please note that, QuickBooks allows you to use this tool on your own. But if you really want to preserve the integrity of your data, let us help.

If you lose a significant amount of company data, you can be on your way to lose your QuickBooks company file as well.  It’s happened to numerous businesses.

 Be Proactive

Instead, start practicing good preventive medicine to keep your QuickBooks company file healthy. Once a month or perhaps at a time of your monthly-close and preparation of financial statement you may want to review all your lists, including, your vendor, customer, items, chart of accounts etc. and take corrective actions.

Many of the lists are inter-connected and deletion of one, can impact your financial statement.  Cleaning, Passing adjusting accounting entries, creating & deleting can get a bit technical.  Unless you are a seasoned professional, call us & we will be glad to help.

What Other Issues affect Performance…

It may be time to upgrade your QuickBooks version. One may be using QuickBooks Pro or Premier.  Let us know and we will be happy to help if you are ready for an upgrade or if you only needed a review of your current Accounting & QuickBooks configuration.

Remember that, upgrading alone may not be a solution, if the actual problem was somewhere in the Accounting & QuickBooks configuration.

Have you considered a change in hardware?

Is it getting a little long in the tooth? At least consider adding memory, but PCs are cheap these days. If you’re having problems with your applications, it may be time for an upgrade.

 A Stitch in Time…

We’ve suggested many times here that you contact us for help with your spring cleanup. While that may seem self-serving, remember that it takes us a lot less time & money to take preventive steps with your QuickBooks company file than to troubleshoot a broken one.

We hope this helps a bit.  Let us know if you need any assistance in any of your Accounting, Bookkeeping, QuickBooks System Setup and support.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you,

Ben Derebie, MBA, CMA

Certified Management Accountant

Advanced Certified QuickBooks &

Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor

 

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Help Your Cash Flow!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by admin

5 Ways to Accelerate Your Receivables for your Business

It’s everyone’s problem. Accounts receivable requires constant monitoring. As satisfying as it can be to dispatch a group of invoices, you know that it’s going to take some work to bring in payment for at least some of them.

By using QuickBooks’ tools and complying with accounting best practices, you’ll be more confident during the invoicing stage that what you’re owed will actually be in your bank account in a reasonable amount of time.  Here the 5 ways:

  1. Let customers pay invoices electronically.

You’re likely to get paid faster if you let customers pay electronically when they receive an invoice. You should enable your QuickBooks system to receive payments electronically.

A few years ago, this was a good idea. These days, when people have stopped carrying checkbooks and are accustomed to using their credit / debit cards, mobile devices to pay for merchandise, it has become almost required that you have a system that will help you take advantage of the technology.  If you don’t have one, you may probably be losing some business.

Not set-up with the QuickBooks configuration or a merchant account yet?  Let us know and we can help you get started with the Intuit Payment Network.

  1. Keep a close watch on your A/R reports.

Part of being proactive with your accounts receivable is being vigilant and informed. Create and customize A/R reports regularly that will show you the relevant data for performance.

We can help you creating more complex financial reports periodically, like Statement of Cash Flows to identify your resource and efforts channeled for your business operation.

3.  Send accurate invoices the first time.

Did you know that customers can wait until payment is almost due to dispute the charges in an incorrect billing?  This means that they’ll probably get another 15 or 30 days (or whatever their terms are) to pay the amended bill.

So whoever is responsible for creating invoices needs to be checking and re-checking them. If it’s logistically possible, have them verified by a second employee.

  1. Send Statements / Add Finance      Charges

Invoices are generally the preferred way to bill your customers, but you should consider sending statements, when customers have outstanding balances past a certain date.

You might also want to be assessing finance charges. The revenue you bring in from finance charges will probably be negligible. But sometimes, just knowing that a late payment will be more costly may prompt your customers to settle up in a timely fashion.

  1. Offer discounts for early payment and assess finance / charges.

Offering discounts is a balancing act. You’ll be getting less money for your sale – even 2 percent multiplied by many customers can add up – but it may make sense financially for you to take a small hit in return for being able to be paid sooner than later.

We hope this helps a bit.  Let us know if you need any assistance in this or in any of your Accounting, Bookkeeping and QuickBooks needs.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you,

Ben Derebie, MBA, CMA

Accounting & Business Solutions, LLC.

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Customizing QuickBooks Reports & Bookkeeping Operations

Posted on February 3, 2014 by admin

“The smartest business decisions result from customizing, creating relevant reports, analyzing data and take the best action possible timely…”   

You create invoices and purchase orders. You record payments and complete contact and item records. Process payroll and submit payroll taxes. Receive inventory and pay bills and nurture relationships with customers and vendors.   A good amount of your time is spent on the data creation.  Yet, many of these tasks can be customized & some of them still can be outsourced to save you time & resources.

QuickBooks has automated reports that you can readily use right out of the box.  Many of the standard reports QuickBooks has are very helpful for your business.  Assembling precise data slices, may require customization of the basic reports in the QuickBooks system.  A customized report will certainly provide you with the financial insight and analysis you need, as you make critical decisions about the present and future of your company.

It is the combination of pre-built templates and customization that will give you the opportunity to drill-down or zoom-in onto your financial data to examine the lowest level of your business transaction.

Easy & Affordable

QuickBooks makes reports customization and creation of simple processes that you can learn fairly quickly. Some reports, like A/R or A/P Aging Summary or Sales by Customers etc. don’t require much explanation are pretty institutive.

But financial reports like Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows and General Ledger, Job Costing, etc. – critical as they are to understanding your company’s financial situation, the do require a trained and experienced individual to be of help to you.

We can create, customize and analyze these reports for you periodically, and provide you with insight that can help you make the best business decisions.  Thank you and let us know if we can be of help to you.

Ben D.

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QuickBooks Need care…

Posted on January 27, 2014 by admin

Review General Ledger – Overhaul your Chart of Accounts.

The mechanics of doing this in QuickBooks are fairly uncomplicated, but changing this critical list which is the backbone of your company file, requires solid knowledge of accounting and QuickBooks.  With basic knowledge of both, one can easily add, delete or edit the accounts.

However, to get your desired result, one needs to know which accounts and subaccounts will have impact on your income taxes as well as in your financial reporting for your business operation. They must be structured accordingly, because you want to make sure that any deletion, addition or editing of chart of accounts is done correctly.

For these reasons, we ask that you consult with us if you think your Chart of Accounts could use an overhaul. Our early involvement will be much more economical for you than if we have to come in down the road when your accounts have become dangerously tangled.

We have the expertise in QuickBooks & Accounting for an affordable price.  We can help you set this task, RIGHT from the very first time.

Tax returns & Estimated taxes.

Tax return preparation is for your previous year while estimated tax is for your current and future returns.   There’s no magical formula for estimating how much income tax you’ll owe when all of your income and expenses have not yet been tallied.

We can make this an ongoing task easier for you by creating monthly or quarterly financial reports for your business operation.  If you’re self-employed, you might want to open a low-fee checking account that will serve solely as your tax fund. You can avoid a pleasant surprise at tax prep time, or you may have to dip into other savings to be compliant.  We all know that you don’t want this to happen to any one of us.

Outsource roles / Understand your numbers:

You might have run reports such as Trial Balance, Statement of Cash Flows, etc. in QuickBooks and been puzzled on how to use them.  No Problem!   It often takes an Accountant level individual to understand what they mean for your business.

You can build your own reports using QuickBooks with the already existing resources you have on hand.   We mentioned that we’re happy to create customized reports for your needs and analyze your most critical financial indicators for your business operation.  It is always not easy to run a business and at the same time be an accountant for your operation.

Let us know if you want to use our service, and we will be glad to step-in for you, while you focus on running your business.

Make the most of your staff – Training in QuickBooks:

Appropriate training for your staff can help you ‘Nip’ many of the problems right in the ‘bud’.  Training in QuickBooks, Bookkeeping, & Accounting are essential for your day today business operation.

We have experienced QuickBooks experts and a Certified Management Accountant on board.  Investing in your staff training is important and we will be glad to share our skills, training, and experience with your esteemed business organization.

Accounting & Business Solutions, LLC.

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Make QuickBooks Yours in 2014: Customize

Posted on December 20, 2013 by admin

You can customize many elements of your QuickBooks to improve your workflow, your form output and your business insight.

Think about the last time you bought a car, for example. Did you request additional features for safety or convenience or aesthetic value?

You can’t buy “extras” with your copy of QuickBooks. However, you can select from the different versions Pro, Premier, Enterprise etc. with varied industry specifics.  In addition, you can extend the software’s functionality by installing integrated add-ons from the Intuit App Center.

The customization options in QuickBooks let you:

  • Change the appearance of your desktop
  • Modify forms to include only needed content and to make them look professional and uniform, and
  • Drill down deeply on your company data to isolate only the information that you want.

The benefits of customization are obvious. You’ll accelerate your workflow, polish your image and get insight that helps you make critical business decisions.

Your Desktop View

QuickBooks has always made your most commonly-used tools available on the home page. Intuit revamped this screen very skillfully starting with the 2013 versions, so it’s much cleaner and less cramped. But if you don’t use all of the functions represented by icons, you don’t have to even see them.

You can remove icons like Estimates and Time Tracking if you’re not planning to use those functions, but some icons must remain if specific features are active.

There’s an option to either limit the QuickBooks display to one window or let multiple windows open simultaneously. When you open QuickBooks, you can choose to have a specific set of windows open, the window or windows that were open at the time or just the home page only.

Your Forms

QuickBooks comes with pre-defined forms for transactions like purchase orders, invoices and sales receipts. If you don’t like the look of one of these default templates, you can always get a customized form to suit your business needs.

If you plan to do much all these modification or customization by yourself, it can be challenging and time consuming.

We can help you add new columns and fields, rename and reposition so that your forms contain only the information that your business requires. We can help you add your logo and change fonts and colors.

Your Reports

You already know that you can do simple modification of your reports, like changing the date range. You may even have clicked on Customize Report and altered the column structure of a report and its sort order.

But do you regularly click on the Filters tab in the Modify Report dialog box? If you’re often frustrated because your reports cover too much ground or an inadequate, unfocused level of detail, you should be exploring the options offered in the system regularly. A more targeted group of records or transactions can be customized based on your needs.

Some customization processes will require some upfront time, but once you get going, you’ll wish you’d done this sooner.  If interested, please let us know and we will be glad to tailor the reports to your needs.

In the meantime, we wish you Happy Holidays Season!

Ben D.

Accounting & Business Solutions, LLC.

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Receiving Payments from Customers in QuickBooks Desktop

Posted on November 26, 2013 by admin

Depending on the situation, there’s more than one way to record a payment in QuickBooks. Here are your options.

There are undoubtedly some QuickBooks tasks that are more enjoyable than others. It’s no fun paying bills, for example, and making collection calls on unpaid invoices can be downright unpleasant.

But you probably don’t mind recording payments after all of your hard work creating products or providing services, sending invoices or statements, and generating reports to make sure you’re on top of it all.

QuickBooks offers more than one way to document customer remittances, and it’s important that you use the right one for the right situation.

Which Account your will your money land?

It all depends how your system is configured.  The default is an account called Un-deposited Funds and it is safe to use this account. Then every time you record a payment, there’ll be a Deposit to field on the form.

Talk to us if you’re planning to use any account other than Un-deposited Funds, as you can run into serious problems down the road if payments are earmarked for the wrong account.  This particular account should clear to your bank accounts; if not let us know and we can help out with that situation.

The right tool for the job

Probably the most common type of payment that you’ll process will come in to pay all or part of an invoice or statement that you sent previously.

You’ll record payments on invoices you’ve sent in this window.

To do this, open the Customers menu and select Receive Payments. In the window that opens, click on the arrow in the field next to RECEIVED FROM to display the drop-down list, and choose the correct customer. You’ll see the outstanding balance. Enter the amount of the payment you received in the AMOUNT field and change the date if necessary. Click the arrow in the field next to PMT. METHOD, and then select the type of payment.

If you established a credit card as the default payment method in the customer record, the card number and expiration date will be filled in. If not, or if a check was submitted, enter the information requested.

Any outstanding invoices will appear in a table. Make sure that there’s a check mark in front of the correct one(s). If the customer only made a partial payment, you’ll have to indicate how you want to handle the underpayment. Here are your options:

When you’re done, save the payment.

Instant income

There may be times when you receive payment immediately, at the time your products or services change hands. In these cases, you’ll want to use a sales receipt. Open the Customers menu again and click Enter Sales Receipts.

Select a customer from the drop-down list or add a new one, then fill out the rest of the form like you would an invoice, selecting the items and quantities sold, and indicating

Other scenarios

These are the most common methods of receiving payments from customers, and you may never have to do anything other than simple payment-recording and sales receipts.

But unusual situations may arise that leave you stumped. For example, a customer may want to make a partial, advance payment before you’ve created an invoice or at the same time you’re entering it. At times you might have received an advance or a down payment for a job that is not yet completed.  Or you might have had an over-payment.

No circumstance is exactly alike.  Let us help you when such situations occur.

It’s much easier and more economical for you, to spend some time with us before you record a puzzling payment than to have us track it down later on.

We’ll help ensure that your money makes it to the right destination.

In the meantime, we wish you Happy Holidays!   Accounting & Business Solutions, LLC.

 

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Creating Estimates

Posted on November 21, 2013 by admin

Creating Estimates – In QuickBooks Online

Once you’ve entered customers and items in QuickBooks Online, you’re ready to start creating estimates.

In a previous column, we showed you how you could get up and running with QuickBooks Online and create your first invoice within an hour. You can continue to add customers and items on the fly, but we highly recommend importing and/or entering your customer and item record first.  It’ll make transaction-processing much faster, and there’ll be less stop-and-go and will make it easy on you, too.

We also wrote about the new version of QuickBooks Online last month, which is being rolled out in waves to users. We look forward to the day when you’re all using this much-improved user interface, but until the majority of subscribers are there, we’ll continue to describe your accounting activities using the older version. If you’ve already been upgraded, you should still be able to follow along using the new navigational tools.

Please remember, that we can always help you with the transition either way.

Pitching future sales

If your business uses estimates (sometimes called “quotes”), QuickBooks Online will accommodate this activity nicely.

To create an estimate, click on Customers | Estimate, then click on the arrow next to the Status field at the top of the form.

The drop-down menu displays four options:

  • Pending. You’re creating a new estimate for consideration by the customer.
  • Accepted. Your customer has accepted the estimate.
  • Closed. This can describe one of three situations. You’ve either decided that you’re not going to pursue this product or service, or that you’re not going to bill for it. Estimates are automatically assigned this status when an estimate has been approved and has been added to an invoice.
  • Rejected. The customer has decided not to accept the estimate.

Next, select a customer from the drop-down list or click << Add New >> to create a new record. If you want to enter an expiration date for the estimate, there’s a box on the right of the screen that allows this.

You can enter a message that the customer will see and type a memo (which will not be seen by the customer). You’ll check a box to indicate whether the estimate is to be emailed or printed, and you can attach documents to the form if you’d like.

Finally, QuickBooks Online gives you a number of ways to proceed with the estimate, accessible through a row of buttons in the lower right corner.

QuickBooks Online lets you simply copy your estimate information directly to an invoice. You can also just open a new invoice form for the customer, and information about any pending estimates will appear there.

As always, please let us know if we can answer questions about estimates – or set you up a new system, training, and any other element of QuickBooks Online.

Next month, we’ll talk about creating invoices.

In the meantime, we wish you Happy Holidays!

 

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