QuickBooks^® 2010 on Demand

Que Publishing, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA

Acknowledgments

A book such as QuickBooks 2010 On Demand couldn’t possibly be a one-person job. The group behind this project at Que Publishing forms a team in the very best meaning of the word. Everyone worked together to form a completed whole, and the result is the book you hold in your hands. We want to thank Michelle Newcomb, who organized the production of this book every step of the way, patiently working with us on important deadlines. Thank you also to Vic Madeira, who rode shotgun on the technical editing of this book to make sure everything you read is easy to understand and actually works the way it is supposed to. Thanks to Charlotte Kughen, who helped keep the editing a smooth process with frequent communication, Sarah Kearns, Andy Beaster, and the rest of the team at Que. Thanks also to the kind and patient technical support team at Intuit who kept us informed of changes all along the way.

About The Authors

Gail Perry is a CPA and a financial journalist. She is the managing editor of AccountingWEB, the online daily news magazine for members of the accounting profession. She has worked in public accounting for more than 20 years and has spent that time helping her clients make the best use of the tax laws and accounting rules that benefit them and their businesses. Gail is a former senior tax accountant with the Big Four firm Deloitte, where she specialized in providing tax planning services and advice to small businesses.

Gail has a degree in English and journalism from Indiana University and has written hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles about taxes, accounting, personal and business finances, and financial software. She is the author of more than 20 books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes, Quicken All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies, and Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income.

Laura Madeira is the owner of ACS, Inc., a software sales and consulting firm located in the greater Dallas, Texas area. Her affiliations with Intuit include being an Intuit Solution Provider, a select member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network, Advanced QuickBooks Certified, Enterprise and Point of Sale Certified, and member of the Intuit Solution Provider Advisory Council.

Laura is also the author of the QuickBooks 2010 Solutions Guide and QuickBooks Essentials: For All QuickBooks Users, 9+ hours of self-paced video instruction, all offered by Que Publishing.

For more than 22 years, Laura has worked with companies of all sizes and from many varied industries. Her focus has been to help the small to mid-sized growing businesses become more successful by automating their internal accounting processes and reporting functions.

Additionally, Laura is a guest speaker for Intuit, providing training to thousands of consultants and accountants nationwide. She is also a respected author for Intuit who writes technical training materials presentations and documents her research and review of competing software solutions. Her QuickBooks at Year-End document is one of the most sought-after publications that Intuit offers to its ProAdvisor consultants.

Laura has served on two Intuit Customer Advisory Councils, and has been a consultant representing the accountant community during product development for QuickBooks 2010. She earned her accounting degree from Florida Atlantic University.

Laura can be contacted through her website: www.quick-training.com.

We Want To Hear From You!

As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way.

As an associate publisher for Que Publishing, I welcome your comments. You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books better.

Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book. We do have a User Services group, however, where I will forward specific technical questions related to the book.

When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author as well as your name, email address, and phone number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book.

Email:   [email protected]

Mail:     Greg Wiegand
             Associate Publisher
             Que Publishing
             800 East 96th Street
             Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA

Reader Services

Visit our website and register this book at www.informit.com/title/9780789743237 for convenient access to any updates, downloads, or errata that might be available for this book.

Contents

Introduction

1 Setting Up Your Company Accounts with the EasyStep Interview

Installing QuickBooks

Registering QuickBooks

Setting Up QuickBooks in a Multiuser Office

Transferring Data from Older Versions of QuickBooks

Transferring Data from Quicken

Practicing with the Sample Company Files

Entering Data for a New Company

Setting Up a Bank Account

Setting Up Income and Expense Accounts

Stopping, Restarting, and Completing the Interview

2 Setting Up and Using Payroll Features

Setting Payroll and Employee Preferences

Setting Up Employees

Setting Up Employee Payroll Information

Setting Up Employee Payroll Taxes

Setting Up Sick and Vacation Benefits

Setting Up Payroll Deductions

Paying Employees

Printing Paychecks

Using Direct Deposit

Preparing and Paying Payroll Liabilities

Creating Employer Payroll Reports

Reporting Payroll Taxes with Form 941

Paying Federal Unemployment Compensation Taxes with Form 940

Preparing W-2 Forms

Issuing W-3 Forms

Setting Up Independent Contractors for 1099 Forms

Setting 1099 Preferences

Issuing 1099 Forms

Outsourcing Payroll

3 Adding or Changing Information After the EasyStep Interview is Completed

Setting General Preferences

Setting Desktop View Preferences

Setting Accounting Preferences

Adding Accounts

Using Account Numbers

Sorting Lists

Displaying Lists on Forms

Adding Customers

Working with the Customer Center

Adding Vendors

Adding Items

Adding Information “On-the-Fly”

Moving Items on a List

Creating Subitems

Editing Information on a List

Marking List Items Inactive

Deleting Entries on a List

Merging Entries on a List

Printing Lists

Searching for Transactions

4 Invoicing and Collecting Income

Setting Customers Preferences

Creating an Invoice

Previewing or Printing Invoices

Emailing an Invoice

Charging Expenses to a Customer

Setting Finance Charge Preferences

Creating a Monthly Statement

Receiving Payments for Invoices

Issuing a Credit or Refund

Recording Cash Sales (COD)

Making Bank Deposits

Receiving Advances, Retainers, and Down Payments

Issuing Discounts

Tracking Accounts Receivable

Viewing the Open Invoices Report

Creating a Collection Letter

Recording Bad Debts

Working with Multiple Currencies

5 Making Purchases and Recording Payments

Setting Purchases and Vendors Preferences

Working with the Vendor Center

Using Purchase Documents

Reporting on Open Purchase Orders

Receiving Goods

Receiving a Partial Order

Viewing Aging and Unpaid Bills Reports

Paying Bills

Taking Discounts

Using the Check Register

Editing Bill Payments

Deleting Bill Payments

Setting Checking Preferences

Writing Checks

Printing Checks

Voiding Checks

6 Collecting and Paying Sales Tax

Setting Sales Tax Preferences

Creating a Sales Tax Item

Creating a Sales Tax Group

Charging Sales Tax to Customers

Entering Tax Status of Inventory Items

Selling Tax-Exempt Items

Selling Items to Tax-Exempt Customers

Producing Monthly Sales Tax Reports

Paying Sales Tax

Taking a Discount for Early Payment

7 Using Time-Saving Features

Memorizing Transactions

Memorizing a Group of Transactions

Using Memorized Transactions

Scheduling Recurring Transactions

Changing Memorized and Scheduled Transactions

Removing Memorized Transactions

Setting Reminders Preferences

Using Reminders

8 Job Cost Estimating and Tracking

Setting Jobs and Estimate Preferences

Setting Up a Job

Tracking Job Status and Type

Using the Job Type Feature

Tracking Other Job Info

Working With Estimates

Invoicing Against an Estimate

Reporting on Job Estimates vs. Actual

9 Tracking Time

Setting Time Tracking Preferences

Installing the Timer

Exporting Information to the Timer

Creating a New Timer File

Creating a Timer Activity

Using the Timer

Sending Timer Data to QuickBooks

Importing Timer Data into QuickBooks

Transactions

Editing Timer Transactions

Invoicing the Customer for Timer Activities

10 QuickBooks Tips and Tricks

Setting Spelling Preferences

Creating a Budget

Preparing Budget Reports

Setting Up Classes

Using Classes on Sales and Purchase Forms

Reporting on Classes

Creating Payment Terms

Customizing Forms Design

Customizing Forms Data

Making Journal Entries

Using the QuickBooks Remote Access Feature

Creating Mailing Labels

11 Using the QuickBooks Online Features

Choosing Online Banking Mode

Activating Online Services with Your Financial Institution

Retrieving Online Transactions

Adding Transactions to QuickBooks

Renaming Rules—Automatically Assign List Name

Setting Preference to Prefill Accounts

Assigning Transactions to Open Vendor Bills

Assigning Deposits to Open Customer Invoices

Deleting Multiple Transactions

Adding Multiple Transactions

Making Online Payments

Canceling Online Payments

Sending Online Messages

Transferring Money Between Accounts

Getting Reports of Online Transactions

Using the QuickBooks Website

Using the QuickBooks Online Edition

12 Preparing Income Tax Returns

Choosing the Correct Income Tax Form

Assigning Tax Lines to New or Existing Accounts

Using the Income Tax Reporting

Making Estimated Tax Payments

Creating a Tax Return

13 Data Backup and Security

Backing Up Your QuickBooks Company File

Restoring Backed-Up Information

Using the QuickBooks Online Backup Service

Adding or Editing the Administrator Password

Adding New or Editing Existing Users

Closing Financial Records at Year-End

Creating a Closing Date Exception Report

14 Using Inventory Features

Activating Inventory

Setting Up Inventory Items

Adding to Your Inventory

Editing Inventory Items

Creating an Inventory Group

Managing Sales Orders

Setting Up Reminders to Replenish Your Inventory

Preparing Inventory Reports

Counting Your Inventory

Adjusting Inventory Quantities

Adjusting the Default Price of Inventory

15 Recording Your Assets

Reconciling Your Bank Statement

Recording Bank Account Transfers

Tracking Petty Cash

Receiving Credit Card Payments

Recording Deposits as Assets

Purchasing Fixed Assets

Entering Depreciation

Selling Fixed Assets

16 Recording Owners’ Equity

Understanding the Opening Balance Equity Account

Recording Owners’ Distributions

Entering Prior Period Adjustments

Viewing Transactions in Retained Earnings Account

17 Recording Liabilities

Managing Accounts Payable

Recording Payroll Tax Accruals Without a QuickBooks Payroll Subscription

Setting Up Credit Card Accounts

Accounting for Deposits or Retainers

Recording Loans

Using the QuickBooks Loan Manager

Recording Loan Payments

18 Working with Reports in QuickBooks

Company Snapshot

Using the Improved Report Center

Setting Report and Graph Preferences

Modifying Reports

Creating and Using Report Groups

Memorizing Reports

Importing and Exporting Report Templates

Other Reporting Tips and Tricks

Workshops

What’s New and Improved

Index

Introduction

What You’ll Learn

Welcome to QuickBooks 2010 on Demand, a visual quick reference guide that shows you how you can take advantage of the nation’s best-selling small business accounting program.

QuickBooks 2010 is filled with new features. If you’ve used QuickBooks in the past, you’ll welcome this guide that familiarizes you with the new QuickBooks so you won’t feel like an outsider.

The Best Place to Start

The best place to start is with a question. What do you want to know? What’s not working the way you expected it to work? What QuickBooks features do you think should provide you with more value? What kind of information are you trying to get from your QuickBooks program? Ask the question and then go to the table of contents or the index to find the area of the book that contains the answer.

Chances are, you’ll begin by finding the answer to your question, and then you’ll start paging through the book, discovering new features and learning tips for making your QuickBooks experience more worthwhile and efficient.

How This Book Works

Each task is presented on one page or two facing pages, with step-by-step instructions in the left column and screen illustrations on the right. This arrangement lets you focus on a single task without having to turn the page.

Each time you see a numbered step, look at the corresponding figure to see where the number points. And because QuickBooks 2010 on Demand is a full-color book, this image should look just like the one you see on your own computer screen.

Step-by-Step Instructions

This book provides concise step-by-step instructions that show you how to accomplish a task. Each set of instructions includes illustrations that directly correspond to the easy-to-follow steps. Also included in the text are timesavers, checklists, and sidebars to help you work more efficiently or to provide you with more in-depth information. A “Did You Know?” feature provides tips and techniques to help you work smarter, and a “See Also” feature directs you to other parts of the book containing related information about the task. “Important” reminders call your attention to information you won’t want to ignore, and the “Timesaver” feature points out shortcuts for performing common tasks. In addition to the step-by-step instructions, you’ll find sidebars that describe how many standard QuickBooks features work, including the Starting Date, Items, and Classes. There are also sidebars that describe the behind-the-scenes accounting functions that QuickBooks performs on your behalf.