Quickbooks Reconciliation Tips and Tricks
Bank and financial reconciliations are an important part of managing a Quickbooks account. Whether you operate a small, medium or large-sized business, you’ll need to perform reconciliations to ensure all the transactions are correct and everything is setup properly. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, accidents and typos are bound to happen. The good news, however, is the reconciliations are designed to find and fix these common problems. Keep reading and we’ll go over some simple tips and tricks for reconciling your Quickbooks account.
First, let’s go over what exactly reconciliations are used for, as some people are hearing this term now for the first time. In short, it’s a process similar to balancing a checkbook. You’ll check the balance on your Quickbooks account to the balance on your bank statement to see if they match. If they match, you know everything is correct and entered in properly. On the other hand, a mismatching balance is a sign that something isn’t right, and you must go back to find out what’s causing the two numbers to be off.
Tip #1 – Using The Reconciliation Feature
If you’ve never reconciled a bank account through Quickbooks before, you might be surprised at just how easy the process is. Before you start, though, you’ll need to have access to your most recent bank statement. Next, launch your Quickbooks account and click the “Banking” tab at the top left corner of the page. From here, you can select “Reconcile” to start the process. It’s literally that easy to start the reconciliation process of a bank account through Quickbooks.
Tip #2 – Check Balances First
The very first thing you should do after starting the bank account reconciliation process is to compare your balances. Check the balance on your Quickbooks account to see if it matches with the balance on your bank statement. Hopefully, it matches up and you can close out of the process. If it doesn’t, however, you’ll need to find out what transaction is causing the problem. Checking the balances first will make the reconciliation process ten times easier.
Tip #3 – Save The Larger Accounts For Last
When you reconcile accounts through Quickbooks, it’s usually best to start with the smaller ones and gradually work your way to the larger accounts. Doing so will get some of the easier accounts out of the way first, allowing you to focus your time and energy on the harder accounts. Of course, some people may have their own preferred method, but I’ve found this is generally helpful when reconciling bank accounts through Quickbooks.
How To Backup Your Quickbooks Files and Data Using a USB Flash Drive
When it comes to sensitive financial documents regarding your company or business, you’ll want to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. If something happened to the server or device where all of your Quickbooks files are stored, you could essentially be placed back at square one, forcing you to physically go back through all of your bank statements and financial documents to get it setup again. Depending on how large and complex your business is, starting your Quickbooks from scratch could take hours if not days. The good news, however, is that you can prevent this from happening simply by backing up all of your Quickbooks files and data. It’s quick, easy, and doing so will give you the peace of mind knowing that your data is safe.
It’s important to note that no one is completely immune from a crash or data wipe. You can take extra precautions by ensuring both your hardware and software is up to date, but there are some things out of your control. One of the most common causes of data wipes are viruses and other forms of malicious software. If your system becomes infected, it could force you to reformat your hard drive, at which point you would lose all locally stored data.
USB Flash Drive Backup
One of the best all-around methods for backing up your Quickbooks data is to use a USB flash drive. You can purchase these from most electronics stores for as little as $10 bucks a piece, which is a small price to pay for the safety and protection of your Quickbooks data. After purchasing one, simply plug it directly into a USB port on your computer (most all modern-day computers feature these ports). Next, launch the Quickbooks application from your computer and exit out of it. Upon exiting, the application should prompt you with a question asking if you would like to backup your data, at which point you should click yes.
Most typical Quickbooks accounts should backup in less than a minute. During this time, be sure to leave the USB flash drive connected to ensure all of the data transfers without corruption. You should then be given a message confirming the backup is complete. In the event of a hard drive crash or virus, you can open this flash drive up to receive your Quickbooks files and data. Just remember to keep the USB flash drive stored in a safe place where it won’t get lost or damaged.
Beginners Tips and Tricks For Quickbooks Software
Quickbooks is the world’s most popular and widely-used accounting software. While there are thousands of professional accountants who use it, Quickbooks was designed so that anyone can manage their own expenses. Whether you consider yourself experienced with accounting or not, chances are you’ll do just fine using their simple and easy-to-navigate interface. Here we’ll take a look at some essential tips and tricks to help beginners get started using the Quickbooks software.
Preparing
First and foremost, you’ll need to gather all of the financial documents regarding your business. This includes any and all bank statements, credit card statements, business expenses, etc. Locating these things now will make the entire Quickbooks setup process easier and less time-consuming. Don’t worry if you are unable to find EVERY financial document related to your business, as you can always go back and it later.
With your financial documents in hand, try to stack them in piles organized by accounts with the newest on top and oldest at bottom. Depending on how large and complex the financial structure of your business is, this may take some time. The good news, however, is that organizing your financial documents will become much easier once you move everything over to the Quickbooks software.
Creating Your Quickbooks Account
There are several different types of Quickbooks software, such as Quickbooks Online, Quickbooks Pro and Quickbooks Premier. It’s important that you choose the one that’s right for your specific needs. Their most basic software, Quickbooks Online, can be accessed and used from any computer, as it’s web-based with no software necessary to install. You can try the online version free to see if it’s what you need. Both the Quickbooks Pro and Quickbooks Premier are upgraded versions that give you more freedom and features, such as the ability to track inventory and manage your company’s payroll.
After choosing the Quickbooks software that’s most aligned with your company’s accounting needs, it’s time to get started. Launch the software and create a company profile including the name, employees, etc. Once you are finished with the introductory, go ahead and start adding all of your bank accounts into the software. Don’t worry, your information is completely safe and you can even schedule your computer to sync with your Quickbooks Online account to download all of your files. In the event you or someone else accidentally deletes your Quickbooks Online information, all of the data will be backed up on your computer.
Top 3 Benefits of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a term that most of us having been hearing more and more of recently. Whether it’s from a cell phone app claiming to offer this technology or a desktop computer program, it seems like cloud computing is everywhere. Even with its newfound popularity, however, few people understand what the term actually means. If you are still scratching your head trying to figure it out, keep reading and we’ll give you a brief overview on cloud computing and the top 3 reasons why you should be using it.
In short, cloud computing refers to the technology of accessing and using files over the internet. This can be something as simple as storing your important documents on a cloud-based server, or it can something more complicated like running resource-heavy applications. Either way, the basic concept is the same – the remote data and applications servers are used to perform the functions directed from your computer or device.
Benefit #1 – Protect Your Data
One of the greatest benefits associated with cloud computing is that it keeps your data protected. If you typically store all of your important files and data on your personal home computer, you risk losing everything in the event of a fire, flood or theft. It’s not something we like to think about, but these things do occur. Depending on how much data you have stored on your personal home computer, one of these incidents could be disastrous. The good news is that all of the files stored remotely through cloud computing would still be safe and available for you to access.
Benefit #2 – Access Files Anywhere
Another reason why you should use cloud computing is that it allows you to access your files anywhere. If you recently took a business trip across country and forget to bring your laptop, you could still access all of your cloud files by using any internet-capable computer. There’s no need to worry about bringing along an important disk, computer or media drive.
Benefit #3 – Transfer Files To Different Devices
A third benefit to cloud computing is the ease of file transfer among different devices. Since all of your files are stored remotely on the “cloud,” you can download them to various computers or devices. Just open up the cloud program from your device and download any files you wish to have to on it. This is much easier and faster than trying to move files back and forth from USB drives or other data storage devices.
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