QuickBooks 2012 For Dummies

QuickBooks "X" For Dummies is a big help for small businessesMost businesses can't afford a Big Four accounting firm to handle their books. That's why so many small-to-mid-size businesspeople turn to QuickBooks to help them keep track of their finances. Bestselling author Stephen Nelson returns with updated coverage of the latest revisions and enhancements to the leading small business accounting software package. After a quick review of bookkeeping basics, you'll discover how QuickBooks can help you build the perfect budget, process payroll, simplify your tax return prep work, create invoices, manage inventory, generate income statements, balance accounts, and much more.You'll learn what you should do before you install and set up QuickBooks, then move onto basic bookkeeping concepts and the fundamentals of building a solid budget. You'll also discover how to enter data, create invoices, and record and print sales receipts; keep track of your inventory, payroll, and budgets; monitor your job costs; and generate the most common financial reports with ease.Veteran author Stephen Nelson updates his perennial bestseller and offers you easy-to-understand coverage of the newest release of QuickBooksEnables you to take control of managing your own business accounting and financial management tasks so you can avoid having to hire expensive outside helpProvides expert advice for getting started with QuickBooks, building the perfect budget, processing payroll, creating invoices, managing inventory, tracking job costs, generating income statements, balancing accounts, creating financial reports, and moreQuickBooks "X" For Dummies helps you handle your financial management tasks more effectively so that you can get down to business! QuickBooks 2012 For Dummies 1 About the Author 7 Contents at a Glance 11 Table of Contents 13 Introduction 21 About QuickBooks 21 About This Book 22 What You Can Safely Ignore 22 What You Should Not Ignore (Unless You’re a Masochist) 23 Three Foolish Assumptions 24 How This Book Is Organized 24 Conventions Used in This Book 26 Part I: Quickly into QuickBooks 27 Chapter 1: QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business 29 Why QuickBooks? 29 What Explains QuickBooks’ Popularity? 32 What’s Next, Dude? 33 How to Succeed with QuickBooks 34 Chapter 2: The Big Setup 39 Getting Ready for the QuickBooks Setup 39 Stepping through the QuickBooks Setup 45 The Rest of the Story 54 Should You Get Your Accountant’s Help? 54 Chapter 3: Populating QuickBooks Lists 57 The Magic and Mystery of Items 57 Adding Employees to Your Employee List 71 Customers Are Your Business 73 It’s Just a Job 76 Adding Vendors to Your Vendor List 80 The Other Lists 84 Organizing Lists 90 Printing Lists 90 Exporting List Items to Your Word Processor 91 Dealing with the Chart of Accounts List 91 Part II: Daily Entry Tasks 101 Chapter 4: Creating Invoices and Credit Memos 103 Making Sure That You’re Ready to Invoice Customers 103 Preparing an Invoice 104 Fixing Invoice Mistakes 110 Preparing a Credit Memo 112 Fixing Credit Memo Mistakes 115 History Lessons 116 Printing Invoices and Credit Memos 117 Sending Invoices and Credit Memos via E-Mail 124 Customizing Your Invoices and Credit Memos 125 Chapter 5: Reeling In the Dough 127 Recording a Sales Receipt 128 Printing a Sales Receipt 132 Special Tips for Retailers 134 Correcting Sales Receipt Mistakes 135 Recording Customer Payments 136 Correcting Mistakes in Customer Payments Entries 140 Making Bank Deposits 140 Improving Your Cash Inflow 143 Chapter 6: Paying the Bills 151 Pay Now or Pay Later? 151 Recording Your Bills by Writing Checks 152 Recording Your Bills the Accounts Payable Way 160 Paying Your Bills 168 Tracking Vehicle Mileage 172 Paying Sales Tax 173 A Quick Word on the Vendor Center Window 174 Chapter 7: Inventory Magic 175 Setting Up Inventory Items 175 When You Buy Stuff 176 When You Sell Stuff 181 How Purchase Orders Work 182 Assembling a Product 187 Time for a Reality Check 189 Dealing with Multiple Inventory Locations 190 The Lazy Person’s Approach to Inventory 192 Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook 195 Writing Checks 195 Depositing Money into a Checking Account 201 Transferring Money between Accounts 205 Working with Multiple Currencies 208 To Delete or to Void? 208 Handling NSF Checks from Customers 209 The Big Register Phenomenon 210 Chapter 9: Paying with Plastic 213 Tracking Business Credit Cards 213 Entering Credit Card Transactions 216 Reconciling Your Credit Card Statement and Paying the Bill 220 So What about Debit Cards? 221 So What about Customer Credit Cards? 221 Part III: Stuff You Do from Time to Time 223 Chapter 10: Printing Checks 225 Getting the Printer Ready 225 Printing a Check 228 Printing a Checking Register 234 Chapter 11: Payroll 237 Getting Ready to Do Payroll without Help from QuickBooks 237 Doing Taxes the Right Way 238 Getting Ready to Do Payroll with QuickBooks 239 Paying Your Employees 240 Paying Payroll Liabilities 242 Preparing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns 244 Filing Annual Returns and Wage Statements 246 The State Wants Some Money, Too 247 Chapter 12: Building the Perfect Budget 249 Is This a Game You Want to Play? 249 All Joking Aside: Some Basic Budgeting Tips 250 A Budgeting Secret You Won’t Learn in College 251 Setting Up a Secret Plan 252 Adjusting a Secret Plan 255 Forecasting Profits and Losses 255 Projecting Cash Flows 255 Using the Business Planner Tools 255 Chapter 13: Online with QuickBooks 257 Doing the Electronic Banking Thing 257 A Quick Review of the Other Online Opportunities 267 Part IV: Housekeeping Chores 269 Chapter 14: The Balancing Act 271 Balancing a Bank Account 271 Eleven Things to Do If Your Non-Online Account Doesn’t Balance 278 Chapter 15: Reporting on the State of Affairs 281 What Kinds of Reports Are There, Anyway? 281 Creating and Printing a Report 284 Reports Made to Order 290 Processing Multiple Reports 292 Your Other Reporting Options 293 Last but Not Least: The QuickReport 293 Chapter 16: Job Estimating, Billing, and Tracking 295 Turning On Job Costing 295 Setting Up a Job 296 Creating a Job Estimate 296 Revising an Estimate 299 Turning an Estimate into an Invoice 300 Comparing Estimated Item Amounts with Actual Item Amounts 301 Charging for Actual Time and Costs 302 Tracking Job Costs 304 Chapter 17: File Management Tips 305 Backing Up Is (Not That) Hard to Do 305 Accountant’s Copy 313 Working with Portable Files 314 Using an Audit Trail 314 Using a Closing Password 315 Chapter 18: Fixed Assets and Vehicle Lists 317 What Is Fixed Assets Accounting? 317 Fixed Assets Accounting in QuickBooks 319 Setting Up a Fixed Asset List 319 Tracking Vehicle Mileage 323 Part V: The Part of Tens 329 Chapter 19: (Almost) Ten Tips for Business Owners 331 Sign All Your Own Checks 331 Don’t Sign a Check the Wrong Way 332 Review Canceled Checks Before Your Bookkeeper Does 332 Choose a Bookkeeper Who Is Familiar with Computers and Knows How to Do Payroll 332 Regularly Review Your Financial Statements 333 Choose an Appropriate Accounting System 334 If QuickBooks Doesn’t Work for Your Business 334 Keep Things Simple 335 Chapter 20: Tips for Handling (Almost) Ten Tricky Situations 337 Selling an Asset 338 Selling a Depreciable Asset 338 Owner’s Equity in a Sole Proprietorship 339 Owner’s Equity in a Partnership 340 Owner’s Equity in a Corporation 340 Multiple-State Accounting 341 Getting a Loan 342 Repaying a Loan 342 Chapter 21: (Almost) Ten Secret Business Formulas 345 The First “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula 346 The Second “Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula 347 The “How Do I Break Even?” Formula 348 The “You Can Grow Too Fast” Formula 350 The First “What Happens If . . . ?” Formula 352 The Second “What Happens If . . . ?” Formula 354 The Economic Order Quantity (Isaac Newton) Formula 356 The Rule of 72 358 Part VI: Appendixes 359 Appendix A: Installing QuickBooks in Ten Easy Steps 361 Appendix B: If Numbers Are Your Friends 365 Keying In on Profit 365 In the Old Days, Things Were Different 370 What Does an Italian Monk Have to Do with Anything? 373 Two Dark Shadows in the World of Accounting 380 The Danger of Shell Games 382 Appendix C: Sharing QuickBooks Files 383 Sharing a QuickBooks File on a Network 383 Installing QuickBooks for Network Use 386 Setting Up User Permissions 387 Specifying Multi-User Mode 390 Working in Multi-User Mode 390 Index 391

QuickBooks 2012 For Dummies is a big help for small businesses

Most businesses can't afford a Big Four accounting firm to handle their books. That's why so many small-to-mid-size businesspeople turn to QuickBooks to help them keep track of their finances. Bestselling author Stephen Nelson returns with updated coverage of the latest revisions and enhancements to the leading small business accounting software package. After a quick review of bookkeeping basics, you'll discover how QuickBooks can help you build the perfect budget, process payroll, simplify your tax return prep work, create invoices, manage inventory, generate income statements, balance accounts, and much more.

You'll learn what you should do before you install and set up QuickBooks, then move onto basic bookkeeping concepts and the fundamentals of building a solid budget. You'll also discover how to enter data, create invoices, and record and print sales receipts; keep track of your inventory, payroll, and budgets; monitor your job costs; and generate the most common financial reports with ease.

• Veteran author Stephen Nelson updates his perennial bestseller and offers you easy-to-understand coverage of the newest release of QuickBooks
• Enables you to take control of managing your own business accounting and financial management tasks so you can avoid having to hire expensive outside help
• Provides expert advice for getting started with QuickBooks, building the perfect budget, processing payroll, creating invoices, managing inventory, tracking job costs, generating income statements, balancing accounts, creating financial reports, and more

QuickBooks 2012 For Dummies helps you handle your financial management tasks more effectively so that you can get down to business!

Take control of the books and keep your finances in the black with QuickBooks and For Dummies With over four million of his books in print, CPA and perennial bestselling For Dummies author Stephen L. Nelson knows how to make QuickBooks and basic accounting easy for the rest of us. Small business owners, managers, and employees: if you want to use QuickBooks for your business, the new edition of this annual bestseller is the best place to start. From setting up the software to creating invoices, recording and paying bills, tracking inventory, getting reports, and c Bestselling author Stephen Nelson returns with big help for small businesses Offering expert advice, bestselling author Stephen Nelson returns with updated coverage of the latest revisions and enhancements to the leading small business accounting software package: QuickBooks.