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If your company is planning to move in the near future, you’ll want to update your Quickbooks information to reflect this new location. Allowing the old address to remain present in your account may result in erroneous receipts, tax forms, invoices and transaction data. A wrong address won’t affect transaction balances, but it’s still a poor business practice that’s easily prevented by updating your account.

When you are ready to change your company’s address, access the Company menu > Company information. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to change the name of your company, phone number, street address, and more. Go ahead and enter the new address of your company into the respective field. Double check it to make sure it’s correct and click Ok to save the changes the proceed.

That’s all it takes to change your company’s address in Quickbooks! After updating the Company information, all new receipts, invoices, etc. will contain the new address. And if you happen to move back to your old address, you can revert to the old address by following these same steps.

If you pay your employees through direct deposit, you’ll need to perform a couple additional steps to reflect the new address in your payroll payments. Assuming this is done before the next automatic payroll goes out, there shouldn’t be any discrepancies created as a result of the address change. To perform the update to payroll payments, access the Employees menu >Send Payroll data. Check to make sure there are no pending payroll payments and click Send to send a payroll for $0.

So, what’s the purpose of this? Sending a $0 payroll removes the old address from the direct deposit system, essentially updating it with the new address for all future payroll payments. Failure to perform this update will result in the old address being tied to the payroll payments.

Note: some users may experience an error message when attempting to update their company’s address with DIY Direct Deposit enabled. If you’re experiencing this error message, access the Employees menu > My Payroll Services > Account/Billing Information. You will then need to sign into your account using the respective username/password combination. Click sign in and you’ll be given access to your company information, including name and address. Add your new address and click Ok to save the changes and close the menu.

With all of the sensitive financial data a typical Quickbooks account holds, this is something most business owners can not afford to lose. Thankfully, Quickbooks is designed with state-of-the-art coding to protect against sudden crashes, failure and data loss. However, there’s always the possibility of your computer or device containing your Quickbooks files being lost, stolen or otherwise damaged. This is why it’s good idea to routinely back up your files as a precautionary measure.

Create Full Backup Files

It’s a common assumption among some Quickbooks users that portable company files (extension .qbm) are the same as full backups. While portable company files contain the core data of your account, including transactions, customer data, bank accounts, etc., they do not contain elements like letters, images, headers and logs. Because of this, portable company files should not be used as a substitute for full backups.

“Unlike a backup file, it does not include letters, logos, images, and templates. It also doesn’t contain a transaction log (.tlg file), which can be used to restore transaction data with the help of a technical support agent,” states the official Intuit website.

Backup Frequently

So, how often should you back up your Quickbooks files? The best way to protect your financial information is to back up your account daily. I know this might seem a bit over-zealous, but consider this scenario: you spend 4-6 hours adding new transactions into your Quickbooks only, only for your computer to suffer a hardware failure later that night. If you performed a backup after you performed these operations, all of your work will be saved and ready to import into your account. If you did not perform a backup, you’ll lose 4-6 hours of work.

Intuit Data Protect

If you really want to protect your Quickbooks files from ‘unforeseen’ data wipes, you should consider investing in Intuit Data Protect. This subscription-based service creates full backups of your Quickbooks files once a day, saving them online at Intuit’s servers. If something ever happens to your computer, you can rest assured knowing your Quickbooks files are safely stored online.

Currently, Intuit Data Protect is available for the low price of just $4.95/month or $49.95/year. For just pennies a day, you can have the peace of mind knowing that you are safe and protected against data loss. And if you want your entire computer backed up, you can choose the premium Intuit Data Protect plan, which costs $9.95/month or $99.95/year.

Portable company files (.qbm) offer a fast and effective way for Quickbooks users to transfer or otherwise move their data. If you want to email your data to a business partner, for instance, you can save the information as a portable file and attach it to the email. There’s no need to worry about trying to run and save a full backup file, as portable files are easier to create and take far less time.

What Is a Portable Company File?

Think of a portable company file as a barebones version of your Quickbooks data. Unlike a full backup, portable company files do not contain elements like letters, images, logos, templates, etc. Instead, they contain only critical data that’s absolutely necessary. By stripping out unnecessary elements, portable company files are typically a fraction of the size of a full backup, making them the preferred method for emailing and transferring Quickbooks data.

Intuit also recommends the use of portable company files to troubleshoot errors when traditional methods, such as verify and build, are not enough. Each time you restore a portable company file, Quickbooks re-indexes the file, which in turn may identify and solve certain types of errors and bugs.

Whether you’re trying to email/transfer data, troubleshoot a problem, or if you simply want to protect your Quickbooks data in the event of a crash, you can follow the steps listed below to create a portable company file. It’s a quick and easy process that should only take a couple minutes to complete. With that said, portable company files should not serve as a substitute to full backup since they don’t contain all of the elements found in an account.

Steps To Creating a Portable Company File:

1. Launch Quickbooks
2. Choose File from the drop-down menu, followed by Copy.
3. Click on the option titled Portable Company File and select Next.
4. Choose the desired location for your portable company file (eg: hard drive, USB flash drive, CD, DVD, etc.)
5. Double-check ensure the file format is correct (all portable company files save as .qbm extension).
6. Click OK to save the file and close the window.
7. Quickbooks will now close and re-open while simultaneously building your portable company file. It’s important for users to click OK, as selecting the Cancel prevents Quickbooks from closing; thus, stopping the creation of the portable company file.
8. Once Quickbooks restarts, your portable company file should be complete.

One of the most common questions first-time Quickbooks users ask is: what’s the difference between hosted and non-hosted Quickbooks? While they share some similarities, they are two very different types of services. Before you sign up for either hosted or non-hosted Quickbooks, you should first familiarize yourself with the features of each. Only then can you make an educated decision on which service is right for your business.

Hosted Quickbooks is a service offered through the Intuit Commercial Hosting Program that allows licensed third-party companies, such as MyVao.com, to host clients’ desktop Quickbooks. One the client has purchased a desktop version of Quickbooks, he or she can sign up for a professional hosting service through a company that participates in the Intuit Commercial Hosting Program.

Support

Non-hosted Quickbooks clients are limited strictly to Intuit for customer service inquiries. Intuit is known for offering a superior level of support, which is why so many accountants and business owners choose its products, but hosted Quickbooks offers another level of support through the third-party company. Whether need assistant with setup, maintenance, discrepancies or anything else, they’ll guide you through the process.

Performance

There’s also a noticeable difference in performance between hosted and non-hosted Quickbooks. With non-hosted Quickbooks, users are forced to rely on their computer’s processing power to perform Quickbooks-related tasks. Unfortunately, this may bog down the resources on some of the older computers, reducing their speed to a crawl. There’s nothing more frustrating that being forced to stare at a loading screen for 10 minutes.

Thankfully, hosted Quickbooks eliminates this problem by using the hosting company’s resources rather than the client’s. The client simply uses a remote desktop connection terminal to access his or her Quickbooks on the hosting company’s server. Since the actual files are installed on the server, all processes use its resources. This translates into faster speeds and better performance.

Security

Another area where hosted Quickbooks shines is security. A typical user’s Quickbooks account contains a plethora of sensitive financial data that must be kept secure at all times. Hosted Quickbooks tackles the problem of security by using advanced SSL encryption technology, preventing unwanted eyes from prying into clients’ accounts.

If your personal computer is damaged, destroyed or stolen, you can rest assured knowing that all of your sensitive Quickbooks data is stored on a third-party server. All you need to do is download a desktop connection terminal and log into the hosting company’s server.

Still struggling to reprint an existing check in your Quickbooks account?  It’s actually a relatively simple and straightforward process that should only take a couple of minutes. Nonetheless, many first-time Quickbooks users struggle to find the correct way to reprint checks. Since there’s not an option designed specifically for this reason, you have to take a different approach to reprint existing checks.

Steps To Reprint Existing Checks:

1. Click on the Banking menu at the top of your Quickbooks account screen.
2. Select Use Register from the Banking menu.
3. Scroll through the list of bank accounts from the drop-down menu and choose the one containing the check you wish to reprint.
4. Select OK to bring up the bank account register.
5. Browse through the transactions until you find the check.
6. Once you’ve located the check, highlight the number and press T on your keyboard (this is the shortcut for print).
7. Select the Record option at the bottom right and choose Yes when prompted to record changes.
8. Quickbooks will now add the check to your Print Queue.
9. Select the File option at the top of your Quickbooks screen.
10. Choose Print Forms.
11. Choose Print Checks.
12. Select the checks you wish to print and click OK.
13. Verify the correct printer is chosen and select the Print.
14. Your checks should now reprint.

Following the steps above will allow you to reprint existing checks in your Quickbooks account.

Help, My Checks Are Printing In Reverse Order

Some Quickbooks users may experience problems with their checks printing in reverse order. If you’re only printing half a dozen or so checks, this isn’t going to cause any major issues, as you can rearrange the checks once they are printed. However, if you’re printing 100 or more checks, placing them in the correct order can be time-consuming, monotonous task. So, how do you solve this problem?

If your checks are printing in reverse order, the problem is most likely due to a setting on your printer. Some printers are designed to print the last document first, resulting in a backwards stack of checks. Go into your Windows OS Control Panel, right click on the appropriate printer and select Printing Preferences. You should see an option that determines which page prints first. Select the option to print in ‘normal’ not reversed order.

Did this walkthrough help you solve your check printing problem? Let us know in the comments section below!

Most business transactions occur with customers paying for a product or service after it’s delivered. In some cases, however, customers may wish to send several payments before the product or service is delivered so they aren’t left with a hefty bill at the end. Known as prepayments, this offers a convenient way for customers to pay for large orders over a given period of time rather than all it once.

If you’re new to Quickbooks, you might be wondering how exactly to set up prepayments in your account. The standard method of recording transactions doesn’t allow for prepayments, but there are a few different ‘workaround’ solutions to solve this problem. If your business deals with prepayments on a regular basis, keep reading to learn the correct way to record them in Quickbooks.

Follow These Steps To Handle Prepayments In Quickbooks:

1. Click on the Lists button in your Quickbooks account.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Create an account for your customer’s prepayments.
4. Create a non-taxable service on the newly created prepayment account and link the two together.
5. If this is a new customer, go ahead and create a standard account for them. If they already have an account with you, skip this step and proceed to the next step.
6. Use an invoice or sales receipt to record any prepayments made by the customer. Note: you should use the item code that was originally created during steps 3-4. Just remember to set the balance at $0 so it doesn’t interfere with their actual total.
7. Once the product/service is delivered, send an normal invoice to the customer like you would for any other job. The only difference is that you’ll need to adjust the invoice total based on the total amount of the prepayments. If a customer paid $800 on a $2,000 job, then you’ll need to send an invoice for $1,200.
8. The customer should send you a payment for the remaining balance, at which point you should accept it to finish the job.

Quickbooks makes it incredibly easy to handle prepayments. There might not be a specific system in place designed for prepayments, but following the steps previously mentioned allows business owners to handle prepayments with little effort. The most important thing to remember is to adjust the final invoice based on the total amount of the customer’s prepayments.

Did these steps work for you? Let us know in the comments section below!

Setting a closing date is an important step in routine business accounting. Just as the name suggests, closing off a particular time frame prevents other users from adding new transactions, removing old transactions, or modifying key elements within that period. Thankfully, Quickbooks acknowledges the need for business owners to close specific dates. In just a few simple steps, you can easily set a closing date in your Quickbooks account.

Why Do I Need To Set a Closing Date?

The truth is that some businesses may get by just fine without setting closing dates. As long as no employees, accountants or affiliated entities modifies old transactions, there shouldn’t be any issues that arise. However, it’s those rare occasions when an employee accidentally modifies the wrong transaction that can lead to a world of trouble.

Let’s say you are preparing to file your taxes for last year based on the information recording in your Quickbooks account. If an employee accidentally modified a transaction from last year when he or she meant to modify this year’s transaction, it could throw off your taxes. This is easily prevented, however, by setting a closing date once the period has ended.

Steps To Setting a Closing Date:

1. Click on the Edit menu at the top of your Quickbooks account.
2. Choose Preferences from the available options.
3. Select the Company Preferences tab.
4. Scroll down to the Closing Date section and click on the Set Date/Password button.
5. Select a closing date for your account. While Quickbooks allows users the freedom to choose any closing date, most business owners prefer to close their accounts through a monthly, quarterly or yearly period.
6. Although this step isn’t necessary, it’s recommended that users set a password for their closing dates. This allows users to go back and edit transactions and fields in closed dates as long as they have access to the password.
7. When you are finished, click the OK button to save the changes to your Quickbooks account.

With the closing date now set for your Quickbooks account, other users should no longer be able to go back and make changes within that given period. In the event that you need to modify an old transaction in the closed date, you can use the password to access it and make changes. This is why it’s recommended to set a password for your closing dates; otherwise, you could end up hurting yourself in the long run.

An owner’s draw is a separate equity account that’s used to pay the owner of a business. The funds are transferred from the business account to the owner’s personal bank account. If you own a business, you should pay yourself through the owner’s draw account. For more details on how to record an owner’s draw in Quickbooks, keep reading.

Setting Up an Owner’s Draw

Before you can record an owner’s draw, you’ll first need to set one up in your Quickbooks account. Visit the Lists option from the main menu followed by Chart of Accounts. At the bottom of the Chart of Accounts page, you should see an option titled Accounts, click it and choose New. Select Equity and Continue.

Last but not least, you’ll need to enter a name for this account, such as “Owner’s Draw Account” or “Business To Owner Payment,” etc. Quickbooks also gives users the option to include a short description with their owner’s draw account. This is entirely optional, but it’s still a good idea to include some basic information about the account so you’ll know exactly what it’s used for (sending payments to the owner).

Recording an Owner’s Draw

Recording owner’s draw in Quickbooks is a quick and easy process that should only take a couple of minutes (assuming you’ve already set up the account using the steps previously mentioned). To record a transaction between the business and owner’s account, go into the Banking menu in Quickbooks and select the option titled Write Checks.

If you’re the business owner and want to record an owner’s draw, you’ll basically want to write the check out to yourself — like you are paying yourself with a check. Before you finish, however, you’ll need to assign the amount of the check to the equity account in the details menu. Double check this amount to ensure it’s correct. Although you can back to edit these details later, taking an extra minute to double check the amount of your recorded owner’s draw will make things easier in the long run.

Note: funds transferred using owner’s draw shouldn’t be used for business-related expenses. Think of an owner’s draw as your own paycheck. Rather than using this money to buy business-related expenses, it should be used for personal transactions. Business-related expenses, on the other hand, should come from the actual business account.