How to Track Expenses by Class, Department or Location
One of the perks of using the Quickbooks accounting software is the ability to track your expenses based on a variety of criteria. You can track any business-related expense by department lo location using something known as “classes.” Basically, each class is a unique field that’s used to track a specific type of expense.
Quickbooks allows users to assign classes to their transactions. You can use these classes to track expenses by department, type, location, or pretty much anything else. For instance, you could create a specific class for utility bills, another class for business-related travel expenses, and another one for taxes. Using these classes helps by keeping all of your related expenses neatly together.
When setting up class tracking in Quickbooks, though, there are a few things to consider. First and foremost, it’s important to note that class tracking should be set up on the basis of the type of reporting you wish to do. Also, you should consider the way in which your business will be segmented based on these reports.
It’s also a good idea to set up a genetic “catch all” class for miscellaneous expenses that do not fit into your classes. This class can be titled either miscellaneous or “other,” both of which are perfectly acceptable. This class should be used for all expenses that do not fit into your existing classes.
To set up class tracking in Quickbooks, simply choose Preferences > Edit > Accounting > Company Preferences. From here, select the “Use class tracking” option followed by “OK.” Quickbooks will then ask you to save the changes, at which point you should select “Yes.” In the Preference window that appears, select the “Payroll & Employees” button. Double-check to make sure the “Full payroll” is selected in the features section. Now, choose the “Job Costing, Class and Item tracking for paycheck expenses” option. If you wis hto assign a single class to a complete payroll, select “Entire paycheck.” But if you wish to assign multiple classes to each item in the paycheck, select “earnings item.” When you are finished, click OK to save the changes and close the window. Sorry if you were expecting more, but that’s all it takes to set up class tracking in Quickbooks!
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