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Class tracking is a convenient and versatile Quickbooks feature that allows users to track balanced based on a variety of different conditions. Whether you want to track balances based on department, office, location, separate branches, or any other meaningful way, class tracking allows you to perform all of these operations and more. If you’re interested in learning more about class tracking, and how to enable it in your account, keep reading.

Benefits of Using Class Tracking

The primary purpose of class tracking is to keep track of balances associated with different locations or elements. Rather than throwing all of your balance data together, you can segment it based on your preferred criteria. Class tracking is especially beneficial for large businesses, as it allows them to better organize and structure their balance data.

Here’s an example of when class tracking may prove useful: a company that runs half a dozen retail stores in different locations can set up class tracking to determine exactly how much revenue is generated from each location. Using this information, the company can identify which stores are generating the most revenue and which ones are generating the least revenue. Of course, this is just one of the many instances where class tracking would prove useful from a business owner’s perspective.

How To Enable Class Tracking:

1. Launch Quickbooks.
2. Access Edit menu > Preferences.
3. Under Preferences, choose Accounting from the list on the left-hand side.
4. Click the box next to the option labeled Use class tracking.
5. When you are finished, click Ok to save the changes and finish the setup.
6. Once class tracking is enabled, a new Class field will be added to all new transactions. Use this field to associate a tracking element to your transactions.

Classes vs Types: What’s The Difference?

Although they share some similarities, there are notable differences between “classes” and “types” in Quickbooks. Understanding the nuances between these two forms of tracking will allow you to make smarter decisions regarding your business accounting. So, what’s the difference between classes and types?

Classes are associated with transactions, whereas types are associated with customers, jobs and/or vendors. If you want to track all sales from a particular customer, you must set up a type-based tracking. On the other hand, if you want to track all sales from a specific location, you can set up class-based tracking. Intuit’s website also provides further information on the differences between classes and types.