How to Create and Send an Invoice in Quickbooks
If you’re a business owner who uses invoices, you might be wondering if Quickbooks supports them. And if so, how to create and send invoices using the accounting software. Well, Quickbooks does support invoices, and we’re going to walk you through the steps of using them.
To create an invoice in Quickbooks, log into your account and access the Home page. From here, choose Invoices just below the Customers column, at which point you’ll see a new invoice creation form displayed on your screen.
Next, you’ll need to complete the invoice creation form, starting with the customer’s name. In the Customer name field, click the drop-down box to select the respective customer to whom you wish to send the invoice. Granted, if you haven’t added the customer to your Quickbooks account, you can do so by clicking the drop-down menu and scrolling to the top where there’s an “Add New” option.
In the customer email address field, you should notice Quickbooks automatically adding this information. If you did not enter an email address for the customer, however, the field will be left blank. You can enter the email address directly in this field, however, at which point it will automatically update the respective customer’s profile in your Quickbooks account.
For the billing address field, this information should also be automatically added by Quickbooks. Like the email address, however, it will remain blank if you didn’t enter a billing address in the customer’s profile.
Many users struggle with the “Terms” field, which is undoubtedly somewhat confusing, especially to newcomers. The terms field is used to describe the number of days the customer has to pay the invoice. You can change the payment terms by clicking the drop-down menu associated with this field.
In the date date, you should include the date on which you gave the customer the invoice. Normally, Quickbooks will complete this field automatically, meaning you won’t have to add any extra information. If it does not, however — or if it adds the wrong date — you should manually enter the date.
You aren’t out of the woods just yet. There are a few other fields you must complete when creating an invoice, including the Qty (quantity), rate, description, and amount. When you are finished adding this information, you can create the invoice using the specified data.
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How to Record a Wire Transfer in Quickbooks
It’s not uncommon for businesses to send or receive money using wire transfers. Also known simply as a bank transfer, it’s a quick, easy and efficient way to transfer money between two parties. But if you plan on using wire transfers in your day-to-day operations, you’ll need to record it in your Quickbooks account. Keep reading for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to record wire transfers.
You’ll probably notice that Quickbooks doesn’t have a feature specifically for wire transfers. Nonetheless, recording a wire transfer is still a relatively easy and straightforward task, which is accomplished using either a Cash Expense or Deposits feature (depending on whether it’s a payment or earned money).
If you’re making a payment with a wire transfer, you’ll need to use the Cash Expense feature in Quickbooks. This is done by logging into your account and choosing the plus icon > Expense, at which point you should enter “Wire Xfer” or Wire Transfer” in the “Ref no.:” field (this is used strictly for reporting purposes, so feel free to include your own label.”
Next, fill in the “Date” and “Amount” fields with the appropriate information: the Date field should include the date on which the wire transfer took place, while the Amount field should contain the total amount of the wire transfer. You can also enter the vendor or store associated with the wire transfer in the “Payee” field (this step is optional).
In the “Account” field, select the expense account to track this transaction. When you are finished, click “Save” to save the changes.
If you’re receiving money using a wire transfer, you should use the “Make Deposit” feature. This is done by clicking the + icon > Bank Deposit > Deposit To > choose the bank account receiving the deposit > complete the Date, Received From, Account, Payment Method and Account fields. When finished, click “Save” the save the changes.
It’s important to note that fees are often attached to wire transfers, typically to the receiving party. If you have to pay a fee for receiving a wire transfer, you should record it in the Account and Amount fields. Using the Account field to select the expense account that you wish to track the fee, while the Amount field should contain the total amount of the fee, expressed as a negative number.
Sorry if you were expecting more, but that’s all it takes to record a wire transfer in Quickbooks!
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How to Track Credit in Quickbooks
Does your business have one or more lines of credit? Well, you certainly aren’t alone. Most businesses use at least some credit to fund their day-to-day operations. It’s important to keep track of your credit — a task that’s made easy thanks to Quickbooks.
Tracking a line of credit in Quickbooks is pretty much the same as tracking a credit card. In fact, you’ll actually create a new credit card account in Quickbooks. To do this, click the Gear-shaped icon > Chart of Accounts > New. From here, you should choose “Credit Card” for the type of account, followed by Next. You will then need to enter more information about the line of credit. Follow the instructions on screen while leaving the account balance blank (the account balance should start at $0). After entering the required information, click Finish.
Now if you want to record a line or credit that was extended to your business, you’ll need to follow a slightly difference process. This is done by clicking the plus-shaped icon (+), at which point you should double-check to make sure the “Deposit To” account is correct. Next, scroll down to the “Add New Deposit” section at the bottom and select the credit card account you just credit. Next, enter the amount that was deposited into your business’s bank account, followed by Save.
Of course, most lines of credit carry at least some type of interest. After all, this is how lenders earn their money. When they loan a business money, the business must repay the entire balance of the loan plus interest — at least in most cases. Business owners should record the interest charges associated with their line of credit to maintain proper books. This is done by clicking the plus-shaped icon > Expense > Credit Card, at which point you can choose the LOC credit card amount.
In the “Choose a Payee” field, you’ll need to choose the financial institution. In the “Account” drop-down list, choose the interest expense account that is associated with the line of credit interest, after which you can enter the amount of interest that was charged. When you are finished, click Save to complete the changes.
Keep in mind that Quickbooks doesn’t have a dedicated field to enter an approved credit limit. You can, however, enter the limit in the description field of the line of credit account, or you can include the limit in the account name.
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How to Verify and Rebuild Data in Quickbooks
Intuit’s popular and long-running line of business accounting software Quickbooks features a Verify and Rebuild data tool. Verify Data is used to identify common problems in a company file, whereas Rebuild Data is used to resolve data corruption issues found via the Verify Data tool.
So, when should you use Verify and Rebuild in Quickbooks? There are many instances in which it’s recommended to use these features. If you experience a fatal error when attempting to open or run Quickbooks Desktop, for instance, it’s a good idea to go ahead and run the Verify and Rebuild Data tools. You should also use it when there are discrepancies on your reports; deposited payments appear in the Payments to Deposit window; not all accounts are displayed on your balance sheet reports; names are missing from lists; you have missing transactions; and routinely as part of regular maintenance and checkup to ensure your Quickbooks company file is “healthy.”
Verifying and rebuilding data in Quickbooks is actually easier than it sounds. Start by selecting Windows > Close All, at which point you should choose File > Utilities > Verify Data. Hopefully, the tool won’t detect any problems, in which case it will say “Quickbooks detected no problems with your data.” If the tool discovers a problem, however, it will present a specific error message, which you should reference when searching for a solution.
To rebuild data in Quickbooks, access File > Utilities > Rebuild Data, at which point you’ll receive a message asking you to back up your company file. Assuming you’ve already created a backup of your company file, click OK to proceed. It’s important to note that the rebuild tool requires a company file backup as a safeguard to prevent lost transactions. When performing the Rebuild Data, you’ll be asked to select a location where you want to save your backup. if the backup fails, click “Cancel” at the Rebuild window. The Rebuild Data tool will commence as soon as the backup is complete.
If the Rebuild Data finds damage to your company file, you’ll need to correct the damage manually. On its website, Intuit recommends locating the error by opening the qbwin.log file and searching for resolution at the Quickbooks Desktop Support site. If you run Quickbooks through a third-party hosting service provider, you can also ask your hosting provider for help.
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What is an Assembly Item in Quickbooks?
When using Quickbooks to keep track of your small business accounting, you may come across something called an assembly item. Based on the name alone, it’s difficult to tell what exactly an assembly item is, let alone how it’s used. So, today we’re going to take a closer look at this feature, revealing everything you need to know about assembly items in Quickbooks.
An assembly item is essentially a type of line item used when creating a sales form. They combine existing inventory part items and assembly items into a single convenient item.
To create an assembly item, you’ll need to perform two separate steps. First and foremost, you must define the Bill of Materials, which specifies the components used to make the assembly item. Next, you’ll need to build a quantity of assembly items in Quickbooks so the software can deduct the components from your inventory while also adding new quantities of the respective assembled item.
Keep in mind that once you build an assembly item, the respective components will be removed from your inventory as separate parts, simply because they are now part of a new inventory item, which is known as an inventory assembly. After defining your assembly items, Quickbooks will automatically move them to your inventory via building them. Assembly builds are required to keep the inventory quantities correct. If the items weren’t moved, the inventory quantities would be wrong. When an assembly item is built in Quickbooks, the inventory parts and assembly items (known as subassemblies) are deducted from the inventory; thus, the quantity of the assembly item increases.
Some business owners and accountants assume that group items and inventory assembly items are the same. While they both allow you to record a group of items as a single entry, there are some stark differences between the two that shouldn’t go unnoticed. A group item, for instance, cannot be included in another group item or in an inventory assembly item, while an inventory assembly item can be included in other inventory assembly items and group items.
You also don’t have to option to run reports for specific group items. With inventory assembly items, however, you can build reports. These are just a few of the many differences between group items and assembly items.
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How to Change the Time/Date Format in Quickbooks
Looking to change the time and date format in your Quickbooks accounting software? If you are reading this, I’m assuming the answer is yes. Quickbook allows users to change this format to either a decimal or minutes, depending on the user’s preferences. Unfortunately, this option is somewhat hidden, leaving many users asking the question: how do I change the time and date format in Quickbooks?
First and foremost, it’s important to note that only the administrator can make these changes. If you don’t have admin privileges to your Quickbooks account, you won’t be able to change the time and date format. So, first log into your Quickbooks account as the administrator, after which you can follow the steps listed below to change the time and date format.
Once logged into Quickbooks as the administrator, choose Edit > Preferences > General > Company Preferences tab. From here, you can select either decimal or minutes for your preferred format. With the decimal format, Quickbooks automatically interupts time entries as decimal fractions, so 2 hours and 30 minutes would be represented as 2.5, for instance. The minutes format, on the other hand, is the standard format in which time entries are represented as hours and minutes, such as 2:30 for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Now that you know how to change the time, you might be wondering how to change the date in Quickbooks. After all, this option isn’t available using the steps mentioned above. So, how do you change the date? Well, the date formats for Quickbooks is the same as your Windows operating system.
If you are running Quickbooks on a computer with either Windows 8 or Windows 10, you should open the computer window by pressing the Windows key + E, followed by Settings > PC Settings > Time and language. From here, click the option titled “Change date and time formats” under the “Date and time” section. You can then configure options for the first day of the week, short date, or long date.
The steps for changing the date format in Quickbooks is a little different if your computer runs Windows 7, however. To update the date format, open the Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Formats > choose the format regional language that you prefer. Next, change the date formats to the desired way in which you’d like them to be display, followed by clicking the Apply button. Sorry if you were expecting more, but that’s all it takes to update your date format in Quickbooks!
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How to Delete a Customer in Quickbooks
Want to delete one or more customers from your Quickbooks account? Launched by Intuit, Quickbooks has become the world’s most popular accounting software for small businesses. It offers both cloud-based and desktop solutions, allowing business owners of all shapes and sizes to keep track of their own accounting records. But if you’re new to the software, you may have some questions, such as how to delete a customer.
Within the Quickbooks interface is a helpful section that keeps track of your customers. Known as the “customer lists,” it allows users to organize and view information associated with either of their customers, such as their customers’ names, addresses, payments, balance due, etc. There are times, however, when a business owner or accountant may wish to remove a customer from this list. If the customer is inactive or no longer available, for instance, there’s no point in keeping him or her on your list.
There are a few ways to handle inactive customers such as this, one of which is to simply hide his or her name. After logging into your Quickbooks account, choose Customer Center > Customer & Jobs > double-click the customer whose name you wish to hide > Customer is Inactive > OK. Assuming you followed these steps, the respective customer’s name should no longer appear in your customer list.
Another solution, however, is to merge two or more customers’ name. Of course, this is only recommended if you have multiple copies of the same customer in your list. Merging them together helps to keep your Quickbooks account nice and tidy, making it easier to scour through data. To merge customer names, click Customer Center > Customers & Jobs > double-click on the customer’s name whom you wish to remove > chance the name to the name in the Edit window > OK > Yes.
A third solution is to simply delete the customer’s name. This is the option that many users prefer, simply because it’s the easiest. To delete a customer’s name, fire up Quickbooks and choose > Customer Center > Customers & Jobs > click the customer’s name whom you wish to remove > Edit > Delete Customer: Job. Congratulations, you’ve just deleted the customer’s name from your account. You can repeat these steps to remove additional names from your account.
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How to Reduce the Size of Your Quickbooks Company File
Looking to reduce the size of your Quickbooks company file? Like any other file on your computer, a large size will take up excessive storage space — storage space that could be used for other purposes. But as your business’s accounting needs grow, so will your company file. Thankfully, there’s a simple and effective way to reduce the size of Quickbooks company files. It involves moving the closed transactions into a general ledger; thus, you won’t lose any data but rather it organized your data into the general ledger.
To perform this operation, log into your Quickbooks account and choose File > Utilities > Condense Data > All Transactions > Next > Yes > Condense Data, at which point Quickbooks will begin to condense your data and subsequently reduce the size of your company file.
The process should only take a few minutes, although some larger files may take extra time to complete. In fact, some sources say the Condense Data utility tool could take several hours for large databases, so consider running the process towards the end of your workday. If you expect the process to take a while, simply let it run while you are away. There’s no other action required on your behalf once the Condense Data utility begins.
Keep in mind that you can’t undo the condense data process once it begins. Therefore, it’s a good idea to create a backup of your old company file just in case you wish to revert. Creating backups is a quick and easy process that can save you from heartache, so go ahead and create one before proceeding with the condense data process.
Another option is to simply remove all temporary data from your company file. If you don’t want to use the condense data utility, this is another viable option to consider. Basically, it involves removing all temporary data from your company file. Quickbooks automatically stores a variety of temporary data to the user’s company file. This data isn’t critical, but rather it takes up valuable space while increasing the total size of the user’s company file.
Hopefully, this gives you a better understanding on how to lower the size of your Quickbooks company file.
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How to Connect Bank and Credit Cards to Quickbooks
Quickbooks has become the world’s leading accounting software for small businesses. But if you plan on using it, you’ll probably want to connect your bank accounts and credit cards to the software. Once your bank accounts are connected, Quickbooks will automatically download transaction from it, eliminating the need for manual entering these transactions. So, how exactly do you connect your bank accounts and credit cards to Quickbooks?
To connect a bank account, access the homepage of Quickbooks and choose “Connect an Account” under “Bank accounts.” From here, you can choose your bank and the username and password used to access your account online. Quickbooks will then display all of the accounts you currently have open at this open. You can choose the account you use for your business (not personal), after which you can specify its type. Quuickbooks will automatically download all transactions from the past 90 days, although it won’t display them in your account just yet.
When accessing the “Bank and Credit Cards” page, you’ll see an option for “Category or Match” column sorting. Click either of these to sort the transactions by the respective name. Also, you’ll notice that Quickbooks attempts to find categories for some transactions.
Go ahead and click the first transaction listed to open it. While Quickbooks automatically places transactions in a category that it believes is appropriate, some users may want to change the categories for their transactions — and that’s okay. To change the category of a transaction, open the transaction menu, choose the transaction, select Payee (if the payee is new, click Add), enter a name for the category and click Save.
You’ll also notice that Quickbooks allows users to split transactions if the associated item or items was purchased from different categories in a single transaction. To perform this, simply choose “Split,” after which you’ll see a new Split Transaction window. From here, choose the appropriate categories along with the total dollar amount spent on each category.
Now that you know how to connect a bank account to Quickbooks, you might be wondering how to connect a credit card to Quickbooks. Well, the process is exactly the same. Simply choose “Connect an Account” under the “Bank accounts” menu and follow the steps listed above. You’ll have to enter the type of credit card, along with the username and password used to access your account online. Once Quickbooks connects your credit card, it will automatically important the transactions to your Quickbooks.
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How to Start or Stop Multi-User Hosting in Quickbooks
Quickbooks allows hosting in both single-user and mobile-user mode. When starting or stopping multi-user access, however, you must follow some specific steps. First and foremost, you should check to see if your current computer is already in multi-user access mode by visiting File > Utilities, at which point you’ll see the option “Stop hosting multi-user access” if your computer is currently set up for multi-user access.
So, to start multi-user hosting in Quickbooks, simply click the File drop-down menu, followed by Utilities, then Host multi-user access. It’s a quick and easy process that should only take a few minutes to complete.
To stop multi-user hosting in Quickbooks, click the File drop-down menu, followed by Utilities, then Stop hosting multi-user access.
As the name suggests, multi-user access mode allows Quickbooks to be accessed my multiple users. It’s not uncommon for business owners to allow multiple individuals access to their accounting. If you’re a business owner, for instance, you may want to provide your accountant with access to your Quickbooks, in which case you should set up Quickbooks with multi-user access mode.
Some users have reported an error message when the service user (QBDataServiceUser) fails to create with the correct system rights, however. This error message says “To start or stop hosting multi-user access to company files, you must be logged into Windows as a user who has Administrative privileges. Please log in using an Administrator account and try again.”
This is just one error message associated with Quickbooks multi-user mode. Other error messages may also appear. The good news is that most of these errors are easily fixed using the Quickbooks File Doctor Repair Tool. This tool automatically scans your Quickbooks installation, offering advice on how to fix them. Depending on the specific error, the File Doctor Repair Tool may even fix the error without any extra steps taken on your part.
To fix this error message, you should access Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > QBDataServiceUser > Properties > Group Membership, at which point you can change the access rights to Power User or Administrator. Click Apply, followed by OK, and restart your Quickbooks program to complete the changes. This should resolve the aforementioned error message.
Hopefully, this gives you a better understanding on how to start, stop and fix problems with multi-user access in Quickbooks.
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