2020 QuickBooks Desktop Pro For Lawyers Manual

A Presentation of TeachUcomp Incorporated.
Copyright © TeachUcomp, Inc. 2019
QuickBooks
Desktop Pro for
Lawyers 2020
TeachUcomp, Inc.
…it’s all about you
QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers
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©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 2

Introduction and Overview
Welcome to TeachUcomp, Inc.’s Mastering QuickBooks

Desktop Pro Made Easy™ for Lawyers tutorial. This tutorial
introduces the student to Intuit’s QuickBooks Desktop Pro
accounting program and shows them how to effectively use it.
QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting and
bookkeeping programs available.
This training start by giving a basic user-level skill set to
students with little or no knowledge of the program’s capabilities.
This training then furthers the student’s knowledge of Intuit’s
QuickBooks Desktop Pro application to include more advanced
features and tools.
QuickBooks is a terrific program to know, as the skills one
learns in QuickBooks can save valuable time and money by
automating, organizing and structuring your company’s
bookkeeping.
QuickBooks is a multi-featured program that allows you to
create invoices, create customer statements, pay your bills, write
vendor checks, track inventory, and manage your payroll, as well
as perform many other accounting and business-management
related tasks.
The lawyer-specific content at the end of this tutorial shows
the student how to use Intuit’s QuickBooks Desktop Pro
accounting program to create a legal company file and effectively
use the program, with an emphasis on trust fund management
techniques within QuickBooks Desktop Pro. It is designed to give
a user of the QuickBooks Desktop Pro program specialized skills
in using QuickBooks Desktop Pro within the legal profession.

Table Of Contents
Chapters/Lessons: Pages: Chapters/Lessons: Pages:

CHAPTER 1- The QuickBooks Environment 7 CHAPTER 6- Setting Up Other Items 82
1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs 8-9 6.1- Service Items 83
1.2- The Centers 9 6.2- Non-Inventory Items 83
1.3- The Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcuts 10 6.3- Other Charges 84
1.4- The Open Window List 11 6.4- Subtotals 84
1.5- The Icon Bar 12 6.5- Groups 85
1.6- Customizing the Icon Bar 12 6.6- Discounts 85
1.7- The Chart of Accounts 13-14 6.7- Payments 86
1.8- Accounting Methods 15 6.8- Changing Item Prices 86
1.9- Financial Reports 15 Setting Up Other Items- Actions 87-90
The QuickBooks Environment- Actions 16-19 Setting Up Other Items- Exercise 91
The QuickBooks Environment- Exercise 20
CHAPTER 7- Basic Sales 92
CHAPTER 2- Creating a QuickBooks Company 21 7.1- Selecting a Sales Form 93
2.1- Using Express Start 22-23 7.2- Creating an Invoice 93
2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview 23-25 7.3- Creating Batch Invoices 94-95
2.3- Returning to the EasyStep Interview 25 7.4- Creating a Sales Receipt 95
2.4- Creating a Local Backup Copy 26 7.5- Finding Transaction Forms 96
2.5- Restoring a Company File from a Local Backup Copy 27 7.6- Previewing Sales Forms 96
2.6- Setting Up Users 28 7.7- Printing Sales Forms 96
2.7- Single and Multiple User Modes 29 Basic Sales- Actions 97-100
2.8- Closing Company Files 29 Basic Sales- Exercise 101
2.9- Opening a Company File 29
Creating a QuickBooks Company- Actions 30-36 CHAPTER 8- Using Price Levels 102
Creating a QuickBooks Company- Exercise 37-39 8.1- Using Price Levels 103
Using Price Levels- Actions 104
CHAPTER 3- Using Lists 40 Using Price Levels- Exercise 105
3.1- Using Lists 41
3.2- The Chart of Accounts 41-43 CHAPTER 9- Creating Billing Statements 106
3.3- The Customers & Jobs List 43-45 9.1- Setting Finance Charge Defaults 107
3.4- The Employees List 45-47 9.2- Entering Statement Charges 107
3.5- The Vendors List 48-49 9.3- Applying Finance Charges and Creating Statements 108
3.6- Using Custom Fields 50 Creating Billing Statements- Actions 109
3.7- Sorting Lists 51 Creating Billing Statements- Exercise 110
3.8- Inactivating and Reactivating List Items 51
3.9- Printing Lists 52 CHAPTER 10- Payment Processing 111
3.10- Renaming and Merging List Items 52 10.1- Recording Customer Payments 112
3.11- Adding Multiple List Entries from Excel 52 10.2- Entering a Partial Payment 112-113
Using Lists- Actions 53-63 10.3- Applying One Payment to Multiple Invoices 113
Using Lists- Exercise 64 10.4- Entering Overpayments 113
10.5- Entering Down Payments or Prepayments 114
CHAPTER 4- Setting Up Sales Tax 65 10.6- Applying Customer Credits 114
4.1- The Sales Tax Process 66 10.7- Making Deposits 114-115
4.2- Creating Tax Agencies 66 10.8- Handling Bounced Checks 115-116
4.3- Creating Individual Sales Tax Items 67 10.9- Automatically Transferring Credits Between Jobs 116
4.4- Creating a Sales Tax Group 67-68 10.10- Manually Transferring Credits Between Jobs 116-117
4.5- Setting Sales Tax Preferences 68 Payment Processing- Actions 118-123
4.6- Indicating Taxable & Non-taxable Customers & Items 68 Payment Processing- Exercise 124
Setting Up Sales Tax- Actions 69-70
Setting Up Sales Tax- Exercise 71 CHAPTER 11- Handling Refunds 125
11.1- Creating a Credit Memo and Refund Check 126
CHAPTER 5- Setting Up Inventory Items 72 11.2- Refunding Customer Payments 126
5.1- Setting Up Inventory 73 Handling Refunds- Actions 127
5.2- Creating Inventory Items 73-74 Handling Refunds- Exercise 128
5.3- Creating a Purchase Order 74
5.4- Receiving Items with a Bill 75
5.5- Entering Item Receipts 75-76
5.6- Matching Bills to Item Receipts 76
5.7- Adjusting Inventory 76
Setting Up Inventory Items- Actions 77-80
Setting Up Inventory Items- Exercise 81

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER 12- Entering and Paying Bills 129 CHAPTER 17- Customizing Forms 182
12.1- Setting Billing Preferences 130 17.1- Creating New Form Templates 183
12.2- Entering Bills 130-131 17.2- Performing Basic Customization 184
12.3- Paying Bills 131 17.3- Performing Additional Customization 184-185
12.4- Early Bill Payment Discounts 132 17.4- The Layout Designer 185
12.5- Entering a Vendor Credit 132 17.5- Changing the Grid and Margins in the Layout Designer 186
12.6- Applying a Vendor Credit 132 17.6- Selecting Objects in the Layout Designer 186
Entering and Paying Bills- Actions 133-135 17.7- Moving and Resizing Objects in the Layout Designer 187
Entering and Paying Bills- Exercise 136 17.8- Formatting Objects in the Layout Designer 187
17.9- Copying Objects and Formatting in the Layout Designer 188
CHAPTER 13- Using Bank Accounts 137 17.10- Adding and Removing Objects in the Layout Designer 188
13.1- Using Registers 138 17.11- Aligning and Stacking Objects in the Layout Designer 189
13.2- Writing Checks 138-139 17.12- Resizing Columns in the Layout Designer 189
13.3- Writing a Check for Inventory Items 139 Customizing Forms- Actions 190-195
13.4- Printing Checks 139-140 Customizing Forms- Exercise 196
13.5- Transferring Funds Between Accounts 140
13.6- Reconciling Accounts 141 CHAPTER 18- Estimating 197
13.7- Voiding Checks 142 18.1- Creating a Job 198
Using Bank Accounts- Actions 143-146 18.2- Creating an Estimate 198
Using Bank Accounts- Exercise 147 18.3- Duplicating Estimates 199
18.4- Invoicing from an Estimate 199-200
CHAPTER 14- Paying Sales Tax 148 18.5- Updating Job Statuses 200
14.1- Sales Tax Reports 149 18.6- Inactivating Estimates 200
14.2- Using the Sales Tax Payable Register 149 18.7- Making Purchases for a Job 201
14.3- Paying Your Tax Agencies 149-150 18.8- Invoicing for Job Costs 201
Paying Sales Tax- Actions 151 18.9- Using Job Reports 202
Paying Sales Tax- Exercise 152 Estimating- Actions 203-205
Estimating- Exercise 206
CHAPTER 15- Reporting 153
15.1- Graph and Report Preferences 154 CHAPTER 19- Time Tracking 207
15.2- Using QuickReports 155 19.1- Tracking Time and Printing a Blank Timesheet 208
15.3- Using QuickZoom 155 19.2- Weekly Timesheets 208-209
15.4- Preset Reports 156 19.3- Time/Enter Single Activity 209
15.5- Modifying a Report 157-159 19.4- Invoicing from Time Data 209
15.6- Rearranging and Resizing Report Columns 159-160 19.5- Using Time Reports 210
15.7- Memorizing Reports 160 19.6- Tracking Vehicle Mileage 210-211
15.8- Memorized Report Groups 160 19.7- Charging Customers for Mileage 211
15.9- Printing Reports 160-161 Time Tracking- Actions 212-214
15.10- Batch Printing Forms 161 Time Tracking- Exercise 215
15.11- Exporting Reports to Microsoft Excel 161
15.12- Saving Forms and Reports as PDF Files 161 CHAPTER 20- Payroll 216
15.13- Comment on Report 161-162 20.1- The Payroll Process 217
15.14- Process Multiple Reports 163 20.2- Creating Payroll Items 218
15.15- Scheduled Reports 164-165 20.3- Setting Employee Defaults 218
Reporting- Actions 166-175 20.4- Setting Up Employee Payroll Information 218-219
Reporting- Exercise 176 20.5- Creating Payroll Schedules 220
20.6- Creating Scheduled Paychecks 220
CHAPTER 16- Using Graphs 177 20.7- Creating Unscheduled Paychecks 221
16.1- Using Graphs 178 20.8- Creating Termination Paychecks 221
16.2- Company Snapshot 179 20.9- Voiding Paychecks 222
Using Graphs- Actions 180 20.10- Tracking Your Tax Liabilities 222
Using Graphs- Exercise 181 20.11- Paying Payroll Tax Liabilities 223
20.12- Adjusting Payroll Liabilities 223
20.13- Entering Liability Refund Checks 224
20.14- Process Payroll Forms 224
20.15- Tracking Workers Compensation 225
Payroll- Actions 226-232
Payroll- Exercise 233

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER 21- Using Credit Card Accounts 234 CHAPTER 27- Using the Accountant’s Review 286
21.1- Creating Credit Card Accounts 235 27.1- Creating an Accountant’s Copy 287
21.2- Entering Charges on Credit Cards 235-236 27.2- Transferring an Accountant’s Copy 287
21.3- Reconciling and Paying Credit Cards 236 27.3- Importing Accountant’s Changes 288
Using Credit Card Accounts- Actions 237-238 27.4- Removing Restrictions 288
Using Credit Card Accounts- Exercise 239 Using the Accountant’s Review- Actions 289-290
Using the Accountant’s Review- Exercise 291
CHAPTER 22- Assets and Liabilities 240
22.1- Assets and Liabilities 241 CHAPTER 28- Using the Help Menu 292
22.2- Creating and Using Other Current Asset Accounts 241-242 28.1- Using Help 293
22.3- Removing Value from Other Current Asset Accounts 242 Using the Help Menu- Actions 294
22.4- Creating Fixed Asset Accounts 243 Using the Help Menu- Exercise 295
22.5- Creating Liability Accounts 244
22.6- Setting the Original Cost of the Fixed Asset 244 CHAPTER 29- Creating a Legal Company File 296
22.7- Tracking Depreciation 244 29.1- Making a Legal Company Using Express Start 297-298
22.8- The Loan Manager 245 29.2- Making a Legal Company Using the EasyStep Interview 298-300
22.9- The Fixed Asset Item List 246 29.3- Reviewing the Default Chart of Accounts 300
Assets and Liabilities- Actions 247-249 29.4- Entering Vendors 301
Assets and Liabilities- Exercise 250-251 29.5- Entering Clients and Cases 301
29.6- Enabling Class Tracking for Law Firms 302
CHAPTER 23- Equity Accounts 252 29.7- Creating Billing Line Items 303
23.1- Equity Accounts 253 Creating a Legal Company File- Actions 304-308
23.2- Recording an Owner’s Draw 253 Creating a Legal Company File- Exercises 309-312
23.3- Recording a Capital Investment 253
Equity Accounts- Actions 254 CHAPTER 30- Setting Up a Trust Account 313
Equity Accounts- Exercise 255 30.1- What is an IOLTA? 314
30.2- Creating Accounts for Trust Management 314-315
CHAPTER 24- Writing Letters with QuickBooks 256 30.3- Creating Items for Trust Management 315
24.1- Using the Letters and Envelopes Wizard 257 Setting Up a Trust Account- Actions 316-317
24.2- Editing Letter Templates 257 Setting Up a Trust Account- Exercises 318-319
Writing Letters with QuickBooks- Actions 258
Writing Letters with QuickBooks- Exercise 259 CHAPTER 31- Managing a Trust Account 320
31.1- Depositing Client Money into the Client Trust Account 321
CHAPTER 25- Company Management 260 31.2- Entering Bills to Pay from the Trust Account 321-322
25.1- Viewing Your Company Information 261 31.3- Recording Bills for Office Expenses 322
25.2- Setting Up Budgets 261 31.4- Paying Bills from the Client Trust Account 322
25.3- Using the To Do List 261 31.5- Using a Client Trust Credit Card 323
25.4- Using Reminders and Setting Preferences 262 31.6- Time Tracking and Invoicing for Legal Professionals 323-324
25.5- Making General Journal Entries 262 31.7- Paying the Law Firm’s Invoices Using the Client Funds 324
25.6- Using the Cash Flow Projector 262-263 31.8- Refunding Unused Client Trust Account Funds 324
25.7- Using Payment Reminders 263-264 31.9- Escheated Trust Funds 325
Company Management- Actions 265-268 Managing a Trust Account- Actions 326-330
Company Management- Exercise 269 Managing a Trust Account- Exercises 331-335
CHAPTER 26- Using QuickBooks Tools 270 CHAPTER 32- Trust Account Reporting 336
26.1- Company File Cleanup 271 32.1- Creating a Trust Account Liability Proof Report 337
26.2- Exporting and Importing List Data Using IIF Files 271-272 32.2- Creating a Trust Liability Balances by Client Report 337
26.3- Advanced Importing of Excel Data 272 32.3- Creating a Client Ledger Report 338
26.4- Updating QuickBooks 272 32.4- Creating an Account Journal Report 338
26.5- Using the Calculator 273 Trust Account Reporting- Actions 339-340
26.6- Using Portable Company Files 273 Trust Account Reporting- Exercises 341-342
26.7- Using the Calendar 273-274
26.8- The Income Tracker 274-275 Legal References 343
26.9- The Bill Tracker 275-276
26.10- The Lead Center 276-277 QuickBooks Keyboard Shortcuts 344
26.11- Moving QuickBooks Desktop Using the Migrator Tool 277
Using QuickBooks Tools- Actions 278-284
Using QuickBooks Tools- Exercise 285

CHAPTER 1-
The QuickBooks Environment
1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs
1.2- The Centers
1.3- The Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcuts
1.4- The Open Window List
1.5- The Icon Bar
1.6- Customizing the Icon Bar
1.7- The Chart of Accounts
1.8- Accounting Methods
1.9- Financial Reports

1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro displays the “Home” window when you open a company file. The Home
window contains the “Home Page” and “Insights” tabs in the upper-left corner of the page. You can switch
between them by clicking the tabs. This shows the different content on each tab within the “Home” window.
The Home window appears by default whenever you open a new company file. You can close it by clicking
the small “X” in the upper-right corner of the window. You can redisplay the Home window by clicking the
“Home” button within the Icon Bar or by selecting “Company| Home Page” from the Menu Bar.
To see the content of the “Home Page,” click the “Home Page” tab in the upper-left corner of the
“Home” window. The “Home Page” provides a starting point from which you can access many of the
features of the program. It also shows an overview of the relationships between the many windows in the
QuickBooks Desktop Pro software.
The “Home Page” has icons that show the order in which people often perform activities when using
QuickBooks. Each activity appears as an icon in a diagram of related activities underneath a general
heading, like “Customers” or “Vendors,” that appears at the top of each section. Seeing this flow of activities
is a great way for new users to learn how QuickBooks is often used in business.
For example, if you open the “sample product-based business” company file included with any
version of QuickBooks Desktop Pro and examine its Home Page, you can see the different ways that the
sample company can collect money from its customers in the “Customers” section of the Home Page.
Studying the relationships between the icons helps new users learn how to use the program by showing the
correct order in which to perform the related tasks.
The icons shown in the Home Page change, based on which QuickBooks features are enabled or
disabled in the currently opened company file. These features are often set when the company file is
created using either the “Express Start” or “EasyStep Interview” in QuickBooks. For example, if you
indicated that your company doesn’t use estimates when creating your company file, then you will not have
the “Estimates” icon within your company file’s Home Page after creating the company file. However, you
can also manually enable or disable features of QuickBooks after creating a company file. This can also
change the icons shown in the Home Page.
In the Home Page, you can click the icons to open the related task window. For example, clicking
the “Create Invoices” icon opens the “Create Invoices” window. This gives you quick access to the task
windows in QuickBooks.
The “Insights” tab contains graphs that show you how the company is performing. To see the
content of the “Insights” tab, click the “Insights” tab in the upper-left corner of the “Home” window. At the top
of this window your company logo, name, and the date appear at the left side. There are also three buttons
you can use to manage the information in this tab at the right side. Below that is a large bar or column graph
with two smaller graphs underneath it that show income and expenses. To add your company logo to this
tab, click the “Upload Logo” area in the upper-left corner to launch an “Open” dialog box. Use it to navigate
to, and then select, the logo image to use. Then click the “Open” button in the “Open” dialog box to add the
logo to the tab.
To print the content in this tab or save it as a PDF, click the “Print” button in the upper-right corner to
open a separate “Print Preview” window. Preview the content in this window using the buttons in the toolbar
at the top of the window. To print the content, then click the “Print” button in the upper-left corner of the
“Print Preview” window to open a “Print” dialog box. Choose a printer and set printing settings in the “Print”
dialog box. Then click the “Print” button in the “Print” dialog box to print the graphs. Alternatively, to save the
content as a PDF, instead, click the “Save As PDF” button towards the upper-left corner of the “Print
Preview” window. You can then choose where to save the PDF and what to name it within the “Save
Insights as PDF” dialog box that opens and then click the “Save” button to finish saving the PDF. To close

1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs- (cont’d.):
the “Print Preview” window, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the window.
To refresh the data in the “Insights” tab, click the “Refresh” button in the upper-right corner to ensure
it displays the most up-to-date information. To select which graphs are shown in the upper portion of the
tab, click the “Customize” button in the upper-right corner and then click the graphs you want to see to mark
them with a check in the drop-down menu. You must select at least one graph to display. Then click the
“OK” button in the drop-down menu to apply your changes. You can also click the “Cancel” button in the
drop-down menu, instead, to cancel any changes you made.
The selected graphs appear in the large column and bar chart section of the “Insights” tab. If you
selected more than one graph from the drop-down menu, you can click the arrows at the left and right sides
of the graph that is shown to cycle between the graphs. Alternately, you can click the small dots shown at
the bottom of the graph to cycle between the graphs. Many of the graphs contain drop-down menus that let
you change the date range of the data shown in the graph. The graphs at the bottom of this tab simply show
income and expenses.
For the large bar or column graph, as well as the “Expenses” graph, you can click any data shown in
the graph to open a QuickReport in a separate window that lists the transaction amounts for the specific
section of the graph you clicked. For example, clicking the “Payroll Expenses” section of the circle shown in
the “Expenses” graph opens a QuickReport on the transactions attributed to the “Payroll Expenses” account
in a separate window. You can click the small “X” button in the upper-right corner of the QuickReport
window to close it. Clicking any section shown in the “Income” graph opens the “Income Tracker” in a
separate window and shows any transactions for the specific section you clicked. You can close the
“Income Tracker” window by clicking the “X” button in its upper-right corner.
You can click the drop-down in the “Expenses” graph to change the time period of the expenses
shown. You can also click the “Create Bill” link in the upper-right corner of the “Expenses” graph to create a
new bill in the “Enter Bills” window, or click the “Create Invoice” link in the upper-right corner of the “Income”
graph to create a new invoice in the “Create Invoices” window. You can close either window, if opened, by
clicking the “X” in its upper-right corner.
1.2- The Centers:
In QuickBooks you have access to four main “Centers” called the “Customer Center,” the “Vendor
Center,” the “Employee/Payroll Center,” and the “Report Center.” These centers let you perform tasks
related to the topic of the center. For example, you can add new customers to a company file by using the
Customer Center. We will examine the tasks you can perform within the centers later in this tutorial within
their associated chapters. However, you should learn how to open the centers now.
You can open the centers in many ways in QuickBooks. To open the centers using the Home Page
in QuickBooks, click the “Employees,” “Customers,” or “Vendors” buttons at the top of those sections to
open the associated center. To open a center using the Icon Bar, click the associated button, like
“Customers,” within the Icon Bar. You can also access each center under the associated command
category within the Menu Bar. So, for example, you can access the Customer Center by selecting
“Customers| Customer Center” from the Menu Bar. Each center appears in its own window, which you can
close by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the window when you are finished using it.

1.3- The Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcuts:
QuickBooks contains a Menu Bar at the top of the application window that lets you access all its
commands and features. To perform a command, click a Menu Bar command category, like “File,” “Edit,” or
“Lists,” to display a drop-down menu of sub-commands for the command category. Then click the desired
sub-command to execute in the drop-down menu.
Menu Bar
Current selection
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to perform commands in QuickBooks. Keyboard shortcuts, if
available, are listed to the right of the specific command to which they correspond in the Menu Bar. For
example, if you click the “Lists” command in the Menu Bar you can see the keyboard shortcut for the “Chart
of Accounts” command, which is “Ctrl+A” on the keyboard. You can then click away from the Menu Bar
drop-down menu to retract it. Next, hold down the “Ctrl” key on the keyboard and strike the “A” key on the
keyboard to open the Chart of Accounts. If your goal is to become faster using QuickBooks, learning your
keyboard shortcuts will assist you. A very useful, but unlisted, shortcut is pressing the “Esc” key on your
keyboard to close the active window.
Also notice that not every command in the Menu Bar has a corresponding keyboard shortcut. For
example, if you click the “Lists” command in the Menu Bar to show the drop-down menu, you can see that a
command like “Item List” does not have a keyboard shortcut. However, there is a keystroke combination
you can perform to access every command. If you press the “Alt” key on your keyboard and then look at the
Menu Bar, you will see that each command category (like “File” or “Edit”) has a single underlined letter. For
example, the “F” in the “File” command and the “E” in the “Edit” command are underlined. If you hold down
the “Alt” key on your keyboard and strike the underlined letter for the corresponding command category, its
drop-down menu appears. At that point, if you look at the sub-commands in the drop-down menu, you’ll
notice that each one of the subcommands also has a single letter underlined. At this point, you no longer
have to hold down the “Alt” key, you can just strike the key on your keyboard that corresponds to the
underlined letter of the subcommand you want to execute. So, using the example of accessing the “Item
List” command, you could simply hold down “Alt”+“L” and then strike the letter “I” on the keyboard to access
the Item List. You’ll find that every command has a keyboard shortcut if you follow this method!

1.4- The Open Windows List:
In QuickBooks, you enter information and perform tasks in many different windows. Unless you
close the windows after using them, they remain open for ease of access. You can view a listing of the
opened windows in QuickBooks to quickly switch between opened windows. This listing is called the “Open
Windows” list. This feature lets you quickly switch between opened windows without having to open and
close them repeatedly while working.
You can see the “Open Windows” list within the Icon Bar if the Icon Bar is placed at the left side
of the application window by clicking the “Open Windows” button within the Icon Bar. The section at the top
of the Icon Bar will then show the names of any opened windows. You can then click the names of the
windows in this list to switch between them.
If you have the Icon Bar placed at the top of the QuickBooks application window, then the method
of viewing the “Open Windows” list is slightly different. In this case, you can toggle the display of the “Open
Windows” List on and off by selecting “View| Open Window List” from the Menu Bar. Selecting this
command both shows and hides a pane at the left side of the screen that shows the opened windows in the
program. You can click the name of a window in the list to bring that window to the foreground of the stack
of open windows in QuickBooks.
Open Windows List
“Open Windows” Button

1.5- The Icon Bar:
Another tool that helps you complete the most common tasks in QuickBooks is the Icon Bar. The
Icon Bar is located at the left side of the QuickBooks window by default. However, you can also place it at
the top of the window, if you prefer. Note that changing its placement does impact some of its functionality
in QuickBooks. The Icon Bar can also be hidden, if preferred.
When placed at the left side of the QuickBooks window, you will see the “Search” box shown at the
top of the Icon Bar. Below that are the icons for whichever section you currently have selected in the listing
shown at the bottom of the Icon Bar. You can click one of these choices to change the icons shown. The
choices are: “My Shortcuts,” “View Balances,” “Run Favorite Reports,” and “Open Windows.” When placed
at the top of the QuickBooks application window, you will only see icons available for the “My Shortcuts”
section, followed by the “Search” text box.
To change the placement of the Icon Bar or change its visibility, select the “View” command in the
Menu Bar. Then select either “Top Icon Bar” to place it at the top of the window, “Left Icon Bar” to place it at
the left side of the window, or “Hide Icon Bar” to hide it. You can choose to display it again, if hidden, by
selecting either “Top Icon Bar” or “Left Icon Bar” to enable its display and placement.
The Icon Bar contains buttons for some of the most frequently used features of QuickBooks. You
can hold your mouse pointer over any button without moving to view the description of the button in a little
box called a “screen tip.” You can customize the buttons in the “My Shortcuts” section of the Icon Bar to add
or remove buttons you want. To use the Icon Bar, click a button to open the associated window. For
example, to open the “Home Page,” click the “Home” button in the Icon Bar.
1.6- Customizing the Icon Bar:
You can customize the Icon Bar by adding and removing buttons. To do this, select “View|
Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Customize Icon Bar” window. All your current button
choices are shown in the left window pane. To add a new button, click the “Add…” button at the right side of
this window to open the “Add Icon Bar Item” window. Click the feature for which you would like to add a
button from the list of choices shown in the box at the left side of this window. Then, from the scroll box at
the right, select the icon to represent that function within the Icon Bar. To the right of that, there are two text
boxes where you can edit the button’s label and the description displayed in the “screen tip” for the button.
Then click the “OK” button to add that selected feature and icon to the Icon Bar. You can then see the new
feature appear in the scroll box at the left side of the “Customize Icon Bar” window. It will also immediately
appear in the Icon Bar, as well. You can repeat this process to add all the buttons you want. When finished,
click the “OK” button to close the “Customize Icon Bar” window. You can then click the new button within the
Icon Bar to use the newly added feature.
To remove a button from the Icon Bar, select “View| Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar. In
the “Customize Icon Bar” window, select the button to remove from the scroll box at the left, and then click
the “Delete” button at the right side of the “Customize Icon Bar” window. The button should disappear.
When finished, click the “OK” button to save your changes.
You can also add a button to the Icon Bar for any screen currently displayed onscreen in
QuickBooks. To do this, open the window for which you want to add an Icon Bar button and then select
“View| Add (Window Name) to Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar, where (Window Name) is the name of the
currently opened window. In the dialog box that appears, set the label and icon you want to use for that
window’s button in the Icon Bar. Then click the “OK” button to add it to the Icon Bar. This is a handy way to
add buttons for frequently accessed screens to the Icon Bar as you are using them.

1.7- The Chart of Accounts:
Although you do not have to be fluent in accounting terminology to understand QuickBooks, it is

necessary to have a basic understanding of some accounting concepts prior to entering information into the
program. The first concept to discuss is the “Chart of Accounts.” A chart of accounts is a listing of all the
accounts used within your company file. You can open the chart of accounts by selecting “Lists| Chart of
Accounts” from the Menu Bar. Your chart of accounts shows the names of the accounts used by your
company, the account type (like “Income,” “Bank,” or one of the many other account types), and the current
balance of the account. There is a column called “Attach,” which shows any attached documents associated
with the account. You can double-click this column to open a dialog box that allows you to attach
documents from your computer, from a scanner, or from the “Doc Center,” for free. These attached files are
stored locally on your computer in QuickBooks.
Account Name
Account Type
Account Balance
Lightning Bolt: Indicates online Attach: Indicates

transactions need to be attachment associated
processed for this account. Only with the account.
if online accounts are enabled.
You will now examine the general account types found within the Chart of Accounts and how they
are organized. The Chart of Accounts has a default sorting method: assets are listed at the top, followed by
liabilities, then equity. These accounts are also shown in the “Balance Sheet” report for your company.
Following those accounts within the chart of accounts window are the income accounts followed by the
expense accounts. These accounts appear within the “Profit & Loss” report. At the bottom of the Chart of

1.7- The Chart of Accounts- (cont'd.):
Accounts are accounts for non-posting transactions, like purchase orders and estimates.
As mentioned before, at the top of the “Chart of Accounts” window you will see the Balance Sheet
accounts, which appear on the Balance Sheet for your company file. These accounts show what you own
(assets), what you owe (liabilities), and the difference (equity). Below those accounts you find the Income
and Expense accounts, which track where money comes from, and what it is spent on, respectively.
Each Balance Sheet account has a register associated with it. Unlike the Balance Sheet accounts,
the Income and Expense accounts each have a report that lists the transactions associated with the
account. We will look at these types of accounts in more detail in later chapters, but here is a general list of
the different types of accounts shown within the Chart of Accounts, and whether they appear in the Balance
Sheet or the Profit & Loss Statement within QuickBooks.
Balance Sheet Accounts:

Name: Description of Function:
Assets Assets are what you own, and what other people owe you. More specifically, the money that
people owe you is called your Accounts Receivable. Other assets may include checking
account money, inventory, fixed assets (like computers), and undeposited funds from
customers. Also note that when you set up your company file in QuickBooks, although checking,
savings, and petty cash are all company assets, you’ll set them up as “Bank” type accounts in
QuickBooks. The available types of accounts that are assets are: “Bank,” “Accounts
Receivable,” “Fixed Asset,” “Other Current Asset,” and “Other Asset.”
Liabilities Liabilities are what you owe to others. The unpaid bills that you have are specifically referred to
as your Accounts Payable. A liability can be a loan, an unpaid bill, or taxes owed. Also note
that when you set up your company file in QuickBooks, although credit cards are company
liabilities, you’ll set them up as “Credit Card” type accounts in QuickBooks. The available types
of accounts that are liabilities are: “Credit Card,” “Accounts Payable,” “Other Current Liability,”
and “Long Term Liability.”
Equity Equity is the difference between what you have (your Assets) and what you owe (your
Liabilities). The basic formula for calculating equity is: Assets-Liabilities=Equity. Equity is
seen as representing the “health” of your business. Equity can come from three different
sources: Investor money, Current-Year Profits, or Retained Earnings (profits from past years
that haven’t been distributed to shareholders). The only available type of account for equity is
the “Equity” account type.
Profit & Loss Statement Accounts (Income Statement Accounts):

Name: Description of Function:
Income Income accounts are used to track the income generated by your company.
Expense Expense accounts are used to track where your company’s money was spent.

1.8- Accounting Methods:
Once you begin your business, you need to decide which bookkeeping method to use- “Cash” or
“Accrual.” This will determine the method used to report income and expenses on your tax forms. Please
check with your accountant, tax advisor, or the IRS, before choosing a bookkeeping method for tax
purposes. It is important to note that when you create reports in QuickBooks, you can switch between the
“Cash” and “Accrual” method at any time to see how it impacts report results, regardless of which
bookkeeping method you have actually chosen for tax purposes. Also, regardless of how you decide to
set up your reports, you always record the business transactions the same way in QuickBooks.
Accounting Methods:
Method: Description of Recording Income and Expenses in Method:
Cash If you record your income when you actually receive the money, and record expenses when
you pay the bills, you are using the Cash accounting method.
Accrual In Accrual accounting, you record income at the time of sale, NOT when you receive payment.
In the same way, you also record payments when you receive the bill or incur the expense,
NOT whenever you pay it.
1.9- Financial Reports:
You also need to know how to measure your company’s profitability. Two very important reports that
assist you in figuring this out are the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Statement (also called an
Income Statement). These are most often the reports that will be requested by banks and CPAs.
Another commonly requested report is the Statement of Cash Flows. Many people use this to
determine the stability of your cash flow (money coming in and going out of your business). This report
shows money received and payments made during a specific accounting period.
Name: Description of Function: How to View Report:

Balance Sheet A Balance Sheet shows a company’s “health” on a given Select “Reports| Company &
date. It shows what the company owns (Assets), what it Financial| Balance Sheet
owes (Liabilities), and the net worth of the company Standard” from the Menu
(Equity). The total assets always equals the total liabilities Bar.
plus equity. It is this balance that must be maintained by
using the principles of “double-entry” accounting.
The Profit and This report shows income, expenses, and net profit or loss Select “Reports| Company &
Loss Statement (income-expenses). It summarizes the revenue and Financial| Profit & Loss
expenses of the company by category, first income then Standard” from the Menu
expenses. Bar.
The Statement Shows the change in the company’s cash position for a Select “Reports| Company &
of Cash Flows selected time period. It shows the amount of cash earned Financial| Statement of Cash
from profit, from where additional cash was received, and Flows” from the Menu Bar.
where the cash was spent.

ACTIONS-
USING THE HOME PAGE AND INSIGHTS TABS:
1. QuickBooks Desktop Pro displays the “Home” window when you open a company file.
2. The Home window contains two tabs: “Home Page” and “Insights.” You can switch between the content
of the two tabs by clicking their tabs in the upper-left corner of the page.
3. To close the Home window, click the small “X” in the upper-right corner of the window.
4. To redisplay the Home window, click the “Home” button within the Icon Bar or select “Company|
Home Page” from the Menu Bar.
5. To show the “Home Page,” click the “Home Page” tab in the upper-left corner of the “Home” window.
6. You can click the icons shown within the “Home Page” to open its related task window.
7. To see the content of the “Insights” tab, click the “Insights” tab in the upper-left corner of the “Home”
window.
8. To add your company logo, click the “Upload Logo” area in the upper-left corner of this tab to open an
“Open” dialog box.
9. Use it to navigate to, and select, the logo image to use.
10. Then click the “Open” button in the “Open” dialog box to add the logo to the tab.
11. To print the content in this tab or save it as a PDF, click the “Print” button in the upper-right corner to
open a separate “Print Preview” window.
12. Preview the content in this window using the buttons in the toolbar at the top of the window.
13. To print the content, then click the “Print” button in the upper-left corner of the “Print Preview” window
to open a “Print” dialog box.
14. Choose a printer and set printing settings in the “Print” dialog box.
15. Then click the “Print” button in the “Print” dialog box to print the graphs.
16. Alternatively, to save the content as a PDF, instead, click the “Save As PDF” button towards the
upper-left corner of the “Print Preview” window.
17. Then choose where to save the PDF and what to name it within the “Save Insights as PDF” dialog box
that opens and then click the “Save” button to finish saving the PDF.
18. To close the “Print Preview” window, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the window.
19. To refresh the data shown in the “Insights” tab, click the “Refresh” button in the upper-right corner.
20. To select which graphs are shown within the upper portion of the tab, click the “Customize” button
in the upper-right corner of the window and then click any graphs you want to see to mark them with a
check in the drop-down menu shown. You must select at least one graph to display.
21. Click the “OK” button in the drop-down menu to apply your changes or click the “Cancel” button in the
drop-down menu, instead, to cancel any changes you made.
22. If more than one graph was selected within the drop-down menu, you can click the left and right pointing
arrows at the left and right sides of that graph to cycle between the graphs shown.
23. Alternately, you can click the small dots shown at the bottom of the graph to cycle between the graphs
shown. Many of the graphs have drop-down menus that let you change the date range of the data
shown in the graph. The graphs at the bottom of this tab simply show income and expenses.
24. For the large bar or column graph, as well as the “Expenses” graph, you can click any data shown within
the graph to display a QuickReport in a separate window that details the transactions that contribute
amounts to the specific section of the graph clicked.
25. To close the QuickReport window, click the small “X” button in the upper-right corner.
26. Clicking any section shown within the “Income” graph will display the “Income Tracker” in a separate
window and show any transactions contained within the specific section you clicked.
27. To close the “Income Tracker” window, click the “X” button in its upper-right corner.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
USING THE HOME PAGE AND INSIGHTS TABS- (CONT’D.):
28. You can click the drop-down within the “Expenses” graph to change the time period of the expenses
shown, if needed.
29. You can click the “Create Bill” link in the upper-right corner of the “Expenses” graph to create a new bill
within the “Enter Bills” window, or click the “Create Invoice” link in the upper-right corner of the “Income”
graph to create a new invoice within the “Create Invoices” window.
30. You can close either window, if opened, by clicking the “X” in its upper-right corner.
USING THE CENTERS:
1. To open the centers using the Home Page, click the “Employees,” “Customers,” or “Vendors” buttons
at the top of those sections to open the associated center.
2. To open a center using the Icon Bar, click the associated button within the Icon Bar.
3. To open a center using the Menu Bar, click the center name within the associated command
category.
4. To close a center window, click the “X” in its upper-right corner when you are finished using it.
USING THE MENU BAR AND KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS:
1. To use the Menu Bar, click the command category for which you want to see the specific commands.
2. Click the specific subcommand you want to execute from the drop-down list of commands available.
3. To use keyboard shortcuts, press the keyboard shortcut combination keys on your keyboard.
Keyboard shortcuts, if available, are listed to the right of the specific command to which they correspond
in the Menu Bar.
4. To use keyboard shortcuts for commands without an explicitly defined keyboard shortcut, hold
down the “Alt” key on your keyboard and strike the underlined letter for the corresponding command
category. At this point, you no longer have to hold down the “Alt” key.
5. Press the key on your keyboard that corresponds to the underlined letter of the subcommand you want
to execute.
USING THE OPEN WINDOW LIST:
1. To view the “Open Windows” list within the Icon Bar if the Icon Bar is placed at the left side of the
application window, click the “Open Windows” button within the Icon Bar.
2. The section at the top of the Icon Bar will then display the names of any opened windows. You can click
the names of the windows within this list to toggle between them.
3. If you have the Icon Bar placed at the top of the QuickBooks application window, you can select
“View| Open Window List” from the Menu Bar to show and hide a pane at the left side of the screen
which shows the windows opened within the program.
4. You can click the name of a window shown in the list to bring that window to the foreground of the stack
of open windows in QuickBooks.

ACTIONS-
USING THE ICON BAR:
1. When placed at the left side of the QuickBooks window, you will see the “Search” box shown at the
top of the Icon Bar. Below that section you will see the icons for whichever section you currently have
selected from the listing that appears towards the bottom of the Icon Bar. You can click one of these
choices to change the icons displayed. The choices are: “My Shortcuts,” “View Balances,” “Run Favorite
Reports,” and “Open Windows.”
2. When placed at the top of the QuickBooks application window, you will only see icons available for
the “My Shortcuts” section, followed by the “Search” text box.
3. To change the placement of the Icon Bar, or change its visibility, select the “View” command in the
Menu Bar and then select either “Top Icon Bar” to place it at the top of the window, “Left Icon Bar” to
place it at the left side of the window, or “Hide Icon Bar” to hide it.
4. To display it again, if hidden, select either the “Top Icon Bar” or “Left Icon Bar” to enable its display
and placement.
5. You can hold your mouse pointer over any button without moving to view the description of the button
appear in a little box called a “screen tip.”
6. To use the Icon Bar, click a button to open the associated window.
CUSTOMIZING THE ICON BAR:
1. To add a button to the Icon Bar, select “View| Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Customize Icon Bar” window, click the “Add…” button to the right.
3. In the “Add Icon Bar Item” window, select the function to add from the scroll box.
4. Select the icon to add to the Icon Bar from the scroll box of icons in the middle of this window.
5. Type a label in the “Label” text box, and a description in the “Description” text box. This is optional. You
may also use the default suggestion.
6. Click the “OK” button at the right when you have finished.
7. Click the “OK” button in the “Customize Icon Bar” window to set the button in the Icon Bar.
8. To remove a button from the Icon Bar, select “View| Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar.
9. In the “Customize Icon Bar” window, select the button from the scroll box at the left side of this window.
10. Click the “Delete” button at the right side of this window.
11. Click the “OK” button to set your changes.
12. To add a button to the Icon Bar for any screen currently displayed onscreen in QuickBooks,
open the window for which you want to add an Icon Bar button and then select “View| Add (Window
Name) to Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar
13. In the dialog box that appears, set the label and icon you want to use for that window’s button in the
Icon Bar.
14. Then click the “OK” button to add it to the Icon Bar.

ACTIONS-
TO DISPLAY THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS WINDOW:
1. To display the Chart of Accounts window, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
2. Your chart of accounts shows the names of the accounts used by your company, the account type, and
the current balance of the account.
3. There is a column called “Attach,” which shows any attached documents associated with the account.
4. To attach a file to an account, double-click this column to open a dialog box that allows you to attach
documents from your computer, from a scanner, or from the “Doc Center,” for free. These attached files
are stored locally on your computer in QuickBooks.
DISPLAYING FINANCIAL REPORTS:
1. To view the Balance Sheet, select “Reports| Company & Financial| Balance Sheet Standard” from the
Menu Bar.
2. To view the Profit & Loss Statement (Income Statement), select “Reports| Company & Financial|
Profit & Loss Standard” from the Menu Bar.
3. To view the Statement of Cash Flows, select “Reports| Company & Financial| Statement of Cash
Flows” from the Menu Bar.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to effectively manipulate the basic elements of the QuickBooks environment and to be
able to view the chart of accounts and the information contained within it.
Exercises:
1. Start the QuickBooks application.

2. If there is a company file open, close it by selecting “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar.
3. In the “No Company Open” dialog box, click the button in the lower-right corner that says “Open a
sample file.”
4. Click the “Sample product-based business” file from the drop-down menu of choices.
5. If this is your first time opening this file, then confirm you want to download the “Sample product-
based business” file from Intuit in the message box that appears.
6. Then click “OK” in the sample file message box that appears when you open the file.
7. You can click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the “New Feature Tour” window to close it, if it
appears.
8. Open the Chart of Accounts by selecting “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
9. Close the Chart of Accounts by pressing the “Esc” key on your keyboard.
10. Select “View| Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar.
11. In the “Customize Icon Bar” window, click the “Add…” button.
12. In the “Add Icon Bar Item” screen, select the “Calculator” command in the scroll box to the left.
13. Click the “OK” button in the “Add Icon Bar Item” window.
14. Click “OK” in the “Customize Icon Bar” window.
15. Click the new “Calc” button in the Icon Bar to open the calculator tool.
16. Close the calculator by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the calculator.
17. Select “Reports| Company & Financial| Balance Sheet Standard” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Balance Sheet” for the sample company file.
18. Close the “Balance Sheet” by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the window.
19. Select “View| Customize Icon Bar…” from the Menu Bar.
20. In the “Customize Icon Bar” window, select the “Calc” entry from the list at the left of the screen.
21. Click the “Delete” button at the right of the screen to delete the “Calc” entry.
22. Click “OK” at the right of the “Customize Icon Bar” window.
23. Close the company file by selecting “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar.

CHAPTER 2-
Creating a QuickBooks Company
2.1- Using Express Start
2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview
2.3- Returning to the EasyStep Interview
2.4- Creating a Local Backup Copy
2.5- Restoring a Company File from a Local Backup Copy
2.6- Setting Up Users
2.7- Single and Multiple User Modes
2.8- Closing Company Files
2.9- Opening a Company File

2.1- Using Express Start:
The Express Start feature lets you quickly create a new company file. This feature simplifies and
segments the steps in the EasyStep Interview into shorter sections, so you can start using QuickBooks right
away. When you first open QuickBooks, the option to create a company file using the Express Start feature
is shown in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen. This is the same screen that opens if you select “File|
New Company…” from the Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button shown in the “No
Company Open” window. To use the Express Start feature, first select either the “For myself (I’m the
admin)” or the “For someone else” option button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen.
To continue using the Express Start setup, click the “Start Setup” button to continue. Alternatively,
for advanced features and setup, you can instead use the EasyStep Interview to thoroughly customize your
company file. To do this, click the “Other Options” drop-down button at the bottom of the “QuickBooks
Desktop Setup” screen, instead. Then click the “Advanced Setup” command in the drop-down menu to use
the EasyStep Interview, which is discussed in a later lesson, to create your company file, instead.
If you continue using the Express Start and selected the “For myself (I’m the admin)” option button,
then the next screen lets you sign in with an existing Intuit ID or create a new one. To sign in with an
existing Intuit ID, enter the Intuit ID or e-mail address associated with the Intuit ID into the “Email or user ID”
field. You must be connected to the internet for this part of the company file setup. Then enter the password
for the Inuit ID into the “Password” field. Then click the “Sign In” button to sign in.
Alternatively, to create a new Intuit account, click the “Create an account” link in this page to show
an account creation screen. Then enter an email address to use for the Inuit ID into the “Email address”
field. Optionally, enter a phone number into the “Phone (recommended)” field. Enter an account password
into the “Password” and “Confirm password” fields. Select a security question from the “Security question”
drop-down and type an answer into the “Answer” field. Write the question and answer down, as you may
need it to validate your identity later. Finally, click the Create account” button to create the new account.
Alternatively, if you do not want to sign in using your Intuit ID, click the “Remind Me” drop-down
button at the bottom of this screen, select how long to defer signing-in from the drop-down, and then click
“Yes” in the confirmation message box that appears.
After signing-in, or skipping it entirely if you chose the “For someone else” option button on the first
screen, the next screen requires you to enter your company’s name as you want it to appear to customers
and vendors into the “Business Name” field.
Next, click the “Help me choose” hyperlink next to the “Industry” field to open the “Select Your
Industry” window. This window allows you to select your company file’s industry. Your industry choice
impacts which features of QuickBooks are enabled and disabled and determines the initial chart of accounts
used by your company file. You can also change these settings later, if needed.
Scroll through the “Industry” list in the lower-left corner of this window until you find the industry type
that most closely matches the type of business you operate. Then click the industry choice to select it. The
chart of accounts for the selected type of industry appears in the list to the right for you to review, if desired.
If you cannot find a specific industry match, you can select the “General Product-based Business” or
“General Service-based Business” choices. You should only choose the “Other/None” option if you want to
create all of the accounts used by your company file manually, by yourself or with your accountant. After
making an industry selection, click the “OK” button to return to the Express Start screen.
Next, use the “Business Type” drop-down to select your company file’s legal structure. This
determines its tax-related settings. Then enter the email address for the company’s administrator into the
“Admin’s email” field.
The remaining fields in this screen are all optional. You can enter your company’s FEIN (Federal
Employer Identification Number) or your social security number into the “Employer Identification Number

2.1- Using Express Start- (cont’d.):
(EIN)” field. You can enter the main business phone number into the “Phone” field. You can enter your
business address into the “Business Address” fields and also enter the associated city, state, zip, and
country into the “City, ”State,” “Zip,” and “Country” fields. After completing the fields in this screen, click the
“Create Company” button to continue.
A “Working” message box momentarily appears to show the progress of the program at creating
your company file. When completed, the message box disappears and your new company file appears
along with the “Finish” screen of the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
If desired, you can click any of the “Learn More” buttons shown in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup”
window to learn more about the additional features shown. When you are ready to begin entering data into
your new QuickBooks file, click the “Start Working” button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen to
close the window and start using QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview:
In QuickBooks, you can also use the EasyStep Interview to create a company file. You complete the
EasyStep Interview by entering information into different screens shown in the Interview. After entering
information into a screen, click the “Next >” button to proceed to the next screen and repeat the process.
After answering all questions in all the screens, click the “Go To Setup” button to start using QuickBooks.
Within the EasyStep Interview, if questions arise that you must answer and you are unsure of the
correct answer, don’t worry! You can go usually go back and change your answers later. In most screens,
you can click the “< Back” button to return to a previous screen and change your answers. Also, if
necessary, you can click the “Leave…” button to exit the EasyStep Interview. However, if you leave the
EasyStep Interview prior to saving your company file, your data entry up until that point will be lost. A
message box will tell you if this is the case before you exit, so you need not worry about losing your data.
If you are new to QuickBooks, you should consider creating a company file that is not your actual
company file, but is similar in nature: a “dummy” company. That way, you can practice creating transactions
you would be likely to enter into your own company file without placing your own real company file data in
jeopardy. You can create as many company files in QuickBooks as you would like. Also, if you set up a fake
company file, it can be easier to train others in your company in the basic bookkeeping involved with the
company without risking the integrity of your actual company’s data file.
Before entering data into the EasyStep Interview, you need to gather some information. First, and
most importantly, you need to select a “start date” for your QuickBooks company file. The start date is the
date as of which you will enter all of the balances in the accounts used by your company file. Because of
this, you may want to pick a date that isn’t too far in the past, since you need to record each transaction that
has occurred from the start date through the current date to ensure you create a company file that is both
financially accurate and also ready for daily data entry.
Many people choose the last day of the previous financial period, such as a quarter or month, as the
start date. Remember you have to enter all of the transactions that have occurred from the start date
through the current date, or at least enter accurate journal entries representing those transaction values, to
use the company file and have accurate balances. So don’t go too far into the past if you don’t want to
spend hours performing data entry!
You also need to know the account balances of your checking, savings, and any other accounts
within the company file as of the start date. This can often be found on a balance sheet created as of the
start date. If that isn’t available, bank statements as of the start date can also be used.

2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview- (cont’d.):
You also need to have a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or the Social Security
Number found on your company’s tax returns. Once you have all of this information, you can start the
EasyStep Interview.
To create a company file in QuickBooks, select “File| New Company…” from the Menu Bar or click
the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” dialog box that appears in QuickBooks
when there is no company file opened to view the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window. In this window,
select an option button to choose for whom you are creating the company file. Then click the “Other
Options” drop-down button and select the “Advanced Setup” command to start the EasyStep Interview.
Within the EasyStep Interview, you can see the “Interview Progress” meter at the left side of the
screen. As you complete the screens in the EasyStep Interview, your overall progress appears in this meter.
In the first screen, labeled “Enter your company information,” you enter information about your company.
Required fields are noted by a red asterisk to the left of the field name. Begin by entering the name of your
company into the “Company name” field. Then move to the next field by pressing the “Tab” key on your
keyboard or by clicking into the next field with your mouse. The next field is the “Legal name” field. This is
most often the same thing as your “Company name” field, but can be different for DBA businesses.
Next, enter either your FEIN or Social Security Number, as appropriate, into the “Tax ID” field. Then
enter your complete street address into the “Street address” field set. Enter your city into the “City” field.
Then select the abbreviation for your state from the “State” drop-down menu. Next enter your zip code into
the “Zip” field. Select your country from the “Country” drop-down menu, if necessary. Enter your phone
number and fax number, if desired, into the “Phone” and “Fax” fields using the formatting you want
displayed on your forms within QuickBooks, like invoices for example. You can enter a default e-mail
address for the company into the “E-mail address” field. You can also enter the website address of your
company into the “Web site” field, if you would like. Once you have finished entering data into this screen,
click the “Next >” button to continue.
In the next screen, titled “Select your industry,” select the type of company for which you are
creating a company file from the list of choices shown. The choice you make here determines which
features are enabled and which default accounts are placed into your chart of accounts. You can always
customize these features later, but selecting an industry from the list will typically reduce the amount of
customization required. If your specific industry isn’t listed, either select the closest industry listed or select
“General Product-based business” or “General Service-based business” from the list of choices. An
important point to note is that the answer you make here will change what questions the EasyStep Interview
will pose as you continue. So, the questions posed to an individual who selects “Retail Shop or Online
Commerce” will be different from an individual who selects “Church or Religious Organization.” For
example, setting up sales tax would be a part of the EasyStep Interview for the “Retail Shop or Online
Commerce” selection, but not for the “Church or Religious Organization” selection. After making your
industry selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
The next screen asks how your company is organized. Select the option button that corresponds to
the legal structure of your company. This assists QuickBooks in choosing accounts for your company’s
chart of accounts and also in assigning accounts to tax form lines. Once you have made your selection,
In the next screen you select the first month of your fiscal year from the drop-down menu shown.
Your fiscal year is quite often the same as your tax year. A fiscal year is simply a 12-month period used for
reporting a company’s financial status. For many companies, the first month of the fiscal year is “January.”
This allows them to have the fiscal year coincide with the income tax year. Once you have selected the first
month in your fiscal year, click the “Next >” button to continue.

2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview- (cont’d.):
In the next screen, titled “Set up your administrator password,” you can create a password for the
“Administrator” account of your company file. The “Administrator” account has access to all of your
company’s financial information. However, you can create users and assign access privileges at any time.
An administrator password is required to restore a data file that contains sensitive data, like credit card
numbers, social security numbers, or FEIN information. To create a password for the “Administrator”
account, enter it into both the “Administrator password” and “Retype password” fields. If you do this, make
sure that you know what this password is. Also, note that passwords you create are case-sensitive. When
you are ready, click the “Next >” button to continue.
In the next screen, called “Create your company file,” you create the actual QuickBooks company
file that you will use. This is when you decide what to name the company file, and where you will save it.
Note this information, as you will most likely need it later. When you are ready to save the company file, you
can click the “Next >” button to continue. This will launch the “Filename for New Company” dialog box. This
is a standard Windows “Save As” dialog box. Use it to select the folder into which you want to save the
company file. After selecting where to save the company file, enter the name to give to the company file into
the “File name:” field. This defaults to the “Company Name” entered in the first screen of the EasyStep
interview, but you can change it, if needed. After you know where you will save the file and what you will
name it, click the “Save” button to save the company file and return to the EasyStep Interview.
The next screen you will see in the EasyStep Interview is the “Customizing QuickBooks for your
business” screen. This screen informs you that the next several screens will customize your QuickBooks
company file by asking you questions about your company, your customers, and how you pay your bills. At
this point and hereafter, you can click the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep Interview
screen to save your progress and return later to complete the EasyStep Interview, if needed. Once you are
ready to continue, click the “Next >” button.
Next, for your industry selection, the EasyStep Interview shows a series of screens that allow you to
customize your company file for your industry type. Answer any questions posed in each screen and then
click the “Next >” button to continue until you have finished customizing your company file.
When you have finished answering all of the questions in the EasyStep Interview, you will see the
final congratulations screen. Click the “Go To Setup” button to open a window that instructs you to create
your customers, inventory, and vendors. You can close this window when you are finished reviewing the
next steps that you should take to complete setting up your company file.
2.3- Returning to the EasyStep Interview:
You can leave the EasyStep Interview at any point after you have saved the company file by clicking
the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep Interview. When you return at a later point to
continue filling out the EasyStep Interview (which can be a lengthy process), just opening the company file
will automatically return you to the point at which you left off in the EasyStep Interview. However, once you
have completed the EasyStep Interview you cannot return to the EasyStep Interview again. From that point
on, you can only change the default preferences of the program by selecting “Edit| Preferences…” from the
Menu Bar and then changing the settings shown in the “Preferences” dialog box.

2.4- Creating a Local Backup Copy:
You should always backup your data to prevent data loss. You must be in single-user mode to do
this. QuickBooks recommends you backup your files daily. That way, if the data in your company file
becomes corrupted or lost, you can restore a copy of the file from a backup. To make your company file
current again after restoring the file, you need to re-enter all transactions from the date you created the
backup file to the current date. However, that is far less work than re-creating the entire company file again.
QuickBooks gives you the option to create both “local” and “online” backup copies of your company
file. The “online” option lets you create backup copies of your company file on Inuit’s servers. However, the
“online” backup is a fee-based service you will need to purchase separately. Alternately, you can create free
“local” backup copies within the software and simply store them off-site for added security, if desired.
To create a local backup copy of the currently opened company file in QuickBooks, select “File|
Back Up Company| Create Local Backup” from the Menu Bar to open the “Create Backup” window. The
option button for “Local backup” should already be selected within the initial screen.
Click the “Options” button at the bottom of the screen to open the “Backup Options” window where
you can specify the settings of your local backup copy. In the “Local backup only” section, enter the
pathway or folder directory where you want to save the backup copy. You can click the “Browse…” button to
open a “Browse for Folder” dialog box that allows you to visually select the location into which you want to
save the backup copy. After you have selected the folder or drive where you want to save the backup copy
within the “Browse for Folder” dialog box, click the “OK” button to close the dialog box. Your selection will
then appear in the “Tell us where to save your backup copies (required)” field in the “Backup Options”
window. You can then check or uncheck either of the two checkbox options shown in the “Local backup
only” section of the window, if desired. The first checkbox, labeled “Add the date and time of the backup to
the file name (recommended),” will add those elements to the copy of the backup file that is created so that
you can tell when the copy was made. The second checkbox, labeled “Limit the number of backup copies in
this folder to,” will limit the number of backup copies within the selected folder to a number you enter.
In the “Online and local backup” section, you can check the checkbox shown to set QuickBooks to
remind you to create a backup copy after you close the company file a specified number of times, if desired.
You can also select the option button that shows what type of data verification you want to perform on the
information within the backup copy you create. This ensures that your backup copy is free from data
corruption. Once you have made your choices in the “Backup Options” window, click the “OK” button to
close the window and return to the “Create Backup” window. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
In the next screen, choose when to create the local backup copy. To create a local backup copy
immediately, select the “Save it now” option button. To save a copy right now and also set a schedule for
future backup times, choose the “Save it now and schedule future backups” option button. To only schedule
future backups, choose the “Only schedule future backups” option button.
After making a selection, click the “Next” button to continue. If you are saving a local backup copy
right now, then QuickBooks will open the “Save Backup Copy” dialog box. Here you can change the file
name or destination folder of the backup copy, if desired. It defaults to saving into the folder you selected
earlier in the “Backup Options” window. When you are ready to create the local backup copy, click the
“Save” button. Once QuickBooks has finished creating the local backup copy, it will display a small
message box informing you of its success. You can then click the “OK” button to dismiss the message box.

2.5- Restoring a Company File from a Local Backup Copy:
If you corrupt your company’s data file and need to restore the data from a local backup copy, you
can- as long as you created local backup copies. You must be in single-user mode to do this. In addition,
QuickBooks Desktop Pro requires you to enter or create a password for the “Administrator” user before you
can finish restoring a company file that contains sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, social security
numbers, or FEIN information, for example. If you did not create a password for the administrator account
before attempting to restore from a backup file, you will need to create one as part of the restore process.
When you restore a company file, you overwrite your corrupted company data with the data that you
saved when you created the local backup copy. You must then re-enter all transactions that occurred from
the date you created the backup copy up through the current day to bring your company file up to date.
To restore a corrupted company file from a backup copy, select “File| Open or Restore Company…”
from the Menu Bar. In this situation, you want to restore your data from a backup copy. So select the
“Restore a backup copy” option button. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
The next window asks where the backup copy you want to use is saved. Select the “Local backup”
option button if using a local backup copy saved to your network or to removable media. If you saved the
backup copy online using that feature, select the “Online backup” option button, instead. For this example,
we will select the “Local backup” option. After making your choice, click the “Next” button to continue.
QuickBooks will next open the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box. Use this dialog box to navigate to
and then select the local backup copy to use for the restore process. After selecting the file to use, click the
“Open” button in the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box to return to the “Open or Restore Company” window.
The “Open or Restore Company” window will then display the “Where do you want to restore the
file?” screen. Note that you can also reach this screen in an alternate manner than the one described this
far by simply choosing “File| Back Up Company| Restore Previous Local Backup” from the Menu Bar, and
then selecting the name of the desired local backup file to use from the side menu of choices that appears.
Using this method also allows you to choose a local backup copy for the restore procedure from the Menu
Bar and then jump immediately to this screen within the “Open or Restore Company” window. After reading
the information within this screen, click the “Next” button to continue.
You will next need to use the “Save Company File As” dialog box that appears to navigate to, and
select, the corrupted company file to overwrite with information from the backup copy you just selected.
After selecting the company file to overwrite, click the “Save” button to continue. If you are overwriting a
corrupted company file, QuickBooks may ask you if you wish to overwrite the file. You can click “Yes” in the
message box that appears to overwrite the selected file.
Next, QuickBooks cautions you to be absolutely sure that you want to do this by making you type the
word “YES” into the text box within the “Delete Entire File” window, since you will likely be deleting the most
current copy of your company file. You can type the word “yes” into the box and then click “OK” to begin
overwriting the corrupted company file with the data from your selected backup file.
You must then enter the password for the “Administrator” account into the “Password” field in the
“QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog box that appears and click the “OK” button to finish restoring the
company file. If you did not create a password yet, a “Sensitive Data Protection Setup” dialog box appears.
You can enter a different name for the “Administrator” account, if desired, into the “User Name” field. Then
enter a password for the user into the “New Password” and “Confirm Password” fields. Then select a
challenge question and enter your answer in the “Answer” field. Then click “OK” to finish restoring the file.
Be sure to write down and safely secure the administrator user name and password, if you created one!
Click “OK” in the information box that appears to tell you to change your password every 90 days.
After restoring the company file, re-enter any transactions into the company file from the time the
backup copy was created until the current day to make the company file “current” again.

2.6- Setting Up Users:
QuickBooks lets you create user accounts and passwords for the individuals that will access your
company file. You can decide which types of activities users can perform and what areas of the application
they can access. You can set up users by selecting “Company| Set Up Users and Passwords| Set Up
Users…” from the Menu Bar. If you already created an “Admin” user, you must enter your password into the
“QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog box and click “OK.” That will open the “User List” dialog box.
If you have not yet created the master user, usually called “Admin,” that can access all of the areas
of QuickBooks, you will first need to do that. That user account can then create the other user accounts.
You typically create the “Admin” user account during the EasyStep Interview. That is then the default user
account for all activities until you create more user accounts.
To add a new user after you are logged in as the “Admin” user, click the “Add User…” button in the
“User List” dialog box to open the “Set up user password and access” wizard. Type the user name for the
new user into the “User Name:” field and type a password for the user into the “Password:” field. Reconfirm
the password you just typed by typing it again in the “Confirm Password:” field, and then click the “Next”
button to continue. To add the new user to your existing QuickBooks license, check the “Add this user to my
QuickBooks license” checkbox. You must purchase a license for each concurrent QuickBooks user.
On the next screen, you can set the user’s access to “All areas of QuickBooks,” “Selected areas of
QuickBooks,” or “External Accountant.” If you choose either “All areas of QuickBooks” or “External
Accountant,” you will need to click either “Yes” or “No” in the confirmation prompt window that appears
when you click the “Next” button to continue. You then simply click the “Finish” button in the next screen to
finish setting up those types of users.
If you choose “Selected areas of QuickBooks,” you will see the “Sales and Accounts Receivable”
screen appear when you click the “Next” button to proceed. Select the option button that corresponds to the
type of access to give the user to sales and accounts receivable and click “Next” to continue. In the
“Purchases and Accounts Payable” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access to give
the user to purchases and accounts payable and click “Next” to continue. In the “Checking and Credit
Cards” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access to give the user to checking and
credit cards in the company file and click “Next” to continue. If inventory is enabled, then in the “Inventory”
screen that appears, select the option that corresponds to the access to give the user to inventory and click
“Next” to continue. If time tracking is enabled, then in the “Time Tracking” screen that appears, select the
option that corresponds to the type of access to give the user to time tracking and click “Next” to continue. If
payroll is enabled, then in the “Payroll and Employees” screen, select the option that corresponds to the
type of access to give the user to payroll and employees and click “Next” to continue. In the “Sensitive
Accounting Activities” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access to give the user to
sensitive accounting activities and click “Next” to continue. In the “Sensitive Financial Reporting” screen,
select the option that corresponds to the type of access to give the user to sensitive financial reporting and
click “Next” to continue. In the “Changing or Deleting Transactions” screen, select whether to allow the user
the ability to change or delete transactions by setting the desired options and then clicking “Next” to
continue. You can then review the permissions you set for the user in the final screen and click the “Finish”
button to add the user to the “User List.”
You can also select a user account from the “User List,” and then click the “Edit User…” button to
change the security settings for the selected user by stepping through the same set of screens you used to
initially set the user’s permissions. You can also select a user in the “User List” and click the “Delete User”
button to delete the user account. You will need to click “Yes” in the warning message box that appears to
delete the selected user permanently. When you are finished with the “User List” dialog box, you can click
the “Close” button within it to close it.

2.7- Single and Multiple User Modes:
Some activities, like creating a backup file or restoring a company file, require that you open
QuickBooks in single-user mode. You must make sure all other users of the application are logged off
before you switch user modes.
To have multiple users accessing the same QuickBooks data file, you can switch to multi-user
mode. However, QuickBooks must be set up to allow multi-user access before you can switch user modes.
If you try to switch to multi-user mode before you have configured QuickBooks to allow for multi-user mode,
QuickBooks will helpfully prompt you to set up QuickBooks for multi-user access. After you have configured
QuickBooks to allow multi-user access, you can then switch between single-user and multi-user modes.
When in multi-user mode, you must enter your username and password to open and access the
company file on the shared computer. To switch user modes after you have multiple users enabled, select
“File| Switch to Multi-user Mode” or “File| Switch to Single-user Mode” from the Menu Bar. This is a “toggle”
command and will always switch to the opposite command from the user mode in which you are currently
operating.
2.8- Closing Company Files:
To close your company file, select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar. Doing this will leave
the QuickBooks application open so that you may open up another company file, if you would like.
2.9- Opening a Company File:
To open a company file in QuickBooks, you can select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the
Menu Bar. Alternately, if the “No Company Open” dialog box is showing onscreen, you can click the “Open
or restore an existing company” button to launch the same dialog box.
Either way, the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box appears. Select the “Open a company file”
option button and then click the “Next” button to launch the “Open a Company” dialog box. Use this dialog
box to navigate to the folder in your computer that contains the company file you want to open. Then
double-click the company file, or click it once to select it and then click the “Open” button in the lower-right
corner of the dialog box, to open the selected company file.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A NEW COMPANY FILE:
1. To create a new company file in QuickBooks Desktop, start QuickBooks Desktop.

2. Select “File| New Company…” from the Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button in the “No
Company Open” dialog box that appears in QuickBooks when no company file is opened.
3. Click the “Express Start” button to use Express Start to create a new company file or click the
“Advanced Setup” button to create a new company file using the EasyStep Interview.
USING EXPRESS START:
1. The “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen appears when you first open QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
2. To open the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen at any other time, select “File| New Company…”
from the Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” window.
3. To use the Express Start feature, select either the “For myself (I’m the admin)” or the “For someone
else” option button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen.
4. To continue using the Express Start setup, click the “Start Setup” button to continue.
5. If you selected the “For myself (I’m the admin)” option button, then the next screen lets you sign in
with an existing Intuit ID or create a new one.
6. To sign in with an existing Intuit ID, enter the Intuit ID or e-mail address associated with the Intuit ID
into the “Email or user ID” field.
7. Then enter the password for the Inuit ID into the “Password” field.
8. Then click the “Sign In” button to sign in.
9. Alternatively, to create a new Intuit account, click the “Create an account” link in this page to show
an account creation screen.
10. Then enter an email address to use for the Inuit ID into the “Email address” field.
11. Optionally, enter a phone number into the “Phone (recommended)” field.
12. Enter an account password into the “Password” and “Confirm password” fields.
13. Select a security question from the “Security question” drop-down and type your answer into the
“Answer” field. Be sure to write the question and answer down, as you may need it to validate your
identity in the future.
14. Finally, click the Create account” button to create the new account.
15. Alternatively, if you do not want to sign in using your Intuit ID, click the “Remind Me” drop-down
button at the bottom of this screen, select how long to defer signing-in from the drop-down, and then
click “Yes” in the confirmation message box that appears.
16. After signing-in, or skipping it entirely if you chose the “For someone else” option button on the
first screen, the next screen requires you to enter your company’s name, as you want it to appear to
customers and vendors, into the “Business Name” field.
17. Click the “Help me choose” hyperlink next to the “Industry” field to open the “Select Your Industry”
window.
18. Scroll through the “Industry” list in the lower-left corner of this window until you find the industry type that
most closely matches the type of business you operate, and then click the industry choice to select it.
19. The chart of accounts for the selected industry type appears in the list to the right for review, if desired.
20. If you cannot find a specific industry match, select the “General Product-based Business” or
“General Service-based Business” choices. You should only choose the “Other/None” option if you want
to create all of the accounts used by your company file manually, by yourself or with your accountant.
21. After making an industry selection, click the “OK” button to return to the Express Start screen.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
USING EXPRESS START- (CONT’D.):
22. Use the “Business Type” drop-down to select the legal structure of your company file.
23. Then enter the email address for the company’s administrator into the “Admin’s email” field.
24. Optionally, you can enter your company’s FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) or your social
security number into the “Employer Identification Number (EIN)” field.
25. You can enter the main business phone number into the “Phone” field.
26. You can enter your business address into the “Business Address” fields and then enter the associated
city, state, zip, and country into the “City, ”State,” “Zip,” and “Country” fields.
27. After completing the fields in this screen, click the “Create Company” button to continue.
28. A “Working” message box then appears to show the program’s progress at creating your company file.
29. When completed, the message box will disappear and you will see your new company file appear along
with the “Finish” screen of the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
30. If desired, you can click any of the “Learn More” buttons shown in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup”
window to learn more about the additional features shown.
31. To begin entering data, click the “Start Working” button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen to
close the window and begin using QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
USING THE EASYSTEP INTERVIEW:
1. Before you begin, select a “start date” for the company file, gather all account balances for the company
file as of the selected start date, and gather the FEIN or Social Security Number used by the company.
2. To open the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen, if needed, select “File| New Company…” from
the Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button shown in the “No Company Open” window
3. To start the EasyStep Interview, select an option button to choose for whom you are creating the
company file in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
4. Then click the “Other Options” drop-down button and select the “Advanced Setup” command to start the
EasyStep Interview.
5. You complete the EasyStep Interview by entering information into the different screens in the Interview.
6. Once you have completed a screen, you can click the “Next >” button to proceed to the next screen.
7. If needed, you can click the “< Back” button to return to a previous screen and change your answers.
8. After answering all of the questions, you can click the “Go to Setup” button to start using QuickBooks.
9. If necessary, you can click the “Leave…” button to exit the EasyStep Interview after the point in the
EasyStep Interview where you create your company file and return again at a later point in time
10. As you complete the screens in the EasyStep Interview, your progress appears in the “Interview
Progress” meter at the left side of the screen.
11. In the first screen of the EasyStep Interview, labeled “Enter your company information,” enter
information about your company. Required fields are noted by a red asterisk to the left of the field name.
12. Begin by entering the name of your company into the “Company name” field.
13. To move to the next field, press the “Tab” key on your keyboard or click into the field with your mouse.
14. Enter your legal name into the “Legal name” field, if needed.
15. Enter either your FEIN or Social Security Number, as appropriate, into the “Tax ID” field.
16. Enter your complete street address into the “Street address” field set.
17. Enter your city into the “City” field.
18. Select the abbreviation for your state from the “State” drop-down menu.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
USING THE EASYSTEP INTERVIEW- (CONT’D.):
19. Enter your zip code into the “Zip” field.

20. Select your country from the “Country” drop-down menu, if necessary.
21. Enter your phone number and fax number, if desired, into the “Phone” and “Fax” fields using the
formatting you want shown on your forms in QuickBooks.
22. Enter a default e-mail address for the company into the “E-mail address” field.
23. Enter the website address of your company into the “Web site” field, if you would like.
24. Once you have finished entering data into this screen, click the “Next >” button to continue.
25. In the next screen, titled “Select your industry,” select the type of company for which you are creating a
company file from the list of choices shown. If your specific industry isn’t listed, either select the closest
industry listed or select “General Product-based business” or “General Service-based business” from
the list of choices. An important point to note is that the answer that you make here will change what
questions the EasyStep Interview will pose to you as you continue.
26. When you have made your industry selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
27. The next screen asks how your company is organized. You simply select the option button that
corresponds to the legal structure of your company.
28. Once you have made your selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
29. In the next screen you select the first month of your fiscal year from the drop-down menu shown.
30. Once you have selected the first month in your fiscal year, click the “Next >” button to continue.
31. In the next screen, titled “Set up your administrator password,” you can create a password for the
“Administrator” account of your company file. To create a password for the “Administrator” account,
enter it into both the “Administrator password” and “Retype password” fields. If you do this, ensure that
you know what this password is. Also, passwords you create are case-sensitive.
32. When you are ready, click the “Next >” button to continue.
33. In the next screen, called “Create your company file,” you create the actual QuickBooks company file.
When you are ready to save the company file, click the “Next >” button to continue.
34. This will launch the “Filename for New Company” dialog box. This is a standard Windows “Save As”
dialog box. Use it to select the folder into which you want to save the company file.
35. Enter the name that you want to give to the company file into the “File name:” field. This defaults to the
name of the company, but you can change it if needed.
36. Once you know where you will save the file and what you will name it, click the “Save” button to save
the company file and return to the EasyStep Interview.
37. The next screen you will see in the EasyStep Interview is the “Customizing QuickBooks for your
business” screen. This screen informs you that the next several screens will customize your QuickBooks
company file by asking you questions about your company, your customers, and how you pay your bills.
38. At this point and hereafter, you can click the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep
Interview screen to save your progress and return later to complete the EasyStep Interview, if needed.
39. Once you are ready to continue, click the “Next >” button.
40. Next, for your industry selection, the EasyStep Interview shows a series of screens that allow you to
customize your company file for your industry type. Answer any questions posed in each screen and
then click the “Next >” button to continue until you have finished customizing your company file.
41. When you have finished answering all of the questions in the EasyStep Interview, you will see the final
congratulations screen. Click the “Go to Setup” button to open a window that instructs you to create your
customers, inventory, and vendors.
42. You can close this window when you are finished reviewing the next steps that you should take to
complete setting up your company file.

ACTIONS-
RETURNING TO THE EASYSTEP INTERVIEW:
1. To leave the EasyStep Interview, click the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep
Interview.
2. To return to the EasyStep Interview at a later point, just open the company file to automatically
return you to the point at which you left off in the EasyStep Interview.
3. After you have completed the EasyStep Interview, you cannot return to the EasyStep Interview again.
After that, you can only change the default preferences of the program be selecting “Edit|
Preferences…” from the Menu Bar and changing the settings shown in the “Preferences” dialog box.
CREATING A LOCAL BACKUP COPY:
1. To create a local backup copy, select “File| Back Up Company| Create Local Backup” from the Menu
Bar to open the “Create Backup” window. The option button for “Local backup” should already be
selected within the initial screen.
2. Click the “Options” button at the bottom of the screen to open the “Backup Options” window.
3. In the “Local backup only” section, enter the pathway or folder directory where you want to store the
backup copy.
4. You can click the “Browse…” button to open a “Browse for Folder” dialog box that allows you to visually
select the location into which you want to save the backup copy. Once you have selected the folder or
drive where you want to save the backup copy within the “Browse for Folder” dialog box, click the “OK”
button to close the dialog box. Your selection will then appear in the “Tell us where to save your backup
copies (required)” field in the “Backup Options” window.
5. You can then check or uncheck either of the two checkbox options shown in the “Local backup only”
section of the window, if desired. The first checkbox, labeled “Add the date and time of the backup to the
file name (recommended),” will add those elements to the copy of the backup file that is created so that
you can tell when the copy was made. The second checkbox, labeled “Limit the number of backup
copies in this folder to,” will limit the number of backup copies within the selected folder to a number that
you enter.
6. In the “Online and local backup” section, you can check the checkbox shown to have QuickBooks
remind you to create a backup copy after you close the company file a specified number of times. You
can also select the option button that shows what type of data verification to perform on the information
within the backup copy you create. This ensures your backup copy is free from data corruption.
7. Once you have made your choices in the “Backup Options” window, click the “OK” button to close the
window and return to the “Create Backup” window.
8. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
9. In the next screen, choose when you want to create the local backup copy. To create a local backup
copy immediately, select the “Save it now” option button. To save a copy right now and also set a
schedule for future backup times, choose the “Save it now and schedule future backups” option button.
To only schedule future backups, choose the “Only schedule future backups” option button.
10. Once you have made your selection, click the “Next” button to continue.
11. If you are saving a local backup copy right now, then QuickBooks will open the “Save Backup Copy”
dialog box. Here you can change the file name or destination folder of the backup copy, if desired.
12. When you are ready to create the local backup copy, click the “Save” button.
13. Once QuickBooks has finished creating the local backup copy, it will display a small message box
informing you of its success. You can then click the “OK” button to dismiss the message box.

ACTIONS-
RESTORING A COMPANY FILE FROM A LOCAL BACKUP COPY:
1. To restore a corrupted company file from a backup copy, select “File| Open or Restore Company…”
from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the “Restore a backup copy” option button.
3. Click the “Next” button to continue.
4. Select the “Local backup” option button if you are using a local backup copy saved to your network or to
removable media.
6. Use the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box that appears to navigate to and then select the local backup
copy that you want to use for the restore process.
7. After selecting the file to use, click the “Open” button within the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box to
return to the “Open or Restore Company” window.
8. As an alternate to steps #1 through #7 above, you can instead select “File| Back Up Company|
Restore Previous Local Backup” from the Menu Bar, and then select the name of the desired
local backup file to use from the side menu of choices that appears. Either way, you will then
proceed to step #9 below.
9. The “Open or Restore Company” window will display the “Where do you want to restore the file?”
screen. After reading the information within this screen, click the “Next” button to continue.
10. Use the “Save Company File As” dialog box that appears to navigate to, and select, the corrupted
company file to overwrite with information from the backup copy you just selected.
11. After selecting the company file to overwrite, click the “Save” button to continue.
12. If overwriting a corrupted company file, QuickBooks may ask you if you wish to overwrite the file. Click
“Yes” in the message box that appears to overwrite the selected file.
13. Next, QuickBooks cautions you to be absolutely sure that you want to do this by making you type the
word “YES” into the text box within the “Delete Entire File” window, since you will likely be deleting the
most current copy of your company file. You can type the word “yes” into the box and then click “OK” to
begin overwriting the corrupted company file with the data from your selected backup file.
14. To finish restoring the company file if you already created a password for the “Administrator”
user account, enter the password for the “Administrator” account into the “Password” field in the
“QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog box that appears and click the “OK” button. You can then skip to
step #20.
15. To finish restoring the company file if you did NOT create a password for the “Administrator”
user account, if desired, enter a different name for the “Administrator” account into the “User Name”
field in the “Sensitive Data Protection Setup” dialog box appears.
16. Then enter a password for the user account into the “New Password” and “Confirm Password” fields.
17. Then select a challenge question and enter your answer in the “Answer” field.
18. Then click “OK” to finish restoring the file and be sure to write down and safely secure the
administrator user name and password, if you created one!
19. Click “OK” in the information box that appears to tell you to change your password every 90 days.
20. To make the company file up-to-date after restoring the company file, re-enter any transactions into
the company file from the time that the backup copy was created until today.

ACTIONS-
SETTING UP USERS:
1. To set up users in QuickBooks Desktop Pro, select “Company| Set Up Users and Password| Set Up
Users…” the Menu Bar.
2. If you have already created an “Admin” user, enter your password into the “QuickBooks Desktop
Login” dialog box and click “OK” to open the “User List” dialog box.
3. If you have not yet created the master user, usually called “Admin,” that can access all of the
areas of QuickBooks, you will first need to do that.
4. To set up users after you are logged in as the “Admin” user, click the “Add User…” button in the
“User List” dialog box that appears to open the “Set up user password and access” wizard.
5. Type the user name into the “User Name:” field.
6. Type a password for the user into the “Password:” field.
7. Reconfirm the password you just typed by typing it again in the “Confirm Password:” field.
8. To add the new user to your existing QuickBooks license, check the “Add this user to my
QuickBooks license” checkbox. You must purchase a license for each concurrent QuickBooks user
10. On the next screen, you can set the user’s access to “All areas of QuickBooks,” “Selected areas of
QuickBooks,” or “External Accountant.”
11. If you choose either “All areas of QuickBooks” or “External Accountant,” click either “Yes” or “No”
in the confirmation prompt window that appears when you click the “Next” button to continue.
12. Then click the “Finish” button in the next screen to finish setting up those types of users.
13. If you chose the “Selected areas of QuickBooks” option button, click the “Next” button to continue.
14. In the “Sales and Accounts Receivable” screen, select the option button that corresponds to the type of
access you want to give the user to sales and accounts receivable and then click “Next” to continue.
15. In the “Purchases and Accounts Payable” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of
access you want to give the user to purchases and accounts payable and then click “Next” to continue.
16. In the “Checking and Credit Cards” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access you
want to give the user to checking and credit cards in the company file and then click “Next” to continue.
17. If inventory is enabled, then in the “Inventory” screen that appears, select the option that corresponds
to the type of access you want to give the user to inventory and then click “Next” to continue.
18. If time tracking is enabled, then in the “Time Tracking” screen that appears, select the option that
corresponds to the type of access you want to give the user to time tracking and then click “Next” to
continue.
19. If payroll is enabled, then in the “Payroll and Employees” screen, select the option that corresponds to
the type of access you want to give the user to payroll and employees and then click “Next” to continue.
20. In the “Sensitive Accounting Activities” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access
you want to give the user to sensitive accounting activities and then click “Next” to continue.
21. In the “Sensitive Financial Reporting” screen, select the option that corresponds to the type of access
you want to give the user to sensitive financial reporting and then click “Next” to continue.
22. In the “Changing or Deleting Transactions” screen, select whether to allow the user the ability to change
or delete transactions by setting the desired options and then clicking “Next” to continue.
23. You can then review the permissions that you set for the user in the final screen shown and click the
“Finish” button to add the user to the “User List.”
24. Click the “Close” button when you are finished creating all of the necessary users.

ACTIONS-
EDITING AND DELETING USERS:
1. To edit and delete users after you are logged in as the “Admin” user, select “Company| Set Up
Users and Password| Set Up Users…” in QuickBooks from the Menu Bar.
2. You will be presented with the “User List” dialog box where you can add, edit, and delete user accounts.
3. To edit the a user, select the name of the user to edit from the user list and then click the “Edit User…”
button to change the security settings for the selected user by stepping through the same set of screens
you used to initially set the user’s permissions.
4. To delete a user, select a user in the list and click the “Delete User” button. You will need to click “Yes”
in the warning message box that appears to delete the selected user permanently.
5. When you are finished with this dialog box, you can click the “Close” button to close it.
SINGLE AND MULTIPLE USER MODES:
1. To switch to multi-user mode when operating in single-user mode, select “File| Switch to Multi-user
Mode” from the Menu Bar. You may be prompted to enter a user name and a password to use the file.
2. To switch to single-user mode when operating in multi-user mode, ensure that all other users have
exited the company file, and then select “File| Switch to Single-user Mode” from the Menu Bar.
CLOSING A COMPANY FILE:
1. To close a company file, select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar.
OPENING A COMPANY FILE:
1. To open a company file, select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the Menu Bar. Alternately, if
the “No Company Open” dialog box is showing onscreen, click the “Open or restore an existing
company” button to launch the same dialog box.
2. Either way, the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box appears. Here select the “Open a company file”
option button, and then click the “Next” button to continue.
3. That will then launch the “Open a Company” dialog box. Use this dialog box to navigate to the folder in
your computer that contains the company file you would like to open.
4. Double-click the company file, or click it once to select it and then click the “Open” button in the lower-
right corner of the dialog box, to open the selected company file.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create a basic company file, backup a company file, restore your company data from a
backup copy, and close an opened company file.
Exercises:
1. Start the QuickBooks application, if necessary.

2. Select “File| New Company…” from the Menu Bar.
3. Click the “Other Options” drop-down button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen and then
click the “Advanced Setup” command in the drop-down menu.
4. In the “Enter your company information” screen, type “Widgets Co.” into the “Company name” field.
5. Press the “Tab” key on your keyboard to move to the next field. Notice how the “Legal name” field is
automatically filled-in for you by the program.
6. Press the “Tab” key on your keyboard to move to the “Tax ID” field.
7. Enter “38-1234567” into the “Tax ID” field.
8. Enter “100 Main St.” into the first “Street address” field.
9. Enter “East Lansing” into the “City” field.
10. Select “MI” from the “State” drop-down menu.
11. Enter “48823” into the “Zip” field.
12. Select “U.S.” from the “Country” drop-down menu.
13. Enter “1-888-111-2222” into the “Phone” field.
14. Enter “1-888-222-3333” into the “Fax” field.
15. Enter “info@widgetsco.biz” into the “E-mail address” field.
16. Enter “https://www.widgetsco.biz” into the “Web site” field.
17. Click the “Next >” button to continue.
18. In the “Select your industry” screen, scroll to the bottom of the list of industry choices and then select
the “General Product-based Business” choice within the list.
20. In the “How is your company organized?” screen, select the “Sole Proprietorship” option button.
22. In the “Select the first month of your fiscal year” screen, leave “January” selected.
24. In the “Set up your administrator password” screen, type “coMp1ex” into the “Administrator
password” and “Retype password” fields and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
25. In the “Create your company file” screen, click the “Next >” button to continue.
26. Click “Save” in the “Filename for New Company” dialog box to save the file in the default folder.
27. Read the information in the “Customizing QuickBooks for your business” screen, and then click the
“Next >” button to continue.
28. In the “What do you sell?” screen, select the option button for “Both services and products.”
30. Leave the “Yes” option button selected within the “Do you charge sales tax?” screen.
32. Leave the “Yes” option button selected within the “Do you want to create estimates?” screen.
(cont’d.)

EXERCISES-
Exercises- (cont'd.):
34. Leave the “Yes” option button selected within the “Using statements in QuickBooks” screen.
36. In the “Using progress invoicing” window, select the “Yes” option button and then click the “Next >”
button to continue.
37. In the “Managing bills you owe” window, leave the “Yes” option button selected and then click the
38. In the “Tracking inventory in QuickBooks” window, select the “Yes” option button and then click the
39. In the “Tracking Time in QuickBooks” window, select the “Yes” option button and then click the “Next
>” button to continue.
40. In the “Do you have employees?” window, select the “Yes” option button.
41. Check both the “We have W-2 employees” and “We have 1099 contractors” checkboxes.
43. In the “Using accounts in QuickBooks” window, click the “Next >” button to continue.
44. In the “Select a date to start tracking your finances” window, select the “Beginning of this fiscal year:
01/01/2019” option button, or select the “Use today’s date or the first day of a quarter or month”
option and then enter “01/01/2019” into the adjacent text box.
45. When finished selecting the start date, click the “Next >” button to continue.
46. In the “Review income and expense accounts” window, click the “Next >” button to continue.
47. In the “Congratulations!” window, click the “Go to Setup” button.
48. In the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window, click the “Start Working” button to close the window.
49. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the “New Feature Tour” window to close it.
50. Click anywhere within the “Home” page to dismiss the yellow boxes shown onscreen.
51. Select “File| Back Up Company| Create Local Backup” from the Menu Bar.
52. In the “Create Backup” window, ensure that the “Local backup” option button is selected.
53. Click the “Options” button at the bottom of the screen to open the “Backup Options” window.
54. Click the “Browse…” button in the “Local backup only” section of the window.
55. Select the same folder into which you saved the original company file to save the backup copy of the
company file using the “Browse for Folder” window. By default, this folder location is
“C:\Users\Public\Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\” in your folder system.
56. Click the “OK” button within the Browse for Folder” window once the folder is selected to return to
the “Backup Options” window.
57. Click the “OK” button within the “Backup Options” window.
58. In the message box that appears, click the “Use this location” button.
59. Click the “Next” button within the “Create Backup” window to continue to the “When do you want to
save your backup copy?” screen.
60. Select the “Save it now” option button.
62. Click the “Save” button within the “Save Backup Copy” dialog box to create the local backup copy.
63. When the backup is finished being created, click the “OK” button in the message box that appears.
64. Select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the Menu Bar.
65. Select the “Restore a backup copy” option button, and then click the “Next” button to continue.
66. Select the “Local backup” option button, and then click the “Next” button to continue.
67. Use the “Restore From” dialog box that appears to select the backup file that you just created.
(cont’d.)

EXERCISES-
68. Once the backup file has been selected, click the “Open” button.
70. In the “Save Company File as” dialog box, select the company file that you just created.
71. When you are ready, click the “Save” button to begin to overwrite the selected file with the data from
the backup copy.
72. Click the “Yes” button in the overwrite question prompt message box.
73. Type “yes” into the “Delete Entire File” message box, and click the “OK” button to overwrite the file.
74. In the “QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog box, type the administrator password of “coMp1ex” into
the “Password” field and then click the “OK” button to continue to overwrite and restore the file.
75. After the file is re-opened, select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar to close the company
file.

CHAPTER 3-
Using Lists
3.1- Using Lists
3.2- The Chart of Accounts
3.3- The Customers & Jobs List
3.4- The Employees List
3.5- The Vendors List
3.6- Using Custom Fields
3.7- Sorting Lists
3.8- Inactivating and Reactivating List Items
3.9- Printing Lists
3.10- Renaming and Merging List Items
3.11- Adding Multiple List Entries from Excel

Using Lists
3.1- Using Lists:
In QuickBooks, you store much of the information for your company file in lists. In QuickBooks you
keep lists for all of your vendors, customers, inventory items, and accounts. They are there so you will not
need to retype information you use frequently every time you want to place it into a form. You also don’t
need to enter all your information into the lists at startup. You can add information into all of your lists as you
use QuickBooks.
This chapter covers manipulating the main lists you need to run QuickBooks efficiently: the “Chart of
Accounts,” the “Customers & Jobs” list, the “Employees” list, and the “Vendors” list. These lists, with the
exception of the “Chart of Accounts,” are maintained within the related “Center” in QuickBooks. So, for
example, you can open the “Customer” center to access the “Customers & Jobs” list. The lists within the
centers also share a similar layout and structure. So, after learning how to perform list-related tasks in one
of the centers, you can then quickly master using the lists in the other centers, too.
3.2- The Chart of Accounts:
One of the most important lists in QuickBooks is the chart of accounts. To open this list, select “Lists|
Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar. The chart of accounts lists all the accounts in your company file.
These accounts track all incoming and outgoing money and tell you how much you currently own and owe.
When you set up your business in QuickBooks, you get a default list of accounts. Once that has been done,
you will probably need to make some changes.
You can add, edit, inactivate, delete, and rename accounts in this list. Generally, you can perform
any of these tasks by first selecting the account within the chart of accounts you want to change. Then click
the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window and select the desired
command to perform from the pop-up menu that appears.
Conveniently, in any list you can open by choosing the “Lists” command in the Menu Bar, you can
always click the button in the lower-left corner of the list window to perform the basic list-related tasks. The
button is always named the same thing as the list within which it appears. For example, click the “Account”
button to perform list management in the “Chart of Accounts” window, click the “Item” button when using the
“Item List,” and so on.
To illustrate, assume you wanted to add a new savings account to your chart of accounts. To add a
new account, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar or press “Ctrl”+“A” on your keyboard to
open the list. Next, click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window and
choose the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears. This opens the “Add New Account:
Choose Account Type” window, where you enter the new account information.
First, select the account type from the account options shown. Technically, a savings account is an
asset. However, in QuickBooks, when working with asset accounts that have a cash basis, like checking,
savings, petty cash, and others, you will want to assign the account as a “Bank” account type to note its
cash nature and be able to use it within transaction windows.
After selecting the desired account type, click the “Continue” button to move to the next screen. You
will then see the “Add New Account” window. Note that when you selected the account type on the previous
screen and then clicked the “Continue” button, all it did was select an account type from the “Account Type”
drop-down shown at the top of this window.
Next, enter a name for the account into the “Account Name” text box. For now, skip the “Subaccount
of” checkbox and drop-down, as we will discuss creating subaccounts momentarily, and we will assume that
the account created is not a subaccount of any other main account.

Using Lists
The account “Description” field is optional, as are the “Bank Acct. No.,” “Routing Number,” and “Tax-
Line Mapping” fields. When finished, click the “Save & Close” button to create the new account and close
the “New Account” window. Alternately, to continue creating new accounts without closing and reopening
the “New Account” window, click the “Save & New” button, instead. Doing this creates the account and
clears the “New Account” window, but leaves the window open so you can continue creating accounts. If
you choose to do this, note that this time you need to select the account type for the next account to create
from the “Account Type” drop-down at the top of the window. Also note you can click the “Cancel” button to
close the “New Account” window without creating an account, if needed.
To create an account that had a balance as of the company file’s start date, click the “Enter Opening
Balance…” button. This will open the “Enter Opening Balance” window where you can enter the amount, as
of the start date of your company file, into the “Statement Ending Balance” field. Then select the statement
date, which must be either before, or as of, the “start date” of the company file from the “Statement Ending
Date” calendar selector. Then click the “OK” button to save the account’s opening balance. The amounts
entered here are attributed to the “Opening Bal Equity” account in the chart of accounts. For accounts
created after the start date, you simply create the account and enter the transactions that show from where
the new account received its initial funds. When creating accounts, you will not need to use the “Opening
Balance” field again after entering your beginning account balances when starting your company file.
You can also create subaccounts of accounts already created within the chart of accounts. This
allows you to attribute transaction amounts to specific subaccounts of a primary account for reporting
purposes. For example, if you had an “Automobile” expense account, you could create subaccounts for
“Gas” and “Maintenance/Repairs” to easily show within a report the different amounts spent on gas versus
repairs and maintenance for company vehicles, as well as the total amount spent on automobile expenses.
The balance of any main account that has subaccounts is the total of all transactions attributed to the main
account, including all balances within its subaccounts.
You create subaccounts the same way you create any other account. However, first ensure you
have created the main account for which to create the subaccounts! The only difference when creating a
subaccount versus a primary account is that you must check the “Subaccount of” box and then choose its
primary account from the adjacent drop-down menu. Subaccounts must also be the exact same “account
type” as their parent accounts.
To filter the chart of accounts if using QuickBooks Pro 2018 or later, type the account name or
number to find into the “Look for account name or number” field at the top of the “Chart of Accounts”
window. Then click the adjacent “Search” button or press the “Enter” key on your keyboard to filter the
account list to show only matching accounts. To show all accounts again, click the “Reset” button.
To edit an account, select the account to edit in the chart of accounts. Then click the “Account”
button in the lower-left corner of the list and choose the “Edit Account” command from the pop-up menu that
appears. Alternately, you can also right-click the account to edit within the “Chart of Accounts” window and
then select the “Edit Account” command from the pop-up menu that appears. Either way, you will then see
the “Edit Account” window appear. Edit the account information in this window and then click the “Save &
Close” button to save your changes and close the window.
You may have accounts you never use in your chart of accounts. You can only delete accounts if
there are no transactions associated with the account. After transactions are assigned to an account, you
can no longer delete it, as that would compromise your company’s financial information. In that case, you
must first remove the transactions from the account, either by reassigning each transaction in the account to
other accounts or by deleting them entirely if they are incorrect. However, this may not be feasible for your
situation. After there are no transactions in the account, then you can delete it.

Using Lists
To delete an empty account in the chart of accounts, select the account and click the “Account”
button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window. Choose “Delete Account” from the pop-up
menu that appears. Then click “OK” in the message box that appears to delete the account.
If you have an account you used at one time in the past, but no longer actively use, you can
inactivate it to hide it since you cannot delete it. When an account is inactivated, it will not appear by default
in your chart of accounts. However, the account information is retained for reporting in QuickBooks. You
can actually make items in almost all your lists inactive to hide items you no longer use. In the chart of
accounts, you can inactivate an account by selecting the name of the account, clicking the “Account” button
in the lower-left corner of the list window, and then selecting the “Make Account Inactive” command from the
pop-up menu. Inactivating list items will be covered in depth in Lesson 3.8.
3.3- The Customers & Jobs List:
You can perform all activities associated with your customers through the Customer Center. While
there are many features available in the Customer Center, one of the most important parts of it is the
“Customers & Jobs” list. This list is where you can add, edit, and display all of your customer’s information
as well as information for any jobs that you create for each customer, if you use the “Jobs” features in
QuickBooks. You may notice that this list is called the “Customers & Jobs” tab within the Customer Center,
and called the “Customer:Job” list within forms. Sometimes it is simply called the “Customers” list. It really
doesn’t matter what you call it- as long as you realize that it’s all the same list within QuickBooks.
If you have created a new company file in QuickBooks, and have customers who owed you money
as of the start date of your company file, then enter those people into the Customers & Jobs list right after
you finish creating the company file. After you have done that, you can then add customers and jobs to your
list as the need arises through the daily use of the program.
To add a new customer to the Customers & Jobs list, first open the Customer Center. You can do
this by clicking the “Customers” button in the Icon Bar, by clicking the “Customers” button in the Home
Page, or by selecting “Customers| Customer Center” from the Menu Bar. You can also use the keyboard
shortcut of “Ctrl + J” to open the Customer Center and display the Customers & Jobs list.
At the left side of the Customer Center window is a tab called “Customers & Jobs.” Click this tab to
view customers and jobs entered into QuickBooks Desktop Pro. To add a new customer to this list, click the
“New Customer & Job” button that appears above the “Customers & Jobs” tab at the top of the Customer
Center window. From the small drop-down menu that appears, click the “New Customer” choice. This will
open the “New Customer” window where you enter the new customer information.
In the “New Customer” window, type the name of the customer as you want it to appear in the
“Customers & Jobs” tab into the “Customer Name” field. Each customer must have a unique “Customer
Name” value.
If adding a customer who owed money as of the “start date” of your company file, enter the amount
owed by the customer as of the start date into the “Opening Balance” field. Then select the start date of your
company file from the “as of” calendar drop-down. These fields are only used when adding customers who
owed money as of your start date. For any future customers you add, skip these opening balance fields.
Next click the “Address Info” tab at the left side of the window, if needed. In this tab, you enter the
customer address information as you would like it to appear on invoices and other customer-related
documentation. Start by typing the name of the company, which can be different from the “Customer Name”
value, into the “Company Name” field. For individual customers, enter their name into the “Mr./Ms./…,”
“First,” “M.I.,” and “Last” name fields. Enter the customer’s job title into the “Job Title” field.

Using Lists
3.3- The Customers & Jobs List- (cont'd.):
Then enter the customer contact information you wish to record into the next eight fields available.
There are eight data field choices shown by default. However, for each field, you can select what data to
record by choosing the name of a data field from the drop-down field labels shown. Then record the
associated customer information within the adjacent data field to the right of each drop-down field label. The
data fields shown by default are, from top to bottom and left to right: “Main Phone,” “Work Phone,” “Mobile,”
“Fax,” “Main Email,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your choices of alternate fields for which you can
substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt. Phone,” “Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,”
“Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,” “URL 2,” “URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,”
and “Other 3.”
In the “Address Details” section at the bottom of this tab, you can enter billing and shipping address
information for the customer. Type the customer’s billing address directly into the “Invoice/Bill To” text box
or click the “Edit” button to the right of the “Invoice/Bill To” field and then enter the billing address into the
fields within the “Edit Address Information” window that appears. If you choose to enter the address
information into the “Edit Address Information” window, click the “OK” button when finished to display the
address you entered within the “Invoice/Bill To” text box.
If the shipping address is the same as the billing address you entered, click the “Copy >>” button to
copy the billing address into the “Ship To” text box to the right. If they are not the same, enter the shipping
address into the “Ship To” text box.
In QuickBooks you can create and save multiple shipping addresses for each customer. You can
add a shipping address by clicking the “Add” button to the right of the “Ship To” text box. In the “Add
Shipping Address Information” dialog box that appears, enter a name for the shipping address into the
“Address Name” text box. Then type the address into the “Address,” “City,” “State/ Province,” “Zip/ Postal
Code,” and “Country/ Region” fields. If creating multiple addresses, check the “Default shipping address”
checkbox of the address you want to set as the default shipping address. To save the address, click the
“OK” button. You can add more shipping addresses by repeating the process until you have entered all of
the necessary shipping addresses for the customer. Also note that you can select a shipping address from
the “Ship To” drop-down to display it within the address field on this tab. You can then use the “Edit” and
“Delete” buttons that appear to the right of the displayed shipping address to edit or delete the shipping
address information shown, if needed.
To continue entering customer information, click the “Payment Settings” tab at the left side of the
“New Customer” window. On this tab, enter the default payment information for the customer. You can enter
the account number you have assigned to this customer, if you use account numbers, by typing it into the
“Account No.” field. To assign a credit limit to this customer, enter their credit limit amount into the “Credit
Limit” field. Next, use the “Payment Terms” drop-down field to select the default purchasing terms you want
to assign to the customer. If the customer has a special pricing level assigned to their purchases by default,
select it from the “Price Level” drop-down field. If you think you will need to use pricing levels, please review
the separate chapter on price levels. You can select a default delivery method for customer forms from the
“Preferred Delivery Method” drop-down. If the customer has a preferred payment method that they use, you
can select the name of the payment method from the “Preferred Payment Method” drop-down.
If you accept online payments, you can check the methods of online payments you accept within the
“Online Payments” section. The checkbox choices include “Credit Card” and “Bank Transfer (ACH).” If you
process payments from a customer credit card, you can enter the customer’s cardholder information into the
“Credit Card No.,” “Exp. Date,” “Name on card,” “Address,” and “Zip Code” fields within the “Credit Card
Information” section.
Once you have finished data entry on this tab, click the “Sales Tax Settings” tab at the left side of the

Using Lists
3.3- The Customers & Jobs List- (cont'd.):
“New Customer” window to continue. On this tab, use the “Tax Code” drop-down to choose whether the
selected customer is taxable or non-taxable. If the customer is a taxable customer, then choose the default
sales tax to apply to their purchases from the “Tax Item” drop-down. We will look at collecting sales tax in a
separate chapter, which you should review if you will be collecting sales tax. If the customer has a resale
number for use, you can enter it into the “Resale Number” text box.
After entering the customer’s sales tax information, click the “Additional Info” tab at the left side of
the “New Customer” window to continue. On this tab, you can enter a customer type into the “Customer
Type” field, or select a previous entry you have made from the field’s drop-down list. The values you enter
into this field can be used as a way to filter customer reports you create. You can use the “Rep” drop-down
to assign one of your sales reps to the customer. In the area to the right of this tab, you can enter any
information into the customer’s custom fields you have created. We will examine creating custom fields for
customers, vendors, and employees in Lesson 3.6.
If creating a new customer, you are finished with data entry at this point. You won’t use the “Job
Info” tab, as that is only used when creating a new job for an existing customer. We will examine creating
jobs in the chapter on estimates. To finish adding the customer to the Customers & Jobs list, click the “OK”
button.
You can edit an existing customer’s information in the future if their information changes or if you
need to enter additional customer data. To edit a customer within the “Customers & Jobs” tab, select the
name of the customer in the list whose information you wish to edit. Then either double-click the name of
the customer in the “Customers & Jobs” tab, click the “Edit” button at the right end of the “Customer
Information” section to the right, or right-click the customer name in the “Customers & Jobs” tab and select
the “Edit Customer:Job” command from the pop-up menu that appears. Performing any of these actions will
open the “Edit Customer” window. You can then edit any of the information shown in the tabs of the window.
Click the “OK” button to save your changes and close the window when you are finished.
Like accounts, after you have used a customer in a transaction you cannot delete them from the
“Customers & Jobs” tab. Instead, you can inactivate customers you will no longer need to view to hide them
within the list. Please review Lesson 3.8 to learn how to activate and inactivate customers.
If you did, however, create a customer record you did not use and no longer need- you can delete it.
To do this, select the entry to delete from the Customers & Jobs list and then choose “Edit| Delete
Customer:Job” from the Menu Bar. You then need to click the “OK” button in the confirmation message box
that appears to permanently delete the selected customer entry.
3.4- The Employees List:
If you are using QuickBooks to handle payroll and indicated that you have employees during the
EasyStep Interview, you can later setup payroll for your company file and then enter employees into the
Employees tab in the Employee Center. The Employee Center allows you to handle all transactions that
involve your employees and payroll. You can open the Employee Center by selecting “Employees|
Employee Center” from the Menu Bar. To view the Employees tab within the center, click the tab at the left
side of the window that says “Employees.” You can add, edit, and delete or inactivate employees in the list.
To add a new employee to the list, click the “New Employee…” button in the upper-left corner of the
Employee Center. This will open the “New Employee” window.
The information within this window is divided into tabs shown at the left side of the window. The first
tab shown by default when you open this window is called the “Personal” tab. In this tab, enter the

Using Lists
3.4- The Employees List- (cont'd.):
employee’s name into the “Legal Name” fields. Then enter their name as it should appear on paychecks
into the “Print on Checks as” field. Enter their social security number into the “Social Security No.” field. You
can enter their gender, date of birth, martial status, U.S. citizenship status, and ethnicity into the “Gender,”
“Date of Birth,” “Marital Status,” “U.S. Citizen,” and “Ethnicity” fields. If needed, you can also enter
information into the “Disability,” “I-9 Form,” and “Military” sections at the right side of this tab. After finishing
data entry on this tab, click the “Address & Contact” tab to continue.
In the “Address & Contact” tab, you can enter the employee’s home address information into the
“Address,” “City,” “State,” and “Zip” fields available. You can then enter their main phone number into the
“Main Phone” field. Then enter their primary e-mail address into the “Main Email” field. You can then enter
the employee information that you wish to record into the next six fields available. There are six data fields
shown by default. However, for each field, you can select what data to record by choosing the name of a
data field from the drop-down field labels shown. Then record the associated employee information within
the adjacent data field to the right of each drop-down field label. The data fields shown by default are, from
top to bottom and left to right: “Work Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your
choices of alternate fields for which you can substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt.
Phone,” “Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,” “Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,”
“URL 2,” “URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,” and “Other 3.”
In the “Emergency Contact Info” section, you can enter emergency contact information for the
employee. Type the name of the employee’s primary emergency contact into the “Primary Contact” field
under the “Contact Name” column. Then enter the emergency phone number for that contact into the
“Contact Phone” field to the right. Then use the “Relation” drop-down to the right of that to select the
relationship between the employee and the emergency contact. If the employee has a secondary
emergency contact, enter that person’s information into the next three fields for the “Secondary Contact”
below the information for the “Primary Contact.” After entering the employee information you wish to record,
click the “Additional Info” tab to continue.
In the “Additional Info” tab, you can enter an employee ID number into the “Account No. (Employee
ID)” field, if needed. You can also enter any information into whatever custom fields you create for your
employees into the “Custom Fields” section of this tab. To add custom fields to your customer, vendor, or
employee lists to record information of your choosing, please review the section on creating customized
fields in a later lesson of this chapter. After you have finished the “Additional Info” tab, click the “Payroll Info”
tab to continue.
On the “Payroll Info” tab, enter the specific payroll earnings for the selected employee. We will
discuss entering information into the “Payroll Info” and “Workers’ Comp” tabs in depth in a later chapter on
payroll. If you will be performing payroll activities in QuickBooks, you should review the entire chapter on
payroll before entering employee payroll data. Also note that if you start to create a new employee, but don’t
enter payroll information, you will be prompted by QuickBooks to enter that information when you click the
“OK” button within the “New Employee” window to save the record and close the window. To save the
record as is, click the “Leave As Is” button within the prompt window. To return and enter payroll information
immediately, click the “Set Up Now” button and enter the payroll data.
Next, select the “Employment Info” tab. To the right are three horizontal tabs for “Employment,”
“Leave of Absence” and “Termination.” Select the “Employment” tab, if needed. Here you enter the
employee’s hire date into the “Hire Date” field. You can enter the employee’s original hire date, if needed,
into the “Original Hire Date” field. If needed, you can enter an adjusted service date for the employee into
the “Adjusted Service Date” field. An adjusted service date can be used to calculate benefits that differ from
the employee’s hire date. When the employee leaves, enter their last payroll date into the “Release Date

Using Lists
3.4- The Employees List- (cont'd.):
(Last Date on Payroll)” field. Note, however, that this field is automatically filled-in when you create a
termination check for an employee during payroll. In the “Employment Details” section, you can use the
“Employment Type” drop-down to classify the employee as a “Regular” (W-2) employee, a “Statutory”
(1099) employee, or an “Officer” or “Owner” of the company. You can also use the “Full/Part Time,”
“Exempt,” and “Key Employee” drop-downs to select whether the employee is full or part time, whether or
not they are exempt, and whether or not they are considered a key employee. In the “Job Details” section,
you can enter job-related details about the employee, if desired, including their “Title,” “Supervisor,”
“Department,” “Description,” and “Target Bonus.”
If the employee takes a leave of absence, click the “Leave of Absence” tab to enter the information
about it. Here you can enter the “Start Date,” “Expected Return Date” and “Actual Return Date” into the
fields in the “Leave Dates” section to record that information when it occurs. Under the “Leave Details”
section, use the “Type” and “Reason” fields to record the type of leave of absence and the reason for it. In
the “Leave Pay” section, use the “Leave Paid” drop-down to select whether or not this is a paid leave.
If the employee is terminated, click the “Termination” tab to enter the details about the termination.
You can enter the “Last Day Worked,” “Last Day of Benefits” and the “Release Date (Last Day on Payroll)”
into the fields provided. In the “Termination Details” section, you can enter the type of termination and the
reason for it into the “Termination Type” and “Termination Reason” fields. You can use the “Recommend
Rehire” drop-down to select whether or not to recommend the employee for rehiring, if possible. You can
also use the “Protest Unemployment” drop-down to choose whether or not to protest the employee’s
unemployment filing, if filed. In the “Severance Pay” section, you can use the “Severance Paid” drop-down
to indicate whether or not the employee receives severance pay. You can enter any notes about the
severance pay into the field below this drop-down.
You can click the “Workers’ Comp” tab to enter worker’s compensation rates into the fields within
this tab. Once again, please review the “Payroll” chapter to learn how to enter information in this tab in
detail.
After you have entered the employee information, click the “OK’ button within the “New Employee”
window to add the selected employee into the “Employees” list within the “Employee Center.”
To edit an employee record in the future to change employee or payroll information, select the name
of the employee to edit from the “Employees” tab in the Employee Center. Then either click the “Edit ”
button to the right of the “Employee Information” section to the right of the list, or double-click the name of
the employee shown in the “Employees” tab to open the “Edit Employee” window. Change or add whatever
employee or payroll information is necessary through the tabs within this window, and be sure to click the
“OK” button when finished to save the data entry.
Like all the other QuickBooks lists, you cannot delete an entry made in the Employees list once it
has been used in a transaction. Once a record is associated with a transaction, you can only inactivate the
record to hide it from view. You should review Lesson 3.8 on inactivating and reactivating list items to learn
how to perform this task in your QuickBooks lists.
However, if you created an employee record but did not use it in any transactions, you can delete
the record from the “Employee” tab. To do this, select the record to delete from the Employees list and then
choose “Edit| Delete Employee” from the Menu Bar. You then need to click “OK” in the confirmation
message box that appears to permanently delete the selected employee record.

Using Lists
3.5- The Vendors List:
You keep information about the companies and people from whom you purchase goods or services
in the Vendors tab within the Vendor Center. In QuickBooks, you keep parts supply vendors, utility
companies, subcontractors and more within this list. The list of vendors tends to be one of the larger lists
you maintain. QuickBooks uses the information you enter to fill out purchase orders, bills, and checks as
you make purchases for your company. You can open the Vendor Center by selecting “Vendors| Vendor
Center” from the Menu Bar.
To access the Vendors tab within the Vendor Center, click the “Vendors” tab at the left side of the
Vendor Center. You can add vendors, edit vendor information, and inactivate or delete vendors within this
tab. To add a new vendor to this tab, click the “New Vendor…” button in the upper-left corner of the Vendor
Center and then select “New Vendor” from the drop-down menu to open the “New Vendor” window.
Start by typing a unique name for this vendor into the “Vendor Name” field. If adding a vendor to
whom you owed money as of the start date of your company, enter the total amount outstanding into the
“Opening Balance” field and select your company file’s start date from the adjacent “as of” calendar selector
field. You only perform this task when initially adding vendors to whom you owed money as of the start date
of your company file. If creating a vendor to whom you did not owe money as of your company file’s start
date, skip the “Opening Balance” and the “as of” fields.
Next, click the “Address Info” tab in the “New Vendor” window. Enter the company name of the
vendor into the “Company Name” field. If the vendor is an individual, enter the person’s information into the
“Mr./Ms./…,” “First,” “M.I.,” and “Last” name fields. Enter the vendor’s job title into the “Job Title” field.
Then enter the vendor contact information you wish to record into the next eight fields available.
There are eight data field choices shown by default. However, for each field, you can select what data to
record by choosing the name of a data field from the drop-down field labels shown. Then record the
associated vendor information within the adjacent data field to the right of each drop-down field label. The
data fields shown by default are, from top to bottom and left to right: “Main Phone,” “Work Phone,” “Mobile,”
“Fax,” “Main Email,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your choices of alternate fields for which you can
substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt. Phone,” “Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,”
“Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,” “URL 2,” “URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,”
and “Other 3.”
In the “Address Details” section at the bottom of this tab, you can enter billed from and shipped from
address information for the vendor. You can type the vendor’s billing address directly into the “Billed From”
field or click the “Edit” button to the right of the “Billed From” field and enter the billing address into the fields
within the “Edit Address Information” window that appears. If you enter the address information into the “Edit
Address Information” window, click the “OK” button when finished to display the address you entered within
the “Billed From” field.
If the shipped from address is the same as the billed from address you entered, click the “Copy >>”
button to copy the billing information into the “Shipped From” field to the right. If they are not the same, enter
the shipping address into the “Shipped From” field.
To continue entering vendor information, click the “Payment Settings” tab at the left side of the “New
Vendor” window. On this tab, enter the default purchasing information from the vendor. You can enter the
account number assigned by this vendor, if the vendor gives you an account number, by entering it into the
“Account No.” field. This number will print in the “Memo” field of checks you remit to this vendor. If the
vendor assigns you a credit limit, enter your credit limit amount into the “Credit Limit” field. Next, use the
“Payment Terms” drop-down field to select the default purchasing terms you have been assigned. You can
enter the name of the vendor as you want it to appear on checks you issue to the vendor into the “Print
Name on Checks as” field.

Using Lists
3.5- The Vendors List- (cont'd.):
After entering the vendor’s payment information on this tab, click the “Tax Settings” tab to continue.
On this tab, you can enter the vendor’s tax id number for 1099 subcontractors into the “Vendor Tax ID” field.
If the vendor is eligible for a 1099, check the “Vendor eligible for 1099” checkbox. After entering any vendor
tax information, click the “Account Settings” tab to continue.
On the “Account Settings” tab, you can enter vendor account prefill information. You can enter up to
three accounts, most commonly expense or cost of good accounts, that can appear automatically when you
enter a bill from this vendor. These accounts will appear within the accounts column in the bill if you select
this vendor record when entering a bill. This can save time if you always attribute amounts from a particular
vendor to the same accounts. For example, if entering your telephone company as a vendor, you could
select the “Telephone Expense” account from the first drop-down on this tab to have that account
automatically appear when entering a bill from this vendor in the future. After entering any account prefill
information for the vendor, click the “Additional Info” tab to continue.
On the “Additional Info” tab, you can use the “Vendor Type” drop-down to select a vendor type, or
you can enter a new vendor type directly into the “Vendor Type” field. This allows you to classify and
categorize vendors for reporting purposes. At the right side of the “Additional Info” tab, you can enter any
custom field values for custom fields you have created for your vendors. We will cover creating custom
fields for your QuickBooks lists in a separate lesson of this chapter.
After you have finished entering the vendor information, click the “OK” button to save the new
vendor record and close the window. To cancel the creation of the vendor record instead, click the “Cancel”
button to cancel your changes and close the window.
To edit existing vendor records to add missing information or otherwise change the vendor records,
first select the name of the vendor to change within the “Vendors” tab in the Vendor Center. Then either
double-click the name shown in the list, or click the “Edit” button at the right of the “Vendor Information”
section to the right of the Vendors List to open the “Edit Vendor” window. Make whatever changes are
needed in the tabs shown in this window, and click the “OK” button to save the record.
Like all QuickBooks lists, you cannot delete a record once you have used it in a transaction. After a
record is associated with a transaction, you can only inactivate the record to hide it from view. You should
review lesson “3.8- Inactivating and Reactivating List Items” to learn how to perform this task in your
QuickBooks lists.
However, if you created a vendor record but did not use it in any transactions, you can delete the
record from the “Vendors” list. To do this, select the record to delete from the list and then choose “Edit|
Delete Vendor” from the Menu Bar. You will need to click “OK” in the confirmation message box that
appears to permanently delete the selected record.

Using Lists
3.6- Using Custom Fields:
You can add your own customized fields to the “Customers & Jobs,” “Vendors,” “Employees,” and
“Item” lists in QuickBooks. This allows you to create fields that will appear for each record in a list and lets
you track information specific to your particular business. For example, you could add fields for “Color,”
“Size,” and “Style” to your “Item” list to create items with the same general description in your inventory, and
then differentiate between them by color, size and style.
If you add custom fields to sales forms or purchase orders, QuickBooks will automatically enter the
values specified for the employee, customer, vendor, or item you selected if a value was entered. This
doesn’t mean you are required to use customized fields in forms, however. You could simply add a custom
field as a way to record information strictly for your own use. For example, you could use it to record your
opinion of a customer’s credit-worthiness. However you use it, QuickBooks will remember the information
you enter into the customized fields when you import and export data and also when you memorize
transactions.
You can add up to seven customized fields to each of the following lists: “Customers & Jobs,”
“Vendors,” and “Employees.” You can only create up to five customized fields within the “Item” list. Custom
fields you add to a list are available to every record within the list.
You can create custom fields that can appear in the “Customers & Jobs,” “Vendors,” and
“Employees” lists by opening any one of the three lists, and then opening either the “New [list item]” or “Edit
[list item]” windows within the selected list. Within the window, click the “Additional Info” tab and then click
the “Define Fields” button at the right side of the tab in the “Custom Fields” section. This will open a “Set Up
Custom Fields for Names” dialog box, where you can create custom fields for all three lists at once.
To add a new custom field to a list, click into the first blank row in the “Label” column at the left side
of the dialog box and then type the label for the new field. To the right of that, check the checkbox for each
list, shown as a column of checkboxes, within which you would like this field to appear. A field can appear
within one or more lists.
Repeat these steps until you have created all of the necessary custom fields for the three lists. After
you are finished, click the “OK” button to save your changes and return to the selected list item window. You
can then input data into the custom field for new list entries, or edit existing list items to add new data to the
custom fields you just created. Custom fields are always shown on the “Additional Info” tab of the “New” and
“Edit” windows within the “Customers & Jobs,” “Vendors,” and “Employees” lists.
Adding custom fields to the “Item” list is a bit different from adding custom fields to the other lists.
While we haven’t examined working with the “Item” list in much detail yet, it is an important list in
QuickBooks. You place any item that appears in a QuickBooks purchase order, sales receipt or invoice into
the “Item” list. You can access the “Item” list by selecting “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar. In the “Item”
list, you can add custom fields through the “New Item” or “Edit Item” windows.
Select either the “New” or “Edit Item” commands from the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the
list to access either window. Once there, you can add custom fields to this list by clicking the “Custom
Fields” button at the right side of the window. This will open a “Custom Fields for Items” dialog box where
you can enter values for any custom fields you create for your Item list.
To create a new custom field for the “Item List,” click the “Define Fields” button to open the “Set Up
Custom Fields for Items” dialog box. Type a label for the new custom field into the first available blank row
under the “Label” column and then check the adjacent “Use” checkbox for that row. Repeat this process
until you have created all of the fields you want for the “Item List.” When finished, click the “OK” button to
create the new fields. You can then enter values into the custom fields for the current item, if needed. Click
the “OK” button again in this window to return to the main item window when finished, and then click “OK”
button again to save the record.

Using Lists
3.7- Sorting Lists:
You can sort information in QuickBooks lists manually or automatically. To manually sort items
within a list, click and drag the small diamond at the left side of any list entry and drop it into a new location
within the list. However, it is important to note you cannot manually arrange list items when automatic
sorting is applied to a list.
Also, be careful when manually arranging items, as you may accidentally place subentries in a list
(like subaccounts in the Chart of Accounts, or Jobs within the “Customers & Jobs” list) under an incorrect
main account. The only way to fix this is to manually place it back from where it came- you cannot
automatically re-sort the list to fix that type of mistake. Also, when manually arranging list items in the Chart
of Accounts, you can only arrange accounts adjacent to accounts of the same “account type.” For example,
you cannot place an “income” account into the “expense” accounts within the list.
You can also automatically sort list items, in ascending or descending order, by the values shown in
any column within the list. To do this, click the column heading at the top of the column by whose values
you wish to sort the list. You will see a small arrow appear next to the column heading, pointing up or down.
An “up” arrow indicates an ascending sorting order, and the “down” arrow indicates a descending sorting
order. Clicking the name of the column shown in the column heading again will toggle the arrow between
the “up” and “down” positions.
When you automatically sort a list, a large diamond appears at the far left side of the row of column
headings. This indicates the list is being automatically sorted. You won’t be able to perform some actions,
like manually arranging list items, while automatic sorting is being applied. To remove automatic sorting and
return the list to its default sorting order, click the large diamond to remove the automatic sorting.
To re-sort a list and return it to its original sorting order, click the button that contains the name of the
list in the lower-left corner of the list window and then select “Re-sort List” from the pop-up menu that
appears. For lists that appear within the Centers, however, you must re-sort the lists using a different
method. In these lists, select an entry within the list and then select “View| Re-sort List” from the Menu Bar,
to return the list to its original sort order.
3.8- Inactivating and Reactivating List Items:
In QuickBooks lists, you can only delete list items if you have not used them in any transactions. If
you try to delete a list item that has been used in a transaction, QuickBooks will warn you that the item
cannot be deleted. If you don’t want to use a list item but you can’t delete it, you can make it inactive,
instead, to hide its display by default within the list.
To inactivate an item in any QuickBooks list, right-click the list item you want to make inactive within
the desired list. From the pop-up menu that appears, select the “Make [list item] Inactive” command to
inactivate the selected list item and hide its display.
To see inactive list items within a list, click the “Include Inactive” checkbox at the bottom of the list
window. You will be able to use this method to view inactive list entries in any list except the “Customers &
Jobs,” “Vendors,” and “Employees” lists. In these lists, you can view all items by using the “View” drop-down
that appears within the tab and above the list to select “All [item type].”
After you do this, you will see a new column appear at the left side of the list showing inactive items,
which appear with an “X” next to their names. You can then click any of these “X” symbols to make that
particular list item active again.

Using Lists
3.9- Printing Lists:
To print a list, open the list to print and click the button in the lower-left corner of the list. From the
pop-up menu that appears, select “Print List.” If, however, you are trying to print either the “Customers &
Jobs,” “Vendors,” or “Employees” lists, then instead click the “Print” button at the top of the respective
Center, and choose the name of the list from the drop-down that appears.
Next, click the “OK” button to bypass the “List Reports” message and then set your printing settings
in the dialog box that appears. Finally, click the “Print” button to print the list.
3.10- Renaming and Merging List Items:
Although there is no specific “Rename” command within the QuickBooks lists, to rename a list item
you simply open the “Edit [list item]” window for the selected item from the desired list. Then type a new
name for the entry into the “Name” field at the very top of the window, and the entry will adopt the new
name after you click the “OK” or “Save & Close” buttons to save your changes. When renaming list items, if
you name an entry the exact same thing as another existing entry, QuickBooks will ask if you wish to merge
the two items into one item. If you do, click “Yes” at the merge prompt and QuickBooks will make a single
entry from the two entries. This can be handy if you have two different entries in a list, often created by
multiple people performing data entry, that should be a single entry.
3.11- Adding Multiple List Entries from Excel:
A feature that can improve the speed of company file creation is the ability to copy and paste data
into lists within QuickBooks from Microsoft Excel. You can copy and paste data from an Excel worksheet
into the “Customers,” “Vendors,” “Service Items,” “Inventory Part,” and “Non-inventory Part” lists.
To perform this task, select “Lists| Add/Edit Multiple List Entries” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Add/Edit Multiple List Entries” window. As you can see from the information shown at the top of this
window, copying and pasting data into this window from Excel is a three-step process. First, use the “List”
drop-down at the top of the window to select the list into which you would like to copy data from an Excel
worksheet. After selecting a list, you will see the appropriate columns of information for that list shown at the
bottom of the window. All lists contain the “Name” column, as that column is used to identify items in the list.
Next, you can customize the columns shown in this window to match the columns within the Excel
worksheet. To do this, click the “Customize Columns” button in the upper-right corner of the window. In the
“Customize Columns” window that appears, select column names from the “Available Columns” and
“Chosen Columns” lists, and click either the “Add >” or “< Remove” buttons to add or remove the desired
columns. To reorganize their display, select the name of a column shown in the “Chosen Columns” list and
click the “Move Up” or “Move Down” buttons to move the selected fields up or down in the list. The order in
which they are displayed from top to bottom in the “Chosen Columns” list is the order in which they will be
displayed from left to right in the window after you click the “OK” button to approve your changes.
After you have the desired columns shown in the correct order within the “Add/Edit Multiple List
Entries” window, scroll down the list and click into the next available blank row. Then copy the data from
your Microsoft Excel worksheet and paste it into the columns of the blank rows shown within the “Add/Edit
Multiple List Entries” window. After you have finished copying and pasting the data, click the “Save
Changes” button to save your new list entries.

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
OPENING THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS:
1. To open the chart of accounts, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
USING THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS:
1. To add a new account to the Chart of Accounts, first open the Chart of Accounts window.
2. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window and choose the
“New” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. In the “Add New Account: Choose Account Type” window, select the desired account type.
4. Click the “Continue” button to move to the next screen.
5. You will then see the “Add New Account” window. Note that when you selected the account type on the
previous screen and then clicked the “Continue” button, all it did was select an account type from the
“Account Type” drop-down at the top of this window.
6. Enter a name for the account into the “Account Name” text box.
7. The account “Description” field is optional, as are the “Bank Acct. No.,” “Routing Number,” and “Tax-
Line Mapping” fields. Fill-in these values if you wish.
8. To create the account and close the window when finished, click the “Save & Close” button.
9. Alternatively, to continue creating new accounts without closing and reopening the “New
Account” window, click the “Save & New” button, instead. This will create the account and clear the
“New Account” window, but leave it open so you can continue creating accounts. If you do this, note that
this time you need to select the account type to create from the “Account Type” drop-down at the top of
the window to start creating the new account.
10. Alternatively, to close the window without creating an account, click the “Cancel” button.
11. To create an account that had a balance as of the start date of the company file, follow steps 1
through 10 listed above. However, after step 7, click the “Enter Opening Balance…” button.
12. In the “Enter Opening Balance” window that appears, enter the amount as of the start date of your
company file into the “Statement Ending Balance” field.
13. Select the statement date, which must be either before or as of the “start date,” from the “Statement
Ending Date” calendar selector.
14. Click the “OK” button to save the account’s opening balance and return to the “Add New Account”
window. Proceed back to step 8 to finish creating the account.
15. To create a subaccount of another account that you have created, follow steps 1 through 6 listed
above. However, after step 6, check the “Subaccount of” checkbox.
16. Choose the main account from the adjacent drop-down field for which the current account will be a
subaccount. Note that subaccounts must be of the same account type as their parent accounts. Proceed
back to step 7 to finish creating the subaccount.
17. To filter the chart of accounts if using QuickBooks Pro 2018 or later, type the account name or
number to find into the “Look for account name or number” field at the top of the list window.
18. Then click the adjacent “Search” button or press the “Enter” key on your keyboard to filter the account
list to show only matching accounts.
19. To show all accounts again, click the “Reset” button.
20. To edit an existing account, select the account to edit within the chart of accounts.
21. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list and then choose the “Edit Account”
command from the pop-up menu that appears. Alternately, you can right-click the account to edit and
then select the “Edit Account” command.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS- (CONT’D.):
22. In the “Edit Account” window that appears, edit the account information and then click the “Save &
Close” button to close the window and save your changes.
23. To delete an account within the chart of accounts, select the account to delete
24. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner and choose “Delete Account” from the pop-up menu.
25. Click “OK” in the message box to delete the account. You cannot delete an account with transactions.
26. To inactivate an account to hide its display, select the name of the account.
27. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list window and then select the “Make Account
Inactive” command from the pop-up menu.
OPENING THE CUSTOMERS & JOBS LIST:
1. To open the “Customers & Jobs” list, select “Customers| Customer Center” from the Menu Bar.
2. If needed, click the “Customers & Jobs” tab at the left side of the Customer Center window.
USING THE CUSTOMERS & JOBS LIST:
1. To add a new customer to the Customers & Jobs list, first open the Customer Center.
2. Click the “Customers & Jobs” tab, if needed.
3. Click the “New Customer & Job” button above the “Customers & Jobs” tab.
4. Click the “New Customer” choice within the small drop-down menu that appears.
5. In the “New Customer” window that appears, type a name for the customer as you would like it to
appear within the “Customers & Jobs” tab into the “Customer Name” field. Each customer must have a
unique “Customer Name” value.
6. If adding a customer who owed you money as of the “start date” of your company file, enter the
amount owed as of the start date into the “Opening Balance” field and then select the start date of your
company file from the “as of” calendar drop-down.
7. Click the “Address Info” tab at the left side of the window, if needed.
8. Type the name of the company into the “Company Name” field.
9. For individual customers, enter their name into the “Mr./Ms./…,” “First,” “M.I.,” and “Last” name fields.
10. Enter the customer’s job title into the “Job Title” field.
11. Enter the customer contact information you wish to record into the next eight fields available. For each
field, you can select what data to record by choosing the name of a data field from the drop-down field
labels. Then record the associated customer information within the adjacent data field to the right of
each drop-down field label. The fields shown by default are, from top to bottom and left to right: “Main
Phone,” “Work Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “Main Email,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your choices
of alternate fields for which you can substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt. Phone,”
“Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,” “Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,” “URL 2,”
“URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,” and “Other 3.”
12. In the “Address Details” section at the bottom of this tab, type the customer’s billing address directly into
the “Invoice/Bill To” field or click the “Edit” button to the right of the “Invoice/Bill To” field and enter the
billing address into the fields within the “Edit Address Information” window that appears.
13. If you choose to enter the address information into the “Edit Address Information” window, click the “OK”
button when finished to display the address you entered within the “Invoice/Bill To” field.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE CUSTOMERS & JOBS LIST- (CONT’D.):
14. If the shipping address is the same as the billing address you entered, click the “Copy >>” button to
copy the billing information into the “Ship To” field. If they are not the same, enter the shipping address
into the “Ship To” field.
15. To create and save multiple shipping addresses, click the “Add” button to the right of the “Ship To”
field.
16. In the “Add Shipping Address Information” dialog box that appears, enter a name for the shipping
address into the “Address Name” text box.
17. Type the address into the “Address,” “City,” “State/ Province,” “Zip/ Postal Code,” and “Country/ Region”
fields.
18. If creating multiple shipping addresses, check the “Default shipping address” checkbox of the
address you want to set as the default shipping address.
19. When you are ready to save the shipping address, click the “OK” button.
20. You can add more shipping addresses by repeating steps 15 through 19 until you have entered all the
necessary shipping addresses for the customer.
21. To edit or delete a shipping address, select a shipping address from the “Ship To” drop-down to
display it within the address field on this tab and then use the “Edit” and “Delete” buttons to the right of
the displayed shipping address to edit or delete the information shown.
22. To continue entering customer information, click the “Payment Settings” tab at the left side of the “New
Customer” window.
23. Enter the account number assigned to this customer, if you use account numbers, into the “Account No.”
field.
24. To assign a credit limit to this customer, enter their credit limit amount into the “Credit Limit” field.
25. Use the “Payment Terms” drop-down to select the customer’s default purchasing terms.
26. If the customer has a special pricing level assigned to their purchases by default, select it from the
“Price Level” drop-down field.
27. Select a default delivery method for customer forms from the “Preferred Delivery Method” drop-down.
28. If the customer has a preferred payment method that they use, you can select the name of the payment
method from the “Preferred Payment Method” drop-down.
29. If you accept online payments, you can check the methods of online payments you accept within the
“Online Payments” section. The checkbox choices include “Credit Card” and “Bank Transfer (ACH).”
30. If you process payments from a customer credit card, you can enter the customer’s cardholder
information into the “Credit Card No.,” “Exp. Date,” “Name on card,” “Address,” and “Zip Code” fields
within the “Credit Card Information” section.
31. After finishing data entry on this tab, click the “Sales Tax Settings” tab at the left side of the “New
Customer” window to continue.
32. Use the “Tax Code” drop-down to choose whether the selected customer is taxable or non-taxable.
33. If the customer is a taxable customer, choose the sales tax to apply to their purchases from the “Tax
Item” drop-down.
34. If the customer has a resale number for use, enter it into the “Resale Number” text box.
35. After entering the customer’s sales tax information, click the “Additional Info” tab at the left side of the
“New Customer” window to continue.
36. Enter a customer type into the “Customer Type” field, or select a previous entry you have made from the
field’s drop-down list.
37. Use the “Rep” drop-down to assign one of your sales reps to the customer.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE CUSTOMERS & JOBS LIST- (CONT’D.):
38. In the area to the right of this tab, enter any information into the customer’s custom fields you have
created.
39. If creating a new customer, then you are finished with data entry at this point. You won’t use the “Job
Info” tab, as that is only used when creating a new job for an existing customer.
40. To add the customer to the Customers & Jobs list, click the “OK” button.
41. To edit an existing customer within the “Customers & Jobs” tab, select the customer to edit.
42. Either double-click the name of the customer in the “Customers & Jobs” tab, click the “Edit” button at the
right end of the “Customer Information” section to the right, or right-click the customer name in the
“Customers & Jobs” tab and select the “Edit Customer:Job” command from the pop-up menu that
appears, to open the “Edit Customer” window.
43. Edit any of the information shown within the tabs of the “Edit Customer” window.
44. Click the “OK” button to save your changes and close the window when you are finished.
45. To delete a customer record that you did not use and no longer need, select the entry to delete from
the Customers & Jobs list.
46. Select “Edit| Delete Customer:Job” from the Menu Bar.
47. Click the “OK” button in the confirmation message box that appears to delete the selected entry.
OPENING THE EMPLOYEES LIST:
1. To open the “Employees” list, select “Employees| Employee Center” from the Menu Bar.
2. If needed, click the “Employees” tab at the left side of the Employee Center window.
USING THE EMPLOYEES LIST:
1. Open the Employee Center and select the “Employees” tab the left side of the Employee Center.
2. To add a new employee, click the “New Employee…” button in the upper-left corner of the Employee
Center, above the “Employees” list.
3. In the “New Employee” window, click the “Personal” tab, if needed.
4. Enter the employee’s name into the “Legal Name” fields.
5. Enter their name as it should appear on paychecks into the “Print on Checks as” text box.
6. Enter their social security number into the “Social Security No.” field.
7. You can enter their gender, date of birth, martial status, U.S. citizenship status, and ethnicity into the
“Gender,” “Date of Birth,” “Marital Status,” “U.S. Citizen,” and “Ethnicity” fields. If needed, you can also
enter information into the “Disability,” “I-9 Form,” and “Military” sections at the right side of this tab.
8. When you have finished data entry on this tab, click the “Address & Contact” tab to continue.
9. In the “Address & Contact” tab, enter the employee’s home address information into the “Address,”
“City,” “State,” and “Zip” fields available.
10. Enter their main phone number into the “Main Phone” field.
11. Enter their primary e-mail address into the “Main Email” field.
12. Enter the employee information you wish to record into the next six fields shown. For each field, select
the data to record by choosing the name of a data field from the drop-down field label. Then record the
associated employee information in the adjacent data field. The data fields shown by default are, from
top to bottom and left to right: “Work Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.”
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE EMPLOYEES LIST- (CONT’D.):
13. Your choices of alternate fields for which you can substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,”
“Alt. Phone,” “Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,” “Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,”
“URL 1,” “URL 2,” “URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,” and “Other 3.”
14. In the “Emergency Contact Info” section, type the name of the employee’s primary emergency contact
into the “Primary Contact” field under the “Contact Name” column.
15. Then enter the emergency phone number for that contact into the “Contact Phone” field to the right.
16. Then use the “Relation” drop-down to the right of that to select the relationship between the employee
and the emergency contact.
17. If the employee has a secondary emergency contact, enter that person’s information into the next three
fields for the “Secondary Contact” below the information for the “Primary Contact.”
18. When finished, click the “Additional Info” tab to continue.
19. Enter an employee ID number into the “Account No. (Employee ID)” field, if needed.
20. Enter any information into the custom fields you created for your employees into the “Custom Fields”
section of this tab.
21. When finished, click the “Payroll Info” tab to continue.
22. On the “Payroll Info” tab, enter the specific payroll earnings for the selected employee. We will discuss
entering information in the “Payroll Info” and “Workers’ Comp” tabs in depth in a later chapter on payroll.
If performing payroll activities in QuickBooks, review the entire chapter on payroll before entering
employee payroll data.
23. If you start to create a new employee record, but don’t enter payroll information, you will be prompted by
QuickBooks to enter that information when you click the “OK” button within the “New Employee” window
to save the record and close the window. To save the record as is, click the “Leave As Is” button within
the prompt window. To return to enter payroll information, click the “Set Up Now” button to return and
enter the payroll data.
24. When finished entering payroll information, select the “Employment Info” tab.
25. To the right are three horizontal tabs for “Employment,” “Leave of Absence” and “Termination.”
26. Select the “Employment” tab, if needed.
27. Enter the employee’s hire date into the “Hire Date” field.
28. You can enter the employee’s original hire date, if needed, into the “Original Hire Date” field.
29. If needed, you can enter an adjusted service date for the employee into the “Adjusted Service Date”
field.
30. When the employee leaves, enter the last payroll date into the “Release Date (Last Date on Payroll)”
field. This field will be filled-in automatically when you issue a termination check.
31. In the “Employment Details” section, you can use the “Employment Type” drop-down to classify the
employee as a “Regular” (W-2) employee, a “Statutory” (1099) employee, or an “Officer” or “Owner.”
32. You can use the “Full/Part Time,” “Exempt,” and “Key Employee” drop-downs to select whether the
employee is full or part time, whether or not they are exempt, and whether or not they are considered a
key employee.
33. In the “Job Details” section, you can enter job-related details about the employee, if desired, including
their “Title,” “Supervisor,” “Department,” “Description,” and “Target Bonus.”
34. If the employee takes a leave of absence, click the “Leave of Absence” tab to enter the information
about it.
35. Enter the “Start Date,” “Expected Return Date” and “Actual Return Date” into the fields in the “Leave
Dates” section to record that information when it occurs.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE EMPLOYEES LIST- (CONT’D.):
36. Under the “Leave Details” section, use the “Type” and “Reason” fields to record the type of leave of
absence and the reason for it.
37. In the “Leave Pay” section, use the “Leave Paid” drop-down to select whether or not this is a paid leave.
38. If the employee is terminated, click the “Termination” tab to enter the details about the termination.
39. Enter the “Last Day Worked,” “Last Day of Benefits” and the “Release Date (Last Day on Payroll)” into
the fields provided.
40. In the “Termination Details” section, enter the type of termination and the reason for it into the
“Termination Type” and “Termination Reason” fields.
41. You can use the “Recommend Rehire” drop-down to select whether or not to recommend the employee
for rehiring.
42. You can also use the “Protest Unemployment” drop-down to choose whether or not to protest the
employee’s unemployment filing, if filed.
43. In the “Severance Pay” section, you can use the “Severance Paid” drop-down to indicate whether or not
the employee receives severance pay.
44. You can enter any notes about the severance pay into the field below this drop-down.
45. Click the “Workers’ Comp” tab to enter worker’s compensation rates into the field within this tab. Once
again, please review the “Payroll” chapter to learn how to enter information in this tab in detail.
46. When finished, click the “OK’ button within the “New Employee” window to add the selected employee
into the “Employees” list within the “Employee Center.”
47. To edit an employee record, select the name of the employee to edit from the “Employees” tab in the
Employee Center.
48. Either click the “Edit ” button to the right of the “Employee Information” section to the right of the list or
double-click the employee name shown in the “Employees” tab to open the “Edit Employee” window.
49. Change or add the employee or payroll information needed by using the tabs within this window.
50. Click the “OK” button when finished to save the data entry.
51. To delete an employee record you created but did not use in any transactions, select the record to
delete from the Employees list.
52. Choose “Edit| Delete Employee” from the Menu Bar.
53. Click “OK” in the confirmation message box that appears to delete the selected employee record.

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
OPENING THE VENDORS LIST:
1. To open the “Vendors” list, Select “Vendors| Vendor Center” from the Menu Bar.
2. If needed, click the “Vendors” tab at the left side of the Vendor Center window.
USING THE VENDORS LIST:
1. Open the Vendor Center and select the “Vendors” tab at the left side of the window.
2. To add a new vendor, click the “New Vendor…” button in the upper-left corner of the Vendor Center
above the “Vendors” tab.
3. Select “New Vendor” from the drop-down menu that appears to open the “New Vendor” window.
4. Type a unique name for the vendor into the “Vendor Name” field.
5. If adding a vendor to whom you owed money as of the start date of your company, enter the total
amount outstanding into the “Opening Balance” field and select your company file’s start date from the
adjacent “as of” calendar field. Otherwise, skip the “Opening Balance” and “as of” fields.
6. Click the “Address Info” tab in the “New Vendor” window, if needed.
7. Enter the company name of the vendor into the “Company Name” field.
8. For individual vendors, enter their name into the “Mr./Ms./…,” “First,” “M.I.,” and “Last” name fields.
9. Enter the vendor’s job title into the “Job Title” field.
10. Enter the vendor contact information you wish to record into the next eight fields available. For each
labels shown. Then record the associated vendor information within the adjacent data field to the right of
each drop-down field label. The data fields shown by default are, from top to bottom and left to right:
“Main Phone,” “Work Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “Main Email,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your
choices of alternate fields for which you can substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt.
Phone,” “Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,” “Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,”
“URL 2,” “URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,” and “Other 3.”
11. In the “Address Details” section at the bottom of this tab, type the vendor’s billed from address directly
into the “Billed From” field or click the “Edit” button to the right of the “Billed From” field and enter the
billing address into the fields within the “Edit Address Information” window that appears.
12. If you enter the address information into the “Edit Address Information” window, click the “OK” button
when finished to display the address within the “Billed From” field.
13. If the shipped from address is the same as the billed from address, click the “Copy >>” button to copy
the billing information into the “Shipped From” field to the right. If they are not the same, enter the
shipping address into the “Shipped From” text box.
14. When finished, click the “Payment Settings” tab at the left side of the “New Vendor” window.
15. If the vendor gives you an account number, enter the account number you received into the “Account
No.” field.
16. If the vendor assigns you a credit limit, enter your credit limit amount into the “Credit Limit” field.
17. Use the “Payment Terms” drop-down to select the default purchasing terms assigned by the vendor.
18. Enter the name of the vendor as you want it to appear on checks you issue to the vendor into the “Print
Name on Checks as” field.
19. When finished, click the “Tax Settings” tab to continue.
20. Enter the vendor’s tax id number for 1099 subcontractors into the “Vendor Tax ID” field.
21. If the vendor is eligible for a 1099, check the “Vendor eligible for 1099” checkbox.
22. When finished, click the “Account Settings” tab to continue.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE VENDORS LIST- (CONT’D.):
23. Use the three drop-down fields to enter up to three accounts, most commonly expense or cost of good
accounts, that will appear automatically when you enter a bill from this vendor. These accounts will
appear within the accounts column in the bill if you select this vendor when entering the bill. This can
save time if you always attribute the amounts from a particular vendor to the same accounts.
25. Use the “Vendor Type” drop-down to select a vendor type from the drop-down available or enter a new
vendor type into the “Vendor Type” drop-down.
26. At the right side of the “Additional Info” tab, enter any custom field values for any custom fields you have
created for your vendors.
27. To save the new vendor record and close the window when finished, click the “OK” button.
28. To cancel the creation of the vendor record, click the “Cancel” button to cancel your changes and close
the window.
29. To edit a vendor record, select the name of the vendor to change from the “Vendors” tab in the Vendor
Center.
30. Either double-click the name shown in the list, or click the “Edit” button at the right of the “Vendor
Information” section to the right of the Vendors List, to open the “Edit Vendor” window.
31. Make whatever changes are needed in the tabs displayed in the “Edit Vendor” window.
32. Click the “OK” button to save the record.
33. To delete a vendor record you created but did not use, select the record to delete from the list.
34. Choose “Edit| Delete Vendor” from the Menu Bar.
35. Click “OK” in the confirmation message box that appears to delete the selected record.
USING CUSTOM FIELDS IN THE CUSTOMERS & JOBS, VENDORS, OR EMPLOYEES LISTS:
1. To create custom fields within the “Customers & Jobs,” “Vendors,” and “Employees” lists, open
any one of the three lists.
2. Open either the “New [list item]” or “Edit [list item]” windows within the selected list.
3. Within the window, click the “Additional Info” tab.
4. Click the “Define Fields” button at the right side of the tab in the “Custom Fields” section.
5. In the “Set Up Custom Fields for Names” dialog box, you can create custom fields for all three lists at
once.
6. To add a new custom field to one of these three lists mentioned, click into the first blank row in the
“Label” column at the left side of the dialog box.
7. Type the label to give to the new field.
8. To the right of that, check the checkbox within the column for each list within which you would like the
field to appear. A field can be used by one or more lists.
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 until you have created all the custom fields you want to have appear within the
three lists.
10. When finished, click the “OK” button to save your changes and return to the selected list item window.
11. To enter values into custom fields for items you have already created, select an item to edit within the
desired list.
12. In the “Edit” window, click the “Additional Info” tab.
13. Enter the desired values into the fields shown within the “Custom Fields” section.
14. Click the “OK” button to save your changes to the selected list item.

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING CUSTOM FIELDS IN THE ITEM LIST:
1. To create custom fields in the “Item” list, open the “Item” list by selecting “Lists| Item List” from the
Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list and then select either the “New” or “Edit Item”
commands to access either the “New Item” or “Edit Item” window.
3. Click the “Custom Fields” button at the right side of the window.
4. This will open a “Custom Fields for Items” dialog box where you can enter values for any custom fields
you create for your Item list.
5. To create custom fields for the Item List, click the “Define Fields” button.
6. In the “Set Up Custom Fields for Items” dialog box that opens, type a label for the field into the first
available blank row under the “Label” column.
7. Check the adjacent “Use” checkbox for that row.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have created all the fields you want within your Item List.
9. When finished, click the “OK” button to create the new fields.
10. Click the “OK” button again in the “Custom Fields” window to return to the main item window.
11. Click the “OK” button again to save the record, if desired.
12. To add custom field values to existing items within the Item list, open the Item list window.
13. Select the item to edit within the list.
14. Click the “List” button in the lower-left corner of the window and choose the “Edit Item” command.
15. In the “Edit Items” window, click the “Custom Fields” button at the right side of the window.
16. In the “Custom Fields for Items” dialog box, enter values into the custom fields you have created.
17. Click the “OK” button to return to the “Edit Item” window.
18. Click the “OK” button again to save your changes to the existing item.
SORTING LISTS:
1. To manually sort a list item, click and drag the list item by the small diamond at its left side and drop it
into a new location within the list.
2. To automatically sort list items in ascending or descending order by the values shown in any column
within the list, click on the column heading at the top of the column by whose values you wish to sort the
list.
3. When a list is being sorted automatically, a small arrow appears next to the column heading by which
the list is sorted. An “up” arrow indicates an ascending sorting order, and the “down” arrow indicates a
descending sorting order. Clicking the column heading again will toggle the arrow between the “up” and
“down” positions.
4. To remove automatic sorting from a list, click the large diamond that appears at the left side of the
column headings.
5. To re-sort a list you have manually re-arranged that is NOT within a Center to return it to its original
sorting order, click the button in the lower-left corner of the list and then select “Re-sort List” from the
pop-up menu that appears.
6. To re-sort a list you have manually re-arranged that IS within a Center, select an entry within the list
and then select “View| Re-sort List” from the Menu Bar, to return the list to its original sort order.

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
INACTIVATING AND REACTIVATING LIST ITEMS:
1. To inactivate an item in any QuickBooks list, right-click the item that you want to make inactive.
2. From the pop-up menu that appears, select the “Make [list item type] Inactive” command to inactivate
the selected list item and hide its display.
3. To show inactive list items within a list that is NOT within a Center, click the “Include Inactive”
checkbox at the bottom of the list window.
4. To show inactive list items within a list that IS within a Center, click the “View” drop-down that
appears above the list within the tab and select “All [list item type]” from the drop-down menu.
5. To reactivate an inactive list item, first show the inactive items within the list.
6. When viewing inactive list items, you will see a new column appear at the left side of the list showing the
inactive items, which appear with an “X” symbol next to their names.
7. Click the “X” symbol next to the name of the list items that you want to reactivate to make that particular
list item active again.
PRINTING LISTS:
1. To print a list that is NOT within a Center, click the button in the lower-left corner of the list window
and select the “Print List…” command from the pop-up menu.
2. To print a list that IS within a Center, click the “Print…” button in the toolbar at the top of the Center
and choose the name of the list to print from the drop-down menu that appears.
3. Click “OK” to bypass the “List Reports” message box that appears.
4. In the “Print” dialog box that appears, select a printer to use, set any other printing options to apply, and
then click the “Print” button to print the list.
RENAMING AND MERGING LIST ITEMS:
1. To rename or merge list items, open the list in that contains the item or items that to rename or merge
together.
2. Open the “Edit” window for the desired list item.
3. In the “Edit” window, type a new name for the entry into the name field shown at the very top of the
window and then click the “OK” or “Save & Close” buttons to save the change.
4. If you give a list entry the exact same name as another list entry, QuickBooks will ask if you wish to
merge the two items into one item. If you do, click the “Yes” button in the merge message box.
USING THE “ADD/EDIT MULTIPLE LIST ENTRIES” WINDOW:
1. To add or edit multiple list entries, select “Lists| Add/Edit Multiple List Entries” from the Menu Bar.
2. Use the “List” drop-down at the top of this window to select the list into which you would like to copy
data from your Excel worksheet.
3. To customize the columns shown in this window to match the columns in your Excel worksheet,
click the “Customize Columns” button that appears in the upper-right corner of the window.
4. In the “Customize Columns” window, select column names from the “Available Columns” and “Chosen
Columns” lists and click either the “Add >” or “< Remove” buttons to add or remove the columns.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Using Lists
USING THE “ADD/EDIT MULTIPLE LIST ENTRIES” WINDOW- (CONT’D.):
5. To reorganize their display, select the name of a column in the “Chosen Columns” list and click the
“Move Up” or “Move Down” buttons to move the selected field up or down within the list. The order they
are displayed from top to bottom within the “Chosen Columns” list is the order they will be displayed
from left to right in the window after you click the “OK” button to approve your changes.
6. After you have the desired columns shown in the correct order within the “Add/Edit Multiple List Entries”
window, scroll down the list and click into the next available blank row.
7. Then copy the data from your Microsoft Excel worksheet and paste it into the columns of the blank rows
shown within the “Add/Edit Multiple List Entries” window.
8. After copying and pasting the data, click the “Save Changes” button to save your new list entries.

EXERCISES-
Using Lists
Purpose:
To be able to add and edit list items, to be able to sort list items, to be able to rename list items.
Exercises:
1. Open up the “Widgets Co.” company file you created in the Chapter 2 Exercise.
2. Type the password of “coMp1ex” into the “Password” field in the “QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog
box and then click the “OK” button to log in as the administrator.
3. Select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
4. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and click the “New” command from the
pop-up window that displays.
5. Select the “Expense” option button and then click “Continue.”
6. In the “Account Name:” text box, type “Cleaning/Janitorial.”
7. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the account and close the window.
8. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and click the “New” command from the
pop-up window that displays.
9. Select “Bank” as the account type, and then click the “Continue” button.
10. Enter “Checking” into the “Account Name” field.
11. Click the “Save & Close” button.
12. Select “No” if prompted to setup bank feeds.
13. Select the “Checking” account within the chart of accounts window
14. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and then click the “Edit Account”
command from the pop-up window that displays.
15. In the “Description” text box, type “National Bank.”
16. In the “Bank Acct. No.” text box, type “12-1234567.”
18. At the top of the chart of accounts, click the column heading for “Name.”
19. Click the big diamond to the far left of the “Name” column heading to remove the sorting.
20. Select the “Checking” account within the chart of accounts.
21. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and click the “Edit Account” command
from the pop-up window that displays.
22. Type “Primary Checking” in the “Name” text box.
23. Click the “Save & Close” button to rename the account.
24. Select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar to close the company file when finished.

CHAPTER 4-
Setting Up Sales Tax
4.1- The Sales Tax Process
4.2- Creating Tax Agencies
4.3- Creating Individual Sales Tax Items
4.4- Creating a Sales Tax Group
4.5- Setting Sales Tax Preferences
4.6- Indicating Taxable & Non-taxable Customers & Items

4.1- The Sales Tax Process:
Collecting and paying sales tax can be complicated for some companies. For example, a company
may have to collect and pay more than one sales tax. Many companies have a mix of taxable and non-
taxable products and services to sell, and many also have some customers that are taxable while other
customers are not.
In QuickBooks, you can apply sales tax on selected items for taxable customers during the sales
process. It also keeps track of how much sales tax is collected and for which taxing agencies the sales tax
is collected. From this information, QuickBooks can then create the check or checks for the appropriate tax
agency or agencies when the sales taxes collected are due. However, to use QuickBooks to track and pay
sales tax, you must perform the following steps listed in the table below. We will examine each part of this
process in detail, to assist you in setting up your company to track and pay sales tax.
What to do: Description:

Set up sales tax In the Vendors list, create the tax agencies to whom you submit the sales taxes that are
agencies, sales tax collected. In the Item list, create the separate tax rates you need to charge for each sales
items, and sales tax collected as “Sales Tax Items.” If needed, also create “Sales Tax Groups” that assess
tax groups. a set of sales taxes on sales in each district for which you collect and report sales tax.
Indicate taxable & In your Item and Customer:Job lists, indicate which items and customers are taxable or
non-taxable non-taxable. Then assign sales tax rates or sales tax groups to your taxable customers.
customers & items.
Apply tax to taxable When you create an invoice or sales receipt that includes taxable items for a taxable
sales. customer, QuickBooks calculates, collects, and tracks the sales tax automatically.
Find out what you As taxable sales are recorded, QuickBooks keeps track of the sales taxes collected in the
owe. “Sales Tax Payable” account. When it comes time to pay a sales tax agency, you can
open the “Sales Tax Payable” register to see how much is owed or you can create a
“Sales Tax Liability” report.
Pay your tax In the “Pay Sales Tax” window, QuickBooks shows the sales tax owed and creates the
agencies. check or checks to the tax agency or agencies for the amount or amounts collected.
4.2- Creating Tax Agencies:
The first thing to do when setting up QuickBooks to collect sales tax is create the agencies for whom
you collect sales taxes, and to whom you pay the sales taxes collected, as vendors within the Vendors List.
This allows you to remit checks for the sales taxes collected to the selected vendors within QuickBooks
when the time comes for you to pay sales tax. To review the process of adding a new vendor record to the
Vendors list, please review lesson “3.5- The Vendors List.”
You must create the vendor records before creating the sales taxes, because when you later create
the individual “Sales Tax Items,” you must specify the vendor for whom you are collecting the sales tax.
After you have created vendor records for all the agencies to whom you must remit sales taxes you collect,
you can then create the actual “Sales Tax Items” needed by your company file as items within the Item list.

4.3- Creating Individual Sales Tax Items:
After creating the vendor records to indicate the agencies for whom you are collecting sales taxes,
you then create the actual sales tax rates within the QuickBooks Item List. You can open the Item List by
selecting “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
Within the “Item List” window, you must create a separate “Sales Tax Item” for each sales tax that
you must report, not necessarily for each sales tax you collect. This is because in states that collect both a
state and county sales tax, some states want you to report state sales tax and county sales tax as separate
items, while other states want you report them as one item.
To create a “Sales Tax Item” within the Item list, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the
“Item List” window and then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears to open the
“New Item” window.
In the “New Item” window, select “Sales Tax Item” from the “Type” drop-down at the top of the
window. Then click into the “Sales Tax Name” field and enter the name for the sales tax. Enter a description
of the sales tax into the “Description” field. If this “Sales Tax Item” is the only sales tax collected within
customer forms, then enter the sales tax description, as you want it to appear within customer sales forms,
into the “Description” field. Then enter the sales tax rate, as a percentage, into the “Tax Rate (%)” field. Use
the “Tax Agency (vendor that you collect for)” drop-down to select the name of the vendor to whom you
submit the payments of this sales tax after it has been collected. When you are finished creating the “Sales
Tax Item,” click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
If needed, you can repeat this process until you have created all of the individual sales tax items that
you must report, as required for your company file. If you collect and pay more than one sales tax for
multiple taxing authorities, such as a state sales tax and a city sales tax, you can then create a “Sales Tax
Group” within the “Item List” so customers will only see one cumulative sales tax amount on invoices and
sales receipts. In the next lesson, you will learn how to create a “Sales Tax Group” item within the Item list
to collect multiple sales taxes for multiple taxing authorities as a single line item within sales forms.
4.4- Creating a Sales Tax Group:
If you have to collect a combination of sales taxes that you report separately, like a county sales tax
and a city sales tax, you don’t want to possibly confuse customers by itemizing the individual sales taxes
you collect as separate line items within your sales forms. Many customers may mistakenly assume they
are being taxed twice.
Therefore, QuickBooks lets you group individual “Sales Tax Items” you have created within the “Item
List” together as a “Sales Tax Group” item, so customers will see a single sales tax line item amount within
their sales forms, while QuickBooks will still report and collect each “Sales Tax Item” within the “Sales Tax
Group” separately.
You create the “Sales Tax Group” as another type of item in your Item List. Note that you must first
create the individual “Sales Tax Items” you collect as items within the “Item List” before you create the
“Sales Tax Group.” After you have created the individual “Sales Tax Items” for each tax you must report,
you can then create a “Sales Tax Group” within the “Item List” by selecting “Lists| Item List” from the Menu
Bar to open the “Item List” window. Then click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the “Item List”
window and select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears to open the “New Item” window.
In the “New Item” window, select “Sales Tax Group” from the “Type” drop-down at the top of the
window that appears. Enter a name for the sales tax group into the “Group Name/Number” field. Then enter
the line-item description you want the customers to see within their sales forms into the “Description” field.

4.4- Creating a Sales Tax Group- (cont’d.):
Then click into the first row under the “Tax Item” column at the bottom of the window and select the name of
the first “Sales Tax Item” that will be collected as part of this group. You can then click into the next row of
the “Tax Item” column and select the next “Sales Tax Item” that will be collected as part of this group.
Repeat this process until you have entered all of the “Sales Tax Items” that will be collected as part of this
“Sales Tax Group.” When you are finished, click the “OK” button to save this “Sales Tax Group” into your
Item List.
4.5- Setting Sales Tax Preferences:
You should inspect your sales tax preferences within QuickBooks before you begin collecting sales
taxes through your sales forms, in case you need to modify any of the default settings. To do this, select
“Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Preferences” dialog box. In the scroll box at the left
side of this screen, click the “Sales Tax” icon and then click the “Company Preferences” tab that appears to
the right to set your company defaults for sales tax.
At the top of the “Company Preferences” tab, the “Yes” option button for “Do you charge sales tax?”
should be selected to enable sales tax within your QuickBooks company file. Under the “Set Up Sales Tax
Item” section, use the “Your most common sales tax item” drop-down to select the default sales tax item or
sales tax group to use within sales forms if you create a sales form for a customer that does not have a
sales tax setting specified. In the “Assign Sales Tax Codes” section, set the default codes used to indicate
taxable and non-taxable customers and items within QuickBooks. You can also check the checkbox for
“Identify taxable amounts as “T” for “Taxable” when printing” to print a “T” for taxable amounts within sales
forms. In the “When Do You Owe Sales Tax?” section, select the correct option button to indicate when you
owe sales taxes that are collected. The options are “As of invoice date (Accrual Basis)” or “Upon receipt of
payment (Cash Basis).” Then select an option button within the “When Do You Pay Sales Tax?” section to
indicate how frequently you make sales tax payments. You choices are: “Monthly,” “Quarterly,” or
“Annually.” When you have finished setting your default sales tax preferences, click the “OK” button in the
“Preferences” dialog box to save your settings.
4.6- Indicating Taxable & Non-taxable Customers & Items:
To collect sales taxes in QuickBooks, you must indicate who and what gets taxed within your
company file. So, in the Customer:Job list, enter which customers are taxable and non-taxable on the
“Sales Tax Settings” tab within the “New Customer” or “Edit Customer” windows. On this tab, select the
default tax code for the customer from the “Tax Code” drop-down by choosing either “Tax” for taxable
customers or “Non” for non-taxable customers. For taxable customers, then select the default sales tax to
apply to their sales from the “Tax Item” drop-down. After that, you must also set the taxable and non-taxable
status of the line items used in sales forms within the Item List. When creating items in the “New Item” or
“Edit Item” window within the “Item List,” use the “Tax Code” drop-down to select either “Tax” for taxable
items or “Non” for non-taxable items. QuickBooks can then show whether or not an item is taxable when
you enter it into a sales form, and will collect the appropriate taxes from taxable customers.
At that point, you are ready to collect sales taxes through the sales forms in QuickBooks, like the
“Invoice” and “Sale Receipt” form. We examine collecting sales taxes when using these forms in “Chapter
7- Basic Sales,” and then examine the process for paying collected sales taxes in “Chapter 14- Paying
Sales Tax.”
ACTIONS-
CREATING A SALES TAX ITEM:
1. To create a sales tax item, select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the “Item List” window.
3. Select “New” from the pop-up menu that appears.
4. Select “Sales Tax Item” from the “Type” drop-down menu in the “New Item” window.
5. In the “Sales Tax Name:” field, type a name for the sales tax item.
6. In the “Description” field, type in a description shown to the customer in your sales forms.
7. In the “Tax Rate (%)” field, type in the tax rate, as a percentage, for this tax.
8. In the “Tax Agency” field, select the name of the tax agency (vendor) to whom you will pay this tax.
9. Click “OK.”
10. If QuickBooks tells you the vendor you selected isn’t in the list, click the “QuickAdd” button to add the
taxing agency in your Vendor List, and then click the “OK” button.
CREATING A SALES TAX GROUP:
1. To create a sales tax group, select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner, and select “New” from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. From the “Type” drop-down field, select “Sales Tax Group.”
4. Type a name for the sales tax group into the “Group Name/Number” field.
5. Type the description that appears for the group when used in sales forms into the “Description” field.
6. Click into the first blank row in the “Tax Item” column at the bottom of the window.
7. Choose the first tax that you want to include in the group from the drop-down menu that appears.
8. Repeat steps #6 and #7 until all the taxes to include in the group are listed in the “Tax Item” column.
9. Click “OK” when you are done to save the sales tax group.
SETTING DEFAULT SALES TAX PREFERENCES:
1. To set the default sales tax preferences, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Preferences” window, click the “Sales Tax” icon in the scroll box to the left.
3. Click the “Company Preferences” tab on the right.
4. At the top of the “Company Preferences” tab, the “Yes” option button for “Do you charge sales tax?”
should be selected to enable sales tax within your QuickBooks company file.
5. Under the “Set Up Sales Tax Item” section, use the “Your most common sales tax item” drop-down to
select the default sales tax item or sales tax group to use within sales forms if you create a sales form
for a customer that does not have a sales tax setting specified.
6. In the “Assign Sales Tax Codes” section, set the default codes used to indicate taxable and non-taxable
customers and items within QuickBooks.
7. You can also check the checkbox for “Identify taxable amounts as “T” for “Taxable” when printing” to
print a “T” for taxable amounts within sales forms.
8. In the “When Do You Owe Sales Tax?” section, select either the “As of invoice date (Accrual Basis)” or
“Upon receipt of payment (Cash Basis)” option buttons to indicate when sales tax is collected.
9. Select an option button within the “When Do You Pay Sales Tax?” section to indicate how frequently
you make sales tax payments. You choices are: “Monthly,” “Quarterly,” or “Annually.”
10. After setting your default sales tax preferences, click the “OK” button in the “Preferences” dialog box to
save your settings.
ACTIONS-
TO INDICATE A TAXABLE CUSTOMER:
1. To indicate a taxable customer, click the “Customer Center” button in the QuickBooks toolbar.
2. Click the “Customers & Jobs” tab at the left side of the Customer Center window.
3. Double-click on the name of the customer in the list to open the “Edit Customer” window.
4. Click the “Sales Tax Settings” tab.
5. Select the “Tax Code” field, and make sure that the customer is indicated as being taxable.
6. Select the sales tax item or sales tax group to apply to this customer from the “Tax Item” drop-down.
7. Click “OK” to save changes and close the “Edit Customer” window.
INDICATING A TAXABLE ITEM:
1. To indicate a taxable item, select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the item in the list that you want to indicate is a taxable item.
3. Click the “Item” button and select “Edit” from the pop-up menu.
4. In the “Tax Code” field, make sure that the item is marked as taxable using the tax codes available.
5. Click “OK” to close the “Edit Item” window.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create a tax rate and set tax preferences.
Exercises:
1. Open up the “Widgets Co.” company file that has been completed through the Exercise at the end of
Chapter 3.
2. Type the password of “coMp1ex” into the “Password” field in the “QuickBooks Desktop Login” dialog
box and then click the “OK” button to log in as the administrator.
3. Select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
4. Scroll down in the list box at the left side of the “Preferences” window to the “Sales Tax” icon and
click it to select it.
5. Click the “Company Preferences” tab at the upper-right corner of the “Preferences” dialog box.
6. Inspect the default sales tax settings, and then close the “Preferences” dialog box.
7. Select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
8. Select the “Item” button in the lower-left corner, and select “New” from the pop-up menu that
appears.
9. From the “Type” drop-down that appears, select “Sales Tax Item.”
10. Type “Michigan Sales Tax” in the “Sales Tax Name” field.
11. Type “Sales Tax” into the “Description” field.
12. Type “6” into the “Tax Rate (%)” text box.
13. Type “State of Michigan” into the “Tax Agency” text box.
14. Press “Tab” on your keyboard to leave the field.
15. In the “Vendor Not Found” dialog box, click the “QuickAdd” button to add the vendor name to the
Vendors list.
16. Click “OK” to save the sales tax item.
17. Close the Item List.
18. Select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar to close the company file when you are finished.

CHAPTER 5-
Setting Up Inventory Items
5.1- Setting Up Inventory
5.2- Creating Inventory Items
5.3- Creating a Purchase Order
5.4- Receiving Items with a Bill
5.5- Entering Item Receipts
5.6- Matching Bills to Item Receipts
5.7- Adjusting Inventory

5.1- Setting Up Inventory:
For many companies, inventory is enabled if you create your company file using the “EasyStep
Interview.” However, if you did not enable inventory when you created your company file, you can enable it
at a later point in time. You can enable inventory within your company file and view the default inventory
preferences, by selecting “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar. In the “Preferences” dialog box, select
“Items & Inventory” from the scroll box at the left side of the window. To the right, click the “Company
Preferences” tab and make sure the “Inventory and purchase orders are active” checkbox is selected to
enable inventory-related features in your QuickBooks company file. Then set any additional default settings
needed for inventory and items. Click the “OK” button to set your default inventory preferences.
If inventory is enabled, QuickBooks Desktop Pro uses the average cost method to determine the
value of inventory. QuickBooks Desktop Pro cannot use FIFO or LIFO methods. The average cost of the
inventory equals the total cost of the items currently in stock, divided by the number of items in stock. With
QuickBooks Desktop Pro, you can track the number of items in stock and the value of your inventory after
every purchase and sale. As you order, receive, and sell inventory items, QuickBooks records each
inventory-related transaction and adjusts the inventory quantity and value accordingly.
To track inventory, you must create each item you want to track as an “Inventory Part” within the
Item List. QuickBooks tracks the quantity and value as you sell or reorder items only for “Inventory Part”
items within the Item List. You use the Item List to add, edit, delete, and inactivate inventory part items. You
can display the Item List by selecting “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
5.2- Creating Inventory Items:
You can set up “Inventory Part” items within the Item List to create items for which you want to track
the quantity and value in QuickBooks. You cannot show inventory value for a manufacturing company, or
where the inventory value is changed as it goes through a process, as it is simply too complex for
QuickBooks to compute. However, if you have items you purchase from a vendor, hold as inventory, and
then resell to customers, you can enter those items as “Inventory Parts” for ease of tracking in QuickBooks.
To create a new “Inventory Part” within QuickBooks, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of
the “Item List” window and then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu to open the “New Item”
window.
Select “Inventory Part” from the “Type” drop-down at the top of the window. Enter the part name or
number for the inventory item into the “Item Name/Number” field. If the item you are creating is a subitem of
another larger item category, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and then select the main item for which this
item will be a subitem from the adjacent drop-down menu. When creating subitems, the subitem must be of
the same item type as its parent item and you must create the main item first, before creating its subitems.
Next, enter the manufacturer’s part number, if used, into the “Manufacturer's Part Number” field.
In the “Purchase Information” section, enter the description you want to have appear within purchase
forms into the “Description on Purchase Transactions” field. You can enter the default purchase cost of the
item into the “Cost” field. This amount, if entered, will appear by default within purchase forms when you
select the item, but you can always change it at that time, if needed. Select the cost of goods sold account
used to track the cost of purchasing the item from the “COGS Account” drop-down field. If you have a
preferred vendor for this item, select the name of that vendor from the “Preferred Vendor” drop-down field. If
the item is the first item selected within a purchase form, the preferred vendor’s information will
automatically be filled-in within the form.
In the “Sales Information” section, enter the description of the item as you want it to appear within

5.2- Creating Inventory Items- (cont’d.):
sales forms into the “Description on Sales Transactions” field. You can enter the default sales price into the
“Sales Price” field. This amount, if entered, will be the default amount displayed within your sales forms
when this item is selected. You can always change it at that time, if needed. Select the tax code for the item
from the “Tax Code” drop-down menu. Then enter the account used to track the amount of income
generated by the sale of this item from the “Income Account” drop-down menu.
In the “Inventory Information” section, select the asset account used to track the value of inventory
within the company file from the “Asset Account” drop-down. Then enter the quantity at which you want to
reorder this item into the “Reorder Point (Min)” field.
If creating an inventory item for inventory you possessed as of the start date of your company file,
enter the total quantity on hand as of the start date into the “On Hand” field. Then enter the total value of the
quantity on hand into the “Total Value” field. Then select the start date of the company file from the “As of”
field. After creating the “Inventory Part” item, click the “OK” button to save the item.
5.3- Creating a Purchase Order:
After entering inventory parts into the Item list, you need to order the items to keep your inventory
parts stocked. While QuickBooks doesn’t require you to use purchase orders, it is recommended. If you use
purchase orders, you can see what items you have ordered and when they are due to be received. You will
also be able to compare items you receive against items listed in a purchase order. If you don’t order items
in advance, or just don’t want to use purchase orders, you can buy inventory directly by using the “Items”
tab within the “Write Checks” window or “Enter Credit Card Charges” window to select inventory items you
purchase from vendors.
To create a purchase order, select “Vendors| Create Purchase Orders” from the Menu Bar. Select a
vendor from the “Vendor” drop-down at the top of the window to fill-in the vendor’s data within the form.
Enter the date of the purchase order into the “Date” field. The next available purchase order number will
appear within the “P.O. Number” field. If you have multiple shipping addresses, use the “Ship To” drop-
down field to select the name of the shipping address to which you want the items shipped. If you are
creating a purchase order that will be drop-shipped to a customer address, select the name of the customer
from the “Drop Ship To” drop-down at the top of the form. Their address information will then appear within
the “Ship To” field. To select a custom purchase order template you have created, select the name of the
template from the “Template” drop-down.
Click into the first available row under the “Item” column in the line item area and select the name of
the inventory part item to order. The information for the inventory part will appear within the “Description”
and “Rate” columns in the form, but you can change it, if needed. Then enter the number of items to order
into the “Qty” field. The “Amount” shown will be calculated by multiplying the “Qty” and the “Rate” fields.
Repeat this process until you have entered all the items you need to order into the purchase order.
To enter a message to the vendor, type the message into the “Vendor Message” field. You can enter
a memo into the “Memo” field, if needed. After you have completed the purchase order, you can click the
“Save & Close” button to save the purchase order and close the window or click the “Save & New” button to
save the purchase order and open another new purchase order form.
After you initially create a purchase order, QuickBooks creates an account called “Purchase Orders”
within the Chart of Accounts. This is a “Non-Posting” account type created by QuickBooks that does not
appear within your balance sheet or income statement. The Purchase Orders account is simply used to
produce a QuickReport showing current purchase orders, so you’ll always know what has been ordered.

5.4- Receiving Items with a Bill:
After creating and submitting a purchase order to a vendor, you will either receive the inventory parts
you ordered along with a bill for those parts, or you will receive the inventory ordered while the bill for the
inventory arrives separately. In QuickBooks, you must receive the inventory ordered to sell the inventory.
However, you must enter the bill when it is actually received for accounting purposes, especially if using
accrual accounting methods. In the following lessons, you will examine how to enter inventory when it is
received along with a bill, as well as how to receive inventory without a bill and create an item receipt that
you can match to the bill when the bill finally arrives.
If you receive inventory items from a purchase order along with a bill for those inventory items, you
simply enter the items into inventory and also enter the bill for these items into QuickBooks.
You can receive items into inventory and enter the bill for the items by selecting “Vendors| Receive
Items and Enter Bill” from the Menu Bar. In the “Enter Bills” window that appears, select the vendor from
whom you are receiving the items from the “Vendor” drop-down. If the vendor you select is one with whom
you have open purchase orders, an “Open POs Exist” message box will appear to inform you of that fact.
Click the “Yes” button within the message box to display the “Open Purchase Orders” window. Any open
purchase orders you have with the selected vendor will appear in the window. Click to place a checkmark
into the leftmost column of the row that contains the purchase order for the inventory you received. Then
click the “OK” button to return to the “Enter Bills” window.
The items from the selected purchase order will appear in the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Enter
Bills” window. Ensure that the quantities that you ordered are correctly shown. If not, you can change the
quantities shown, if needed. Be sure to enter the correct date the bill was received into the “Date” field
within the “Enter Bills” window. Also check the other bill information, such as the “Terms” and “Bill Due”
date. Enter the number assigned to the bill by the vendor into the “Ref. No.” field. After you have finished
entering the bill, click the “Save & Close” button to finish.
After you have entered the inventory items and the bill, QuickBooks will move the items into
inventory and create a bill for you to pay. Make sure you record the inventory when it arrives, because
QuickBooks must have the inventory on hand before you can enter a sale for the inventory parts.
5.5- Entering Item Receipts:
When you receive inventory items from a purchase order, you have to enter the items into inventory
to sell them within your sales forms. Sometimes you receive these items without a corresponding bill. In this
case, you create an item receipt that you can later match to the vendor bill when it finally arrives.
To create an item receipt for items received without a bill, select “Vendors| Receive Items” from the
Menu Bar. This is essentially the same process as entering items received along with a vendor bill. So, in
the “Create Item Receipts” window, select the vendor from whom you are receiving the items from the
“Vendor” drop-down. If the vendor is one with whom you have open purchase orders, an “Open POs Exist”
message box appears. To receive the inventory, click the “Yes” button in the message box to open the
“Open Purchase Orders” window. Any open purchase orders you have with the selected vendor then
appear in this window. Click to place a checkmark into the leftmost column of the row that contains the
purchase order for the inventory you received. Then click the “OK” button when you are finished to return to
the window.
The purchase order’s items appear in the “Items” tab at the bottom of the window. Ensure the
quantities are correctly shown. If not, you can change the quantities, if needed. Notice that the “Create Item
Receipts” window is just the “Enter Bills” window with no checkmark in the “Bill Received” checkbox,

5.5- Entering Item Receipts- (cont’d.):
which makes it an item receipt only. When the bill does arrive in the future, you then match it to the
appropriate item receipt to enter the bill for the inventory at the time it is actually received. To help you find
this particular item receipt in the future and also help distinguish this item receipt from any others, type an
item receipt code or other distinguishing information into the “Memo” field. This helps you match the bill to
the item receipt later, when the bill finally arrives. Then click the “Save & Close” button to save the item
receipt and enter the items received into inventory so you can sell them within your sales forms.
5.6- Matching Bills to Item Receipts:
When the vendor bill for items already received finally arrives, you must match the vendor bill to the
item receipt that was created for those items when you received them. To do this, select “Vendors| Enter Bill
for Received Items” from the Menu Bar to open the “Select Item Receipt” window.
In this window, select the vendor from whom you received the items and created the item receipt by
using the “Vendor” drop-down. Any item receipts for the selected vendor will be listed within the columns in
the “Select Item Receipt” window. If you want to use the item receipt’s date as the date for the bill, check the
“Use item receipt date for the bill date” checkbox. Select the desired item receipt to convert into a bill from
the listing shown. If you used the “Memo” field when creating the item receipt, this information will appear in
the columns to help you distinguish between the items receipts shown. After you have selected the item
receipt that matches the bill received, click the “OK” button to continue to the “Enter Bills” window.
QuickBooks will automatically create the bill from the item receipt by placing a checkmark into the
“Bill Received” checkbox field. Make sure that you have correctly entered the date the bill was received into
the “Date” field, and also verify the accuracy of the other billing information. When completed, click the
“Save & Close” button to save your changes and close the window. If prompted by QuickBooks to save your
changes to the transaction, click the “Yes” button to save your changes to record the bill. The change
referred to is simply the checkmark that is now placed into the “Bill Received” field, changing the transaction
from an item receipt into a bill.
5.7- Adjusting Inventory:
When you have loss, spoilage, or send out samples of your products, you need to manually adjust
your inventory levels. QuickBooks allows you to do this in the “Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand” window. To
view this window, select “Vendors| Inventory Activities| Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand” from the Menu Bar.
First, select the type of inventory adjustment to make from the “Adjustment Type” drop-down menu.
You can adjust the “Quantity,” “Total Value,” or both the “Quantity and Total Value.” Enter the date of the
adjustment into the “Adjustment Date” field. Then select the account the adjustment will affect from the
“Adjustment Account” drop-down menu. To the right, enter an adjustment reference number into the
“Reference No.” field. You can also assign a “Customer:Job” or “Class” to the transaction, if needed. Enter
the reason for the adjustment into the “Memo” field at the bottom of the form.
Then click into “Item” column in the first available row and select the first item to adjust from the
drop-down list. If making a “Quantity” adjustment, either type the “New Quantity” or the “Quantity Difference”
into the respective column. If you enter a loss of items in the “Qty Difference” column, be sure to enter the
difference as a negative number! If entering a “Total Value” adjustment, enter the new total value into the
“New Value” column. After adjusting the inventory, click the “Save & Close” button to finish.

ACTIONS-
ENABLING INVENTORY IN QUICKBOOKS:
1. To enable inventory within your company file, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Preferences” dialog box, select “Items & Inventory” from the scroll box at the left side of the
window.
3. To the right, click the “Company Preferences” tab and make sure the “Inventory and purchase orders
are active” checkbox is selected in order to enable inventory-related features in your QuickBooks
company file.
4. Set any additional default settings needed for inventory and items.
5. Click “OK” to set your default inventory preferences.
CREATING A NEW INVENTORY PART ITEM WITHIN THE ITEM LIST:
1. To create a new inventory item, open the “Item List” by selecting “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the “Item List” window and then select the “New”
command from the pop-up menu to open the “New Item” window.
3. Select “Inventory Part” from the “Type” drop-down at the top of the window within the list that appears
automatically when you open the window.
4. Enter the part name or number for the inventory item into the “Item Name/Number” field.
5. If the item that you are creating is a subitem of another larger item category, check the “Subitem of”
checkbox and then select the main item for which this item will be a subitem from the adjacent drop-
down menu.
6. Enter the manufacturer’s part number, if used, into the “Manufacturer's Part Number” field.
7. In the “Purchase Information” section, enter the description that you want to have appear within your
purchase forms within the “Description on Purchase Transactions” field.
8. Enter the default purchase cost of the item into the “Cost” field.
9. Select the cost of goods sold account used to track the cost of purchasing the item from the “COGS
Account” drop-down field.
10. If you have a preferred vendor for this item, select the name of the vendor from the “Preferred Vendor”
drop-down field.
11. In the “Sales Information” section, enter the description of the item as you want it to appear within your
sales forms into the “Description on Sales Transactions” field.
12. Enter the default sales price into the “Sales Price” field.
13. Select the tax code used by the item from the “Tax Code” drop-down menu.
14. Enter the account used to track the amount of income generated by the sale of this item from the
“Income Account” drop-down menu.
15. In the “Inventory Information” section, select the asset account used to track the value of inventory
within the company file from the “Asset Account” drop-down.
16. Enter the quantity at which you want to reorder this item into the “Reorder Point (Min)” field.
17. If creating an inventory item for inventory that you possessed as of the start date of your
company file, enter the total quantity on hand as of the start date into the “On Hand” field. Then enter
the total value of the quantity on hand into the “Total Value” field. Then select the start date of the
company file from the “As of” field.
18. Once you have finished creating the “Inventory Part” item, click the “OK” button to save the item.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A PURCHASE ORDER:
1. To create a purchase order, select “Vendors| Create Purchase Orders” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select a vendor from the “Vendor” drop-down at the top of the window to fill-in the vendor’s data in the
form.
3. Enter the date of the purchase order into the “Date” field.
4. The next available purchase order number will appear within the “P.O. Number” field.
5. If you have multiple shipping addresses, use the “Ship To” drop-down field to select the name of the
shipping address to which you want the items shipped.
6. To create a purchase order that is drop-shipped to a customer, select the customer name from the
“Drop Ship To” drop-down at the top of the form to show their address information in the “Ship To” field.
7. To use a custom purchase order template, select the template name from the “Template” drop-down.
8. Click into the first available row under the “Item” column in the line item area and select the name of the
inventory part item to order. The inventory part information will appear within the “Description” and
“Rate” columns in the form, but you can change it, if needed.
9. Enter the number of items to order into the “Qty” field.
10. The “Amount” shown will be calculated by multiplying the “Qty” and the “Rate” fields.
11. Repeat steps 8 through 10 to enter all the items you need to order into the purchase order.
12. To enter a message to the vendor, type the message into the “Vendor Message” field.
13. You can enter a memo into the “Memo” field, if needed.
14. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the purchase order and close the window or click the “Save &
New” button to save the purchase order and open another new purchase order form.
GENERATING A PURCHASE ORDERS QUICKREPORT:
1. To create a purchase orders QuickReport, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Chart of Accounts” window, select the “Purchase Orders” account.
3. Click the “Reports” button, and choose “QuickReport: Purchase Orders” from the pop-up menu.
RECEIVING INVENTORY WITH A BILL:
1. To receive inventory along with a bill, select “Vendors| Receive Items and Enter Bill” from the Menu
Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window.
2. Select the vendor from whom you are receiving the items from the “Vendor” drop-down.
3. If you have open purchase orders with the selected vendor, an “Open POs Exist” message box appears.
4. To receive inventory and enter the bill, click the “Yes” button in the message box to open the “Open
Purchase Orders” window.
5. Click to place a checkmark into the leftmost column of the row that has the purchase order containing
the inventory you want to receive within the “Open Purchase Orders” window.
6. Click the “OK” button to return to the “Enter Bills” window.
7. The items from the purchase order will then appear in the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Enter Bills”
window. Ensure the quantities are correct. If not, change the quantities shown, if needed.
8. Enter the correct date that the bill was received into the “Date” field within the “Enter Bills” window.
9. Check the other bill information, such as the “Terms” and the “Bill Due” date.
10. Enter the number assigned to the bill into the “Ref. No.” field.
11. When you have finished entering the bill, click the “Save & Close” button to finish.
ACTIONS-
CREATING AN ITEM RECEIPT:
1. To create an item receipt to receive inventory without a bill, select “Vendors| Receive Items” from
the Menu Bar.
2. In the window, select the vendor from whom you are receiving the items from the “Vendor” drop-down.
3. If the vendor you select is one with whom you have open purchase orders, an “Open POs Exist”
message box will appear to inform you of that fact. To receive the inventory, click the “Yes” button in the
message box to open the “Open Purchase Orders” window.
4. The open purchase orders that you have with the selected vendor will then appear within the “Create
Item Receipts” window. Click to place a checkmark into the leftmost column of the row that has the
purchase order containing the inventory you want to receive.
5. Then click the “OK” button to return to the window.
6. The items from the purchase order will then appear in the “Items” tab at the bottom of the window.
7. Check to ensure that the quantities that you ordered are correct. If they are not, you can change the
quantities shown, if needed.
8. Notice that the “Create Item Receipts” window is just the “Enter Bills” window with no checkmark in the
“Bill Received” checkbox, which makes it an item receipt only. When the bill does arrive, you will match
it to the appropriate item receipt to enter the bill at the time it is actually received.
9. To help you find this particular item receipt and also help distinguish it from any others, type an item
receipt code or other distinguishing information into the “Memo” field.
10. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the item receipt.
MATCHING A BILL RECEIVED TO AN ITEM RECEIPT ENTERED:
1. To match a bill with an existing item receipt, select “Vendors| Enter Bill for Received Items” from the
Menu Bar to open the “Select Item Receipt” window.
2. Select the vendor from whom you received the items and created the item receipt by using the “Vendor”
drop-down.
3. The item receipts for the selected vendor will then be displayed in the columns below.
4. If you want to use the item receipt’s date as the date for the bill, check the “Use item receipt date
for the bill date” checkbox.
5. Select the desired item receipt that you want to now convert into a bill from the listing shown. If you used
the “Memo” field when creating the item receipt, this can help you in distinguishing between them.
6. Once you have selected the item receipt that matches the bill received, click the “OK” button to continue
to the “Enter Bills” window.
7. QuickBooks will automatically create the bill from the item receipt by placing a checkmark into the “Bill
Received” checkbox field.
8. Make sure that you have correctly entered the date that the bill was received into the “Date” field, and
verify the accuracy of the other billing information.
9. When completed, click the “Save & Close” button to save your changes and close the window.
10. If prompted by QuickBooks to save your changes to the transaction, click the “Yes” button to save your
changes in order to record the bill. The change that is referred to is simply the checkmark that is placed
into the “Bill Received” field, changing the transaction from an item receipt into a bill.

ACTIONS-
MANUALLY ADJUSTING INVENTORY:
1. To manually adjust inventory, select “Vendors| Inventory Activities| Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand”
from the Menu Bar to open the “Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand” window.
2. Select the type of inventory adjustment to make from the “Adjustment Type” drop-down menu. You can
adjust the “Quantity,” “Total Value,” or both the “Quantity and Total Value.”
3. Enter the date of the adjustment into the “Adjustment Date” field.
4. Select the account that the adjustment will affect from the “Adjustment Account” drop-down menu.
5. To the right, you can enter an adjustment reference number into the “Reference No.” field.
6. You can also assign a “Customer:Job” or “Class” to the transaction, if needed.
7. You can also enter the reason for the adjustment into the “Memo” field at the bottom of the form.
8. Click into “Item” column in the first available row and select the first item to adjust from the drop-down
list that appears.
9. If making a “Quantity” adjustment, either type the “New Quantity” or the “Quantity Difference” into the
respective column. If you enter a loss of items in the “Qty Difference” column, be sure to enter the
difference as a negative number!
10. If entering a “Total Value” adjustment, enter the new total value into the “New Value” column.
11. Once you have adjusted the inventory, click the “Save & Close” button to finish.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create an inventory item, order it, and receive it into inventory.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar if you have a company file open to get to the “No
Company Open” dialog box.
3. Click the “Open a sample file” button, and select “Sample product-based business” from the drop-
down of choices.
4. Click the “OK” button within the sample file’s “QuickBooks Information” message box.
6. Use the “Create Backup” window to make a local backup of this company file, so that you may
restore the file back to its original condition when you are done using it.
7. After backing up the file, select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
8. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the window, and then click the “New” command
from the pop-up menu that appears.
9. Select “Inventory Part” from the “Type” drop-down.
10. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Window- Wood Frame.”
11. Click into the “Description on Purchase Transactions” text box, and type “Window #4567.”
12. Click into the “Cost” field, and type “100.”
13. For the “Preferred Vendor,” select “Perry Windows & Doors.”
14. Click into the “Sales Price” field, and type “135.”
15. Make sure that the “Tax Code” drop-down is set to “Tax” to indicate that this is a taxable item.
16. Use the “Income Account” drop-down to select the “Materials Income” subaccount of the
“Construction Income” income account
17. For the “Reorder point,” type “5” into the “(Min)” field.
18. Click the “OK” button to create the inventory item. Notice that in the “Item List” window, it shows a
quantity of “0” in the “Total Quantity” column for this item.
19. Select “Vendors| Create Purchase Orders” from the Menu Bar.
20. From the “Vendor” drop-down, select or type “Perry Windows & Doors.”
21. Click into the “ITEM” column, and select “Window- Wood Frame.”
22. In the “QTY” column, type “10.”
24. Select “Vendors| Receive Items and Enter Bill” from the Menu Bar.
25. Use the “Vendor” drop-down to select or type “Perry Windows & Doors.”
26. Click the “Yes” button to receive the items against the purchase order we created.
27. Click in the left-most column next to the purchase order dated the same date as your sample
company file, usually “12/15/2024.” QuickBooks will place a checkmark next to it in the list.
28. Click the “OK” button.
29. Click into the “Ref. No.” field and enter a bill number of “12345.”
30. Click the “Save & Close” button at the bottom of the “Enter Bills” window to save and close the bill.
31. You should now see a “Total Quantity” of “10” in the “Item List” for the “Window- Wood Frame” item.
32. Close the “Item List” window.
33. You can close the company file by selecting “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar.

CHAPTER 6-
Setting Up Other Items
6.1- Service Items
6.2- Non-Inventory Items
6.3- Other Charges
6.4- Subtotals
6.5- Groups
6.6- Discounts
6.7- Payments
6.8- Changing Item Prices

6.1- Service Items:
You can set up “Service” items in the Item List for services you provide. This helps you avoid
repeatedly typing line item information into sales forms. Like all items, you create “Service” items by first
opening the “Item List.” To create a new “Service” item, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the
list window and select the “New” command. In the “New Item” window, select “Service” from the “Type”
drop-down.
The fields that appear in the “New Item” window are similar to the ones shown when creating
“Inventory Part” items. First, enter a name for the service into the “Item Name/Number” box. If you want this
service to be a subitem of another service, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and then select the main
service item under which the current item should be categorized from the adjacent drop-down menu. Enter
a description of the service to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field. Enter the
“Rate,” set the “Tax Code,” and assign the amount to an income account using the “Account” drop-down.
For services purchased and then applied to customer invoices, such as subcontractor labor, you can
check the “This service is used in assemblies or is performed by a subcontractor or partner” checkbox to
change the fields available. If checked, this changes the fields to resemble the ones used when creating
“Inventory Part” items. In this case, you enter information for the purchasing aspect of the service into the
fields shown in the “Purchase Information” section. Then enter information used for the sales aspect of the
service into the “Sales Information” set of fields. This allows you to use the service item in both purchase
and sales transactions, if necessary.
After you have created the “Service” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
6.2- Non-Inventory Items:
You can create “Non-inventory Parts” in the Item List for items that are bought and/or sold, but not
tracked as “inventory parts.” QuickBooks tracks neither the quantity on hand nor the value of “non-inventory
part” items.
Like all items, you create “Non-inventory Part” items by first opening the “Item List.” To create a new
“non-inventory part” item, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list window and select the
“New” command. In the “New Item” window, select “Non-inventory Part” from the “Type” drop-down.
The fields that appear in the “New Item” window are similar to the ones shown when creating
“Inventory Part” items. First, enter a name for the part into the “Item Name/Number” box. If you want this
part to be a subitem of another part, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and then select the main non-
inventory part item under which the current item should be categorized from the adjacent drop-down menu.
If needed, you can enter a part number into the “Manufacturer’s Part Number” field. Enter a description of
the part to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field. Then enter the “Price,” set the
“Tax Code,” and assign the amount to an income account using the “Account” drop-down.
For non-inventory parts which are purchased for specific customer jobs, you can check the “This
item is used in assemblies or is purchased for a specific customer:job” checkbox to change the fields
available. If checked, the fields available will be the same fields shown when creating “Inventory Part” items.
In this case, enter the information for the purchasing aspect of the item into the fields shown in the
“Purchase Information” section. Then enter the information for the sales aspect of the item into the “Sales
Information” group of fields. This allows you to use the item in both purchase and sales transactions. After
you have created the “Non-inventory Part” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”

6.3- Other Charges:
You can set up “Other Charge” items within the Item List. An “Other Charge” item can be used to
collect amounts for things such as freight charges or photocopying charges in a sales form. You could also
use it to collect membership dues or assess some other type of miscellaneous fee in a sales form.
You create “Other Charge” items by first opening the “Item List.” To create a new “other charge”
item, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list window and then select the “New” command.
In the “New Item” window, select “Other Charge” from the “Type” drop-down.
Enter a name for the charge into the “Item Name/Number” box. If you want this charge to be a
subitem of another charge, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and then select the main charge item under
which the current item should be categorized from the adjacent drop-down menu. Enter a description of the
charge to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field. Enter the amount or percentage
for the “Other Charge” item into the “Amount or %” field. Then enter the “Tax Code,” and assign the amount
of the charge to an income account using the “Account” drop-down.
For reimbursable charges, you can check the “This item is used in assemblies or is a reimbursable
charge” checkbox to change the fields available. If checked, this changes the fields to resemble the ones
used when creating “Inventory Part” items. If you do this, enter the information for the purchasing side of the
charge into the fields shown in the “Purchase Information” section. Then enter the information used for the
sales aspect of the charge into the “Sales Information” group of fields. This allows you to use the charge in
both purchase and sales transactions, if necessary.
After you have created the “Other Charge” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item
List.”
6.4- Subtotals:
You can set up “Subtotal” items in the Item List. A subtotal will total all the items within an invoice or
sales receipt up to the last subtotal entered, if one was entered. This is useful for totaling all of the previous
line items within an invoice before applying a discount to the subtotal amount.
You create “Subtotal” items by opening the “Item List.” To create a new “subtotal” item, click the
“Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list window and select the “New” command. In the “New Item”
window, select “Subtotal” from the “Type” drop-down.
Enter a name for the subtotal into the “Item Name/Number” box. Then enter a description of the
subtotal to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field. After you have created the
“Subtotal” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”

6.5- Groups:
You can create “Groups” in the Item List for items you may purchase individually, but want to display
as a single line item in a sales form. For instance, if you sold gravel by the ton and also assessed a service
charge for the delivery, you could create both the gravel (a “non-inventory part”) and the service charge (an
“other charge”), and then create a “Group” (like “Gravel Delivery”) that consists of gravel and the delivery
charge. That lets you show a single line item in the invoice, instead of two separate line items. However,
you can show the component items, if you prefer. Note that before you can create a group, you must first
create all of the necessary items that will be included as parts of the group within the Item List.
After creating the items to add to the group, you can create the group item by clicking the “Item”
button in the lower-left corner of the Item List window and selecting the “New” command. In the “New Item”
window, select “Group” from the “Type” drop-down menu. Enter a name for the group into the “Group
Name/Number” box. Then enter the line item description of the group to display within sales forms into the
“Description” field.
To add the items to the group, click into the first available row underneath the “Item” column and use
the drop-down that appears to select the first item. To specify a quantity for that item, click into the adjacent
“Qty” column and enter the desired quantity. You can leave the “Qty” column blank to specify the quantity
when you use the “Group” item within sales forms, if desired. Repeat this process of adding items and
specifying quantities, until you have added all of the necessary items to the group.
If you wish to print the items within the group in sales forms when this item is used, you must check
the “Print items in group” checkbox to enable the display of the group’s items. Note that the items listed in a
“Group” item are always shown in the data entry view of sales forms, so you can change the quantities if
needed. After you have created the “Group” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
6.6- Discounts:
You can create “Discount” items in the Item List to discount the line item that was entered
immediately above the “Discount” line item within a sales form. If you create a discount and use it in an
invoice, it applies the discount to the line item amount directly above it- but not to any other line items
previously entered. Therefore, this item is often used in conjunction with the “Subtotal” item in sales forms.
For example, you can place the subtotal item underneath a list of line items within an invoice to get a
subtotal amount, and then place the discount item under the subtotal item to remove the amount or
percentage specified by the discount item from the subtotal.
To create a “Discount” item, open the “Item List” and click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of
the list window. Select the “New” command from the pop-up menu to open a “New Item” window. In the
“New Item” window, select “Discount” from the “Type” drop-down. Enter a name for the discount into the
“Item Name/Number” box. If the discount is a subitem of another discount item you have created, check the
“Subitem of” checkbox and select its main discount item from the adjacent drop-down.
Enter a description of the discount to display in sales forms into the “Description” field. Enter either
the percentage or amount of the discount into the “Amount or %” field. You must include the percent symbol
if the number you want to enter is a percentage discount. Otherwise, QuickBooks assumes the number
entered is a dollar amount. Select the account used to track discount amounts from the “Account” drop-
down. Finally, use the “Tax Code” drop-down to set whether the discount is taken before or after sales tax is
calculated. Select “Tax” to apply the discount before sales tax is calculated or select “Non,” to apply the
discount after sales tax has been calculated. After creating the “Discount” item, click the “OK” button to save
the item into the “Item List.”

6.7- Payments:
You can create “Payments” in the Item List to subtract the amount of a customer payment from the
total amount shown in an invoice when creating an invoice. You need a payment item when you receive a
partial payment you need to apply to an invoice at, or before, the time you create the invoice. Note that this
is not what is used when receiving full payment at the time of sale. In that case, you simply fill out a “Sales
Receipt.”
When creating payment items, you have to create one for each unique payment type you accept (i.e.
“Cash,” “Check,” “VISA,” etc…). When this item is used, it actually receives funds from the customer.
Therefore, when creating this item type, you also have to select whether the amount received when this
item is used in an invoice should be directly deposited to a specific account, or placed into the “Undeposited
Funds” account for deposit at a later time.
To add a new “Payment” item into the Item List, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the
“Item List” window and then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “New
Item” window, select “Payment” from the “Type” drop-down.
Click into the “Item Name/Number” text box and enter a name for the payment item. Then enter the
description you want to appear within invoices when this item is used into the “Description” field. Use the
“Payment Method” drop-down to select the method of payment associated with this particular payment item.
Then decide where to place the money received when this item is used in an invoice by either selecting the
“Group with other undeposited funds” option button, or by selecting the “Deposit To” option button and then
choosing the account to directly deposit the amount into from the adjacent drop-down. After creating the
“Payment” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
6.8- Changing Item Prices:
While you can always edit an item’s price in the Item List by opening the “Edit Item” window and
directly changing the price in that window, you can also change the price of multiple items in the Item List
simultaneously. To do that, select “Customers| Change Item Prices” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Change Item Prices” window.
Use the “Item Type” drop-down to filter the list and only show items within the Item List that match
the item type you select: “Service,” “Inventory Part,” “Non-inventory Part,” or “Other Charge.”
To mark the items whose price you want to change, click into the leftmost column next to the items
to mark them with a check. You can check or uncheck the “Mark All” checkbox at the bottom of the window
to assist you in making item selections, if needed. After you have selected the items whose prices you want
to adjust, type either an amount or a percentage (in which case, you must type a percent sign) into the
“Adjust prices of marked items by (amount or %)” field. Then use the adjacent drop-down to select whether
you are marking the prices up based on the “Unit Cost” or the “Current Price.”
Below that, you can use the “Round up to nearest” drop-down to select how to round the calculated
amounts. You can select a choice from the listing shown, or enter your own rounding specifications. To
actually adjust the item prices, click the “Adjust” button to adjust the pricing of the selected items. After that,
you should see the new prices shown in the “New Price” column. Notice that this is a white column, so you
can also click into the column for any item and simply type a new price, if needed.
To set the new prices for the selected items shown in the “New Price” column, click the “OK” button
at the bottom of this window to close the window and save your pricing changes.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A SERVICE ITEM:
1. To create a service item ,select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list window and select the “New” command.
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Service” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Enter a name for the service into the “Item Name/Number” box.
5. To make this service a subitem of another service, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and then select the
main service item under which the current item should be categorized from the adjacent drop-down.
6. Enter a description of the service to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field.
7. Enter the “Rate” for providing the service.
8. Select the “Tax Code” for the service.
9. Select an income account to which you attribute sales of the service by using the “Account” drop-down.
10. For services which are purchased and then applied to customer invoices, check the “This service
is used in assemblies or is performed by a subcontractor or partner” checkbox to change the fields
available.
11. If checked, the fields change to resemble the ones used when creating “Inventory Part” items. In this
case, enter the purchasing information for the service into the fields shown in the “Purchase Information”
section. Then enter the sales information for the service into the “Sales Information” section. This allows
you to use the service item in both purchase and sales forms.
12. After you have created the “Service” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
CREATING A NON-INVENTORY PART:
1. To create a non-inventory part item, select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List”
window.
3. Use the “Type” drop-down at the top of the “New Item” window to select “Non-inventory Part.”
4. Enter a name for the non-inventory part into the “Item Name/Number” box.
5. To make this “non-inventory part” a subitem of another non-inventory part, check the “Subitem of”
checkbox and select the main non-inventory part under which the current item should be categorized
from the adjacent drop-down.
6. If needed, enter a part number into the “Manufacturer’s Part Number” field.
7. Enter a description of the part to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field.
8. Enter the default “Price” of the non-inventory part when used in sales forms.
9. Select the “Tax Code” for the non-inventory part.
10. Select an income account to which you can attribute sales of the part by using the “Account” drop-down.
11. For non-inventory parts which are purchased for specific customer jobs, check the “This item is
used in assemblies or is purchased for a specific customer:job” checkbox to change the fields available.
If checked, the fields available will be the same ones used when creating “Inventory Part” items. In this
case, enter the purchasing information for the item into the fields shown in the “Purchase Information”
section. Then enter the sales information for the item into the “Sales Information” section. This allows
you to use the non-inventory part in both purchase and sales forms.
12. After you have created the “Non-inventory Part” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the
“Item List.”

ACTIONS-
CREATING AN OTHER CHARGE:
1. To create an “other charge” item, select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List.”
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Other Charge” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Enter a name for the charge into the “Item Name/Number” field.
5. If you want this charge to be a subitem of another charge, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and select
the main charge item under which the current item should be categorized from the drop-down.
6. Enter a description of the charge to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field.
7. Enter the amount or percentage for the “Other Charge” item into the “Amount or %” field.
8. Select the “Tax Code” for the other charge.
9. Select an income account to which you attribute income from the charge by using the “Account” drop-
down.
10. For reimbursable charges, check the “This item is used in assemblies or is a reimbursable charge”
checkbox to change the fields available. If checked, the fields change to resemble the ones used when
creating “Inventory Part” items. In this case, enter the purchasing information for the charge into the
fields shown in the “Purchase Information” section. Then enter the sales information for the charge into
the “Sales Information” section. This allows you to use the charge in both purchase and sales forms.
11. After creating the “Other Charge” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
CREATING A SUBTOTAL:
1. To create a subtotal item, select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Subtotal” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Enter a name for the subtotal into the “Item Name/Number” field.
5. Enter a description for the subtotal to display in invoices and sales receipts into the “Description” field.
6. Click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
CREATING A GROUP:
1. To create a “group” item, select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Group” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Enter a name for the group into the “Group Name/Number” box.
5. Enter a line item description of the group to display within sales forms into the “Description” field.
6. To add items to the group, click into the first available row underneath the “Item” column and select an
item to add to the group.
7. Click into the “Qty” column, and enter the desired quantity of the selected item. You can leave this blank
to specify the quantity when used in a sales form, if desired.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7, until you have added all of the necessary items into the group.
9. To print the items within the group when this item is used in sales forms, check the “Print items in
group” checkbox. Note that the items within a “Group” item always appear in the data entry view of the
sales forms, so you can change the quantities, if needed.
10. After creating the “Group” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”

ACTIONS-
CREATING A DISCOUNT:
1. To create a discount item, Select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Discount” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Enter a name for the discount into the “Item Name/Number” field.
5. To make the discount a subitem of another discount item, check the “Subitem of” checkbox and select
the main discount item under which to categorize this item from the adjacent drop-down.
6. Enter a description of the discount to display in sales forms into the “Description” field.
7. Enter either the percentage or amount of the discount into the “Amount or %” field. You must include the
percent symbol if the number you enter is a percentage discount. Otherwise, QuickBooks will assume
the number entered is a dollar amount.
8. Select the account used to track discount amounts from the “Account” drop-down.
9. To choose whether the discount is taken before or after sales tax is calculated, use the “Tax Code”
drop-down to select “Tax” to apply the discount before sales tax is calculated or select “Non” to apply
the discount after sales tax has been calculated.
10. After creating the “Discount” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”
CREATING A PAYMENT ITEM:
1. To create a payment item, Select “Lists| Item list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
3. In the “New Item” window, select “Payment” from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Click into the “Item Name/Number” text box and enter a name for the payment item.
5. Enter the description you want to have appear within an invoice when this item is used into the
“Description” field.
6. Use the “Payment Method” drop-down to select the method of payment associated with this particular
payment item.
7. Decide where to place the money received when this item is used in an invoice by either selecting the
“Group with other undeposited funds” option button, or by selecting the “Deposit To” option button and
then choosing the account to directly deposit the amount into from the adjacent drop-down.
8. After creating the “Payment” item, click the “OK” button to save the item into the “Item List.”

ACTIONS-
CHANGING ITEM PRICES:
1. To change multiple item prices at once, select “Customers| Change Item Prices” from the Menu Bar
to open the “Change Item Prices” window.
2. Use the “Item Type” drop-down to filter the list and only show items within the Item List that match the
item type you select: “Service,” “Inventory Part,” “Non-inventory Part,” or “Other Charge.”
3. To mark the items whose price you want to change, click into the leftmost column next to the items
to mark them with a check.
4. You can check or uncheck the “Mark All” checkbox at the bottom of the window to assist you in making
item selections, if needed.
5. After you have selected the items whose prices you want to adjust, type either an amount or a
percentage (in which case, you must type a percent sign) into the “Adjust prices of marked items by
(amount or %)” field.
6. Use the adjacent drop-down to select whether you are marking the prices up based on the “Unit Cost” or
the “Current Price.”
7. Below that, you can use the “Round up to nearest” drop-down to select how to round the calculated
amounts. You can select a choice from the listing shown, or enter your own rounding specifications.
8. To actually adjust the item prices, click the “Adjust” button to adjust the pricing of the selected items.
After that, you should see the new prices shown in the “New Price” column.
9. Notice that this is a white column, so you can also click into the column for any item and simply type a
new price, if needed.
10. To set the new prices for the selected items shown in the “New Price” column, click the “OK”
button at the bottom of this window to close the window and save your pricing changes.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create “Service” and “Non-inventory part” items within the “Item List.”
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
4. Click “OK” on the sample file message box.
7. After backing up the file, select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner and then click the “New” command from the pop-up
menu that appears.
9. Select “Service” from the “Type” drop-down.
10. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Roofing.”
11. Click into the “Description” text box, and type “Roofing Labor.”
12. Click into the “Rate” field, and type “35.”
13. Use the “Tax Code” drop-down to select “Non,” which indicates that this is non-taxable.
14. Use the “Income Account” drop-down and select the “Labor Income” subaccount under the
“Construction Income” income account.
15. Click the “OK” button to create the service item.
16. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner, and click the “New” command from the pop-up menu
that appears.
17. Select “Non-Inventory Part” from the “Type” drop-down.
18. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Shingles- Cedar.”
19. Click the checkbox for “This item is used in assemblies or purchased for a specific customer:job.”
20. In the “Description on Purchase Transactions” text box, type “Blue Label Red Cedar Shingles.”
21. In the “Cost” field, type “125.00.”
22. Use the “Expense Account” drop-down to select “Job Materials,” which is a subaccount of the “Job
Expenses” cost of goods sold account.
23. Use the “Preferred Vendor” drop-down to select “Sloan Roofing.”
24. In the “Sales Description” text box, type “Red Cedar Shingles” instead of “Blue Label Red Cedar
Shingles.”
25. In the “Sales Price” field, type “130.00.”
26. Use the “Tax Code” drop-down to select “Tax.”
27. Use the “Income Account” drop-down to select the “Materials Income” account, which is a
subaccount of the “Construction Income” income account.
28. Click the “OK” button to create the non-inventory part.

CHAPTER 7-
Basic Sales
7.1- Selecting a Sales Form
7.2- Creating an Invoice
7.3- Creating Batch Invoices
7.4- Creating a Sales Receipt
7.5- Finding Transaction Forms
7.6- Previewing Sales Forms
7.7- Printing Sales Forms

Basic Sales
7.1- Selecting a Sales Form:
When you sell anything for your company, you have to fill out one of the sales forms in QuickBooks.
The sales form you use depends on whether you expect payment in the future or at the time of the sale. If
you expect to be paid in the future, you fill out an invoice for the sale. Later on, you will match the customer
payment you receive to the associated invoice. However, if you take full payment at the time of sale, you will
instead fill out a sales receipt to give to the customer.
You can create an invoice for a customer by selecting “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu
Bar. You can create a sales receipt by selecting “Customers| Enter Sales Receipts” from the Menu Bar. You
can see that these forms are very similar in their layout and usage. In this chapter, you will examine how to
perform data entry within the sales forms in QuickBooks.
7.2- Creating an Invoice:
When a customer agrees to make a purchase for which payment will be made at a later point in
time, you enter the sale into an invoice. The invoice lists the customer’s information, along with an itemized
list of how much that customer owes for the goods or services purchased. To create an invoice, select
“Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar. The particular invoice form used for the transaction can
be changed by using the “Template” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the invoice form to select the
particular type of invoice to use for the transaction.
Enter customer information into the sales forms either by using the “Customer:Job” drop-down to
select a customer already entered into the “Customer List,” or by typing the customer information into the
“Bill To” and “Ship To” fields in the form. If you select a customer from the drop-down list, their information
will automatically populate the fields in the form. You will need to specify additional information if manually
entering customer data, such as selecting the desired sales terms from the “Terms” drop-down and
specifying a sales tax code and sales tax rate to apply from the “Customer Tax Code” and “Tax” drop-
downs at the bottom of the form, for example. After entering the customer information, select the invoice
date from the “Date” field. The “Invoice #” field will automatically increment itself up to the next available
invoice number.
At the bottom of the invoice, enter each item purchased on its own line by selecting a choice from
the “Item” column in the first available row within the line item area. The items that are shown in the drop-
down list that appears are contained within the “Item List.” In QuickBooks, line items are used for goods and
services, as well as discounts, subtotals, and sales tax lines, among others. For each line item, specify the
quantity and rate, or the amount, by using the “Qty” and “Rate” fields, or by entering a total amount for the
line item into the “Amount” field. If specifying a quantity and rate, the amount will be calculated
automatically.
If this invoice is to be printed later, ensure that the “Print Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the
Ribbon at the top of the window is checked. When finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save the
invoice and close the window or click the “Save & New” button to save the invoice and leave the window
open so you can continue creating invoices. Also, starting in QuickBooks 2019, you can click the “See
History” link that appears next to the “Invoice” title within saved invoices to show a small “Invoice History”
window. The “Invoice History” window shows the history of the invoice, such as when it was created,
viewed, sent, paid and deposited.
After creating an invoice, QuickBooks places a record for the invoice into the “Accounts Receivable”
account. If creating a sales receipt, the amount received is typically placed into the “Undeposited Funds”
account. You can see how much is in either one of these accounts by opening the Chart of Accounts.

Basic Sales
7.3- Creating Batch Invoices:
You can also easily create batch invoices to give multiple, selected customers an invoice for the
same products or services. Before you create batch invoices, however, you should be sure you have the
customer’s information recorded correctly within the “Customers & Jobs” list in the Customer Center.
QuickBooks uses the customer information you have entered to “fill-in” the specific information for each
customer when it creates the invoices. This includes the customer’s “Terms,” “Preferred Delivery Method,”
sales tax, and address information. QuickBooks uses this information to specify the customer’s settings
within each invoice created, as well as determine whether to print or email the invoice now or later.
You should check your default preferences for sending forms in QuickBooks before creating batch
invoices you intend to email. To do this, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar. Then select the
“Send Forms” icon in the list at the left side of the “Preferences” dialog box that appears. In the “My
Preferences” tab to the right, ensure that the “Auto-check the ‘Email Later’ checkbox if customer’s Preferred
Delivery Method is email” checkbox is checked. This ensures that batch invoices created for customers who
have a “Preferred Delivery Method” of “Email” will have the email invoices marked as “Email Later.”
Customers with a “Preferred Delivery Method” of “Mail” will have the “To be printed” checkbox checked
within their batch invoices. If the delivery method is unspecified, neither box will be checked. After checking
the send settings in the “Preferences” dialog box, click the “OK” button to apply them.
To create batch invoices, select “Customers| Create Batch Invoices” from the Menu Bar. You can
click the “OK” button in the message box that appears, if needed. In the “Batch Invoice” window, you can
then select the customers for whom you want to create batch invoices. To create a one-time batch invoice
for customers, select the names of the customers or customer jobs from the left list and then click the “Add
>” button to move them into the list at the right side of the dialog box. To instead create a “Billing Group” of
customers to more easily select a set of customers for whom you may send out regular batch invoices in the
future, click the “Billing Group” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the window and then select the “<Add
New>” command to open the “Group Name” dialog box. Type a name for the group of customers into the
“Name” field and then click the “Save” button to create the group in the right list. Then select the names of
the customers or customer jobs to add to the group from the left list and click the “Add>” button to add them
into the group at the right side of the window. When finished, click the “Save Group” button below the right
list to save the customers into the billing group you created. In the future, you will be able to select the name
of the billing group you created from the “Billing Group” drop-down to automatically select those customers
in the group when creating batch invoices. You can also select customers in a billing group and click the “<
Remove” button to remove them from the list. Be sure to click the “Save Group” button again after doing this
to save the changes to the group.
To manage the groups you have created to rename or delete them you can click the “Manage
Groups” button in the upper-right corner of the window to open the “Manage Billing Groups” window. You
can select the name of a billing group in the left list to manage, first. To rename the group, type a new name
into the “Billing Group” field to the right and then click the “Save” button below the field. To delete the billing
group, click the “Delete” button below the “Billing Group” field and then click the “Yes” button in the
confirmation message box that appears. You can click the “Close” button in the “Manage Billing Groups”
dialog box to close it and return to the “Batch Invoice” window when finished.
After selecting the customers to batch invoice, click the “Next” button at the bottom of the window to
continue. In this screen, enter the invoice date into the “Date” field and, if needed, select the invoice
template to use from the “Template” drop-down. Then enter the line items that will appear in the invoice by
clicking into the first row under the “Item” column and selecting the first invoice item from the drop-down that
appears. Enter the quantity and rate for the item under the “Quantity” and “Rate” columns, and be sure to
check or enter the value in the “Amount” column. Repeat this process, as needed, until you have added all

Basic Sales
7.3- Creating Batch Invoices- (cont’d.):
of the required line items into the line item area. If needed, you can enter a customer message to print on
the batch invoices into the “Customer Message” field at the bottom of the screen. When finished, click the
“Next” button to continue.
In the last screen, double-check the invoice information shown for each customer. If there is an
customer invoice you do not want to create, you can click into the leftmost “Select” column to remove the
checkmark from that row and skip creating an invoice for that customer. When you are ready to create the
invoices, click the “Create Invoices” button at the bottom of the screen to continue.
In the “Batch Invoice Summary” dialog box that appears, you can see the summary of the invoices
that were created, grouped by send method. To batch print the invoices from this batch group, click the
“Print” button in this dialog box. To batch email the invoices from the batch group, click the “Email” button.
When you are finished reviewing the summary, you can click the “Close” button in the dialog box to close
the window.
7.4- Creating a Sales Receipt:
If taking payment from the customer at the time of sale for a purchase they have made, you enter
the transaction into a sales receipt. You can create a sales receipt by selecting “Customers| Enter Sales
Receipts” from the Menu Bar. In the “Enter Sales Receipts” screen, you enter information in much the same
way that you do within an invoice. Also, as with invoices, you can select which sales receipt template to use
by choosing one from the “Template” drop-down available in the upper-right corner of the form.
Enter the customer’s information into the sales receipt either by selecting a customer from the
“Customer:Job” drop-down or by manually entering the customer’s information into the “Sold To” field. If
manually entering customer data, be sure to enter the customer’s sales tax information by using the
“Customer Tax Code” and “Tax” drop-down at the bottom of the form. Enter the date of the sale by selecting
it from the “Date” field. The “Sale No.” field will automatically increment itself up to the next available sales
receipt number.
Click the button in the upper-left corner of the form that corresponds to the method of payment used.
If needed, you can click the drop-down arrow in the lower-right corner of this button group to view additional
payment methods in a drop-down menu. You can then select the additional payment method from this drop-
down. For “Credit/Debit” payments, you can select a credit card type from the “Payment” drop-down and
enter the credit card number and expiration date into the “Card Number” and “Exp Date” fields shown in the
drop-down menu that appears when you click the “Credit/Debit” payment button. Then click the “Done”
button in the drop-down menu to record the credit card information. If they pay by check, enter the check
number into the “Check No.” field at the right side of the sales receipt window.
Click into the first available row in the line items area, and enter the line items for the sales
transaction by selecting items from the “Item” column. Enter the “Qty” and “Rate,” or “Amount,” for each
item, as needed. If this receipt is to be printed later, ensure that the “Print Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab
of the Ribbon at the top of the window is checked. After entering the sales information, click the “Save &
Close” button to save the sales receipt and close the window.
Money received through a sales receipt is deposited into an “Undeposited Funds” account, by
default. There is no “receiving” payment at a later point in time when using a sales receipt- as you have
taken the payment up front. You just save and close the screen to enter the sale.

Basic Sales
7.5- Finding Transaction Forms:
To find any transaction form at a later point in time, you can use the “Find” feature of QuickBooks to
locate it. To find an invoice, or any other type of transaction, open the associated form for which you want to
search. Using the example of finding an invoice, you would open the “Create Invoices” window.
Select “Edit| Find [form type]…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Find [form type]” window. You could
also just click the “Find” button in the “Main” tab within the Ribbon at the top of the form to open this
window, as well.
In the “Find [form type]” window, you will see different parameters for the type of form you selected
that can be used as the search criteria. Type what are looking for into one of the available search parameter
fields and click the “Find” button. If there is only one matching form, such as would be the case if searching
for an invoice by using the “Invoice Number” search parameter, then QuickBooks will immediately open the
matching form. If there are multiple matching results, however, then QuickBooks will display those results in
a result set window. You can double-click the item you were looking for within the result set to open it.
7.6- Previewing Sales Forms:
To see how the currently opened sales form will look when printed, click the drop-down arrow below
the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the sales form and select the “Preview”
command from the drop-down menu to show the print preview of the sales form.
7.7- Printing Sales Forms:
To print invoices or sales receipts, open the form that contains the information you want to print and
click the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the sales form to open the “Print” dialog
box, where you can set the printing parameters. After you set any printing parameters, click the “Print”
button at the right side of the “Print” dialog box to print the form to the selected printer.

ACTIONS-
Basic Sales
SELECTING A SALES FORM:
1. To create an invoice for a customer, select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. To create a sales receipt, select “Customers| Enter Sales Receipts” from the Menu Bar.
CREATING AN INVOICE:
1. To create an invoice, select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. To select the specific invoice form to use for the transaction, make a choice from the “Template”
drop-down in the upper-right corner of the invoice form.
3. Enter customer information into the sales forms either by using the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select
a customer already entered into the “Customer List” or by typing the customer information into the “Bill
To” and “Ship To” fields in the form.
4. If you select a customer from the drop-down, their information automatically populates the form’s fields.
5. If manually entering customer data, you must specify additional information, like selecting the desired
sales terms from the “Terms” drop-down and specifying a sales tax code and sales tax rate to apply
from the “Customer Tax Code” and “Tax” drop-downs at the bottom of the form.
6. Select the invoice date from the “Date” field.
7. The “Invoice #” field automatically increments itself up to the next available invoice number.
8. At the bottom of the invoice, enter each item purchased on its own line by selecting a choice from the
“Item” column in the first available row within the line item area. The items that appear in the drop-down
list are saved within the “Item List.”
9. For each line item, specify the quantity and rate, or the amount, by using the “Qty” and “Rate” fields, or
by entering a total amount for the line item into the “Amount” field. If specifying a quantity and rate, the
total amount is calculated automatically.
10. To print the invoice later, check the “Print Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon.
11. To save the invoice, either click the “Save & Close” button to save it and close the window or click the
“Save & New” button to save it and leave the window open to continue creating invoices.
12. Starting in QuickBooks 2019, you can click the “See History” link that appears next to the “Invoice” title
within saved invoices to show a small “Invoice History” window that shows the history of the invoice.
13. After you create an invoice, QuickBooks places a record for the invoice into the “Accounts Receivable”
account. If creating a sales receipt, the amount received is typically placed into the “Undeposited Funds”
account. You can see how much is in either one of these accounts by opening the Chart of Accounts.
CREATING BATCH INVOICES:
1. To check your default preferences for sending forms before creating batch invoices, select “Edit|
Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the “Send Forms” icon in the list at the left side of the “Preferences” dialog box that appears.
3. In the “My Preferences” tab to the right, ensure that the “Auto-check the ‘Email Later’ checkbox if
customer’s Preferred Delivery Method is email” checkbox is checked.
5. To create batch invoices, select “Customers| Create Batch Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
6. Click the “OK” button in the message box that appears, if needed.
7. In the “Batch Invoice” window, select the customers for whom you want to create batch invoices.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Basic Sales
CREATING BATCH INVOICES- (CONT’D.):
8. To create a one-time batch invoice for customers, select the names of the customers or customer
jobs from the left list and click the “Add >” button to move them into the list at the right side of the dialog
box.
9. To instead create a “Billing Group” of customers to more easily select a set of customers for
whom you may send out regular batch invoices in the future, click the “Billing Group” drop-down in
the upper-right corner of the window and then select the “<Add New>” command to open the “Group
Name” dialog box.
10. Type a name for the group of customers into the “Name” field and click the “Save” button to create the
group in the right list.
11. Then select the names of the customers or customer jobs to add to the group from the left list and click
the “Add>” button to add them into the group at the right side of the window.
12. When finished, click the “Save Group” button below the right list to save the customers into the billing
group you created.
13. In the future, you will be able to select the name of the billing group you created from the “Billing Group”
drop-down to automatically select those customers in the group when creating batch invoices.
14. You can also select customers in a billing group and click the “< Remove” button to remove them from
the list.
15. Be sure to click the “Save Group” button again after doing this to save the changes to the group.
16. To manage the groups you have created, click the “Manage Groups” button in the upper-right corner
of the window to open the “Manage Billing Groups” window.
17. Select the name of a billing group in the left list to manage, first.
18. To rename the group, type a new name into the “Billing Group” field to the right and then click the
“Save” button below the field.
19. To delete the billing group, click the “Delete” button below the “Billing Group” field and then click the
“Yes” button in the confirmation message box that appears.
20. You can click the “Close” button in the “Manage Billing Groups” dialog box to close it and return to the
“Batch Invoice” window when finished.
21. After selecting the customers to batch invoice, click the “Next” button at the bottom of the window to
continue.
22. In this screen, enter the invoice date into the “Date” field and, if needed, select the invoice template to
use from the “Template” drop-down.
23. Enter the line items that will appear in the invoice by clicking into the first row under the “Item” column
and selecting the first invoice item from the drop-down that appears.
24. Enter the quantity and rate for the item under the “Quantity” and “Rate” columns, and be sure to check
or enter the value in the “Amount” column.
25. Repeat this process, as needed, until you have added all of the required line items into the line item
area.
26. If needed, you can enter a customer message to print on the batch invoices into the “Customer
Message” field at the bottom of the screen.
27. When finished, click the “Next” button to continue.
28. In the last screen, double-check the invoice information shown for each customer.
29. If there is an customer invoice you do not want to create, you can click into the leftmost “Select” column
to remove the checkmark from that row and skip creating an invoice for that customer.
30. To create the invoices, click the “Create Invoices” button at the bottom of the screen to continue.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Basic Sales
CREATING BATCH INVOICES- (CONT’D.):
31. In the “Batch Invoice Summary” dialog box that appears, you can see the summary of the invoices that
were created, grouped by send method.
32. To batch print the invoices from this batch group, click the “Print” button in this dialog box.
33. To batch email the invoices from the batch group, click the “Email” button.
34. When finished reviewing the summary, click the “Close” button in the dialog box to close the window.
CREATING A SALES RECEIPT:
1. To create a sales receipt, select “Customers| Enter Sales Receipts” from the Menu Bar.
2. To select which sales receipt template to use, choose one from the “Template” drop-down in the
upper-right corner of the form.
3. Enter the customer’s information into the sales receipt either by selecting a customer from the
“Customer:Job” drop-down or by manually entering the customer’s information into the “Sold To” field.
4. If manually entering customer data, be sure to enter the customer’s sales tax information by using the
“Customer Tax Code” and “Tax” drop-down at the bottom of the form.
5. Enter the date of the sale by selecting it from the “Date” field.
6. The “Sale No.” field will automatically increment itself up to the next available sales receipt number.
7. Click the button in the upper-left corner of the form that corresponds to the method of payment used.
8. To view additional payment methods, if needed, click the drop-down arrow that appears in the lower-
right corner of this button group to view additional payment methods in a drop-down menu. Then select
the additional payment method to use from this drop-down.
9. For “Credit/Debit” payments, select a credit card type from the “Payment” drop-down and enter the
credit card number and expiration date into the “Card Number” and “Exp Date” fields shown in the drop-
down menu that appears when you click the “Credit/Debit” payment button.
10. Then click the “Done” button in the drop-down menu to record the credit card information.
11. If they pay by check, enter the check number into the “Check No.” field at the right side of the sales
receipt window.
12. Click into the first available row in the line items area, and enter the line items for the sales transaction
by selecting items from the “Item” column.
13. Enter the “Qty” and “Rate,” or “Amount,” for each item, as needed.
14. If this receipt is to be printed later, ensure that the “Print Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon
at the top of the window is checked.
15. When finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save the sales receipt and close the window.

ACTIONS-
Basic Sales
FINDING TRANSACTION FORMS:
1. To find a transaction, open the associated form window for the type of form you want to find.
2. Select “Edit| Find [form type]…” from the Menu Bar or click the “Find” button in the “Main” tab within the
Ribbon at the top of the form to open the “Find” window.
3. In the “Find” window that appears, enter the value or values by which you want to find the transaction
into the search parameter fields shown.
4. Click the “Find” button to find the matching form or to open a result set if there are multiple matches.
5. For multiple matches, you can double-click the item you were looking for within the result set to open it.
PREVIEWING SALES FORMS:
1. To preview a sales form before printing it, open the sales form you want to preview.
2. Click the drop-down arrow below the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the form.
3. Select the “Preview” command from the drop-down menu that appears
PRINTING SALES FORMS:
1. To print a sales form, open the sales form that you want to print.
2. Click the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the sales form.
3. In the “Print” dialog box that appears, set your preferred printing parameters.
4. Click the “Print” button at the right side of the “Print” dialog box to print to the selected printer

EXERCISES-
Basic Sales
Purpose:
To be able to create a basic invoice.
Exercises:
1. Open up QuickBooks.
2. Select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar if you have a company file open, in order to get to
the “No Company Open” dialog box.
3. Click the “Open a sample file” button and select “Sample product-based business” from the drop-
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
8. Use the “Template” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the invoice form to select the “Rock
Castle Invoice” template.
9. Select “Fisher, Jennifer” from the “Customer:Job” drop-down.
10. Click into the “ITEM” column, and type “Removal.”
11. Click into the “QUANTITY” column, and type “40.”
12. Click into the “RATE” column and type “35,” if needed.
13. Click the “Save & Close” button to create the invoice.
14. You can select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar to close the company file when you are
finished.

CHAPTER 8-
Using Price Levels
8.1- Using Price Levels

Using Price Levels
8.1- Using Price Levels:
Sometimes businesses want to vary an item’s price when selling the item to different customer
types. For instance, you may charge different rates to residential customers versus commercial customers.
You can associate price levels with specific customers so each time you create a sales form for that
customer, QuickBooks will use the appropriate price level when calculating rates and amounts for line items
within sales forms for the selected customer.
You can also associate price levels with specific line items in a sales form, if desired. Using this
method, you are only discounting specific items in a sales form- not all items for a specific customer or type
of customer. Price levels make it easy to use different line item rates within sales forms without having to
calculate percentage amounts manually. Price levels can affect amounts for service, inventory, and non-
inventory part items only. Also note that price levels are, however, only a feature of QuickBooks Desktop
Pro or QuickBooks Premier. In QuickBooks Desktop Pro, you can only set Price Level discounts as a flat
percentage. If using the QuickBooks Premier version, however, you can set price levels for various
quantities of individual items, if preferred.
In this lesson, we will examine how to create basic price levels in QuickBooks Desktop Pro. To
access and create price levels, open the “Price Level List.” You can do this by selecting “Lists| Price Level
List” from the Menu Bar to open the “Price Level List” window.
To create a new price level, click the “Price Level” button in the lower-left corner of the “Price Level
List” and select the “New” command from the pop-up menu to open the “New Price Level” window where
you enter the price level’s information.
Enter a name for the new price level into the “Price Level Name” text box. Use the drop-down to the
right of the “This price level will” label to select either “decrease” or “increase.” Then enter the percentage
by which to increase or decrease item prices into the field to the right of the label. You can use the “Round
up to nearest” drop-down to select how to round the pricing that is calculated. After setting the price level,
click the “OK” button to add it into the “Price Level List.” You can select an entry made within the “Price
Level List” and then click the “Price Level” button in the lower-left corner to edit or delete your entries by
selecting the desired command from the pop-up menu that appears. After creating the price levels, you can
either assign them to specific customers to apply a selected price level to all future sales for the customer
by default, or you can manually apply price levels to specific line items in sales forms as the need arises.
You can apply a default price level to any customer when using the “Edit Customer” or “New
Customer” windows. In either window, select the “Payment Settings” tab and use the “Price Level” drop-
down to select a default price level to associate with this customer’s sales. Then click the “OK” button to set
the price level for the customer. When you later create a sales form for this customer and select items within
the line item area of the sales form, that customer’s price level will be automatically calculated and applied.
Also notice that after you have created price levels, you can use the “Rate” drop-down that appears
within the “Rate” column in the line item area in sales forms to select a price level on a per-line-item basis, if
needed. This allows you to manually set a pricing level for selected items in a sales form.

ACTIONS-
Using Price Levels
CREATING NEW PRICE LEVELS:
1. To create new pricing levels, select “Lists| Price Level List” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Price Level” button in the lower-left corner and select “New” from the pop-up menu.
3. Type the name of the new price level into the “Price Level Name” field.
4. Use the drop-down to the right of the “This price level will” label to select either “decrease” or “increase.”
5. Enter the percentage by which to increase or decrease item prices into the field to the right of the “item
prices by” label.
6. If desired, use the “Round up to nearest” drop-down to select how to round the pricing that is calculated.
7. When finished, click the “OK” button to add the new price level into the “Price Level List.”
ASSOCIATING DEFAULT PRICE LEVELS WITH CUSTOMERS:
1. To apply a default price level to an existing customer, select the customer for whom you wish to set
a default price level within the “Customer List” in the “Customer Center” and then open the “Edit
Customer” window for the selected customer.
2. To apply a default price level to a new customer, open the “Customer Center” window and then open
a “New Customer” window where you can enter the new customer’s information.
3. Select the “Payment Settings” tab within either the “Edit Customer” or “New Customer” window.
4. Choose the appropriate price level for this customer from the “Price Level” drop-down.
5. Click the “OK” button to save your changes when you are done.
CHANGING LINE ITEM RATES USING PRICE LEVELS:
1. To change line item rate by using a price level, select the line item within the line items area at the
bottom of the sales form (invoice or sales receipt).
2. Click into the “Rate” column for the selected line item.
3. Choose the price level to apply to the line item from the drop-down list that appears.

EXERCISES-
Using Price Levels
Purpose:
To be able to use price levels.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Lists| Price Level List” from the Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Price Level” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and click the “New” button.
9. In the “New Price Level” window, type “Contract” into the “Price Level Name” text box.
10. Select “decrease” from the drop-down available.
11. In the percentage text box, type “20.”
12. Click the “OK” button to save the price level.
13. Close the “Price Level” list.
14. Open the “Customers & Jobs” tab within the Customer Center.
15. Double-click on “Cook, Brian” to edit the customer’s information.
16. Click the “Payment Settings” tab and select “Contract” from the “Price Level” drop-down in the
upper-right corner of the tab.
17. Click the “OK” button to save your changes.
18. Select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
19. Select “Cook, Brian” from the “Customer:Job” drop-down.
20. Click “Cancel” in the “Available Estimates” dialog box that appears.
21. Click into the “ITEM” column, and type “Removal.”
22. Click into the “QUANTITY” column, and type “40.”
23. Click into the “RATE” field and click the drop-down arrow. Notice that you can also switch price
levels within the invoice at the time you create the invoice, if needed.
24. Click the “Save & Close” button to save and close the invoice.
finished.

CHAPTER 9-
Creating Billing Statements
9.1- Setting Finance Charge Defaults
9.2- Entering Statement Charges
9.3- Applying Finance Charges and Creating Statements

9.1- Setting Finance Charge Defaults:
You can set the default preferences for finance charges assessed in customer statements within the
“Preferences” window in QuickBooks. To do this, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open
the “Preferences” window where you can set the default behaviors of the currently opened company file.
Click the “Finance Charge” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window and then click the
“Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the window to set the finance charge settings, if you charge
finance charges. Note that it is not required that you assess finance charges, and you should consult the
laws for your district regarding assessment of finance charges before assessing them to customers.
In this tab you can enter the annual interest rate to charge, as a percentage, into the “Annual Interest
Rate (%)” field. You can then enter a minimum finance charge to apply in the “Minimum Finance Charge”
box. Next, enter the number of days you want to set as the grace period into the “Grace Period (days)” box.
Use the “Finance Charge Account” drop-down to select the account used to track income from finance
charges. If needed, you can check the “Assess finance charges on overdue finance charges” checkbox to
enable that feature when calculating finance charge amounts. Below that, you can then select either the
“due date” or “invoice/billed date” option button to select the date that should be used when calculating
charges. Also, if you want the finance charge invoices that are created to be marked as “To be printed” by
default, then check the “Mark finance charge invoices ‘To be printed’” checkbox. That way you can print
them as a batch after assessing finance charges, if needed. After you have set your finance charge
defaults, click the “OK” button to apply them.
9.2- Entering Statement Charges:
Entering statement charges is the first step in preparing billing statements for customers. This can
be an effective way to collect customer charges over a period of time for certain types of businesses that do
not need to send out an invoice for each charge assessed to a customer. With statement charges, you
simply enter the charges directly into each customer’s “accounts receivable” register as they are accrued. At
the end of the billing cycle, you send the customer a billing statement that lists all the charges that are due
or past due.
You can access a customer’s “accounts receivable” register by opening the “Customers & Jobs” list
within the Customer Center. Select the customer to whom you want to assess statement charges within the
list and then select “Customers| Enter Statement Charges” from the Menu Bar to display that customer’s
“accounts receivable” register.
To make an entry in the register, enter the date, item, quantity, rate, and, if needed, the accounts
receivable account to which to record the charge into the next available entry row within the register. Then
click the “Record” button to record the statement charge.

9.3- Applying Finance Charges and Creating Statements:
A QuickBooks statement prints information already recorded by statement charges and other
receivables transactions. Therefore, you can’t edit the statement’s information directly within the statement
window. A typical statement covers a time period and shows the customer’s previous balance, new
charges, payments or credits you’ve received and applied to the account, and the new balance for the
customer during the period specified. A statement can simply show information- like invoices sent to and
payments received from a customer over a time period, or they can be used for billing- showing statement
charges due and requesting payment of those charges.
To create statements, select “Customers| Create Statements…” from the Menu Bar to view the
“Create Statements” window. In the “Create Statements” window you can decide what type of statement
you will be creating by setting the desired parameters.
First, enter the statement date by using the “Statement Date” calendar date selector. This date will
appear at the top of each statement, and also appear as the “Billed Date” for billing statements.
Next decide what type of statement to send. The statement can either show transactions from one
date to another, or show all open transactions as of the statement date entered. To create a statement that
shows all transactions over a specified date range, select the “Statement Period from” option and then
select the first date from the adjacent calendar date selector. Then choose the ending date for the
transactions by selecting the ending date from the “To” calendar date selector. To show all open
transactions instead, choose the “All open transactions as of the statement date” option. If you select that
option, you can check the “Include only transactions over [blank] days past due date” checkbox and then
enter the number of days into the adjacent field to create a statement that shows only past due charges, if
desired.
Next, select the customers to whom you want to send the statements by choosing one of the
available option buttons and then making any additional selections, as needed, within the “Select
Customers” section. After that, you can set any additional options you would like the statements to possess
by checking the desired checkboxes available in the “Select Additional Options” section. Also note you can
use the “Template” drop-down to select a custom statement template, if available.
To assess finance charges, click the “Assess Finance Charges…” button within the “Create
Statements” window to open the “Assess Finance Charges” window. Here you will assess finance charges
on any customers and customer:jobs that are marked with a checkmark. You can remove the checkmarks
from checkboxes of customers and customer:jobs to whom you do not want to asses a finance charge. The
finance charges are shown in the rightmost column. They are calculated based on the default finance
charge settings you created within the “Preferences” window. You can change the amount shown by typing
the desired amount to charge into the column, if needed. When you are ready to assess the finance
charges shown, click the “Assess Charges” button to assess the charges and return to the “Create
Statements” window again. Then click either the “Preview,” “Print,” or “E-mail” buttons to preview, print, or
email the statements to your customers.

ACTIONS-
SETTING FINANCE CHARGE PREFERENCES:
1. To set the finance charge preferences, select “Edit| Preferences” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the “Finance Charge” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window.
3. Click the “Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the “Preferences” window.
4. Enter the annual interest rate to charge, as a percentage, into the “Annual Interest Rate (%)” field.
5. Enter a minimum finance charge in the “Minimum Finance Charge” box.
6. Enter the number of days for the grace period into the “Grace Period (days)” box.
7. Use the “Finance Charge Account” drop-down to select an account to track finance charges income.
8. Check the “Assess finance charges on overdue finance charges” checkbox if you would like to enable it.
9. Select either the “due date” or “invoice/billed date” option button to set the date used to calculate finance
charges.
10. Check the “Mark finance charge invoices ‘To be printed’” checkbox, if desired.
11. Click the “OK” button to apply the finance charge preferences.
ENTERING STATEMENT CHARGES FOR BILLING STATEMENTS:
1. To enter statement charges, select the customer for whom you want to enter statement charges n the
“Customers & Jobs” list.
2. Select “Customers| Enter Statement Charges” from the Menu Bar.
3. Enter the date of the statement charges in the next available blank entry row within the register.
4. In the “Item” field, enter the item you use to track this kind of charge.
5. Type a description of the charge into the “Description” field, if needed.
6. Enter a quantity in the “Qty” field and a rate into the “Rate” field, if necessary.
7. If you do not use the “Qty” or “Rate” fields, then enter the “Amount” of the charge directly into the “Amt
Chrg” field, instead.
8. If you use multiple “Accounts Receivable” accounts, then also select the account to use for this charge.
9. Click “Record” button at the bottom of the window to record the charge.
CREATING STATEMENTS:
1. To create customer statements, select “Customers| Create Statements…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Enter the statement date into the “Statement Date” field.
3. Select the “Statement Period From” option button and then select the beginning and ending dates of the
billing period from the appropriate fields, if needed, or select the “All open transactions as of Statement
Date” option button, instead.
4. Choose which customers you want to create the statements for from the “Select Customers” section at
the left side of the screen.
5. Set any additional options for sending statements from the options in the “Select Additional Options”
section at the right side of the screen.
6. Click the “Assess Finance Charges…” button to assess finance charges, if necessary.
7. Make any needed changes to the finance charges shown in the “Assess Finance Charges” window.
8. Click the “Assess Charges” button to assess the selected charges and return to the “Create Statements”
window again
9. Click either the “Preview,” “Print,” or “E-mail” buttons to preview, print, or email the statements to your
customers.
EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create customer statements.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Customers| Create Statements…” from the Menu Bar.
8. In the “Create Statements” window, select the “All open transactions as of the statement date” option
button in the “Select Statement Options” section.
9. Select the “All customers” option in the “Select Customers” section at the left side of the screen.
10. At the right side of the screen, click the “with a zero balance” checkbox in the “Additional Statement
Options” section.
11. Click the “Preview” button at the bottom of the window to preview the selected statements.
12. After previewing the statements, click the “Close” button.
13. Click the “Close” button within the “Create Statements” window.
finished.

CHAPTER 10-
Payment Processing
10.1- Recording Customer Payments
10.2- Entering a Partial Payment
10.3- Applying One Payment to Multiple Invoices
10.4- Entering Overpayments
10.5- Entering Down Payments or Prepayments
10.6- Applying Customer Credits
10.7- Making Deposits
10.8- Handling Bounced Checks
10.9- Automatically Transferring Credits Between Jobs
10.10- Manually Transferring Credits Between Jobs

Payment Processing
10.1- Recording Customer Payments:
If receiving payment at the time of sale, you fill out a sales receipt to record the customer payment.
When you invoice a customer and receive payment on that invoice at a later point in time, you enter the
payment into the QuickBooks “Receive Payments” window. This allows you to match customer payments to
customer invoices. To open this window, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
The simplest payment case occurs when a customer has one outstanding invoice and sends you a
payment for the full amount. However, you can also enter partial payments if you receive them. You can
even select to which invoices you apply the payment amount. If you receive one payment, you can apply
the amount to multiple invoices, as well. QuickBooks can also handle prepayments, down payments, and
over payments. In this chapter you will look at the different ways you can handle customer payments.
To enter a full payment you receive, select the customer or customer:job from whom you are
receiving the payment from the “Received From” drop-down in the “Receive Payments” window. Any unpaid
invoices for the selected customer or customer:job will be displayed at the bottom of the window. Select the
date the payment was received from the “Date” calendar selector.
Enter the payment amount into the “Payment Amount” field. Click the payment method button in the
window that corresponds to the method of payment received. If needed, you can click the drop-down arrow
that appears in the lower-right corner of this button group to view additional payment methods in a drop-
down menu. You can then select the additional payment method from this drop-down. For “Credit/Debit”
payments, you can select a credit card type from the “Payment” drop-down and enter the credit card
number and expiration date into the “Card Number” and “Exp Date” fields shown in the drop-down menu
that appears when you click the “Credit/Debit” payment button. Then click the “Done” button in the drop-
down menu to record the credit card information. If they pay by check, enter the check number into the
“Check No.” field.
At the bottom of the window, ensure that there is a checkmark in the checkmark column to the left of
the invoice against which you are receiving payment. Note that all funds received within this window are
placed into the “Undeposited Funds” account, by default.
When you are finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save and close the “Receive Payments”
window. If you have other customer payments to process, you may find it easier to click the “Save & New”
button, instead, to save the transaction but leave the “Receive Payments” window open so you can
continue entering customer payments.
10.2- Entering a Partial Payment:
If entering a partial customer payment, begin by selecting “Customers| Receive Payments” from the
Menu Bar to open the “Receive Payments” window. Select the name of the customer or customer:job from
the “Received From” drop-down. Enter the partial payment date, amount, and payment method at the top of
this window, just as when accepting a full payment. Unpaid invoices will appear at the bottom of the
window. If you want QuickBooks to attribute the payment to anything other than the oldest invoice, click the
“Un-Apply Payment” button that appears in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window to clear the
checkmark(s) from the selected invoice(s).
In the listing of unpaid invoices, you can click into right-most white column and change the amount
applied to the desired invoice by typing the partial payment amount. In QuickBooks, entering a partial
payment also allows you to select either the “Leave this as an underpayment” or “Write off the extra
amount” option buttons at the bottom of the screen. You may want to use this feature to “Write off the extra
amount” if a customer accidentally shorted you by a small amount that is not worth rebilling. By default,

Payment Processing
10.2- Entering a Partial Payment- (cont’d.):
though, “Leave this as an underpayment” is selected, and you will be able to receive payments on that
invoice again in the future.
When finished, click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons to save the transaction and
accept the partial payment amount.
10.3- Applying One Payment to Multiple Invoices:
You can also apply a single payment amount from a customer to multiple outstanding invoices for
that customer by placing a checkmark in the checkmark column that appears to the left of the invoices
against which you want to apply the cumulative payment amount received, until the total payment has been
distributed to the correct invoices.
To do this, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar to open the “Receive
Payments” window. Select the customer or customer:job who sent you the payment from the “Received
From” drop-down. Enter the payment date, amount, and payment method at the top of this window.
QuickBooks will automatically attribute the amount entered against all of the outstanding invoices
shown, from the oldest to the newest. You can check and uncheck the invoices by clicking into the leftmost
checkmark column to apply and remove payment amounts, as needed, until the entire amount received has
been attributed to the correct invoices in the correct amounts. You can also change the amounts applied to
each invoice, if needed, by changing the amounts shown in the “Payment” column at the right end of the
outstanding invoice list.
After you have attributed the single payment received to the correct outstanding invoices in the
correct amounts, you can then click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button to save the
transaction and then either close the window or open another new transaction window.
10.4- Entering Overpayments:
If the customer pays you more than is due, you can enter the entire amount received into the
“Receive Payments” window. The amount left over after you have applied the entire amount to outstanding
invoices will be shown in the “Overpayment” area at the bottom left corner of the “Receive Payments”
window. You can then select an option button shown in this area to indicate what you want QuickBooks to
do with this overpayment. You can select the “Leave the credit to be used later” option button to receive the
money and issue a customer credit in the amount of the overpayment or select the “Refund the amount to
the customer” option button to issue a refund check to the customer when you save the transaction. Select
the desired option button and then click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons to save the
transaction window and either generate a credit or issue a refund check.
If you choose to issue a credit to the customer for the amount overpaid, you can apply that credit to
future invoices for that specific customer or customer:job (and only that specific customer or customer:job).
You can also issue the customer a refund check later on for the amount overpaid, if it turns out they will not
be needing the credit for any future invoices.

Payment Processing
10.5- Entering Down Payments or Prepayments:
Just as when you receive an overpayment, if a customer gives you a down payment or prepayment
which you want to take and then invoice them at a later date, you can enter the entire payment received for
the customer or customer:job into the “Receive Payments” window. Since they have no outstanding invoice
against which to apply the amount entered, the entire amount will be saved as a customer credit when you
click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons.
Later on, after you have invoiced the customer or customer:job, you must return to the “Receive
Payments” window to apply the credit against the invoice that was created. In the next lesson, we will
examine how to apply customer credits created by overpayments, down payments, or prepayments to
outstanding customer invoices.
10.6- Applying Customer Credits:
When a customer overpays you, or gives you a down payment or prepayment, you record the
amount received in the “Receive Payments” window. Doing this creates a credit for the customer or
customer:job specified. Later on, after you have created an invoice for the specific customer or
customer:job, you can return to the “Receive Payments” window to apply the customer’s existing credit.
To apply an existing customer credit to an outstanding invoice in the “Receive Payments” window,
select the name of the customer or customer:job who has the outstanding invoices and the credit you want
to apply. Select the invoice against which you wish to apply the credit from the listing shown. You should
NOT attempt to place a checkmark in front of the invoice, as that indicates the invoice is being paid.
Instead, click anywhere else within the invoice line, other than the checkmark column, to select the desired
invoice against which you wish to apply the customer’s credit.
Then click the “Discounts & Credits” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window
to open the “Discount and Credits” window. Select the “Credits” tab, if necessary, to view any available
customer credits. To apply the entire credit shown, click the checkmark column next to the credit in the
“Available Credits” section. The amount shown will be displayed in the “Amt. to Use” column. To apply a
partial credit amount, change the amount of credit applied by changing the amount shown in the “Amt. to
Use” column. After entering the amount of credit to apply, click the “Done” button to apply the credit amount
to the selected invoice and return to the “Receive Payments” window.
The credit amount applied will appear in the “Credits” column at the bottom of the window. You can
then finish receiving customer payment, as needed, within the “Receive Payments” window. When finished,
click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons to save the transaction and either close the window
or clear the window, leaving it open for additional entries.
10.7- Making Deposits:
When you receive funds from customers in the “Receive Payments” window and place the funds into
the “Undeposited Funds” asset account, QuickBooks tracks that money until it is actually deposited into the
bank. When you’re ready to take the payments to the bank, you can record the deposit in QuickBooks and
group the various payments you received and placed into the “Undeposited Funds” account into a single
amount that is shown as being deposited into your selected bank account. This makes the amounts
recorded as deposits for the bank account in QuickBooks match the amounts recorded by your bank
statements, which makes account reconciliation much easier.
Also, when preparing the funds for deposit in QuickBooks, you can print a deposit slip to bring with
Payment Processing
10.7- Making Deposits- (cont'd.):
you to the bank, if needed, and then make the deposit at the bank.
When you record the deposit in QuickBooks, it takes the deposited funds and adds it to the selected
bank account register. You can also tell QuickBooks to leave out a certain amount for cash back, if needed,
that you can record to an account like “Petty Cash.”
To make a deposit in QuickBooks, select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar. This will
most often then cause the “Payments to Deposit” window to appear onscreen. In the “Payments to Deposit”
window you can see all the customer payments you have received through the “Receive Payments” window
and elected to move to the “Undeposited Funds” account. Use the “View payment method type” drop-down
at the top of this window to select the type of payments to view, if needed. You must then check any
received amounts you will actually be taking to the bank to deposit. After making your selections, click the
“OK” button to continue to the actual “Make Deposits” window.
In this window you will see the amounts you just selected shown in a list. Use the “Deposit To” drop-
down to select the name of the bank account into which you would like to deposit the selected funds. Enter
the date of the actual deposit into the “Date” field. If necessary, you can click into the next available blank
row in the deposit to record any other miscellaneous amounts to be deposited, such as owner’s
contributions.
If you need to get cash back from the deposit, use the “Cash back goes to” drop-down to select the
account used to record cash back, such as “Petty Cash.” Then enter the reason why cash was held back
into the “Cash back memo” field. Enter the amount of cash to be held back from the deposit into the “Cash
back amount” field.
To print a deposit slip or deposit summary to take with you to the bank, click the drop-down arrow to
the right of the “Print” button within the toolbar at the top of the window and then select either the “Deposit
Slip…” or “Deposit Summary…” command. You can then print the selected form within the “Print” dialog box
that appears.
When you are ready to record the deposit, click the “Save & Close” button to save the transaction
and close the “Make Deposits” window.
10.8- Handling Bounced Checks:
QuickBooks has an easy way to handle bounced checks received from customers as payments
against invoices or received as payment within sales receipts. This feature will mark the previously paid
invoice or sales receipt as “Unpaid,” remove the funds received from your bank account, allow you to enter
any bank service fees assessed by your bank, and also create a new invoice for these fees that you can
give to the customer who bounced the check. This is a terrific feature that allows you to easily deal with a
situation that often caused many headaches when it occurred.
To record a bounced check, open the “Receive Payments” window by selecting “Customers|
Receive Payments…” from the Menu Bar. Then find or navigate to the specific payment that you received
from the customer that contains the bounced check and display that received payment within this window.
With the payment displayed, click the “Record Bounced Check” button within the “Main” tab in the Ribbon at
the top of the window.
In the “Manage Bounced Check” window, enter the amount of the bank fee associated with this
bounced check into the “Bank Fee” field. Select the date that the bank fee was assessed by your financial
institution from the adjacent “Date” field’s calendar drop-down, or simply type the date value directly into the
field. Use the “Expense Account” drop-down to select the expense account you use to track bank service

Payment Processing
10.8- Handling Bounced Checks- (cont'd.):
charges or bank service fees. If you have class tracking enabled within your company file, you can select a
class from the “Class” drop-down to classify this bank fee.
Enter the amount to charge the customer for the bounced check into the “Customer Fee” field.
Usually, this amount is for more than the bank fee that was incurred for the bounced check. After entering
the amount to bill to the customer, click the “Next” button to continue.
On the next screen, titled “Bounced Check Summary,” you will see a listing of the various actions
that QuickBooks will take when you click the “Finish” button at the bottom of the window. Note the various
transactions that will occur, and then click the “Finish” button to proceed. QuickBooks will then create the
various transactions that it listed within this screen to account for the bounced check. You can then re-
invoice the customer for the original invoice as well as the new bounced check invoice that QuickBooks
creates. The “Receive Payments” window for the original payment transaction will also be marked as
“Bounced Check.” Just click the “Save & Close button to save the transaction and close the “Receive
Payments” window when finished.
10.9- Automatically Transferring Credits Between Jobs:
Starting in QuickBooks 2019, you can now easily transfer credits between jobs for a customer. Note
that to do this, you must have access to the Chart of Accounts, as this process creates a clearing account
for the credit transfer. In addition, performing this task is an irreversible action. To change or undo this
action after performing it, you should consult with your accountant and/or bookkeeper. When performing this
action, QuickBooks automatically creates two General Journal entries for you to transfer the credit from one
job to another. Also, the first time this feature is used, QuickBooks creates an “Other Current Assets”
clearing account to transfer the credit. This account is marked as “inactive” to ensure it is only used for
credit transfers in QuickBooks.
To transfer credits between jobs for a customer in QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later, first open
the invoice to which you are transferring the existing job credit. Then click the “Apply Credits” button in the
“Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice window to open the “Apply Credits” window. In the “Apply
Credits” window, the credits from the other job appear. Ensure the credit is selected and that the amount to
apply, shown in the “Amt to Apply” column, is correct. Then click the “Done” button in the “Apply Credits”
window. Then click the “Yes” button in the “Confirm transfer” window that appears to finish.
10.10- Manually Transferring Credits Between Jobs:
While more complicated than the automatic transferring of job credits for a customer available in
QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later, you can also manually transfer a credit between jobs if using
QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2018 or earlier. To do this, you must first create a clearing account in the Chart of
Accounts. When creating this account, you may want to make it a “Bank” account type for ease of use with
more transaction forms. However, you can also make it an “Other Current Assets” account if you know you
will only use it for transferring job credits.
After creating the clearing account, you must then create a General Journal entry to transfer the
credit from the job to the clearing account. To do this, select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…”
from the Menu Bar to open the “Make General Journal Entries” window. On the first transaction row, select
the correct “Accounts Receivable” account for the job from the “Account” column. Then enter the amount

Payment Processing
10.10- Manually Transferring Credits Between Jobs- (cont’d.):
of the job credit to transfer under the “Debit” column to the right in the same row. Then select the name of
the customer job from which you are transferring the credit from the “Name” column to the right of that. On
the second row, select the name of the clearing account from the “Account” column. Ensure that the
matching job credit amount appears under the “Credit” column for this row. Then click the “Save & Close”
button to record the first general journal entry.
Next, link either the payment or credit from the job from which you are transferring the credit to the
General Journal entry you just created. To do this, open the “Customer Center” by selecting “Customers|
Customer Center” from the Menu Bar. In the “Customer Center” window, select the name of the customer
job from which you are transferring the job credit from the list at the left side of the window. Then click the
“Transactions” tab to the right, if needed.
If you are linking a received payment to the General Journal entry, then double-click the received
payment in the “Transactions” tab to open it. Then place a checkmark to the left of the journal entry in the
payment to select it. Then click the “Save & Close” button to save the edited payment. Alternatively, if you
are linking an existing credit memo for the job, then double-click the credit memo in the “Transactions” tab
to open that, instead. Then click the “Use credit to apply to invoice” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon to
open the “Apply Credit to Invoices” window. Place a checkmark next to the journal entry within this window
and then click the “Done” button. Then click the “Save & Close” button in the “Credit Memo” window.
The next step is to create another General Journal entry to move the credit from the clearing
account to the new job. Once again, select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar
to open the “Make General Journal Entries” window. On the first transaction row, select the correct
“Accounts Receivable” account for the job from the “Account” column. Then enter the amount of the job
credit to transfer from the clearing account under the “Credit” column to the right in the same row. Then
select the name of the customer job to which you are transferring the credit from the “Name” column to the
right of that. On the second row, select the name of the clearing account from the “Account” column. Ensure
that the matching job credit amount appears under the “Debit” column for this row. Then click the “Save &
Close” button to record the second general journal entry.
At this point, you can then apply the transferred job credit when receiving payment for the
customer’s job within the “Receive Payment” window, as normal. Please review the lesson titled “Applying
Customer Credits” for specific instructions on this process, if needed.

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
RECORDING A FULL PAYMENT:
1. To record a full customer payment, select the customer or customer:job from whom you are receiving
the payment from the “Received From” drop-down in the “Receive Payments” window.
2. Select the date the payment was received from the “Date” calendar selector.
3. Enter the payment amount into the “Payment Amount” field.
4. Click the payment method button in the window that corresponds to the method of payment received.
5. If needed, you can click the drop-down arrow that appears in the lower-right corner of this button group
to view additional payment methods in a drop-down menu. You can then select the additional payment
method from this drop-down.
6. For “Credit/Debit” payments, you can select a credit card type from the “Payment” drop-down and enter
the credit card number and expiration date into the “Card Number” and “Exp Date” fields shown in the
button in the drop-down menu to record the credit card information.
7. If they pay by check, enter the check number into the “Check No.” field.
8. At the bottom of the window, ensure that there is a checkmark in the checkmark column to the left of the
invoice against which you are receiving payment.
9. Click the “Save & Close” button to save and close the “Receive Payments” window or click the “Save &
New” button to save the transaction but leave the “Receive Payments” window open.
ENTERING A PARTIAL PAYMENT:
1. To record a partial customer payment, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the name of the customer from the “Received From” drop-down.
4. Enter the amount of the partial payment into the “Payment Amount” field.
9. To attribute the payment to anything other than the oldest invoice, click the “Un-Apply Payment”
button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window to clear the checkmark(s) from the
invoice(s).
10. Enter the amount to apply to the appropriate invoice under the “Payment” column. This will also place a
checkmark to the left of the selected invoice.
11. When you enter an underpayment of the total amount due, you can select the “Write off extra amount”
option button at the bottom of the window to write off the remaining balance if it is too small to re-bill.
However, the “Leave this as an underpayment” option button is selected, by default.

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
APPLYING ONE PAYMENT TO MULTIPLE INVOICES:
1. To apply one payment to multiple jobs, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
4. Enter the amount of the single payment into the “Payment Amount” field.
9. QuickBooks will automatically apply the single payment against the outstanding invoices, from the
oldest to the newest. To remove the checkmarks from the invoices, click the “Un-Apply Payment” button
in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window to clear the checkmark(s) from the invoice(s).
10. You can then check and uncheck the invoices by clicking into the leftmost checkmark column to apply
and remove payment amounts, as needed, until the entire amount received has been attributed to the
correct invoices in the correct amounts.
11. You can also change the amounts applied to each invoice, if needed, by changing the amounts shown
in the “Payment” column at the right end of the outstanding invoice list.
ENTERING OVERPAYMENTS:
1. To enter a customer overpayment, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
4. Enter the entire amount of the payment into the “Payment Amount” field.
9. The overpayment amount is listed as an “Overpayment” in the bottom left corner of the window. You can
select either the option button to “Leave the credit to be used later” or the option button to “Refund the
amount to the customer.” If you select the “Refund the amount to the customer” option button, you can
create a “Refund Check” for the customer when you save this transaction.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
ENTERING OVERPAYMENTS- (CONT’D.):
ENTERING DOWN PAYMENTS OR PREPAYMENTS:
1. To enter a down payment or prepayment, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
4. Enter the entire amount of the down payment or prepayment into the “Payment Amount” field.
9. The down payment or prepayment amount is listed as an “Overpayment” in the bottom left corner of the
window. Select the option button to “Leave the credit to be used later” in the case of down payments
and prepayments so you can apply the credit to the invoice that you will create later.
APPLYING CUSTOMER CREDITS TO INVOICES:
1. To apply customer credits to invoices, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
3. Select the invoice to which you wish to apply the customer’s credit. Remember that you do NOT want to
mark it with a checkmark by clicking into the checkmark column to the left of the invoice, but instead
want to select it by clicking on some other column shown.
4. Click the “Discounts & Credits” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window.
5. In the “Discount and Credits” window, select the “Credits” tab to view any available customer credits.
6. To apply the entire credit, click the checkmark column next to the credit in the “Available Credits”
section
7. The amount of credit to apply to the invoice will be displayed in the “Amt. to Use” column in this window.
8. To apply a partial credit amount, change the amount of credit applied by changing the amount shown
in the “Amt. to Use” column.
9. Click the “Done” button to apply the credit amount to the selected invoice.
10. Continue receiving the customer payment within the “Receive Payments” window, as needed. The
amount of credit applied to the invoice will appear in the “Credits” column at the bottom of the window.

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
MAKING DEPOSITS:
1. To record a bank deposit in QuickBooks, select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar.
2. This will most often then cause the “Payments to Deposit” window to appear onscreen.
3. Use the “View payment method type” drop-down at the top of this window to select the type of payments
to view, if needed.
4. Check any amounts received that you will take to the bank to deposit in the “Payments to Deposit”
window.
5. Click the “OK” button to continue to the actual “Make Deposits” window.
6. In the “Make Deposits” window, you will see the amounts you just selected shown in a list.
7. Select the bank account to deposit these funds into from the “Deposit To” drop-down.
8. Enter the date of the actual deposit into the “Date” field.
9. If necessary, you can click into the next available blank row within the amounts to deposit to record any
other miscellaneous amounts to be deposited, such as owner’s contributions.
10. If receiving cash back, use the “Cash back goes to” drop-down to select the account used to record it.
11. Enter the reason why cash was held back into the “Cash back memo” field.
12. Enter the amount of cash to be held back from the deposit into the “Cash back amount” field.
13. To print a deposit slip or deposit summary to take with you to the bank, click the drop-down arrow to the
right of the “Print” button within the toolbar at the top of the window and then select either the “Deposit
Slip…” or “Deposit Summary…” command.
14. You can then print the selected form within the “Print” dialog box that appears.
15. When finished, click the “Save & Close” button in the “Make Deposits” window to save the transaction
and close the “Make Deposits” window.
HANDLING BOUNCED CHECKS:
1. To record a bounced check, select “Customers| Receive Payments…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Find or navigate to the specific payment you received that contains the check that bounced and display
that received payment within the “Receive Payments” window.
3. Click the “Record Bounced Check” button within the “Main” tab in the Ribbon at the top of the window.
4. In the “Manage Bounced Check” window, enter the amount of the bank fee associated with this bounced
check into the “Bank Fee” field.
5. Select the date that the bank fee was assessed by your financial institution from the adjacent “Date”
field’s calendar drop-down, or simply type the date value directly into the field.
6. Use the “Expense Account” drop-down to select the expense account that you use to track bank service
charges or bank service fees.
7. If you have class tracking enabled within your company file, you can select a class from the “Class”
drop-down to classify this bank fee.
8. Enter the amount to charge the customer for the bounced check into the “Customer Fee” field.
10. On the next screen, titled “Bounced Check Summary,” you will see a listing of the various actions that
QuickBooks will take when you click the “Finish” button shown at the bottom of the window. Note the
various transactions that will occur, and then click the “Finish” button to proceed.
11. You can then re-invoice the customer with the original invoice as well as the new bounced check invoice
that QuickBooks creates.
12. Click the “Save & Close button to save and close the “Receive Payments” window when finished.

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERRING CREDITS BETWEEN JOBS:
1. To transfer credits between jobs for a customer in QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later, open
the invoice to which you are transferring the existing job credit.
2. Then click the “Apply Credits” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice window to
open the “Apply Credits” window.
3. In the “Apply Credits” window, the credits from the other job appear.
4. Ensure the credit is selected and that the amount to apply, shown in the “Amt to Apply” column, is
correct.
5. Then click the “Done” button in the “Apply Credits” window.
6. Then click the “Yes” button in the “Confirm transfer” window that appears to finish.
MANUALLY TRANSFERRING CREDITS BETWEEN JOBS:
1. To manually transfer a credit between jobs if using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2018 or earlier, first
create a clearing account in the Chart of Accounts if you do not have one already.
2. When creating this account, you may want to make it a “Bank” account type for ease of use with more
transaction forms. However, you can also make it an “Other Current Assets” account if you know you
will only use it for transferring job credits.
3. To then create a General Journal entry to transfer the credit from the job to the clearing account,
select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Make General
Journal Entries” window.
4. On the first transaction row, select the correct “Accounts Receivable” account for the job from the
“Account” column.
5. Then enter the amount of the job credit to transfer under the “Debit” column to the right in the same row.
6. Then select the name of the customer job from which you are transferring the credit from the “Name”
column to the right of that.
7. On the second row, select the name of the clearing account from the “Account” column.
8. Ensure that the matching job credit amount appears under the “Credit” column for this row.
9. Then click the “Save & Close” button to record the first general journal entry.
10. To then link either the payment or credit from the job from which you are transferring the credit
to the General Journal entry you just created, open the “Customer Center” by selecting “Customers|
Customer Center” from the Menu Bar.
11. In the “Customer Center” window, select the name of the customer job from which you are transferring
the job credit from the list at the left side of the window.
12. Then click the “Transactions” tab to the right, if needed.
13. If linking a received payment to the General Journal entry, then double-click the received payment
in the “Transactions” tab to open it.
14. Then place a checkmark to the left of the journal entry in the payment to select it.
15. Then click the “Save & Close” button to save the edited payment.
16. Alternatively, if linking an existing credit memo for the job, then double-click the credit memo in the
“Transactions” tab to open that, instead.
17. Then click the “Use credit to apply to invoice” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon to open the “Apply
Credit to Invoices” window.
18. Place a checkmark next to the journal entry within this window and then click the “Done” button.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Payment Processing
MANUALLY TRANSFERRING CREDITS BETWEEN JOBS- (CONT’D.):
19. Then click the “Save & Close” button in the “Credit Memo” window.
20. To then create another General Journal entry to move the credit from the clearing account to the
new job, select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Make
General Journal Entries” window again.
21. On the first transaction row, select the correct “Accounts Receivable” account for the job from the
“Account” column.
22. Then enter the amount of the job credit to transfer from the clearing account under the “Credit” column
to the right in the same row.
23. Then select the name of the customer job to which you are transferring the credit from the “Name”
column to the right of that.
24. On the second row, select the name of the clearing account from the “Account” column.
25. Ensure that the matching job credit amount appears under the “Debit” column for this row.
26. Then click the “Save & Close” button to record the second general journal entry.
27. At this point, you can then apply the transferred job credit when receiving payment for the customer’s
job within the “Receive Payment” window, as normal.

EXERCISES-
Payment Processing
Purpose:
To be able to receive customer payments.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
8. Select “Fisher, Jennifer” from the “Received From” drop-down.
9. In the “Payment Amount” field, type “1,400.”
10. Click the “Check” payment method button in the upper-left corner of the window.
11. Type “5678” in the “Check #” field.
12. Click the “Save & New” button to save the transaction and leave the “Receive Payments” window
open.
13. Next you will enter a down payment from a customer by selecting “Natiello, Ernesto: Kitchen” from
the “Received From” drop-down. Be sure to select the “Kitchen” entry, as selecting a customer:job is
NOT the same thing as selecting a customer!
14. In the “Payment Amount” field, type “622.26.”
15. Use the “Pmt. Method” drop-down to select “Check.”
16. Type “9876” in the “Check #” field.
17. Since this is a down payment on a job, ensure that there are no invoices selected to be paid.
18. Ensure that the “Leave the credit to be used later” option button is selected within the
“Overpayment” section at the bottom of the window.
19. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the transaction and close the “Receive Payments” window.
20. Click the “OK” button within the “Payment” message box that appears to leave the credit but not print
a credit memo for the customer.
finished.

CHAPTER 11-
Handling Refunds
11.1- Creating a Credit Memo and Refund Check
11.2- Refunding Customer Payments

Handling Refunds
11.1- Creating a Credit Memo and Refund Check:
You can easily refund a customer’s purchase if they return merchandise by creating a credit memo
and then issuing a refund check. To do this, first create a credit memo for the return. After creating the credit
memo, then create a refund check for the amount of the credit memo to refund the customer.
To create a credit memo for a customer’s return, select “Customers| Create Credit Memos/Refunds“
from the Menu Bar. In the “Create Credit Memos/Refunds” window that appears, select the name of the
customer or customer:job for whom the credit memo is being issued from the “Customer:Job” drop-down.
Next, enter the items that were returned in the line items area at the bottom of the window.
Then click the “Use credit to give refund” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the
window to issue a refund check for the amount of the credit memo.
Within the window that appears, select the account used to withdraw funds for the refund check and
enter any other information needed for the refund into the fields shown. Then click the “OK” button to
continue. Finally, ensure you save and print the refund check, as well as the credit memo to give to the
customer.
11.2- Refunding Customer Payments:
If a customer overpays an invoice or statement, or gives you a down payment or prepayment, you
create a credit for that customer when you enter the payment into the “Receive Payments” window. Later
on, if the customer requests that you send the amount back, or cancels the order, you can issue a refund
check on the credit for the payment that you accepted.
To create the refund check, just select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Write Checks” window. At the very top of the window, use the “Bank Account” drop-down to select the
account against which the funds will be withdrawn. Enter the date of the check into the “Date” field. Use the
“Pay to the Order of” drop-down to select the name of the customer or customer:job to whom you are
issuing the refund. If you will be printing this check, check the “Print later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the
Ribbon at the top of the window.
Enter the amount of the credit refund into the “$” field, and set the account in the “Expenses” tab to
“Accounts Receivable.” Save and print the check and give it to the customer.
After that, you must return to the “Receive Payments” window to match the credit to the refund check
that you just wrote to the customer or customer:job. To do this, open the “Receive Payments” window and
select the name of the customer or customer:job from the “Received From” drop-down. In the listing at the
bottom of the window, you should see the refund check you just wrote listed. Select the check in the list, but
do NOT mark it with a checkmark by clicking into the checkmark column to the left of the check. You can
click into any of the other columns to simply select and highlight the line item.
Then click the “Discounts And Credits” button that appears in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top
of the window. If the “Discounts and Credits” window then appears, select the “Credits” tab in the “Discount
and Credits” window. If the “Apply Credits” window opens, instead, then the credit should appear on the
“Credit” tab in this window. In either window, if needed, you can click into the leftmost checkmark column
next to the credit that matches the refund check amount to select it. Then click the “Done” button to apply
the credit to the check. You can then click the “Save & Close” button to finish the transaction.

ACTIONS-
Handling Refunds
CREATING A CREDIT MEMO AND REFUND CHECK:
1. To create a credit memo and refund check, select “Customers| Create Credit Memos/Refunds“ from
the Menu Bar.
2. Select the name of the customer or customer:job from the “Customer:Job” drop-down.
3. Enter the items that were returned in the line items area at the bottom of the window.
4. Click the “Use credit to give refund” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window to
issue a refund check for the amount of the credit memo.
5. Within the window that appears, select the account used to withdraw funds for the refund check and
enter any other information needed for the refund into the fields shown.
6. Click the “OK” button to continue. .
7. Ensure that you save and print the refund check, as well as the credit memo.
REFUNDING A CUSTOMER PAYMENT:
1. To refund a customer payment, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to open the “Write
Checks” window.
2. Use the “Bank Account” drop-down at the very top of the window to select the account against which the
funds will be withdrawn.
3. Enter the date of the check into the “Date” field.
4. Use the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down to select the name of the customer or customer:job.
5. If printing this check, check the “Print later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the
window.
6. Enter the amount of the credit refund into the “$” field.
7. Set the account on the “Expenses” tab to “Accounts Receivable.”
8. Save and print the check and give it to the customer.
9. Return to the “Receive Payments” window by selecting “Customer| Receive Payments…” from the
Menu Bar.
10. Select the name of the customer or customer:job from the “Received From” drop-down.
11. In the listing at the bottom of the window, you should see the refund check that you just wrote listed.
12. Select the check in the list, but do NOT mark it with a checkmark by clicking into the checkmark column
to the left of the check. You can click into any of the other columns to simply select and highlight the line
item.
13. Click the “Discounts And Credits” button that appears in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the
window.
14. If the “Discounts and Credits” window then appears, select the “Credits” tab in the “Discount and
Credits” window.
15. If the “Apply Credits” window opens, instead, then the credit should appear on the “Credit” tab in this
window.
16. In either window, if needed, you can click into the leftmost checkmark column next to the credit that
matches the refund check amount to select it.
17. Click the “Done” button to apply the credit to the check.
18. You can then click the “Save & Close” button to finish the transaction.

EXERCISES-
Handling Refunds
Purpose:
To be able to refund customer payments.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to open the “Write
Checks” window.
8. In the “Pay to the Order of” field, select “Natiello, Ernesto:Kitchen” from the drop-down. Be sure to
select the “Kitchen” job to correctly account for the refund!
9. In the “$” field, type “622.26.”
10. Click into the first column of the “Expenses” tab, across from the amount shown in the “Amount”
column.
11. Select “Accounts Receivable” from the drop-down there.
12. Click the “Save and Close” button to save the check and close the “Write Checks” window.
13. Select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar.
14. Select “Natiello, Ernesto:Kitchen” from the “Received From” drop-down. Be sure to select the
“Kitchen” job to correctly account for the refund!
15. Click into the line item anywhere but the leftmost checkmark column for the check that you just
created that appears within the invoices section to select the line.
16. Click the “Discounts And Credits” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window.
17. Since the credit has been already automatically selected by QuickBooks, just click the “Done” button
within the “Apply Credits” window that opens.
18. Click the “Save & Close” button within the “Receive Payments” window to save the transaction and
close the window.
finished.

CHAPTER 12-
Entering and Paying Bills
12.1- Setting Billing Preferences
12.2- Entering Bills
12.3- Paying Bills
12.4- Early Bill Payment Discounts
12.5- Entering a Vendor Credit
12.6- Applying a Vendor Credit

12.1- Setting Billing Preferences:
You can set the bill payment preferences before using the Accounts Payable features of
QuickBooks by selecting “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Preferences” window. Click
the “Bills” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window and then click the “Company Preferences” tab
that appears at the right side of the window to view and set the default billing preferences.
In the “Entering Bills” section, enter the default number of days after entry that bills without a due
date should be paid by typing a number into the “Bills are due __ days after receipt” field. You can also
check the “Warn about duplicate bills from same vendor” checkbox to be alerted to that fact, if it occurs.
In the “Paying Bills” section, if you wish to automatically use discounts and credits when available,
check the “Automatically use credits” and/or the “Automatically use discounts” checkboxes. If checked, use
the adjacent drop-down to select the account used to track vendor discounts and credits. After setting the
desired billing preferences, click the “OK” button to apply them.
12.2- Entering Bills:
You should always enter bills into QuickBooks as soon as you receive them. To enter a bill, select
“Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window. The top half of the “Enter Bills”
window is where you enter the bill information. The bottom half of the window is where you assign the bill
amount to different expense accounts, or list the inventory items purchased.
When entering bills for inventory items received, notice that the “Bill Received” checkbox at the top
of the window has a checkmark in it by default. You should only clear the check from this box if using
QuickBooks for purchase orders and inventory, and you want to record items you have received but have
not been billed for yet. Removing the check from this box in that situation changes the transaction into an
“Item Receipt,” instead.
When entering a bill, select the name of the vendor that sent you the bill from the “Vendor” drop-
down. Ensure you have entered the date on which you received the bill into the “Date” field. Enter the bill’s
number into the “Ref. No.” field. Then enter the amount of the bill into the “Amount Due” field. Ensure that
you have the correct due date set in the “Bill Due” field.
For bills you receive that are not related to purchasing inventory, enter the expense account this bill
will affect in the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the bill. That way, when you later create the check that
pays this bill, you won’t need to re-enter any accounting information.

12.2- Entering Bills- (cont'd.):
On the “Expenses” tab, you can allocate the total amount of the bill shown in the “Amount Due” field
between multiple expense accounts. To do this, choose the first account the bill affects and then enter the
amount to attribute to that account into the “Amount” column. Then click into the next row under the
“Account” column and select the next account affected by the bill amount. Enter the amount to attribute to
the second account into the “Amount” column within that row. Repeat this process, as needed, until you
have allocated the total amount of the bill to the necessary expense accounts.
After entering the bill and attributing it to the correct accounts, you can save the bill by either clicking
the “Save & Close” button to save the bill and close the window, or clicking the “Save & New” button to save
the transaction and leave the “Enter Bills” window open for further bill entry.
12.3- Paying Bills:
To pay bills you have entered, open the “Pay Bills” window by selecting “Vendors| Pay Bills” from
the Menu Bar. At the top of the “Pay Bills” window, select either the option button to show bills “Due on or
before” a date you select or to “Show all bills.” Place a checkmark in front of the bill or bills to pay by clicking
within the column to the left of those bills. QuickBooks will place the amount to pay for each bill selected
into the rightmost “Amt. To Pay” column. Notice that this is a white column. If necessary, you can change
the amount shown here to make a partial payment on a selected bill.
In the middle of the “Pay Bills” window you’ll see the vendor, discount, and credit information for the
currently selected, or highlighted, bill. You can click the “Go to Bill” button to open the original bill in the
“Enter Bills” window if you need to review it. The “Set Discount” and “Set Credits” buttons are used to take
early payment discounts and apply vendor credits to selected bills, if available. You will see how to perform
these tasks in separate lessons in this chapter.
In the “Payment” section of the “Pay Bills” window, ensure you have the correct payment date
entered into the “Date” field. Use the “Method” drop-down to select the desired method of payment for the
checked bills. If you select “Check” from this drop-down, you must select either the “To be printed” or
“Assign check no.” option button. If you select the “To be printed” option button, then the checks will be
assigned a check number later when you print them. If you select the “Assign check no.” option, you enter
the starting check number into the window that appears after you click the “Pay Selected Bills” button. If
paying by check, select the account from which the funds to pay the checked bills will be withdrawn by
choosing the desired account from the “Account” drop-down. If you select “Credit Card” as the payment
method, use the adjacent “Account” drop-down to select the credit card account to which you want to apply
this bill payment. When finished, click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to pay the checked bills in this window.
When you pay a bill within QuickBooks, an entry is made in the “Accounts Payable” register,
showing a decrease by the amount of the bill payment to the total accounts payable balance. QuickBooks
also creates a check from your checking account to pay the bill. You can open the “Accounts Payable”
register by opening the “Chart of Accounts” and then double-clicking the “Accounts Payable” entry to see its
register. You could also view the check that is created by double-clicking your checking account in the
“Chart of Accounts” to view that register. Notice that this type of check is called a “Bill Payment” check, and
differs from the typical check you create when creating checks in the “Write Checks” window. On those
checks you see the expenses directly on the check voucher portion, while in “Bill Payment” checks the
bottom portion shows the bills paid by the check, instead.

12.4- Early Bill Payment Discounts:
If you take advantage of discounts for early bill payment offered by some vendors, you can record
the discounts directly in the “Pay Bills” window when you pay the bills by the date specified by your vendor’s
terms. This allows you to let QuickBooks track the discount amounts. You can manually take this discount
as you pay the bill in the “Pay Bills” window if you do not have QuickBooks set up to automatically take
vendor discounts and credits.
To do this, first select the qualifying bill to pay and then click the “Set Discount” button. QuickBooks
will display the “Discount and Credits” window where the amount of the discount based on the terms of the
agreement will be displayed. Select the “Discount Account” you use to track the amount of early payment
discounts. After you’ve selected the appropriate account, click the “Done” button to close the “Discount and
Credits” window. Then continue to pay the bill as you normally would.
12.5- Entering a Vendor Credit:
If you receive a credit from a vendor that you want to enter and later use against the next bill you
receive from them, you can easily do that in QuickBooks. To enter the vendor credit, open the “Enter Bills”
window by selecting “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar. Select the option button for “Credit” at the top
of the “Enter Bills” window. The word “Credit” should appear in the top of the form.
At that point, select the name of the vendor who issued the credit from the “Vendor” drop-down.
Enter the date you received the credit from the “Date” calendar selector. If there is a number associated
with the credit, enter that number into the “Ref. No.” field. Enter the amount of the credit into the “Credit
Amount” field. Select the accounts or items that the credit will affect on the “Expenses” or “Items” tabs, as
appropriate, at the bottom of the window. Then click the “Save & Close” button to save the credit for later
use when you go to pay the next bill from that vendor through the “Pay Bills” window.
12.6- Applying a Vendor Credit:
If you’ve received a credit from a vendor and entered it into QuickBooks, you can use it on the next
payment you make to that vendor. You can manually take this credit as you pay the next bill in the “Pay
Bills” window, if you do not have QuickBooks set to automatically apply discounts and credits.
To do this, open the “Pay Bills” window by selecting “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar. Select
the bill for which you have a vendor credit you would like to apply. Click the “Set Credits” button.
QuickBooks will display the “Discount and Credits” window and show the “Credits” tab where the amount of
the credit will be displayed. You can select how much of the available vendor credit to use by typing it in the
“Amt. To Use” column, if you only want to use a portion of the credit. Next, click the “Done” button to close
the “Discount and Credits” window.
From this point, just enter the rest of the bill payment information as normal to finish paying the
remainder of the bill.

ACTIONS-
SETTING BILLING PREFERENCES:
1. To set the default billing preferences, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Preferences” window.
2. Click the “Bills” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window.
3. Click the “Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the “Preferences” window.
4. In the “Entering Bills” section, enter the default number of days after entry that bills without a due date
should be paid by typing a number into the “Bills are due __ days after receipt” field.
5. You can check the “Warn about duplicate bill numbers from the same vendor” checkbox to be alerted to
that fact, if it occurs.
6. In the “Paying Bills” section, to automatically use discounts and credits when available, check the
“Automatically use credits” and/or the “Automatically use discounts” checkboxes.
7. If checked, use the adjacent drop-down to select the account used to track vendor discounts and
credits.
8. After setting the desired billing preferences, click the “OK” button to apply them
ENTERING A BILL:
1. To enter bills, select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window.
2. Notice the “Bill Received” checkbox at the top of the window has a checkmark within it by default. You
should only clear the check from this box if using QuickBooks for purchase orders and inventory, and
you want to record items you have received but have not been billed for yet. Removing the check from
this box in that situation changes the transaction into an “Item Receipt,” instead.
3. When entering a bill, select the name of the vendor that sent the bill from the “Vendor” drop-down.
4. Enter the date on which you received the bill into the “Date” field.
5. Enter the bill’s number into the “Ref. No.” field.
6. Enter the amount of the bill into the “Amount Due” field.
7. Enter the due date of the bill into the “Bill Due” field.
8. For bills you receive not related to purchasing inventory, enter the expense account this bill will affect in
the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the bill payment.
9. To allocate the total amount of the bill between multiple expense accounts, choose the first
account the bill affects and enter the amount to attribute to that account in the adjacent “Amount”
column for that row.
10. Click down into the next row under the “Account” column and select the next account affected by the bill
amount and enter the amount to attribute to the second account into the adjacent “Amount” column for
that row.
11. Repeat this process, as needed, until you have allocated the total amount of the bill to the necessary
accounts.
12. After entering the bill and attributing it to the correct accounts, you can save the bill by either clicking the
“Save & Close” button to save the bill and close the window or by clicking the “Save & New” button to
save the transaction and leave the “Enter Bills” window open.

ACTIONS-
PAYING BILLS:
1. To pay bills, open the “Pay Bills” window by selecting “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar.
2. At the top of the “Pay Bills” window, select either the option button to show bills “Due on or before” a
date you select or to “Show all bills.”
3. Place a checkmark in front of the bill or bills to pay by clicking within the column to the left of those bills.
4. QuickBooks will place the amount to pay for each bill selected into the rightmost “Amt. To Pay” column.
Notice that this is a white column. If necessary, you can change the amount shown here to make a
partial payment on a selected bill.
5. In the middle of the “Pay Bills” window you’ll see the vendor, discount, and credit information for the
currently selected, or highlighted, bill. You can click the “Go to Bill” button to open the original bill in the
“Enter Bills” window if you need to review it.
6. You can click the “Set Discount” and “Set Credits” buttons to take early payment discounts and apply
vendor credits to selected bills, if available.
7. In the “Payment” section of the “Pay Bills” window, enter the payment date into the “Date” field.
8. Use the “Method” drop-down to select the desired method of payment for the checked bills.
9. If you select “Check” from this drop-down, you must select either the “To be printed” or “Assign check
no.” option button.
10. If you select the “To be printed” option button, then the checks will be assigned a check number later
when you print them.
11. If you select the “Assign check no.” option, you enter the starting check number into the window that
appears after you click the “Pay Selected Bills” button.
12. If paying by check, select the account from which the funds to pay the checked bills will be withdrawn by
choosing the desired account from the “Account” drop-down.
13. If you select “Credit Card” as the payment method, use the adjacent “Account” drop-down to select the
credit card account to which you want to apply this bill payment.
14. When finished, click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to pay the checked bills in this window.
MANUALLY TAKING AN EARLY BILL PAYMENT DISCOUNT:
1. To manually take an early bill payment discount, select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar to
open the “Pay Bills” window.
3. Click to place a checkmark in front of the bill you want to pay early in order to take a discount.
4. Click the “Set Discount” button if you can receive a discount for early payment from the vendor.
5. QuickBooks will display the “Discount and Credits” window showing the discount amount.
6. Select the “Discount Account” you use to track the amount of early payment discounts.
7. Click the “Done” button to close the “Discount and Credits” window.
8. In the “Payment” section of the “Pay Bills” window, ensure the correct payment date appears in the
“Date” field.
9. Use the “Method” drop-down to select the desired method of payment for the bill.
10. If you select “Check” from the drop-down, then select either the “To be printed” or “Assign check no.”
option button.
11. If you select the “To be printed” option button, the check is later assigned a check number when printed.
12. If you select the “Assign check no.” option, enter the starting check number into the adjacent field.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
MANUALLY TAKING AN EARLY BILL PAYMENT DISCOUNT- (CONT’D.):
13. If paying by check, select the account from which the funds to pay the checked bill will be withdrawn by
15. When finished, click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to pay the checked bill in this window.
ENTERING A VENDOR CREDIT:
1. To enter a vendor credit, open the “Enter Bills” window by selecting “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the
Menu Bar.
2. Select the option button for “Credit” at the top of the “Enter Bills” window.
3. Ensure you see the word “Credit” appear at the top of the form.
4. Select the name of the vendor who issued the credit from the “Vendor” drop-down.
5. Enter the date you received the credit from the “Date” calendar selector.
6. Enter any associated credit number into the “Ref. No.” field.
7. Enter the amount of the credit into the “Credit Amount” field.
8. Select the affected accounts or items on the “Expenses” or “Items” tabs at the bottom of the window.
9. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the credit for later use when you go to pay the next bill from that
vendor through the “Pay Bills” window.
MANUALLY APPLYING A VENDOR CREDIT:
1. To manually apply a vendor credit, select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Pay
Bills” window.
3. Click to place a checkmark to the left of the bill to which you want to apply your vendor credit.
4. Click the “Set Credits” button.
5. The “Discount and Credits” window will display the credit amount in the “Credits” tab.
6. To use only a portion of the credit, if needed, type the amount to apply within the “Amt. To Use” column.
7. Click the “Done” button to close the “Discount and Credits” window.
8. In the “Payment” section of the “Pay Bills” window, ensure you have the correct payment date entered
into the “Date” field.
9. Use the “Method” drop-down to select the desired method of payment for the bill.
10. If you select “Check” from this drop-down, you must select either the “To be printed” or “Assign check
no.” option button.
11. If you select the “To be printed” option button, the check will be assigned a check number later when
you print it.
12. If you select the “Assign check no.” option, enter the starting check number into the adjacent field.
13. If paying by check, select the account from which the funds to pay the checked bill will be withdrawn by
15. When finished, click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to pay the checked bill in this window.
EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to enter and pay bills.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar.
8. Select “Timberloft Lumber” from the “Vendor” drop-down.
9. Click the “No” button in the “Open POs Exist” message box that appears.
10. Enter “4567” into the “Ref. No.” field.
11. Enter “100” as the “Amount Due.”
12. Use the “Terms” drop-down to select “2% 10 Net 30.”
13. Ensure that the “Job Expenses:Job Materials” subaccount for the bill appears on the “Expenses” tab.
14. Enter “100” for the “Amount” column in the first row of the “Expenses” tab for the “Job Expenses: Job
Materials” account.
15. Click “Save & Close” to save the bill.
16. Click the “No” button in the “Information Changed” message box that appears.
17. Select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar.
18. Click the “Show all bills” option at the top of the “Pay Bills” window.
19. Select “Discount Date” from the “Sort By” drop-down.
20. Select the bill that you just entered (it will have a “Ref. No” value of “4567”) by clicking in the check
column at the left end of that bill’s row.
21. Click the “Set Discount” button in the “Discount & Credit Information for Highlighted Bill” section.
22. Select the “54000 - Job Expenses:54599 - Less Discounts Taken” subaccount from the “Discount
Account” drop-down on the “Discount” tab.
23. Click the “Done” button to continue.
24. In the “Payment” section, select “Checking” from the “Account” drop-down in the lower-left corner of
the screen.
25. Select “Check” from the “Method” drop-down.
26. Select the “To be printed” option button.
27. Click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to take the early payment discount and pay the bill.
28. Click the “Done” button within the “Payment Summary” window that appears.
finished.

CHAPTER 13-
Using Bank Accounts
13.1- Using Registers
13.2- Writing Checks
13.3- Writing a Check for Inventory Items
13.4- Printing Checks
13.5- Transferring Funds Between Accounts
13.6- Reconciling Accounts
13.7- Voiding Checks

Using Bank Accounts
13.1- Using Registers:
You can enter checks directly into the checking account register rather than through the “Write
Checks” window, if you prefer. This doesn’t allow you to see how the check will appear if printed, but it may
seem familiar to you since it looks like a typical checkbook register. Also, for businesses that may not write
very many checks or do not use QuickBooks for printing checks, it may simply be easier to transfer the
information from the paper check register into this register for accounting purposes.
Note that for any accounts that appear on the “Balance Sheet” of your company, you have an
associated register you can access to view and/or edit the transactions contained within them. Using the
register can be useful to view the transactions in any account, such as “Accounts Payable” or “Accounts
Receivable.”
To open an account register, first ensure you do not have any screens open within QuickBooks.
Then select “Banking| Use Register” from the Menu Bar to open the “Use Register” window. In the “Use
Register” window, use the “Select Account” drop-down to choose the desired account, like “Checking” for
example. After selecting the account, click the “OK” button to continue to the register window.
To record an entry into the account register window, use the next available blank row to enter the
transaction information. When finished, click the “Record” button at the bottom of the window to save the
transaction. You can view any of the transactions in a register individually by double-clicking the desired
transaction to open it within its corresponding form view in QuickBooks.
13.2- Writing Checks:
In QuickBooks you can enter checks directly into the QuickBooks “Write Checks” window. When you
enter a check into this form, you can see address information and easily allocate the check’s amount
between multiple accounts, if necessary, at the bottom of the “Write Checks” window. This form also
corresponds to the “check” entries made in the register for the selected checking account.
To write checks in QuickBooks, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to display the
“Write Checks” window. Select the checking account from which the funds will be withdrawn from the “Bank
Account” drop-down at the top of this window.
Next, decide whether you will be printing this check, or whether you will simply be recording a check
or other electronic withdrawal transaction. If recording a check you have already written, or recording an
electronic withdrawal, enter the check number that was issued into the “No.” field. You can enter your own
code for checking withdrawal transactions that lack a code, such as an ATM withdrawal. Otherwise, if you
intend to print this check at a later point in time, check the “Print Later” checkbox that appears in the “Main”
tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window.
Enter the date of the check into the “Date” field, or select the date from the field’s calendar date
selector. Select the name of the payee from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down. The payee’s name and
address information will appear in the check. Enter the amount of the check into the “$” field.
When creating checks not related to the purchase of inventory items, you assign the amount of the
check to one or more accounts in your company’s chart of accounts using the “Expenses” tab in the lower
section of the window. To do this, select the first account to which you want to attribute the check amount
from the first row in the “Account” column. QuickBooks will attribute the entire check amount to that account,
as shown in the “Amount” column. To split the total check amount to multiple accounts, simply change the
amount shown in the “Amount” column to indicate how much of the total check amount to attribute to the
selected account. Repeat the process of selecting the next account from the next available blank row under
the “Account” column and entering the amount to attribute to that account into the adjacent “Amount”
column until you have distributed the entire check amount to the appropriate accounts.
Using Bank Accounts
13.2- Writing Checks- (cont'd.):
After you have distributed the total check amount to the correct accounts, click either the “Save &
Close” button to save the check and close the “Write Checks” window or click the “Save & New” button to
save the check and leave the “Write Checks” window open so you can continue writing checks.
13.3- Writing a Check for Inventory Items:
If you don’t use purchase orders to acquire inventory item parts you sell to customers, you can write
a check to purchase inventory items, instead. To write a check for “Inventory Part” items you have created
in your “Item List,” select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to display the “Write Checks” window.
Fill out the upper portion of the check with the appropriate vendor information. Then indicate which
inventory items you are purchasing by clicking the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Write Checks” window
and using the “Items” drop-down to select the inventory parts you are purchasing. Enter each inventory item
purchased into a separate row. For each inventory item purchased, enter the “Quantity” purchased. If
needed, enter the cost of each inventory item purchased into the “Cost” column. The total amount of the
check will be determined by the total cost of the inventory parts entered into the “Items” tab.
After you have finished listing the purchased inventory on the “Items” tab, click either the “Save &
Close” button to save the check and close the “Write Checks” window, or click the “Save & New” button to
save the check and leave the “Write Checks” window open so you can continue writing checks.
13.4- Printing Checks:
You can click the “Print Later” checkbox that appears in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the
“Write Checks” window to save it and print it later. To print your checks later, open the “Write Checks”
window by selecting “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar.
To print a single check, use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the
top of the “Write Checks” window to display the check you want to print. Then click the drop-down arrow on
the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the “Write Checks” window. In the drop-down
menu that appears, choose the “Check” command to display a “Print Check” dialog box where you can
enter the check number to print and click the “OK” button to then launch the “Print Checks” dialog box
where you can set printing options for the check.
To print a batch of checks you have saved and marked to “Print Later,” open the “Write Checks”
window and click the drop-down arrow on the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the
“Write Checks” window. In the drop-down menu that appears, choose the “Batch” command to display the
“Select Checks to Print” dialog box.
In this dialog box, you can remove the checkmarks from any checks listed that you don’t want to
print, if needed. You can also use the “Select All” and “Select None” buttons to help you make selections, if
needed. Ensure you have the correct account selected from the “Bank Account” drop-down. Enter the first
check number to assign to the batch of checks into the “First Check Number” field. After you have set the
desired options, click the “OK” button to open the “Print Checks” dialog box.
Place the paper checks into your printer and set any desired printing options in the “Print Checks”
dialog box. This dialog box displays three tabs: “Settings,” “Fonts,” and “Partial Page.” On the “Settings” tab,
use the “Printer name:” drop-down to select the printer that contains the checks you are going to print. If
needed, use the “Printer type” drop-down to select the type of printer you are using. In the “Check Style”
section, select the option button that corresponds to the check style you will use for printing checks:

Using Bank Accounts
13.4- Printing Checks- (cont'd.):
“Voucher,” “Standard,” or “Wallet.” To the right of that, enter the number of copies of each check to print in
the “Number of copies:” text box. You can check the “Collate” checkbox to ensure they print collated. Check
the “Print company name and address” checkbox to print the company name and address on the checks if
they are not pre-printed and you are using either the “Voucher” or “Standard” check styles.
To print a company logo on the checks, check the “Use logo” checkbox. If you haven’t loaded a logo
yet, click the “File” button in the “Logo” dialog box that appears to browse for a logo file for your checks. The
logo file must be of an acceptable type for use in QuickBooks. Accepted types include JPEG, GIF, and
bitmap file types. The logo must also be a perfect square. The smaller the logo file size, the more quickly
the logo will be loaded into QuickBooks and printed on the checks. Also note you can only print a logo on
“Voucher” and “Standard” check styles, and that you must be in single-user mode to load a logo into
QuickBooks. Assuming all these criteria are met, you can load a logo by clicking the “File” button in the
“Logo” dialog box to open an “Open Logo File” window where you can browse for, and select, the logo file
to print on your checks. Click the “Open” button and then click the “OK” button in the message that appears,
if needed. Then click the “OK” button in the “Logo” dialog box to finish.
If you have an endorsement signature you want to print on the checks, instead of having to sign
each check individually, check the “Print Signature Image” checkbox. You must have your signature image
saved as a graphic file before you can add it to the checks. If you do, use the “Signature” dialog box that
appears to select your signature file. You use this dialog box the same way you use the “Logo” dialog box.
Click the “File” button to launch the “Open Logo File” window where you can browse for, and select, your
signature image to use within the checks.
You can click the “Fonts” tab to set the font style to use within checks. You can click the “Address
Font” button to open the “Select Address Font” dialog box where you can set the font appearance for the
company name and address. Click the “OK” button when finished to return to the “Fonts” tab. You can click
the “Font” button to open the “Select Font” dialog box where you can choose the font used for most of the
text within the checks. However, you cannot change the text used to display the amount. When finished,
click the “OK” button to return to the “Fonts” tab.
You can print partial pages of multi-page checks, like the “Standard” or “Wallet” sizes, by using the
“Partial Page” tab to select the option button that corresponds to the envelope loading style used by the
envelope feeder on your printer.
After you have set the desired printing options for the checks, click the “Print” button at the right side
of the “Print Checks” dialog box to print the checks. Before printing the checks, note that the total number of
checks to print, and the total dollar value, are displayed at the top of the “Print Checks” dialog box. This can
be a great way to double-check the number of checks to print before actually printing the checks.
13.5- Transferring Funds Between Accounts:
You can easily transfer money between accounts within QuickBooks by using the “Transfer Funds
Between Accounts” window. You can access this window by selecting “Banking| Transfer Funds” from the
Menu Bar.
In this window, enter the date of the transfer into the “Date” field. Next, select the bank account to
transfer funds from by using the “Transfer Funds From” drop-down. Then select the name of the account to
transfer the funds into by using the “Transfer Funds To” drop-down. Enter the amount of the transfer into the
“Transfer Amount” field. When you are ready to save the transaction, click the “Save & Close” button to
record the funds transfer and close the window.

Using Bank Accounts
13.6- Reconciling Accounts:
Reconciling is the process of ensuring that your checking account record in QuickBooks matches
the bank statement for the account. Reconciling your checking account is a very good habit because it
allows you to spot bank errors and avoid overdraft fees. When reconciling accounts, the goal is to make the
bank statement and your account balance within QuickBooks match. While you will most commonly
reconcile your checking account, you can also reconcile several different types of accounts, if desired- such
as other asset accounts, for example.
To begin reconciling an account, select “Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar. In the “Begin
Reconciliation” window, select which account you want to reconcile from the “Account” drop-down. Enter
the “Statement Date” from the bank statement of the account you are reconciling with your QuickBooks
account. Enter the “Ending Balance” from your bank’s account statement. Then enter any service charge or
interest earned shown on the bank statement, but not yet recorded in QuickBooks. To record service
charges, enter the amount of service charges into the “Service Charge” field. Select the date the service
charges were assessed from the adjacent “Date” calendar selector. Then use the adjacent “Account” drop-
down to select the account used to track service charge amounts, such as “Bank Service Fees.” If the
account has gained interest, enter the amount of interest earned, as shown on the bank statement, into the
“Interest Earned” field. As with service charges, enter the date the interest was earned into the “Date” field
and select the income account used to track interest income from the adjacent “Account” drop-down.
In QuickBooks, you have a “Locate Discrepancies” button you can click to launch the “Locate
Discrepancies” dialog box. Here you can click the “Discrepancy Report” button to view a report that shows
any changes to previously cleared transactions from prior account reconciliations. This can be a useful tool
for locating data entry errors that can cause reconciliation problems. You can also click the “Previous
Reports” button to select a type of reconciliation report to run. The report will show the transactions marked
as cleared from your last account reconciliation.
Also notice the “Undo Last Reconciliation” button shown at the bottom of the “Locate Discrepancies”
and “Begin Reconciliation” windows. If you click this button, it will undo the last account reconciliation for the
selected account. This is an extreme move, and doing it will completely unreconcile the last account
reconciliation performed on the selected account. If you are still viewing the “Locate Discrepancies” window,
you can return to the “Begin Reconciliation” screen by clicking the “Restart Reconciliation” button.
In the “Begin Reconciliation” window, click the “Continue” button to view the “Reconcile” window. In
the “Reconcile” window, place checkmarks next to the appropriate withdrawals and deposits within this
screen that also appear within the bank statement to mark them as “cleared.” As you do this, the
“Difference” shown in the lower-right corner of the screen will slowly approach zero.
If you try to reconcile the account and the “Difference” amount shown is not zero, you may have to
enter an “adjustment” transaction that modifies the QuickBooks account balance so it will agree with the
bank statement. You will still have to account for the difference later, though. So, a better idea is to instead
try and find the discrepancy between the check register and the banking statement and correct it.
If needed, you can exit a reconciliation by clicking the “Leave” button at the bottom of the
“Reconcile” window. This will not affect the checks and deposits you marked as “cleared.” You can return
later by choosing “Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar. However, you will need to re-enter the
information in the “Begin Reconciliation” screen again and click the “Continue” button to return to the
“Reconcile” window. When you are done in the “Reconcile” window and the “Difference” displayed is zero,
click the “Reconcile Now” button to finish the reconciliation. At this point, a dialog box will appear which
allows you to print a reconciliation report, if you would like one.

Using Bank Accounts
13.7- Voiding Checks:
You can void a check that you have created, if necessary. To void a check, open the check you
would like to void and display it in the “Write Checks” window. Then, select “Edit| Void Check” from the
Menu Bar to void the check displayed in the “Write Checks” window. When you click either the “Save”
button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the “Write Checks” window or click the “Save & Close”
button at the bottom of the window to save the changes to the check, QuickBooks may open a message
box that poses a question to you about how to proceed with voiding the check. The question it asks
depends on the type of check and its related transactions. Carefully read and then correctly respond to the
question posed by QuickBooks in this message box to finish voiding the check.

ACTIONS-
Using Bank Accounts
USING ACCOUNT REGISTERS:
1. To use an account register, ensure you do not have any screens open within QuickBooks.
2. Select “Banking| Use Register” from the Menu Bar to open the “Use Register” window.
3. Use the “Select Account” drop-down to choose the desired account.
4. Click the “OK” button to continue to the register window.
5. To record an entry into the account register window, use the next available blank row to enter the
transaction information.
6. When finished, click the “Record” button at the bottom of the window to save the transaction.
7. You can view any transactions in a register individually by double-clicking the desired transaction to
open it within its corresponding form view.
USING THE “WRITE CHECKS” WINDOW:
1. To use the “Write Checks” window, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to display the
“Write Checks” window.
2. Select the appropriate checking account from the “Bank Account” drop-down at the top of this window.
3. If recording a check you have already written, or recording an electronic withdrawal, enter the check
number that was issued into the “No.” field. You can enter your own code for checking withdrawal
transactions that lack a code, such as an ATM withdrawal.
4. To print this check at a later point in time, check the “Print Later” checkbox that appears in the “Main”
tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window.
5. Enter the date of the check into the “Date” field, or select the date from the field’s calendar date selector.
6. Select the name of the payee from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down.
7. Enter the amount of the check into the “$” field.
8. On the “Expenses” tab, select the first account to which you want to attribute the total check amount
from the first row in the “Account” column. QuickBooks will attribute the entire check amount to that
account, shown in the “Amount” column.
9. To split the total check amount to multiple accounts, change the amount in the “Amount” column in
the first row to indicate how much of the total check amount to attribute to the selected account.
10. Repeat the process of selecting the next account from the next available row under the “Account”
column and entering the amount to attribute to that account into the adjacent “Amount” column.
11. After distributing the total check amount, click either the “Save & Close” button to save the check and
close the “Write Checks” window or click the “Save & New” button to save the check and leave the
“Write Checks” window open so you can continue writing checks.
WRITING A CHECK FOR INVENTORY ITEMS:
1. To write a check for “Inventory Part” items, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar.
2. Fill out the upper portion of the “Write Checks” window with the appropriate vendor information.
3. Select the inventory items to purchase by clicking the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Write Checks”
window and using the “Items” drop-down to select the inventory parts.
4. For each inventory item selected, enter the quantity purchased within the “Quantity” column.
5. If needed, enter the cost of any inventory items into the “Cost” column.
6. When finished, click either the “Save & Close” button to save the check and close the “Write Checks”
window or click the “Save & New” button to save the check and leave the window open.
ACTIONS-
Using Bank Accounts
PRINTING CHECKS:
1. To print a single check, use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the
top of the “Write Checks” window to display the check you want to print.
2. Click the drop-down arrow on the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the “Write
Checks” window.
3. In the drop-down menu, choose the “Check” command to display a “Print Check” dialog box where you
can enter the check number to print and click the “OK” button to then launch the “Print Checks” dialog
box where you can set printing options for the check. Skip to Step # 10.
4. To print a batch of checks you have saved and marked to “Print Later,” open the “Write Checks”
window and click the drop-down arrow on the “Print” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of
the “Write Checks” window.
5. In the drop-down menu, choose the “Batch” command to display the “Select Checks to Print” dialog box.
6. In this dialog box, remove the checkmarks from any checks that you don’t want to print, if needed. You
can also use the “Select All” and “Select None” buttons to help you make selections.
7. Ensure you have the correct account selected from the “Bank Account” drop-down.
8. Enter the first check number to assign to the batch of checks into the “First Check Number” field.
9. After you have set the desired options, click the “OK” button to open the “Print Checks” dialog box.
10. Place the paper checks into your printer.
11. Set any desired printing options in the “Print Checks” dialog box. This dialog box displays three tabs:
“Settings,” “Fonts,” and “Partial Page.”
12. On the “Settings” tab, use the “Printer name:” drop-down to select the name of the printer to use.
13. If needed, use the “Printer type” drop-down to select the type of printer you are using.
14. In the “Check Style” section, select the option button that corresponds to the check style you will use for
printing checks: “Voucher,” “Standard,” or “Wallet.”
15. To the right of that, enter the number of copies of each check to print into the “Number of copies:” field.
16. You can check the “Collate” checkbox to ensure they print collated.
17. Check the “Print company name and address” checkbox to print the company name and address on the
checks if they are not pre-printed and you are using either the “Voucher” or “Standard” check styles.
18. To include a company logo, check the “Use logo” checkbox. If you haven’t loaded a logo, click the
“File” button in the “Logo” dialog box to open the “Open Logo File” window where you can browse for,
and select, the logo file. Then click the “Open” button, click the “OK” button in the message that
appears, if needed, and then click the “OK” button in the “Logo” dialog box to finish.
19. If you have an endorsement signature you want to print on the checks, check the “Print Signature
Image” checkbox. If you haven’t loaded a signature image yet, click the “File” button within the
“Signature” dialog box that appears to open the “Open Logo File” window where you can browse for,
and select, the signature image to use within the checks, just as when selecting a logo file.
20. You can click the “Fonts” tab to set the font style to use within checks.
21. You can click the “Address Font” button to open the “Select Address Font” dialog box where you can set
the font used for the company name and address. Click the “OK” button when finished.
22. You can click the “Font” button to open the “Select Font” dialog box where you can choose the font used
for most of the text within the checks. When finished, click the “OK” button to return to the “Fonts” tab.
23. You can print partial pages of multi-page checks, like the “Standard” or “Wallet” sizes, by using the
“Partial Page” tab to select the option button that corresponds to the envelope loading style used by the
envelope feeder on your printer.
24. After you have set the desired printing options for the checks, click the “Print” button at the right side of
the “Print Checks” dialog box to print the checks.

ACTIONS-
Using Bank Accounts
TRANSFERRING FUNDS BETWEEN ACCOUNTS:
1. To transfer funds between accounts in QuickBooks, select “Banking| Transfer Funds” from the
Menu Bar.
2. Enter the date of the transfer into the “Date” field.
3. Select the bank account to transfer funds from by using the “Transfer Funds From” drop-down.
4. Select the name of the account to transfer the funds into by using the “Transfer Funds To” drop-down.
5. Enter the amount of the transfer into the “Transfer Amount” field.
6. Click the “Save & Close” button to record the funds transfer and close the window.
RECONCILING AN ACCOUNT:
1. To reconcile an account, select “Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar to open the “Begin
Reconciliation” window.
2. Select the account to reconcile from the “Account” drop-down.
3. Enter the “Statement Date” from the bank statement of the account you are reconciling.
4. Enter the “Ending Balance” from your bank’s account statement.
5. If needed, enter any service charge amount into the “Service Charge” field, enter the service charge’s
assessment date into the “Date” field, then select the account used to track bank service fees from the
adjacent “Account” drop-down.
6. If needed, enter any interest amount earned into the “Interest Earned” field, enter the date the interest
was earned into the “Date” field, then select the income account used to track interest income from the
adjacent “Account” drop-down.
7. If needed, you can click the “Locate Discrepancies” button to launch the “Locate Discrepancies” dialog
box where you can click the “Discrepancy Report” button to view a report that shows any changes to
previously cleared transactions from prior account reconciliations. You can also click the “Previous
Reports” button to select a type of reconciliation report to run. The report shows transactions marked as
“cleared” from your last account reconciliation.
8. If needed, you can click the “Undo Last Reconciliation” button at the bottom of the “Locate
Discrepancies” and “Begin Reconciliation” windows to undo the selected account’s last reconciliation.
9. If you opened the “Locate Discrepancies” window, you can return to the “Begin Reconciliation” screen
by clicking the “Restart Reconciliation” button.
10. In the “Begin Reconciliation” window, click the “Continue” button to view the “Reconcile” window.
11. Click to place checkmarks next to the appropriate withdrawals and deposits shown within this screen
that also appear within the bank statement to mark them as “cleared.”
12. If you try to reconcile the account and the “Difference” amount shown is not zero, you may have to enter
an “adjustment” transaction that modifies the QuickBooks account balance so it will agree with the bank
statement. You will still have to account for the difference later, though. So a better idea is to find the
discrepancy between the check register and the banking statement and correct it.
13. To exit a reconciliation, if needed, click the “Leave” button at the bottom of the “Reconcile” window.
This will not affect the checks and deposits you marked as “cleared.” You can return later by choosing
“Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar. However, you will need to re-enter the information in the
“Begin Reconciliation” screen again and click the “Continue” button to return to the “Reconcile” window.
14. When finished in the “Reconcile” window and the “Difference” displayed is zero, click the “Reconcile
Now” button to finish the reconciliation.
15. A dialog box then appears which lets you print a reconciliation report, if you want one.

ACTIONS-
Using Bank Accounts
VOIDING CHECKS:
1. To void a check, open the check to void and display it in the “Write Checks” window.
2. Select “Edit| Void Check” from the Menu Bar to void the check displayed in the “Write Checks” window.
3. When you click either the “Save” button in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the “Write Checks”
window or click the “Save & Close” button at the bottom of the window to save the changes to the
check, QuickBooks may open a message box that poses a question to you about how to proceed with
voiding the check. The question it asks depends on the type of check and its related transactions.
4. Carefully read and then correctly respond to the question posed by QuickBooks in this message box to
finish voiding the check.

EXERCISES-
Using Bank Accounts
Purpose:
To be able to enter a check in the “Write Checks” window.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar.
8. Select “Zeng Building Supplies” from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down.
9. Type “150” in the “$” field.
10. On the “Expenses” tab, select “54000 - Job Expenses:54300 - Job Materials.”
11. Check the “Print Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the “Write Checks”
window.
12. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the check.
finished.

CHAPTER 14-
Paying Sales Tax
14.1- Sales Tax Reports
14.2- Using the Sales Tax Payable Register
14.3- Paying Your Tax Agencies

Paying Sales Tax
14.1- Sales Tax Reports:
If you are required to collect sales tax from customers, you must also make periodic payments of the
sales tax you have collected to the appropriate taxing authorities. QuickBooks gives you three ways to view
the amount of your sales tax liability. You can use either the “Sales Tax Liability” report, the “Sales Tax
Payable” register, or the “Pay Sales Tax” window to view your sales tax liability amounts.
In addition to this basic information, you also have two sales tax reports you can use to show
information about the sales tax owed. The “Sales Tax Liability” report provides complete information about
the sales tax the company owes for a specified time period. It will show, for the date range selected, the
total taxable sales, total non-taxable sales, and the total amount of sales tax owed to each taxing agency.
QuickBooks displays your sales tax liability report on an accrual basis, unless you have changed the default
setting in the “Sales Tax” category within the “Preferences” window. To view the “Sales Tax Liability” report,
select either “Reports| Vendors & Payables| Sales Tax Liability” or “Vendors| Sales Tax| Sales Tax Liability”
from the Menu Bar to open the report.
Another report that can be useful when dealing with sales tax is the “Sales Tax Revenue Summary”
report, which shows where your sales tax revenue is coming from. It shows the sources of all taxable and
non-taxable transactions, broken down by individual sales tax codes. You can view this report by selecting
either “Reports| Vendors & Payables| Sales Tax Revenue Summary” or “Vendors| Sales Tax| Sales Tax
Revenue Summary” from the Menu Bar.
14.2- Using the Sales Tax Payable Register:
Each time you create an invoice or sales receipt that includes sales tax, QuickBooks enters the
information into your “Sales Tax Payable” account register. QuickBooks keeps track of transactions for all
tax vendors using the same “Sales Tax Payable” account. You can open the “Sales Tax Payable” register to
inspect the entries by opening the “Chart of Accounts” list and then double-clicking the “Sales Tax Payable”
account within the list.
Each entry in the “Sales Tax Payable” register represents a single tax transaction. Taxes you record
on invoices and sales receipts appear as increases to the account’s balance, and payments you make to
tax agencies appear as decreases to the balance. The ending balance of the register is the current tax
liability.
Some transactions within this register may have the same invoice number shown. When you record
two “Sales Tax Items” in the same invoice or sale, often when using a “Sales Tax Group,” the register
makes a separate entry for each separate tax collected
14.3- Paying Your Tax Agencies:
When the time comes to pay the sales tax, you MUST use the “Pay Sales Tax” window to write a
check to the tax agency or agencies. You open the “Pay Sales Tax” window by selecting “Vendors| Sales
Tax| Pay Sales Tax…” from the Menu Bar.
In the “Pay Sales Tax” window, use the “Pay From Account” drop-down to select the bank account
to use for the sales tax payments. Enter the date to print on the payment checks into the “Check Date” field.
You can use the “Show sales tax due through” calendar selector to choose the date through which you
need to pay the sales tax collected. If the check is to be printed, check the “To be printed” checkbox at the
bottom of this window. Otherwise, you can uncheck the box and enter the starting number of the check
issued into the “Starting Check No.” field.

Paying Sales Tax
14.3- Paying Your Tax Agencies- (cont'd.):
The list of taxing agencies to whom you owe tax will be displayed in the “Pay Sales Tax” window.
You can select the agencies to pay by clicking into the “Pay” column to the left of the agencies you need to
pay. Once you have your selections made, click the “OK” button to have QuickBooks automatically create
the tax payment checks. QuickBooks also updates the sales tax report and sales tax payable register to
show the payment.
Note that you must pay your sales tax using this method for QuickBooks to accurately update the
sales tax information for each taxing authority. Do not simply write a normal check for the amount due and
attribute it to the “Sales Tax Payable” account! This will disrupt the way in which QuickBooks tracks the
individual amounts collected and paid for each sales tax authority.
To adjust the amount of sales tax due to an authority shown within the “Pay Sales Tax” window,
select the sales tax entry to adjust within this window and click the “Adjust” button to open the “Sales Tax
Adjustment” window. Enter a date for the adjustment into the “Adjustment Date” field. Then enter a number
for the adjustment entry into the “Entry No.” field. Select the sales tax authority whose amounts you need to
adjust by selecting its name from the “Sales Tax Vendor” drop-down. Select the account used to track the
adjustment from the “Adjustment Account” drop-down. Then in the “Adjustment” section, select either the
“Increase Sales Tax by” or “Reduce Sales Tax by” option button, as appropriate. Enter the amount of the
adjustment into the “Amount” field. To add the adjustment to the “Pay Sales Tax” window, so that you can
select it for payment along with the original entry for the taxing authority, click the “OK” button. Then
select BOTH the original entry and the adjustment you just created within the “Pay Sales Tax” window and
click the “OK” button to automatically create the sales tax payment check for the modified amount.

ACTIONS-
Paying Sales Tax
TO CREATE A SALES TAX LIABILITY REPORT:
1. To create a sales tax liability report, select “Vendors| Sales Tax| Sales Tax Liability” from the Menu
Bar.
2. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the report to close the report when you are done.
TO CREATE A SALES TAX REVENUE SUMMARY REPORT:
1. To create a sales tax revenue summary report, select “Vendors| Sales Tax| Sales Tax Revenue
Summary” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the report to close the report when you are done.
TO OPEN THE SALES TAX PAYABLE REGISTER:
1. To open the Sales Tax Payable register, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
2. Double-click the “Sales Tax Payable” account to open the register associated with it.
3. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the register to close the register when you are done.
TO PAY SALES TAX:
1. To pay sales taxes, select “Vendors| Sales Tax| Pay Sales Tax” from the Menu Bar.
2. Use the “Pay From Account” drop-down to select the bank account to use for the sales tax payments.
3. Enter the date to print on the checks into the “Check Date” field.
4. Use the “Show sales tax due through” calendar selector to select the date through which you need to
pay collected sales tax.
5. If the checks are to be printed, check the “To be printed” checkbox at the bottom of this window.
6. Otherwise, uncheck the box and enter the starting number of the check issued into the “Starting Check
No.” field.
7. The list of taxing agencies to whom you owe tax will be displayed in the “Pay Sales Tax” window.
8. Select which agencies to pay by clicking into the “Pay” column to the left of the agencies.
9. Click the “OK” button to have QuickBooks automatically create the tax payment checks.
10. To adjust the sales tax owed, select the tax to adjust within this window and click the “Adjust” button
11. In the “Sales Tax Adjustment” window, enter a date for the adjustment into the “Adjustment Date” field.
12. Enter a number for the adjustment entry into the “Entry No.” field.
13. Select the sales tax authority whose amounts you need to adjust by selecting the name from the “Sales
Tax Vendor” drop-down.
14. Select the account used to track the adjustment from the “Adjustment Account” drop-down.
15. In the “Adjustment” section, select either the “Increase Sales Tax by” or “Reduce Sales Tax by” option
button, as appropriate.
16. Enter the amount of the adjustment into the “Amount” field.
17. To add the adjustment into the “Pay Sales Tax” window, so you can select it for payment along with
your original entry for the authority, click the “OK” button.
18. Select BOTH the original entry and the adjustment within the “Pay Sales Tax” window.
19. Click the “OK” button to automatically create the sales tax payment checks.

EXERCISES-
Paying Sales Tax
Purpose:
To be able to pay sales tax liabilities.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Vendors| Sales Tax| Pay Sales Tax…” from the Menu Bar.
8. In QuickBooks 2020, use the “Check Date” field to select “1/15/2025.”
9. In QuickBooks 2020, use the “Show sales tax due through” field to select “12/31/2024.”
10. Press the “Tab” key on your keyboard to exit the field and refresh the display to show the sales
taxes.
11. Click the “Pay All Tax” button at the bottom of the “Pay Sales Tax’ window to mark all of the taxes.
12. Click the “To be printed” checkbox to place a checkmark into the checkbox.
13. Click “OK” to create the checks used to pay the tax agencies.
14. You can select “File| Close Company” from the Menu Bar to close the company file when finished.

CHAPTER 15-
Reporting
15.1- Graph and Report Preferences
15.2- Using QuickReports
15.3- Using QuickZoom
15.4- Preset Reports
15.5- Modifying a Report
15.6- Rearranging and Resizing Report Columns
15.7- Memorizing Reports
15.8- Memorized Report Groups
15.9- Printing Reports
15.10- Batch Printing Forms
15.11- Exporting Reports to Microsoft Excel
15.12- Saving Forms and Reports as PDF Files
15.13- Comment on Report
15.14- Process Multiple Reports
15.15- Scheduled Reports

Reporting
15.1- Graph and Report Preferences:
You can set the default personal and company preferences for reports and graphs created in
QuickBooks by changing the settings within the “Preferences” dialog box. You can access these settings by
selecting “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Preferences” dialog box.
In the “Preferences” dialog box, click the “Reports & Graphs” icon in the category listing shown at
the left side of the “Preferences” window. Then set default personal report preferences on the “My
Preferences” tab and set default company preferences on the “Company Preferences” tab.
Click the “My Preferences” tab to begin. If you want QuickBooks to prompt you to modify report
options prior to displaying a report, check the “Prompt me to modify report options before opening a report”
checkbox. In the “Reports and Graphs” section, select how you want QuickBooks to behave when data
within a report needs to be refreshed. You can select either “Prompt me to refresh,” “Refresh automatically,”
or “Don’t refresh.” If you select the “Refresh automatically” option button, then when you change a report
parameter, QuickBooks will refresh the report to show the change immediately. In the “Graphs Only”
section, you can check the “Draw graphs in 2D (faster)” checkbox to show graphs in 2D versus 3D, if
desired. To use patterns versus colors when rendering graphs, check the “Use patterns” checkbox.
Then click the “Company Preferences” tab. In the “Summary Reports Basis” section, you can select
the default display of summary reports by choosing either the “Cash” or “Accrual” option button. In the
“Aging Reports” section, select either the “Age from due date” or “Age from transaction date” option button
to choose the date to use as the basis for aging reports. In the “Reports- Show Items by:” section, select the
desired option button to set the display of items within reports. In the “Reports- Show Accounts by:” section,
select the desired option button to set the display of account names within reports. For both items and
accounts, you can select to show either the “Name only,” “Description Only,” or “Name and Description.”
To choose which account balances are included in the “Operating,” “Investing,” or “Financing”
sections within the “Statement of Cash Flows” report, click the “Classify Cash…” button to open the
“Classify Cash” dialog box. Here you can select an account shown and then check either the “Operating,”
“Investing,” or “Financing” columns to assign its balance to the selected section of the “Statement of Cash
Flows” report. Make any changes you need, and then click the “OK” button to return to the “Preferences”
dialog box.
You can combine multiple items from a transaction shown within a report into a single line by default
by checking the “Collapse Transactions” checkbox. Note that this may cause report generation to take
longer within QuickBooks.
You can also set the default appearance of the “Header/Footer” and “Fonts & Numbers” used within
QuickBooks reports by unchecking the “Default formatting for reports” checkbox and then clicking the
“Format…” button to open the “Report Format Preferences” dialog box. Here you can set default report
preferences for the “Header/Footer” and “Fonts & Numbers” by clicking the desired tab and making any
changes you want to set as the defaults for reports. When finished, click the “OK” button to set the defaults.
Note that if you would like to review setting these report properties, please see lesson “15.5- Modifying a
Report.”
After you have set the default graph and report preferences as desired, click the “OK” button within
the “Preferences” dialog box to apply the preferences.

Reporting
15.2- Using QuickReports:
One way to see a report on your QuickBooks data is to create a QuickReport. QuickReports are
predesigned reports that display information about the items you are currently viewing onscreen. Whenever
you have a list, a register, or a form displayed onscreen, you can click a button or hyperlink to have
QuickBooks create a QuickReport on the data displayed.
For example, if you are viewing the “Vendor List” and you want to see a transaction history for a
selected vendor, you can create a QuickReport. To do this, select the vendor’s name from the “Vendors” list
within the Vendor Center and then click the “QuickReport” hyperlink in the upper-right corner of the Vendor
Center. Alternatively, you can select “Reports| QuickReport” from the Menu Bar. At that point, you will see a
QuickReport appear that lists your transactions with the selected vendor for the current accounting period.
You can also generate a QuickReport on any form displayed in QuickBooks or on any selected
record within a list by simply pressing “Ctrl + Q” on your keyboard with the form displayed or the list entry
selected. The QuickReport will display within its own window, which you may close when you are done
viewing the report by clicking the small “x” in the upper-right corner of the window.
15.3- Using QuickZoom:
When viewing reports displayed within QuickBooks you will often see transaction data, or summary
totals of transaction data. You can use the QuickZoom feature when viewing reports within QuickBooks to
show the detail data used to display summary values in reports. These details will appear in a separate
report window. You can also use this feature on any transaction detail entry displayed within a detail report
to open the transaction itself in a separate window.
Also, when viewing graphs in QuickBooks, you can use the QuickZoom feature to view a breakdown
of the graphic data in either a separate graph or separate report. In summary, you can use this feature to
trace any report data or graph data back to its original sources. As such, this tool can be an easy way to
open transaction data from within reports when viewing them onscreen.
To use the QuickZoom feature on any report or graph displayed in QuickBooks, hold your mouse
pointer over any line within a report or graphic within a graph, until you see the mouse pointer turn into the
QuickZoom symbol. The QuickZoom symbol is a magnifying glass with a small “Z” inside of it. When you
see the mouse pointer turn into this symbol, double-click the report line or graphic to display the original
transaction, or a detail report for the selected report line or graphic, within a separate window.

Reporting
15.4- Preset Reports:
In addition to QuickReports that you can view on any selected data or any displayed form,
QuickBooks also provides dozens of preset reports you can view, customize, and save as your own custom
reports. The preset reports include many different types of standard business reports, such as the profit and
loss report, balance sheet report, accounts receivable reports, sales reports, accounts payable reports,
inventory reports, and many other types of useful business reports.
The “Reports” menu within the Menu Bar groups the preset reports into twelve major categories,
listed in the table below. To access any report in QuickBooks, click the “Reports” command in the Menu
Bar, roll your mouse pointer over the desired report category, and then click the name of the report that you
want to open from the side menu of report choices that appears.
Category: Description:
Company & Financial Includes the Profit and Loss reports that give you a global view of your
company’s income, expenses, and net profit or loss over a specified period
of time. Also includes the Balance Sheet reports that show the financial
position of your business by listing assets, liabilities, and equity. Also
includes the Statement of Cash Flows report that shows the net change in
your cash during a period of time.
Customers & Contains reports about the receivables side of your company: which
Receivables invoices are due or overdue, how much each customer owes, etc… .
Sales Contains reports about what you sold and to whom.
Jobs, Time & Mileage Contains reports about the status and profitability of the jobs/projects you
(Only in QuickBooks track.
Desktop Pro and higher)
Vendors & Payables Contains reports about the payables side of your business: which bills are
due or overdue, who those bills are to, etc… .
Purchases Contains reports about your purchase orders and purchase information.
Inventory Contains reports to assist you in tracking inventory.
Employees & Payroll Summarizes the information you need to pay your current payroll liabilities
and fill out your tax forms.
Banking Contains reports about banking: check details, deposit details, and missing
check reports.
Accountant & Taxes Contains reports helpful to your accountant and also tax reporting: includes
income tax summary, income tax detail, general ledger, journal, transaction
journal, and audit trail reports.
Budgets Shows how your income and expenses compare to the budgets you have
set up.
List Lets you report on any information stored in a QuickBooks list.

Reporting
15.5- Modifying a Report:
While preset reports are useful, you will probably also want to create custom reports for your
company file. You can create reports that either detail or summarize your company file’s data You can
create a custom transaction detail or summary report from scratch to specify all the report’s features.
Alternatively, you can modify a preset report to change it to show the data you need. Modifying a preset
report often saves time and effort when creating custom reports, especially if there is a preset report that
closely resembles the data you need. After modifying a preset report, you can memorize it to save it.
Modifying a preset report helps you learn the report customization options available in QuickBooks. After
mastering the reporting options, you can then design your own custom transaction detail and summary
reports with more confidence.
The report customization options change, depending on if you modify or create a “Transaction
Detail” or “Summary” report. A “Transaction Detail” report shows detailed transaction information about data
in QuickBooks. A “Summary” report summarizes totals from transaction details in QuickBooks. With
“Summary” reports, you have more summarization options. This lesson shows how to set reporting options
for both “Transaction Detail” and “Summary” reports in QuickBooks.
To modify a report based on a preset report, open the preset report to use as the basis for the
custom report. Click the “Customize Report” button in the toolbar at the top of the preset report to open the
“Modify Report” dialog box. You use the “Modify Report” dialog box to customize the report settings.
To instead create a new transaction detail or summary report from scratch in QuickBooks, select
“Reports| Custom Reports” from the Menu Bar. Then choose either “Transaction Detail” or “Summary” from
the side menu that appears. In the “Modify Report” dialog box that then appears, you set all the report’s
options on the tabs that appear to create your own custom report from scratch.
In the “Modify Report” dialog box, the major report customization categories appear as tabs across
the top of the dialog box. These tabs are “Display,” “Filters,” “Header/Footer,” and “Fonts & Numbers.”
Generally, the “Display” tab lets you add and/or customize report columns, set summarization options, and
change the report’s date range. The “Filters” tab lets you choose which transactions to show in the report.
Changing the options on the “Display” and “Filters” tabs lets you view almost anything about your
QuickBooks data. You make most report modifications on these two tabs. In addition to the “Display” and
“Filters” tabs, you use the “Header/Footer” tab and the “Fonts & Numbers” tab to control the general
appearance of the report header and footer and its text and numbers.
The “Display” tab shows slightly different options, depending upon if you are creating or modifying a
“Transaction Detail” or “Summary” report. For both report types, you use the “Report Date Range” section to
select the date range of transactions used for the report data. You can use the “Dates” drop-down to select
from the most commonly used report ranges. Alternatively, you can use the “From” and “To” date selectors
to specify a starting date and ending date for the transactions to use. Also, for both report types, you choose
how the report calculates and displays income and expenses by choosing either “Accrual” or “Cash” from
the “Report Basis” section, if available for your report.
The next section, “Columns,” is where the primary difference between “Transaction Detail” and
“Summary” reports appears. If creating a “Transaction Detail” report, then in the “Columns” section, you can
click the name of any column in the scrollable listing to place a checkmark next to it and show that column
in the report. To remove a column from a report, click it to remove the check from the column name. You
can choose how to display a total over the transactions by making a choice from the “Total by” drop-down
menu, if available for your report. You can use the “Sort by” drop-down to choose by which column’s values
to sort the report. You can choose any report column added to the report from this drop-down menu. You
can then select either “Ascending order” or “Descending order” to choose the sorting method to apply to the
column’s values.

Reporting
15.5- Modifying a Report- (cont’d.):
Next, for “Transaction Detail” reports, you can click the “Advanced…” button to open the “Advanced
Options” dialog box. Here you will see the “Include” and “Open Balance / Aging” sections. In the “Include”
section, you can select either the “All” option to include all accounts, regardless of whether or not there was
any activity within the account for the date range selected or select the “In Use” option to only use accounts
that had activity in the date range specified. For aging reports, you can select to view the customer’s open
balance as of the “Current (faster)” date or as of the “Report Date” by selecting the desired option button.
After setting any advanced options, if needed, click the “OK” button in the “Advanced Options” dialog box to
apply them and return to the “Modify Report” window.
For “Summary” reports, the “Columns” section in the “Display” tab looks very different. Most
“Summary” reports show columns of totals for selected rows of data. In this section, you choose what type
of data to display in the report columns by making a selection from the “Display columns by” drop-down.
Then choose the values to summarize in the rows by choosing from the “Display rows by” drop-down. To
the right of that, you can display columns for the “Amount,” “Quantity,” or “Both” by selecting an option
button below the “Display columns for” label. Then, to the right, you can choose how to sort the data by
making a selection from the “Sort by” drop-down. You can select to either perform an “Ascending” or
“Descending” sort on this data by making a choice from the “Sort in” option button group. For some types of
report date ranges, such as “This Fiscal Year,” you can also add comparison subcolumns to the report by
checking any desired checkboxes shown in the “Add subcolumns for” section. The choices available
depend on the date range selected. Simply check the checkboxes to add those summary subcolumns to the
report, if desired.
Finally, if needed, you can click the “Advanced…” button to open the “Advanced Options” dialog
box. For “Summary” reports, you can choose what records to use in the report by making your choice from
the “Display Rows” and “Display Columns” sections. You can select “Active” accounts to only show data
from accounts that had activity in the selected report period; “All” accounts, to show data from accounts
regardless of activity in the selected report period; or “Non-zero” accounts to show any account that has a
non-zero balance, regardless of activity. You can then choose the reporting period to use for your data from
the “Reporting Calendar” section. Your choices are “Fiscal Year,” “Calendar Year,” or “Income Tax Year.”
After setting any advanced options in the “Advanced Options” dialog box, click the “OK” button to apply
them and return to the “Display” tab within the “Modify Report” window.
For both “Transaction Detail” and “Summary” reports, the “Filters” tab in the “Modify Report” window
lets you create and modify report filters to further refine the data selected for the report. For example, if you
displayed the “Account” data in your report on the “Display” tab, you could apply a filter to the account data
to only show “Expense” account types. This is only one example of filtering report data, and you can apply
and modify any of the filters in this tab to customize your report content.
If the report you are modifying already has filters applied, like the filters applied to many preset
reports, the current filters and their settings are shown in the “Current Filter Choices” section of the “Filters”
tab. You can click any filter in this list to view its settings to the left, in the “Choose Filter” section. Here you
can change the filter settings by using the options available. Depending on which filter you select, the
filtering options vary. Some filters need you to type a matching value, some let you select from a drop-down
menu of choices, and some let you select an option from one or two possibilities.
To add new filters to the report, select the name of a filter to apply from the “Choose Filter” list and
then change its settings. The filters in this list appear in alphabetical order to help you find the desired filter
to apply. To read more about how a selected filter can be applied, click the “Tell me more…” button at the
bottom of this tab to open a help file about the filter and how it can be applied to reports. This is a good way
to familiarize yourself with many of the available report filters.

Reporting
15.5- Modifying a Report- (cont'd.):
To completely remove an applied report filter, select the name of the filter to remove from the
“Current Filter Choices” list at the right side of the “Filters” tab. Then click the “Remove Selected Filter”
button to delete the report filter. Also note that both the “Display” and “Filters” tabs contain a “Revert” button
that will revert any changes you have made to them, if needed.
You can click the “Header/Footer” tab in the “Modify Report” window to change the display of
content within the header and footer of the report. In the “Show Header Information” section, check any
content to show in the header of the report. Then type the text to display into the adjacent fields. Repeat this
process for the “Show Footer Information” section to choose the content to show in the report footer area.
Then use the “Alignment” drop-down in the “Page Layout” section to select the desired layout for the header
and footer content in the report.
You can click the “Fonts & Numbers” tab in the “Modify Report” window to set the display of fonts for
the report sections shown in the “Fonts” section on this tab. You can also set the display of the report’s
number values in this tab. To set the font used for a report section, select the report section to format from
the “Change Font For” list. The current font used to display the selected section appears to the right of the
list. Click the “Change Font…” button to open a dialog box that lets you change the appearance of the text.
Select your desired font options from the choices shown and then click the “OK” button in the dialog box to
apply them and return to the “Modify Report” window. Repeat this process for any other report sections
whose fonts you wish to modify.
To set the display of negative numbers in the report, make a selection from the options in the “Show
Negative Numbers” section. You can set optional display settings for all numbers in the “Show All Numbers”
section by checking any available checkboxes, if desired. When finished modifying the report, click the “OK”
button in the “Modify Report” window to apply the custom report settings.
When the report appears onscreen, you can modify some report settings using the toolbar at the top
of the report. If using QuickBooks 2018 or later, you can click the “Accrual” or “Cash” option button for the
“Report Basis” setting, shown towards the upper-left corner of the report’s preview to switch the report
basis, if that setting is available for the report. To show the report’s other applied filter settings, click the
“Show Filters” link towards the upper-left corner of the report. Then click one of the filters in this section to
open the “Filters” tab of the “Modify Report” dialog box and select the filter. You can then change its settings
and click the “OK” button in the dialog box to change the applied filter. To remove a filter from this section of
the report, click the “X” at the right end of the filter. To hide the applied filters when finished, click the “Hide
Filters” link towards the upper-left corner of the report.
15.6- Rearranging and Resizing Report Columns:
To rearrange the order of columns from left to right within any transaction detail report in
QuickBooks, display the transaction detail report whose columns you want to rearrange onscreen. For the
column to move, place your mouse pointer over the column name in the column headings at the top of the
report until the mouse pointer changes into a “hand” icon. Then click and drag the column left or right. As
you are dragging the column, a small upward-pointing red arrow appears between the column names. This
arrow indicates where the column will be placed when you release the mouse button. When it is in the
desired location, release the mouse button to move the column to the selected location.
You can resize columns in any type of QuickBooks report by placing your mouse pointer to the right
of the name of the column you want to resize, until the mouse pointer changes into a thin vertical line
intersected by a horizontal arrow. At that point, click and drag left or right with your mouse pointer to resize

Reporting
15.6- Rearranging and Resizing Report Columns- (cont’d.):
the column. Release the mouse button when the column is the size you desire.
Also, starting in QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2020, you can now expand and collapse column groups
within reports that contain column groupings by job or by class. For example, if you open the “Profit & Loss
by Job” report, you can expand and collapse the jobs shown for each customer. To do this, if available
within your report, click the small “plus” or “minus” signs to the left of the column grouping to expand or
collapse them. Alternatively, to collapse or expand all column groups in the report, if available, click the
“Collapse Columns” or “Expand Columns” button in the report’s toolbar. This is a toggle button that switches
to the opposite command of the command currently applied.
15.7- Memorizing Reports:
After modifying a report, you can have QuickBooks memorize it, so you can quickly reproduce it
again later without reapplying all the report’s customizations. To memorize a modified report, click the
“Memorize” button in the toolbar at the top of the modified report’s window to open the “Memorize Report”
dialog box. Type a name for the new report into the “Name” field. To save it into a memorized report group,
check the checkbox for “Save in Memorized Report Group” and then choose the desired group to save it
into from the adjacent drop-down menu. After naming the memorized report, click the “OK” button to save it.
Note that when you memorize a report, you cannot name it the same thing as one of the preset
reports because that would overwrite them. So, you must change the name if modifying a report that was
originally based on one of the preset reports.
15.8- Memorized Report Groups:
As you begin to create custom reports within QuickBooks, you can create memorized report groups
to organize the memorized reports in a way that makes sense for your company. Memorized report groups
let you quickly print or view a batch of memorized reports at once.
For illustrative purposes, QuickBooks comes with a few preset memorized report groups that contain
common reporting examples for each grouping. You can add your own memorized reports to these
memorized report groups, or create your own groups. When you create a memorized report, note that you
can click the checkbox for “Save in Memorized Report Group” and select the desired memorized report
group to save it into from the adjacent drop-down field.
To create a new memorized report group, select “Reports| Memorized Reports| Memorized Report
List” from the Menu Bar. In the “Memorized Report List” window, click the “Memorized Report” button and
select “New Group” from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “Name” field of the “New Memorized Report
Group” window, type a name for the new report group. Click the “OK” button to have QuickBooks add this
memorized report group to the list.
15.9- Printing Reports:
You can easily print any report displayed in QuickBooks. To do this, open the report you want to
print, click the “Print” button in the toolbar of the report, and then select the “Report” command from the
drop-down menu. That will display the “Print Reports” window where you can set options for the printer that
you would like to use, page orientation, page breaking behavior, the print range, and the number of copies

Reporting
15.9- Printing Reports- (cont’d.):
of the report. After you have set the printing options you want, click the “Print” button in the “Print Reports”
window to print the currently displayed report.
15.10- Batch Printing Forms:
If you want to “batch print” a set of forms, like all your paychecks or all your bill payment checks, you
can. You can also print mailing labels and other assorted forms in QuickBooks. To print forms in
QuickBooks, select “File| Print Forms” from the Menu Bar. Then select the type of form to print from the side
menu of choices that appears.
15.11- Exporting Reports to Microsoft Excel:
You can export report data from QuickBooks to Microsoft Excel. You must have Excel 2019 through
2010 or Office 365 for this feature to work and either QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier. Since the data is
exported to Excel, changes you make to it in Excel will not impact the data in QuickBooks. So feel free to
change it as needed in Excel. To do this, open the report you want to export. Then click the “Excel” button in
the toolbar at the top of the report and select either the “Create New Worksheet” or “Update Existing
Worksheet” commands, as needed.
When you export a report to Excel in the dialog box, you can save it as a new sheet in a workbook
or create a new workbook. Alternately, you can select the option to update an existing worksheet in Excel.
You can also save it as a CSV file, which would be opened using Excel. You can also indicate whether or
not you want to preserve the QuickBooks formatting by clicking the “Advanced…” button. You can then turn
on or off several Excel options, including: AutoFit, which sets column widths in Excel wide enough to
display all of the data; Freeze Panes, which allows you to scroll through information while keeping row and
column headers in view; and Show Gridlines, which shows the gridlines in Excel. After setting any
advanced options, click the “OK” button to return to the “Send Report to Excel” dialog box. When you are
ready, click the “Export” button to export your report data to Excel.
15.12- Saving Forms and Reports as PDF Files:
In QuickBooks, you can save any report, invoice, estimate or other form as a PDF (Portable
Document Format) file that you can send as an e-mail attachment through your e-mail program.
To save any form or report as a PDF document, open the form or report you want to save as a PDF
document. Then select “File| Save as PDF…” from the Menu Bar. This will launch the “Save document as
PDF” dialog box where you can select where you want to save the PDF file and what to name it. Then click
the “Save” button when you are finished to create the PDF file.
15.13- Comment on Report:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro allows you to comment on line items within reports. Reports with
commentary can be saved within QuickBooks into a special “Commented Reports” group. In this lesson,
you will learn how to comment on reports in QuickBooks and manage your commented reports.
To comment on a report, first display the report within QuickBooks. Then click the “Comment on
Reporting
15.13- Comment on Report- (cont’d.):
Report” button in the toolbar at the top of the report to open a copy of the report that displays a “comment
balloon” to the right of each item within a line, or to the right of each line item, depending on the report. This
commented copy also contains a toolbar with buttons for “Save,” “Print,” “E-mail,” and “Help” shown in the
upper-left corner of the report.
To comment on an item or line item within a report, click the small comment balloon icon to the right
of the item on which you want to comment. The comment balloon will display a number, starting at 1 and
increasing sequentially, which corresponds to the comment number shown in the “Comments” pane at the
bottom of the report window. Click into the comment field shown within the “Comments” pane and type the
comment you want to appear. Then click the “Save” button to the right of the comment within the
“Comments” pane to save the comment. You can repeat this process to add comments to other items within
the report. The comments and their corresponding comment numbers are shown within the “Comments”
pane. To edit a comment within the “Comments” pane, click the “Edit” button, which looks like a pencil icon,
at the right end of the comment. Edit the contents of the comment in the field shown and click the “Save”
button that appears to save the changes to the comment. To delete a comment within the “Comments”
pane, click the “Delete” button to the right of the comment, which looks like a small “X.” You will then need
to click the “Yes” button in the “Delete This Comment?” dialog box which appears to permanently delete the
comment. You can click the “No” button to retain the comment, if you change your mind.
After commenting on a report, you can save the commented report by clicking the “Save” button in
the toolbar at the top of the commented report. In the “Save Your Commented Report” dialog box that
appears, type a name for the commented version of the report into the “Name” field and then click the “OK”
button. A “Saved Successfully” message box may then appear to inform you that the report was saved into
the “Commented Reports” list. Click the “OK” button within this message box to close it, if it appears.
To print a commented report or save it as a PDF, open the report and then click the “Print” button in
the toolbar at the top of the report. To print the report, click the “Report” command from the drop-down that
appears to print the report using the “Print Reports” dialog box. To save the report as a PDF file instead,
select the “Save as PDF” command from the drop-down menu to save the report as a PDF using the “Save
document as PDF” dialog box. You can email the report by clicking the “E-mail” button in the report toolbar
and then selecting the “Send report as PDF” command from the drop-down menu that appears. You can
click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the report to close it when you are finished.
To view commented reports you have saved, select “Reports| Commented Reports” from the Menu
Bar to view the “Commented Reports” list. You can select a report within this list and then click either the
“Display…,” “Print…,” or “Email…” buttons at the bottom of the list to show, print, or email the selected
report from within the list. To rename a report within the list, click the report to rename within the list to
select it. Then click the “Commented Reports” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and choose the “Edit
Commented Report” command from the pop-up menu that appears. Type the new name for the report into
the “Name” field of the “Save Your Commented Report” dialog box and click the “OK” button. To delete a
commented report in this list, click the report in the list you want to delete to select it, click the “Commented
Report” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and then select the “Delete Commented Report” command.
You will need to click the “Yes” button in the “Delete This Commented Report?” dialog box which appears to
permanently delete the report. To close the “Commented Reports” list, click the “X” in its upper-right corner.

Reporting
15.14- Process Multiple Reports:
You can batch print, batch display, or batch email reports you have added to the “Memorized Report
List.” You can also batch print, display, or email commented reports saved to the “Commented Reports” list.
To do this, select “Reports| Process Multiple Reports” from the Menu Bar to open the “Process Multiple
Reports” window. Then select either the “Memorized Reports” or “Commented Reports” option button at the
top of the window to batch print, display, or email either memorized reports or commented reports.
If you selected the “Memorized reports” option, you can use the “Select Memorized Report From”
drop-down at the top of the window to select the memorized report group that contains the reports you wish
to batch display, print, or email. You can choose the “<Ungrouped Reports>” choice from this drop-down
menu to select memorized reports you have not saved into a memorized report group. For whichever
grouping is selected, the reports within that group will be displayed in the list below. If you selected the
“Commented Reports” option button, the list of commented reports will be displayed below, instead.
Ensure that the reports shown within this list that you want to batch print, batch display, or batch
email, have a checkmark appear to the left of their names within the checkmark column to mark them as
selected. You can click into the checkmark column to the left of a report name to check or uncheck the
checkmark and include or exclude the report from being batch printed, batch displayed, or batch emailed.
For memorized reports only, you can click into the “From” and “To” columns to change the date range of the
report, if needed.
After you have the reports you want to batch display, batch print, or batch email selected, click either
the “Display,” “Print,” or “Email,” buttons at the bottom of the “Process Multiple Reports” window to batch
display, batch print, or batch email the reports.

Reporting
15.15- Scheduled Reports:
The “Scheduled Reports” feature lets you email reports on a schedule you create. Before you can
email these reports, however, you should set the “Send Forms” preferences in the “Preferences” dialog box
in your company file. You will be prompted to set up your email program for use with QuickBooks before
you create your first report schedule. If you have Outlook installed, QuickBooks should automatically send
the email using that program. Other email services, such as web mail, will need to be configured in the
“Send Forms” preferences section of the “Preferences” dialog box. In addition, you must be in single-user
mode to use this feature. Also, you want to ensure your computer is on and awake when the reports are set
to be sent, although QuickBooks doesn’t have to be running.
You must also ensure that you do not have any conflicting preferences in your company file. If so,
you will not be informed until after you try to create your first schedule and will then need to create it all over
again after changing the conflicting settings. Ensure you are opening QuickBooks as an “Administrator” on
your computer. You can exit QuickBooks, right-click the desktop application icon and choose “Run as
administrator” from the pop-up menu that appears to run the program as an administrator, if needed. Also
ensure you are opening only the company file for which to send reports as the “admin” user and that you
are in single-user mode.
To create a new report schedule, choose “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Schedule Setup” from the
Menu Bar. If needed, click the “Get Started” button in the “Instructions for Scheduled Email Delivery”
message box that appears. If you have not configured your email, a “Choose Your Email Method” window
appears. You can then click the “Setup my email now” button in this window to open the “My Preferences”
tab of the “Send Forms” preferences in the “Preferences” dialog box. If using Outlook, ensure that the
“Outlook” option button in the “Send E-Mail Using” section is selected. If you do not see this option button,
open the Outlook application and then open this dialog box again to see if QuickBooks then recognizes the
program. If using “Web Mail” or “QuickBooks E-mail,” select the correct option and then configure the email
in the section below, if needed. Once your email settings are correctly configured here, then click the “OK”
button. QuickBooks may need to close and reopen all its windows to complete configuring these settings. If
it does, click “OK” in the message box that appears to inform you of that fact.
After applying your email settings, select “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Schedule Setup” from the
Menu Bar again to create the new report schedule. This time, the “Schedule Setup” window will open and
show the “Select Reports” screen. In the “Memorized Reports” section, you can use the “Report Group”
drop-down to select the group of reports to show in the listing below. To add reports to the schedule, check
the checkbox to the left of the report name in the list of reports. It will then appear in the “Selected Reports”
list at the right side of the screen. When you have selected the reports, click the “Next” button to continue.
In the “Set Schedule” screen, type a name for the report schedule into the “Schedule name” field.
Then use the “Frequency” drop-down to select the frequency with which these reports should be emailed to
the recipients. Select the first date to send the reports from the “Start date” calendar selector. Then use the
two “Time” drop-downs to select an hour and choose either “AM” or “PM.” To be notified 4 hours before the
emails are sent, check the “Notify me 4 hours before sending this email” checkbox. A summary of your send
options is shown at the bottom of this screen for you to review for accuracy. When you are ready, click the
“Next” button to continue.
In the “Compose Email” screen, you select the recipients of the email and compose the email. Enter
the email addresses of the recipients into the “To” field, separated by semicolons. You can enter a different
subject line for the email by changing the text in the “Subject” field. The “Attachment(s)” show the names of
the attached reports. Enter a password that will be required for the recipients to enter in order to open these
attachments into the “Attachment(s) password” and “Confirm password” fields. You will need to send this
password to the recipients, separately from the email, so that they can enter the password in order to read

Reporting
15.15- Scheduled Reports- (cont’d.):
the reports that are sent. You can edit the text in the body of the email by typing new or different text into the
“Body” field. When you are ready to create the schedule, click the “Schedule” button to finish.
To grant the “ScheduledReports” application access to your company file if creating your first
schedule, click the “Yes” option in the “QuickBooks - Application Certificate” window that opens. Then click
“Yes” again in the “ScheduledReports - Authorization” window. Then click the “Continue…” button in the
“QuickBooks - Application Certificate” window. Then click the “Done” button in the “Access Confirmation”
window.
It is possible that you could have conflicting preferences in your company file that would prevent
QuickBooks from sending scheduled reports. If this is the case, QuickBooks will inform you of that fact in a
“Preferences Conflict” message box with instructions on how to resolve the conflict(s). Make sure you
perform the changes to ensure the future delivery of the scheduled reports. You can click the “OK” button in
this message box to close it after reading the steps you must take to correct the conflict.
If the schedule had no conflicts, then the “Scheduled Report Center” window will appear and show
your newly created schedule. The “Scheduled Report Center” window is used to manage the scheduled
reports you have created. You can close the window by clicking the “X” in its upper-right corner. To reopen
the “Scheduled Report Center” window, select “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Scheduled Report Center”
from the Menu Bar.
In the “Scheduled Report Center” window, you can create a new report schedule by clicking the
“Schedule Setup” button in the upper-right corner. Doing this opens a new “Schedule Setup” window for you
to use to create a new report schedule. To edit an existing report schedule, click the row of the report
schedule to edit in this window and then click the “Edit Schedule” button that appears at the right end of the
report schedule row to open the “Schedule Setup” window for that report schedule. You can then step
through the schedule set up again to make changes and edit the schedule. To delete an existing report
schedule, click the row of the report schedule to delete in this window. Then click the drop-down arrow at
the right of the “Edit Schedule” button that appears at the right end of the report schedule row. Select the
“Delete” command from the drop-down menu that appears. Then click the “OK” button in the “Delete
Schedule” confirmation dialog box that appears to confirm the deletion of the schedule. Deleting a report
schedule cannot be undone.

ACTIONS-
Reporting
SETTING GRAPH AND REPORT PREFERENCES:
1. To set the graph and report preferences, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Preferences” dialog box.
2. In the “Preferences” dialog box, click the “Reports & Graphs” icon in the category listing shown at the
left side of the “Preferences” window.
3. Click the “My Preferences” tab.
4. If you want QuickBooks to prompt you to modify report options prior to displaying a report, check the
“Prompt me to modify report options before opening a report” checkbox.
5. In the “Reports and Graphs” section, select how you want QuickBooks to behave when data within a
report needs to be refreshed. You can select either “Prompt me to refresh,” “Refresh automatically,” or
“Don’t refresh.”
6. In the “Graphs Only” section, you can check the “Draw graphs in 2D (faster)” option to show graphs in
2D versus 3D, if desired.
7. To use patterns versus colors when rendering graphs, check the “Use patterns” checkbox.
8. Click the “Company Preferences” tab.
9. In the “Summary Reports Basis” section, you can select the default display of summary reports by
choosing either the “Cash” or “Accrual” option button.
10. In the “Aging Reports” section, select either the “Age from due date” or “Age from transaction date”
option button to choose the date to use as the basis for aging reports.
11. In the “Reports- Show Items by:” section, select the desired option button to set the display of items
within reports.
12. In the “Reports- Show Accounts by:” section, select the desired option button to set the display of
account names within reports.
13. To choose which account balances are included in the “Operating,” “Investing,” or “Financing”
sections within the “Statement of Cash Flows” report, click the “Classify Cash…” button to open the
“Classify Cash” dialog box.
14. Here you can select an account shown and then check either the “Operating,” “Investing,” or “Financing”
columns to assign its balance to the selected section of the “Statement of Cash Flows” report.
15. Make any changes needed, and then click the “OK” button to return to the “Preferences” dialog box.
16. You can combine multiple items from a transaction shown within a report into a single line by default by
checking the “Collapse Transactions” checkbox.
17. You can set the default appearance of the “Header/Footer” and “Fonts & Numbers” used within reports
by unchecking the “Default formatting for reports” checkbox and then clicking the “Format…” button to
open the “Report Format Preferences” dialog box.
18. Here you can set the default report preferences for the “Header/Footer” and “Fonts & Numbers” by
clicking the desired tab and making any changes you want to set as the defaults for reports.
19. When finished, click the “OK” button to set the defaults. Note that if you would like to review setting
these report properties, please see lesson “15.5- Modifying and Filtering Reports.”
20. After you have set the default graph and report preferences as desired, click the “OK” button within the
“Preferences” dialog box to apply the preferences.

ACTIONS-
Reporting
CREATING A QUICKREPORT:
1. To create a QuickReport, select an item in a list, open a transaction form, or otherwise show the data.
2. If within a Center, click the “QuickReport” hyperlink in the upper-right corner of the Center. Alternatively,
you can select “Reports| QuickReport” from the Menu Bar or press “Ctrl + Q” on your keyboard.
3. The QuickReport will appear within a separate window.
4. Close the report when finished.
QUICKZOOMING DATA WITHIN A REPORT OR GRAPH:
1. To QuickZoom in a report or graph, open a report or graph.

2. Place your mouse pointer over a data entry line item in the report or over a graphic within a graph until
the mouse pointer icon changes into a magnifying glass with a “Z” inside of it.
3. Double-click the line item or graphic.
4. The original transaction, or another report showing transaction details, will appear in a new window.
5. To close the QuickReport, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the report.
MODIFYING A REPORT:
1. To modify a report based on a preset report, open the desired preset report that you want to use as
the basis for your own custom report.
2. Click the “Customize Report” button in the toolbar at the top of the preset report to open the “Modify
Report” dialog box.
3. To create a new transaction detail or summary report from scratch, select “Reports| Custom
Reports” from the Menu Bar and then choose “Transaction Detail” or “Summary” from the side menu
that appears to open the “Modify Report” dialog box.
4. In the “Modify Report” dialog box you will see the “Display,” “Filters,” “Header/Footer,” and “Fonts &
Numbers” tabs. You use the settings on these tabs to modify the associated report content.
5. If you click the “Display” tab, you will see slightly different options depending upon the type of report you
are creating: “Transaction Detail” or “Summary.”
6. For both types of reports, in the “Report Date Range” section you can use the “Dates” drop-down to
select a commonly used report date range, or you can use the “From” and “To” date selectors to specify
a starting date and ending date for the report’s data.
7. For both report types, choose how the report calculates and displays income and expenses by choosing
either “Accrual” or “Cash” from the “Report Basis” section, if available for your report.
8. If you are creating or modifying a “Transaction Detail” report, then in the “Columns” section click
the name of any column shown in the scrollable listing to place a checkmark next to it and add that
column to the report. If you are creating or modifying a “Summary” report, skip to step #17.
9. To remove a column added to a report, click its name to remove the check from the column name and
remove the column’s display from the report.
10. You can choose how to display a total over the transactions shown by making a choice from the “Total
by” drop-down menu, if available for your report.
11. You can use the “Sort by” drop-down to choose by which column’s values you wish to sort the report.
You can choose any report column you have added to the report from this drop-down menu.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Reporting
MODIFYING A REPORT- (CONT’D.):
12. You can then select either “Ascending order” or “Descending order” to select the sorting method to
apply to the selected column’s values.
13. You can click the “Advanced…” button to open the “Advanced Options” dialog box.
14. In the “Include” section, you can select either the “All” option to include all accounts, regardless of
whether or not there was any activity within the account for the date range selected, or select the “In
Use” option to only use accounts that had activity within the date range specified.
15. For aging reports, you can select to view the customer’s open balance as of the “Current (faster)” date
or as of the “Report Date” by selecting the desired option button.
16. Once you have set any advanced options, if needed, click the “OK” button in the “Advanced Options”
dialog box to apply them and return to the “Modify Report” window. You can now skip to step #27.
17. If creating or modifying a “Summary” report, then in the “Columns” section, choose what type of
data to display in the report columns by making a selection from the “Display columns by” drop-down.
18. Choose the values to summarize in the rows by making a choice from the “Display rows by” drop-down.
19. You can select to display columns for the “Amount,” “Quantity,” or “Both” by selecting an option button
below the “Display columns for” label.
20. You can choose how to sort the data by making a selection from the “Sort by” drop-down.
21. You can then select to either perform an “Ascending” or “Descending” sort on this data by making a
choice from the “Sort in” option button group.
22. For some types of report date ranges, you can also add comparison subcolumns to the report by
checking any desired checkboxes shown within the “Add subcolumns for” section. The choices available
will depend on the date range selected. Simply check the checkboxes shown to add those summary
subcolumns to the report, if desired.
23. If needed, you can click the “Advanced…” button to open the “Advanced Options” dialog box.
24. For “Summary” reports, you can choose what records to use in the report by making your choice from
the “Display Rows” and “Display Columns” sections. You can select “Active” accounts to only show data
from accounts that had activity in the selected report period; “All” accounts, to show data from accounts
regardless of activity in the selected report period; or “Non-zero” accounts to show any account that has
a non-zero balance, regardless of activity.
25. You can then choose the reporting period to use for your data from the “Reporting Calendar” section.
Your choices are “Fiscal Year,” “Calendar Year,” or “Income Tax Year.”
26. Once you have set any advanced options within the “Advanced Options” dialog box, click the “OK”
button to apply them and return to the “Display” tab within the “Modify Report” window.
27. For both “Transaction Detail” and “Summary” reports, click the “Filters” tab within the “Modify
Report” window.
28. If the report you are modifying already has filters applied, you will see the current filters and their
settings shown in the “Current Filter Choices” section of the “Filters” tab.
29. You can click any filter shown in this list to view its settings to the left, within the “Choose Filter” section.
30. In the “Choose Filter” section, you can change the settings of the filter by using the options available.
Depending upon which filter you select, the options for filtering it may vary. Some filters need you to
type a matching value, some allow you to select from a drop-down menu of choices, and some simply
allow you to select a desired option from one or two possible options.
31. You can add new filters to the report by selecting the name of a filter to apply from the “Choose Filter”
list, and then changing its settings as desired. The filters shown within this list appear in alphabetical
order to assist you in finding the desired filter to apply.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Reporting
MODIFYING A REPORT- (CONT’D.):
32. To read more about how a filter that you have selected can be applied, click the “Tell me more…”
button at the bottom of the tab to open a help file about the currently selected filter.
33. To completely remove a filter that has been applied to a report, start by selecting the name of the
filter to remove from the “Current Filter Choices” list at the right side of the “Filters” tab.
34. Then click the “Remove Selected Filter” button to delete the filter from the report.
35. Also note that both the “Display” and “Filters” tabs contain a “Revert” button that will revert any changes
you have made to them, if needed.
36. Click the “Header/Footer” tab in the “Modify Report” window to change the display of content within the
header and footer of the report.
37. In the “Show Header Information” section, check any content you want to show in the header of the
report.
38. Type the text to display into the adjacent fields.
39. In the “Show Footer Information” section, check any content you want to show in the footer of the report.
40. Type the text to display into the adjacent fields.
41. Use the “Alignment” drop-down in the “Page Layout” section to select the desired layout for the header
and footer content within the report.
42. Click the “Fonts & Numbers” tab in the “Modify Report” window.
43. To set the font used within a report section, select the report section to format from the “Change
Font For” list.
44. The current font used for the display of the selected item will be shown to the right of the list.
45. Click the “Change Font…” button to open a dialog box that will allow you to change the appearance of
the text.
46. Select your desired font options from the choices shown and then click the “OK” button in the dialog box
to apply them and return to the “Modify Report” window.
47. Repeat steps #43 through #46 for any other report sections whose fonts you wish to modify.
48. You can set the display of negative numbers within the report by making your desired selections from
the options shown in the “Show Negative Numbers” section.
49. You can set optional display settings for all numbers in the “Show All Numbers” section by checking any
available checkboxes, if desired.
50. After you have finished modifying the report, click the “OK” button within the “Modify Report” window to
apply the custom report settings.
51. When the report appears onscreen, you can modify some report settings using the toolbar at the top of
the report.
52. To switch the report basis, if that setting is available for the report and if using QuickBooks 2018
or later, click the “Accrual” or “Cash” option button for the “Report Basis” setting, shown towards the
upper-left corner of the report’s preview.
53. To show the report’s other applied filter settings, click the “Show Filters” link towards the upper-left
corner of the report.
54. Then click one of the filters in this section to open the “Filters” tab of the “Modify Report” dialog box and
select the filter.
55. You can then change its settings and click the “OK” button in the dialog box to change the applied filter.
56. To remove a filter from this section of the report, click the “X” at the right end of the filter.
57. To hide the applied filters when finished, click the “Hide Filters” link towards the upper-left corner of
the report.

ACTIONS-
Reporting
REARRANGING AND RESIZING REPORT COLUMNS:
1. To rearrange the order of columns from left to right within any transaction detail report in
QuickBooks, display the transaction detail report whose columns you want to rearrange onscreen.
2. For the column you want to move, place your mouse pointer over the column name shown in the
column headings at the top of the report until you see the mouse pointer change into a “hand” icon.
3. Click and drag the column left or right. As you are dragging the column, you will see a small upward-
pointing red arrow appear between the column names. This arrow indicates where the column will be
placed when you release the mouse button.
4. When it is in the desired location, release the mouse button to move the column to the selected location.
5. To resize columns in any type of QuickBooks report, place your mouse pointer to the right of the
name of the column you want to resize, until the mouse pointer changes into a thin vertical line
intersected by a horizontal arrow.
6. At that point, click and drag left or right with your mouse pointer to resize the column.
7. Release the mouse button when the column is the size you desire.
8. To expand and collapse column groups in reports that contain column groupings by job or class
if using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2020 or later, click the small “plus” or “minus” signs to the left of the
column grouping to expand or collapse them, if available for the report.
9. Alternatively, to collapse or expand all column groups in the report, if available, click the
“Collapse Columns” or “Expand Columns” button in the report’s toolbar.
MEMORIZING A REPORT:
1. To memorize a modified report, click the “Memorize” button in the toolbar at the top of the modified
report’s window to open the “Memorize Report” dialog box.
2. Type a name for the new report into the “Name” field.
3. If you want to save it into a memorized report group, check the checkbox for “Save in Memorized Report
Group” and then choose the desired group to save it into from the adjacent drop-down menu.
4. When you are finished naming the memorized report, click the “OK” button to save it.
CREATING AND USING MEMORIZED REPORT GROUPS:
1. To create a new memorized report group, select “Reports| Memorized Reports| Memorized Report
List” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Memorized Report List” window, click the “Memorized Report” button and select “New Group”
3. In the “Name” field of the “New Memorized Report Group” window, type a name for the new report group
and click the “OK” button to have QuickBooks add this memorized report group to the list.
PRINTING A REPORT:
1. To print a report, open the report to print.

2. Click the “Print” button in the toolbar of the report and select the “Report” command from the drop-down.
3. In the “Print Reports” window that appears, set printing options for the printer you would like to use,
page orientation, page breaking behavior, the print range, and the number of copies of the report.
4. Then click the “Print” button in the “Print Reports” window to print the currently displayed report.
ACTIONS-
Reporting
BATCH PRINTING FORMS:
1. To batch print forms, select “File| Print Forms” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the type of form to print from the side menu of choices that appears.
EXPORTING A REPORT TO MICROSOFT EXCEL:
1. To export a report to Excel, open the report to export to Excel.

2. Click the “Excel” button in the toolbar at the top of the report.
3. Select either the “Create New Worksheet” or “Update Existing Worksheet” commands from the drop-
down menu that appears.
4. In the “Send Report to Excel” dialog box, select the desired option button to choose how to send the
data to Excel.
5. You can click the “Advanced…” button to open the “Advanced Excel Options” dialog box where you can
enable or disable several Excel options.
6. After setting any advanced options, click the “OK” button to return to the “Send Report to Excel” dialog
box.
7. Click the “Export” button to export the report data to Excel using the method you selected.
SAVING A FORM OR A REPORT AS A PDF DOCUMENT:
1. To save a form or report as a PDF, open the form or report to save as a PDF document.
2. Select “File| Save as PDF…” from the Menu Bar.
3. QuickBooks will open the “Save document as PDF” dialog box.
4. Browse to, and select, the location within which you want to save the document.
5. Enter a name for the file into the “File name” field.
6. Click the “Save” button when finished to create the PDF file.
COMMENT ON REPORT:
1. To comment on a report, display the report within QuickBooks.

2. Click the “Comment on Report” button in the toolbar at the top of the report to open a copy of the report
that displays a “comment balloon” to the right of each item within a line, or to the right of each line item,
depending on the report. This commented copy also contains a toolbar with buttons for “Save,” “Print,”
“E-mail,” and “Help” shown in the upper-left corner of the report.
3. To comment on an item or line item within a report, click the small comment balloon icon to the right
of the item on which you want to comment. The comment balloon will display a number, starting at 1
and increasing sequentially, which corresponds to the comment number shown in the “Comments” pane
at the bottom of the report window.
4. Click into the comment field shown in the “Comments” pane and type the comment you want to appear.
5. Click the “Save” button to the right of the comment within the “Comments” pane to save the comment.
6. Repeat steps #3 and #4 to add comments to other items within the report.
7. To edit a comment within the “Comments” pane, click the “Edit” button, which looks like a pencil
icon, at the right end of the comment.
8. Edit the comment in the field shown and click the “Save” button to save the changes to the comment.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Reporting
COMMENT ON REPORT- (CONT’D.):
9. To delete a comment within the “Comments” pane, click the “Delete” button to the right of the
comment, which looks like a small “X.”
10. Click the “Yes” button in the “Delete This Comment?” dialog box which appears to permanently delete
the comment. You can click the “No” button to retain the comment, if you change your mind.
11. To save a commented report, click the “Save” button in the toolbar at the top of the commented report.
12. In the “Save Your Commented Report” dialog box that appears, type a name for the commented version
of the report into the “Name” field and then click the “OK” button.
13. Click the “OK” button within the “Saved Successfully” message box to close it, if it appears.
14. To print a commented report or save it as a PDF, open the report and then click the “Print” button in
the toolbar at the top of the report.
15. To print the report, click the “Report” command from the drop-down that appears to print the report
using the “Print Reports” dialog box.
16. To save the report as a PDF, select the “Save as PDF” command from the drop-down menu to save
the report as a PDF using the “Save document as PDF” dialog box.
17. To email the report, click the “E-mail” button in the report toolbar and then select the “Send report as
PDF” command from the drop-down menu that appears.
18. To close the report, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the report.
19. To view the “Commented Reports” list, select “Reports| Commented Reports” from the Menu Bar.
20. You can select a report within this list and then click either the “Display…,” “Print…,” or “Email…”
buttons at the bottom of the list to show, print, or email the selected report from within the list.
21. To rename a report within the list, click the report to rename within the list to select it.
22. Click the “Commented Reports” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and choose the “Edit
Commented Report” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
23. Type the new name for the report into the “Name” field of the “Save Your Commented Report” dialog
box and click the “OK” button.
24. To delete a commented report in this list, click the report in the list you want to delete to select it,
click the “Commented Report” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and then select the “Delete
Commented Report” command.
25. Click the “Yes” button in the “Delete This Commented Report?” dialog box to delete the report.
26. To close the “Commented Reports” list, click the “X” in its upper-right corner.
PROCESS MULTIPLE REPORTS:
1. To batch print, batch display, or batch email reports from the “Memorized Report List” or the
“Commented Reports” list, select “Reports| Process Multiple Reports” from the Menu Bar to open the
“Process Multiple Reports” window.
2. Select either the “Memorized Reports” or “Commented Reports” option button at the top of the window
to batch print, display, or email either memorized reports or commented reports.
3. If you selected the “Memorized reports” option, use the “Select Memorized Report From” drop-down
at the top of the window to select the memorized report group that has the reports to batch display, print,
or email.
4. You can choose the “<Ungrouped Reports>” choice from this drop-down menu to select memorized
reports you have not saved into a memorized report group.
5. For whichever grouping is selected, the reports within that group will be displayed in the list below.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Reporting
PROCESS MULTIPLE REPORTS- (CONT’D.):
6. If you selected the “Commented Reports” option button, the list of commented reports will be
displayed below, instead.
7. Ensure that the reports shown within this list that you want to batch print, batch display, or batch email,
have a checkmark appear to the left of their names within the checkmark column to mark them as
selected.
8. You can click into the checkmark column to the left of a report name to check or uncheck the checkmark
and include or exclude the report from being batch printed, batch displayed, or batch emailed.
9. For memorized reports only, you can click into the “From” and “To” columns to change the date range
of the report, if needed.
10. After you have the reports you want to batch display, batch print, or batch email selected, click either the
“Display,” “Print,” or “Email,” buttons at the bottom of the “Process Multiple Reports” window to batch
display, batch print, or batch email the reports.
SCHEDULED REPORTS:
1. To create scheduled reports, you must be in single-user mode.

2. Also, ensure your computer is on and awake when the reports are set to be sent, although QuickBooks
doesn’t have to be running.
3. Also ensure you do not have any conflicting preferences in your company file. If so, you will not be
informed until after you try to create your first schedule and will then need to create it all over again after
changing the conflicting settings.
4. Ensure you are opening QuickBooks as an “Administrator” on your computer. You can exit QuickBooks,
right-click the desktop application icon and choose “Run as administrator” from the pop-up menu that
appears to run the program as an administrator, if needed.
5. Also ensure you are opening only the company file for which to send reports as the “admin” user and
that you are in single-user mode.
6. To create a new report schedule, choose “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Schedule Setup” from the
Menu Bar.
7. If needed, click the “Get Started” button in the “Instructions for Scheduled Email Delivery” message box
that appears
8. If you have not configured your email preferences, a “Choose Your Email Method” window appears.
9. Click the “Setup my email now” button in this window to open the “My Preferences” tab of the “Send
Forms” preferences in the “Preferences” dialog box.
10. If using Outlook, ensure the “Outlook” option button in the “Send E-Mail Using” section is selected.
11. If you do not see this option button, open the Outlook application and then open this dialog box again
to see if QuickBooks then recognizes the program.
12. If using “Web Mail” or “QuickBooks E-mail,” select the correct option and then configure the email in
the section below, if needed.
13. Once your email settings are correctly configured here, click the “OK” button.
14. QuickBooks may need to close and reopen all its windows to complete configuring these settings. If it
does, click “OK” in the message box that appears to inform you of that fact.
15. After applying your email settings, select “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Schedule Setup” from the
Menu Bar again to create the new report schedule.
16. This time, the “Schedule Setup” window will open and show the “Select Reports” screen.
(cont’d.)
ACTIONS-
Reporting
SCHEDULED REPORTS- (CONT’D.):
17. In the “Memorized Reports” section, you can use the “Report Group” drop-down to select the group of
reports to show in the listing below.
18. To add reports to the schedule, check the checkbox to the left of the report name in the list of reports.
19. It will then appear in the “Selected Reports” list at the right side of the screen.
20. When you have selected the reports, click the “Next” button to continue.
21. In the “Set Schedule” screen, type a name for the report schedule into the “Schedule name” field.
22. Use the “Frequency” drop-down to select the frequency with which these reports should be emailed to
the recipients.
23. Select the first date to send the reports from the “Start date” calendar selector.
24. Use the two “Time” drop-downs to select an hour and choose either “AM” or “PM.”
25. To be notified 4 hours before the emails are sent, check the “Notify me 4 hours before sending this
email” checkbox.
26. A summary of your send options is shown at the bottom of this screen for you to review for accuracy.
27. When you are ready, click the “Next” button to continue.
28. In the “Compose Email” screen, enter the email addresses of the recipients into the “To” field, separated
by semicolons.
29. To enter a different subject line for the email, change the text in the “Subject” field.
30. The “Attachment(s)” show the names of the attached reports.
31. Enter a password that will be required for the recipients to enter in order to open these attachments into
the “Attachment(s) password” and “Confirm password” fields. You will need to send this password to the
recipients, separately from the email, so that they can enter the password in order to read the reports
that are sent.
32. You can edit the text in the body of the email by typing new or different text into the “Body” field.
33. To create the schedule, click the “Schedule” button to finish.
34. To grant the “ScheduledReports” application access to your company file if creating your first
schedule, click the “Yes” option in the “QuickBooks - Application Certificate” window that opens.
35. Then click “Yes” again in the “ScheduledReports - Authorization” window.
36. Then click the “Continue…” button in the “QuickBooks - Application Certificate” window.
37. Then click the “Done” button in the “Access Confirmation” window.
38. If a “Preferences Conflict” message box appears, make sure you perform the changes it shows to
ensure the future delivery of the scheduled reports. Click the “OK” button in this message box to close it
after reading the steps you must take to correct the conflict.
39. If the schedule had no conflicts, then the “Scheduled Report Center” window will appear and show
your newly created schedule.
40. You can close the window by clicking the “X” in its upper-right corner.
41. To reopen the “Scheduled Report Center” window, select “Reports| Scheduled Reports| Scheduled
Report Center” from the Menu Bar.
42. To create a new report schedule in the “Scheduled Report Center” window, click the “Schedule
Setup” button in the upper-right corner to open a new “Schedule Setup” window for you to use to create
a new report schedule.
43. To edit an existing report schedule, click the row of the report schedule to edit in this window and
then click the “Edit Schedule” button that appears at the right end of the report schedule row to open the
“Schedule Setup” window for that report schedule.
44. Then step through the schedule set up again to make changes and edit the schedule.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Reporting
SCHEDULED REPORTS- (CONT’D.):
45. To delete an existing report schedule, click the row of the report schedule to delete in this window.
46. Then click the drop-down arrow at the right of the “Edit Schedule” button that appears at the right end of
the report schedule row.
47. Select the “Delete” command from the drop-down menu that appears.
48. Then click the “OK” button in the “Delete Schedule” confirmation dialog box that appears to confirm the
deletion of the schedule, which cannot be undone.

EXERCISES-
Reporting
Purpose:
To be able to modify and memorize reports in QuickBooks
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Reports| Customers & Receivables| Open Invoices” from the Menu
Bar.
8. Click the “Customize Report” button in the report toolbar.
9. Click the “Filters” tab.
10. In the “Current Filter Choices” section, click on the “Paid Status” field.
11. In the “Choose Filter” section, click the “Closed” option.
12. Click the “Header/Footer” tab.
13. Type “Closed Invoices” into the “Report Title” text box.
15. Click the “Memorize” button in the report toolbar.
17. Click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the report to close it.
18. Select “Reports| Memorized Reports| Closed Invoices” from the Menu Bar to open the memorized
report again.
19. Click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the report to close it again.
21. You can close QuickBooks by selecting “File| Exit” from the Menu Bar.

CHAPTER 16-
Using Graphs
16.1- Using Graphs
16.2- Company Snapshot

Using Graphs
16.1- Using Graphs:
While a report can show numbers that are critical to understanding the overall health of your
company, some people like a visual representation of the data. That’s where graphs come into play in
QuickBooks. A QuickInsight graph shows your data as either a bar graph or a pie chart (except for the
“Budget vs. Actual” and “Net Worth” graphs). The bar graphs and pie charts are just different visual ways of
presenting the same financial information that you view in a typical report. QuickBooks has six types of
graphs that can provide up to 15 different views of your data. The types of graphs available are shown in
the table below.
GRAPH NAME: DESCRIPTION:
Income and Expense Graph Show the company’s income and expenses for the date range that you specify.
Sales Graph Shows your company’s sales income for the period that you specify.
Accounts Receivable Graph Shows how much your customers owe your company.
Accounts Payable Graph Shows how much your company owes its vendors.
Net Worth Graph Shows your company’s net worth.
Budget vs. Actual Graph Shows the difference between budgeted and actual amounts earned or spent.
The QuickInsight graphs that

QuickBooks Desktop Pro produces have
several features in common. One commonality
is that every graph window (except “Net
Worth” and “Budget vs. Actual”) shows a bar
graph in the top half of the graph window and
a pie chart in the bottom half of the window. In
the graph window, the bar graph will display
totals of the data broken down by a specified
period and the pie chart will show a summary
total of some type of information shown in the
bar graph above.
Also, every graph comes with a graph
toolbar which you can use to customize the
graphs in much the same way as reports. Like
the reports, you can also use QuickZoom in a graph to see the actual numbers represented by the selected
items in the graph. You will typically get summary reports that you can continue to QuickZoom to trace back
to the original transactions shown in the totals in the graph.

Using Graphs
16.2- Company Snapshot:
The “Company Snapshot” shows multiple graphs and information from lists as independent
“widgets” within the “Company Snapshot” window. You can interact with some of the widgets within the
“Company Snapshot” window to perform basic tasks. You can use the drop-downs and click the links within
the widgets shown to change widget settings and perform other tasks related to the widget. To open the
“Company Snapshot” window, select “Reports| Company Snapshot” from the Menu Bar. You will see three
different tabs, named “Company,” “Payments,” and “Customer,” shown in the upper-left corner of the
window. You can click these tabs to view the widgets available within each screen. Note that unlike the
“Company” and “Payments” tab, which show widgets that display general company and payables
information, the “Customer” tab allows you select the name of a customer from the “Customer” drop-down at
the top of the tab to view information about the selected customer within the widgets shown on this tab.
To add a widget to a tab, click the tab to which you want to add a widget. Then click the “Add
Content >” link in the upper-left corner of the tab to display a pane that shows the widgets you can add to
that tab at the top of the window. The total number of widgets available to add to that tab is shown at the
bottom of the pane. If available, you can click the small left and right pointing arrows at the bottom of the
pane to scroll through the available widgets. When you see a widget you want to add shown in the pane,
click the “Add” button next to the name of the widget to add the widget to the tab. The widget will then
appear within the tab and the name of the button will change to display the word “Added.” After adding the
widgets you want to the selected tab, click the “Done” button in the lower-right corner of the pane to close it.
To reposition a widget within a tab, click and drag the widget by its title bar at the top of the widget,
and release it into the desired position within the tab. A thick black line appears in the tab as you click and
drag to let you know where the widget will appear when you release it.
To remove a widget from a tab, click the small “X” button in the upper-right corner of the widget you
want to remove to delete it from the tab. You may then see a “Remove Content” message box appear
onscreen to confirm you want to remove the widget. Click the “OK” button within this message box to
remove the content from the tab.
To restore the default display of the widgets shown within a tab, click the “Restore default” link in the
upper-left corner of the tab. A “Restore Default” message box may then appear onscreen to confirm you
want to restore the default widget settings. If you want to continue to reset the default widgets and widget
settings, click the “Yes” button to continue.
To print the content of a tab, display the tab you want to print and then click the “Print” drop-down
link in the upper-right corner of the tab. Then choose the “Print…” command from the drop-down menu to
open the “Print” dialog box. Select a printer, choose a print range, and enter the number of copies to print
within the “Print” dialog box. When you are ready to print the content, click the “Print” button within the
“Print” dialog box to print the content of the tab to the printer you selected.
To see a print preview of the page before you print it, click the “Print” drop-down link in the upper-
right corner of the tab and then select the “Print Preview…” command from the drop-down menu to open a
separate “Print preview” window. You can scroll through the pages using the spinner in the upper-right
corner of the “Print preview” window. You can use the buttons in the toolbar at the top of the window to
print, zoom, change the number of pages shown in the preview, or close the window.
To change the page orientation and set other page setup options before printing, click the “Print”
drop-down link in the upper-right corner of the tab and then select the “Set Orientation…” command from
the drop-down menu to open a “Page Setup” dialog box. Here you can set the paper size, page orientation,
and margins for the print job and then click the “OK” button to apply your choices.
When finished viewing the “Company Snapshot” window, click the “X” button in the upper-right
corner of the window to close it.

ACTIONS-
Using Graphs
USING GRAPHS:
1. Graphs are distributed among report categories found under the “Reports” command in the Menu Bar.
2. To view a graph, open the graph that you want to display.
3. Use the toolbar at the top of the graph window to change the data displayed in the graph area.
4. Set the date range used for the graph data.
5. You can double-click on any item in a graph to view the detail data using QuickZoom. This will bring up
another graph or another report which you can then also QuickZoom.
USING THE COMPANY SNAPSHOT:
1. To open the “Company Snapshot” window, select “Reports| Company Snapshot” from the Menu Bar.
2. You will see three different tabs, named “Company,” “Payments,” and “Customer,” shown in the upper-
left corner of the window. You can click these tabs to view the widgets available within each screen.
3. To interact with the widgets in a tab, use the drop-downs and click the links within the widgets to
change widget settings and perform tasks related to the widget
4. If viewing the “Customer” tab, you can select the name of a customer from the “Customer” drop-down
at the top of the tab to view information about the selected customer in the widgets shown on this tab.
5. To add a widget to a tab, click the tab to which you want to add a widget.
6. Click the “Add Content >” link in the upper-left corner of the tab to display a pane that shows the widgets
you can add to that tab at the top of the window.
7. Click the left and right arrows at the bottom of the pane to scroll through the widgets, if needed.
8. To add a widget shown in the pane, click the “Add” button next to the name of the widget.
9. To close the pane when finished, click the “Done” button in the lower-right corner of the pane.
10. To reposition a widget within a tab, click and drag the widget by its title bar at the top of the widget,
and release it into the desired position within the tab.
11. To remove a widget from a tab, click the small “X” button in the upper-right corner of the widget you
want to remove to delete it from the tab. Click “OK” in the “Remove Content” message box, if needed.
12. To restore the default display of the widgets shown within a tab, click the “Restore default” link in
the upper-left corner of the tab. Click the “Yes” button in the “Restore Default” message box, if needed.
13. To print the content of a tab, display the tab you want to print, click the “Print” drop-down link in the
upper-right corner of the tab, and choose the “Print…” command from the drop-down menu to open the
“Print” dialog box.
14. Select a printer, choose a print range, and enter the number of copies to print in the “Print” dialog box.
Click the “Print” button in the “Print” dialog box to print the content of the tab to the printer you selected.
15. To see a print preview of the tab before you print it, click the “Print” drop-down link in the upper-right
corner of the tab and select the “Print Preview…” command from the drop-down menu to open a
separate “Print preview” window.
16. Scroll through the pages using the spinner in the upper-right corner of the “Print preview” window.
17. You can use the buttons in the toolbar at the top of the window to print, zoom, change the number of
pages shown in the preview, or close the window.
18. To change the page orientation and set other page setup options before printing, click the “Print”
drop-down link in the upper-right corner of the tab and then select the “Set Orientation…” command
from the drop-down menu to open a “Page Setup” dialog box.
19. Set the paper size, page orientation, and margins, and then click the “OK” button to apply your choices.
20. To close the “Company Snapshot” window, click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the window.

EXERCISES-
Using Graphs
Purpose:
To be able to create and modify a graph.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Reports| Company & Financial| Income & Expense Graph” from the
Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Dates…” button in the upper-left corner of the graph.
9. Use the “Graph Dates” drop-down to select “Last Quarter.”
11. Click the ”By Customer” button in the graph’s toolbar to view the data by customer.
12. In the “Show on Pie Chart” section at the bottom of the graph, click “Income.”
13. Use QuickZoom to double-click the “Income” column within the bar graph for “Aug” to view the
income summary for that month in a separate graph window.
14. Close the income summary graph window that you just opened.
15. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the Income and Expense graph window to close it.

CHAPTER 17-
Customizing Forms
17.1- Creating New Form Templates
17.2- Performing Basic Customization
17.3- Performing Additional Customization
17.4- The Layout Designer
17.5- Changing the Grid and Margins in the Layout Designer
17.6- Selecting Objects in the Layout Designer
17.7- Moving and Resizing Objects in the Layout Designer
17.8- Formatting Objects in the Layout Designer
17.9- Copying Objects and Formatting in the Layout Designer
17.10- Adding and Removing Objects in the Layout Designer
17.11- Aligning and Stacking Objects in the Layout Designer
17.12- Resizing Columns in the Layout Designer

Customizing Forms
17.1- Creating New Form Templates:
Every form you enter information into has its own layout of fields, images, and labels used for data
entry and printed display. In QuickBooks, you can customize the layout of a form to better suit your
company’s needs. For example, there are three preset formats for invoices: professional, service, and
product. If these templates don’t precisely fulfill your needs, you can customize them, as needed. You can
also customize more than invoices in QuickBooks. The forms you can customize in QuickBooks are:
invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, statements, purchase orders, and estimates. Note that estimates are
only available in QuickBooks Desktop Pro or higher. For each form, you can choose which fields and
columns to include, where they are placed in the form, and what they are called. After you have finished
customizing the form, you can save the new layout as a custom template to use at your convenience.
In QuickBooks, the “Basic Customization” and “Additional Customization” windows are used to apply
general customization settings to forms. In these windows, you decide what fields to add to the form for both
onscreen display and the printed version. After performing basic customization, you can use the “Layout
Designer” to arrange the selected fields, set additional formatting options, and add text boxes and images to
the printed version of the form.
You begin the process by selecting “Lists| Templates” from the Menu Bar to open the “Templates”
list. In the “Templates” list, click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner to show a menu of choices.
To make a new template, select the “New” command from the pop-up menu. That will present you with the
“Select Template Type” dialog box, where you select the option button that corresponds to the type of form
you are trying to create. Click the “OK” button to begin customizing your selected form template in the
“Basic Customization” window that appears
After creating a form template and saving it into the “Templates” list, which you will learn how to do
within the upcoming lessons in this chapter, you can edit the template in the future by selecting it within the
“Templates” list, clicking the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner, and selecting the “Edit Template”
command from the pop-up menu to re-open the “Basic Customization” window.
To delete a custom template from the “Templates” list, select the template to delete within the
“Templates” list, click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and select the “Delete
Template” command from the pop-up menu. You will need to click the “OK” button within the “Delete
Template” confirmation dialog box that appears to delete the selected template.

Customizing Forms
17.2- Performing Basic Customization:
After selecting a type of form to customize, the “Basic Customization” window appears onscreen.
This window displays the most commonly used and basic customization options for forms. You can make
any changes to the options shown here, and examine how your choice impacts the preview of the form
shown at the right side of the window.
At the very top of the “Basic Customization” window, you will see the name of the new template you
have created shown within the “Selected Template” section. To change the name of the template, click the
adjacent “Manage Templates…” button to open a “Manage Templates” window. The name of the template
should be selected within the “Select template” list at the left side of the window. Type the name you want to
give to the new template into the “Template Name” field at the right side of the “Manage Templates” window
and then click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window to return to the “Basic Customization” window.
In the “Logo & Fonts” section, you can check the “Use logo” checkbox to add your company logo to
the printed version of the form. When you do this, the “Select Image” dialog box will appear. Use this dialog
box to browse for and select the image file to use as your logo. After it has been selected, click the “Open”
button to return to the “Basic Customization” window.
To choose a form color scheme, make a selection from the “Select Color Scheme” drop-down menu.
Then click the “Apply Color Scheme” button to apply the selected scheme to the preview shown at right. To
change the font used to display selected form items, select the form items to change within the “Change
Font For” list and then click the adjacent “Change Font…” button to open an “Example” dialog box where
you can change the font used to display that form item. After changing the font, click the “OK” button to
return to the “Basic Customization” window. Your choices will be displayed in the preview to the right.
In the “Company & Transaction Information” section, check the checkboxes for any company
information to add to the printed version of the form. To print a status stamp in the invoice, check the “Print
Status Stamp” checkbox. To add a past due stamp to the invoice if using QuickBooks 2018 or later, check
the “Print Past Due Stamp” checkbox. To update your company information, if needed, click the “Update
Information…” button to open the “Company Information” window where you can change any company
information. If you do this, click the “OK” button to return to the “Basic Customization” window.
After completing the basic customization, you must then choose what to do next. You could click the
“Additional Customization…” button to display the “Additional Customization” window where you can set
more advanced features of the template. You could click the “Layout Designer…” button to open the “Layout
Designer” window where you can change the placement of elements within the printed version of the form.
You could click the “OK” button to save the template into your Template List, as is. You could also click the
“Cancel” button, if needed, to cancel the changes you made, as well as the creation of the new template.
17.3- Performing Additional Customization:
After applying basic form customization to a template in the “Basic Customization” window, you can
click the “Additional Customization…” button to set additional form customization options within the
“Additional Customization” window. The “Additional Customization” window uses several tabs to display
different sets of options for customizing various sections of the selected type of form. Each area within the
form is represented by a tab. Click the name of the tab that corresponds to the area of the form you would
like to customize.
Next, check or uncheck the checkboxes next to the names of the fields underneath the “Screen” and
“Print” columns to show or hide their display within both the “Screen” version of the form- where you perform
data entry, and the “Print” version of the form- which is the version that you print. Enter the titles you want to

Customizing Forms
17.3- Performing Additional Customization- (cont’d.):
display for those fields into the adjacent text boxes. You can have a field that appears in one version of the
form, but not the other, if desired. For example, if you have a custom field you want to display within the
screen version so you can enter or view information, but you don’t want the customer to see that information
within the printed version, select the “Screen” checkbox for that field and clear the “Print” checkbox.
For any tabs that display columnar information, such as the “Columns” tab that appears when
customizing an “Invoice” form, you can change the order that the columns are displayed, from left to right,
within the line item area of the form by typing a number into the “Order” field. The columns will be arranged
and displayed left to right within the form from the lowest number to the highest number.
To apply print settings to the printed version of the template, click the “Print” tab. On this tab, you
can specify default print settings for the template, if desired.
After applying any additional customization to the form template, you can click the “Layout
Designer…” button to arrange the form elements shown within the printed version of the form template by
using the “Layout Designer” window. Alternately, you can simply click the “OK” button to return to the “Basic
Customization” window.
17.4- The Layout Designer:
The “Layout Designer” window lets you change the appearance and placement of data fields, text
boxes, labels, and images within the printed version of the form template. Within the “Layout Designer”
window you will see the printed version of the form within the main screen, surrounded by a ruler at the left
and top sides for measurement purposes. You should also see the margins of the printed version of the
form. There is also a grid displayed onscreen you can use to align onscreen objects. You can scroll the
content within the window to view the objects within the printed version of the form template.
There is a toolbar at the top of the window that contains buttons that allow you to manipulate the
selected objects within the window. At the bottom of the window you will see the name of the currently
selected object, the current magnification level, the placement of the selected object onscreen, and its
dimensions. There are also two buttons, named “Margins…” and “Grid…” that allow you to control the
appearance of the margins and grid within the window. You also have a checkbox for “Show envelope
window,” which you can check to show two areas within the window where window envelopes will display
billing and return address information. This can assist you in placing that data within the correct areas in the
form if you intend to use window envelopes for mailing these forms.
You can change the magnification level of the “Layout Designer” window by clicking the “In” and
“Out” buttons within the “Zoom” button group in the toolbar at the top of the window to increase or decrease
the size of the area shown onscreen.
As you make changes to the objects in the “Layout Designer,” you may make a mistake or make a
change you do not like. You can click the “Undo” button in the “Undo/Redo” button group in the toolbar at
the top of the window to reverse changes you make. If you accidentally click the “Undo” button too many
times, you can click the “Redo” button to reapply a change you have accidentally reversed.
After making changes within this window, you can click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window
to save the layout changes and return to either the “Basic Customization” or “Additional Customization”
window, depending upon which window you were previously viewing before you clicked the “Layout
Designer…” button. You can also click the “Cancel” button, if needed, to cancel any layout design changes
you made and return to the previously opened customization window. The next few lessons within this
chapter will examine the tasks you can perform within the “Layout Designer” window.

Customizing Forms
17.5- Changing the Grid and Margins in the Layout Designer:
Before changing the layout of objects within the “Layout Designer” window, ensure that the margins
and the grid shown onscreen are set as needed. The margins and grid aid you in placing objects into the
correct positions within the form so they will appear correctly when printed.
To change the margin settings for the form, click the “Margins…” button at the bottom of the window
to open the “Margins” dialog box. You can input the desired margin width in inches into the “Top,” “Bottom,”
“Left,” and “Right” fields shown. After setting the margins for the printed form, click the “OK” button to apply
them to the view shown within the “Layout Designer” window.
You can change the settings of the grid shown within the “Layout Designer” window by clicking the
“Grid…” button at the bottom of the window to open the “Grid and Snap Settings” dialog box. In this dialog
box, you can hide the display of the grid within the “Layout Designer” window by removing the checkmark
from the “Show grid” checkbox. If you do not want to have objects within the “Layout Designer” window
align themselves to the grid when moving them, remove the checkmark from the “Snap to grid” checkbox.
This allows for more precise placement of objects onscreen, but makes aligning those same objects more
difficult. Finally, you can change the amount of spacing between the lines in the grid by making a selection
from the “Grid spacing” drop-down menu. When you have finished changing any grid settings you want,
click the “OK” button to apply them to the “Layout Designer” window.
17.6- Selecting Objects in the Layout Designer:
Before you can perform any task within the “Layout Designer” window, you must learn how to select
the form objects shown within the window. To select an object within the “Layout Designer” window, click it
to select it. When an onscreen object is selected, it appears with a border comprised of slashes and
containing eight squares on the corners and sides of the object. These squares are the resizing handles
used to resize the object.
For some activities you perform within this window, you may also want to select multiple objects
simultaneously. When multiple objects are simultaneously selected, actions that you perform are applied to
all the selected objects. This is helpful when applying the same formatting to multiple objects or when
moving multiple objects as a single group. For example, if you want to move a label and its associated data
field from one area of the form to another, you could select them both and then move them together to a
new area within the form. To select multiple form objects, click the first object to select it and then hold down
the “Shift” key with your free hand. Then click any other objects you want to select as part of the group.
Then release the “Shift” key when finished. To de-select a selected object or objects, simply click into the
blank, or empty, area within the form.

Customizing Forms
17.7- Moving and Resizing Objects in the Layout Designer:
To move selected objects within the “Layout Designer” window, click and drag the objects from one
place to another in the form. To resize a selected object, place your mouse pointer over one of the resizing
squares until the mouse pointer turns into a double-pointed arrow. At that point, click and drag with your
mouse to resize the selected object in either direction shown by the arrows. Note that you cannot resize
multiple selected objects using this method. However, you can make multiple selected objects the same
height, the same width, or the exact same size. To do this, first simultaneously select the objects you want
to make the same height, width, or size. Then click either the “Height,” “Width,” or “Size” buttons within the
“Make Same” button group in the toolbar at the top of the window. The selected objects will then be the
same height, width, or exact same size as the last object selected, depending on which of the three buttons
you click.
17.8- Formatting Objects in the Layout Designer:
You can change the text, border, and background of a text box or data field within the “Layout
Designer” window. To do this, double-click the text box or data field you want to format to open the
“Properties” dialog box. Alternately, you can select a text box or data field and then click the “Properties…”
button in the toolbar at the top of the “Layout Designer” window to also open the “Properties” dialog box.
Within the “Properties” dialog box you can set the appearance of the text box or data field by
changing the settings shown within the “Text,” “Border,” and “Background” tabs. For text boxes and labels,
enter the text to display into the field shown at the top of the “Properties” dialog box.
To set the appearance of text within the object, click the “Text” tab. In the “Justification” section,
select either “Left,” “Right,” or “Center” in the “Horizontal” section and “Top,” “Bottom,” or “Center” in the
“Vertical” section to set the horizontal and vertical text alignment. To indent the first line of text within a text
box, click the “Indent First Line of Text” checkbox within the “Horizontal” section. To select the font used to
display text within the object, click the “Font…” button to open the “Example” dialog box. Change the “Font,”
“Font style,” “Size,” “Effects,” and “Color” of the font by making choices from the fields within this dialog box.
When you have finished setting the font attributes, click the “OK” button to apply them and return to the
“Properties” dialog box. You can set the font color for the object within the “Text” tab by clicking the “Color”
button shown to open the “Change Color” dialog box. Select any color you want for the font, and click the
“OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
To change the border of the selected object, click the “Border” tab within the “Properties” dialog box.
Choose the sides of the object to which you want to apply a border by checking the “Top,” “Bottom,” “Left,”
and “Right” checkboxes, as desired. If you apply a border to the object, you can select the increment used
to round the corners of the borders by making a selection from the “Rounded Corners” section. You can
select the desired border pattern to use from the “Pattern” section, as well as select a desired border
thickness from the “Thickness” section. You can click the “Color” button to open the “Change Color” dialog
box. Select a color for the border, and click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
To set a background color for the object, click the “Background” tab within the “Properties” dialog
box. Then check the “Fill Background” checkbox. After checking this checkbox, click the “Background Color”
button shown to open the “Change Color” dialog box. Select any color you want for the background of the
object, and click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
After you have finished applying any formatting settings that you want the object to have, click the
“OK” button within the “Properties” dialog box to apply your changes to the selected text box or data field.

Customizing Forms
17.9- Copying Objects and Formatting in the Layout Designer:
You can easily copy a selected object within the “Layout Designer” window by clicking the “Copy”
button within the toolbar at the top of the window. The copy of the selected object will appear slightly down
and to the right of the original. You can move the copy to a new place within the window and edit it, as
needed.
You can also copy the formatting properties of a selected object and paste only the copied
formatting onto other objects within the “Layout Designer” window. This is a useful feature that allows you to
format the appearance of a single object and then copy that appearance onto other objects without having
to manually open the “Properties” dialog box to change the formatting for each item individually.
To copy the formatting of a selected object, click the “Copy Format” button within the toolbar at the
top of the window. The button will then change to the “End Format” button. Place your mouse pointer over
the object to which you want to paste the formatting of the object whose formatting you just copied. Note
that your mouse pointer now appears as a “paint brush” icon when held over objects within the window.
Click the object to paste the copied formatting. Repeat this process until you have applied the copied
formatting to all of the necessary objects within the “Layout Designer” window. When finished, click the “End
Format” button to turn this feature off and return to your normal arrow selector mouse pointer.
17.10- Adding and Removing Objects in the Layout Designer:
To add additional text boxes, data fields, and images to a form, click the “Add” drop-down button in
the toolbar at the top of the “Layout Designer” window. From the drop-down menu that appears, choose the
type of object to add to the form: “Text Box,” “Data Field,” or “Image.”
If you select the “Text Box” choice, the “Properties” dialog box will appear onscreen. Enter the text
you want the text box to display into the “Text” field at the top of the dialog box and set any formatting
properties you want the text box to possess on the “Text,” “Border,” and “Background” tabs. Then click the
“OK” button to add the text box to the form.
If you select the “Data Field” choice, the “Add Data Field” dialog box will appear onscreen. Click the
name of the data field you want to add to the form within this dialog box. Then click the “OK” button to add
the data field and its associated label into the form.
If you select the “Image” choice, the “Select Image” dialog box will appear onscreen. Use this dialog
box to navigate to and select the image you want to add to the form. After selecting the desired image, click
the “Open” button. If the image is not within the same directory as the company file, QuickBooks will display
a message informing you that the image must be copied into the “Images” folder within the company file’s
directory. If this message box appears, click the “OK” button within the “Warning” message box to
automatically copy the image to the correct folder. At that point, regardless of whether or not you needed to
copy the image to the company file’s image directory, a “Properties” dialog box appears onscreen, showing
you a preview of the image you selected. Click the “OK” button in the “Properties” dialog box to add the
selected image to the form.
To remove objects from a form, select the object to remove and click the “Remove” button in the
toolbar at the top of the window.

Customizing Forms
17.11- Aligning and Stacking Objects in the Layout Designer:
In QuickBooks you must manually align objects to one another by clicking and dragging the objects
into position and using the grid for alignment of the left and right edges. You must also manually align
objects vertically by clicking and dragging the objects and using the grid for alignment. To center two
differently sized objects over one another horizontally, you can use the “Horz” button within the “Center”
button group in the toolbar at the top of the “Layout Designer” window.
To do this, first align the objects vertically within the form. Select the first object and click the “Horz”
button to align the selected object horizontally within the center of the form. Then de-select the first object.
Next, select the second object to align horizontally to the first and click the “Horz” button again. As before,
the object will align itself with the center of the form. You can then use the multiple selection method to
select both objects as a group, as they should now be centered over one another, and then move the
grouped objects as a single unit to the desired destination within the form. Note that if you attempt to
perform a multiple selection of objects and then click the “Horz” button, QuickBooks will not center the
objects in relation to each other, but rather center the objects as a single unit in relation to the form. So, if
you wish to center objects in relation to each other, use the previous method described, instead.
You can also change the stacking level of objects within the form. This can be useful when dealing
with overlapping images or with text objects that contain a background fill. When you add objects to the
form, the newer objects added to the form may appear either on top of, or behind, older objects within the
form if they overlap. You can change the order of overlapping form objects within a stack by first selecting
the object whose stacking order you wish to change. Right-click the selected object and roll over the “Order”
command in the pop-up menu that appears. From the side menu of choices that appears, either select
“Bring Forward,” to move the object to the foreground of the stack, or select “Send Backward,” to send the
object to the background of the stack.
Sometimes, moving stacked objects can disrupt their stacking order. If that occurs when moving an
object for which you have already selected the “Send Backward” or “Bring Forward” command, then the
command will appear “greyed-out” or unavailable within the pop-up menu. If this occurs, you can fix it by
selecting each object within the stack individually and choosing the “Send Backward” or “Bring Forward”
command, based on which command is available for each object, to reset their positions. Then right-click
the objects that need to be brought forward or sent backwards again and choose the desired command
from the pop-up menu, which should then be available, to reset the positions of the necessary objects within
the stack.
17.12- Resizing Columns in the Layout Designer:
If you are customizing a form that contains a line items area, you can resize the columns displayed
within the line items area within the printed version of the form. To do this, simply click once on the columns
shown towards the bottom of the form within the “Layout Designer” window to select the entire table of
columns. Then place your mouse pointer between any two columns, to the left or right of the column that
you want to resize, until the mouse pointer turns into an icon of a single vertical line intersected by a
horizontal arrow. When the mouse pointer changes, click and drag either left or right to increase or
decrease the size of the columns.
Note that you cannot select the far right or far left column borders within the table to resize those
columns. You can only resize the entire table to change the far right or far left borders of the table area. You
should not expand the size of the table into the margins of the printed form.

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
CREATING A NEW FORM TEMPLATE:
1. To add a new form template, select “Lists| Templates” from the Menu Bar to open the “Templates” list.
2. Click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner of the “Templates” list.
3. Select the “New” command from the pop-up menu.
4. Select the option button for the type of form template to create in the “Select Template Type” dialog box.
5. Click the “OK” button to begin customizing your selected form template.
6. To edit a custom template after creating a form template and saving it in the “Templates” list,
select it in the “Templates” list, click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner, and choose the “Edit
Template” command from the pop-up menu to open the “Basic Customization” window.
7. To delete a custom template, select the template to delete within the “Templates” list, click the
“Templates” button in the lower-left corner of the list, and select the “Delete Template” command from
the pop-up menu. Then click the “OK” button within the “Delete Template” confirmation dialog box.
PERFORMING BASIC CUSTOMIZATION:
1. To perform basic customization in the “Basic Customization” window, double-check the template
name of the template you created or the template you are editing in the “Selected Template” section.
2. To change the template name, click the “Manage Templates…” button to open a “Manage Templates”
window. The template name appears in the “Select template” list at the left side of the window.
3. Type the new name into the “Template Name” field at the right side of the “Manage Templates” window
and click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window to return to the “Basic Customization” window.
4. To add a logo to the form, check the “Use logo” checkbox to open the “Select Image” dialog box.
5. Use this dialog box to browse for and select the image file to use as your logo.
6. After it has been selected, click the “Open” button to return to the “Basic Customization” window.
7. To choose a form color scheme, make a selection from the “Select Color Scheme” drop-down menu
and then click the “Apply Color Scheme” button to apply the scheme to the preview shown.
8. To change the font used to display selected form items, select the form items to change in the
“Change Font For” list and then click the adjacent “Change Font…” button to open an “Example” dialog
box where you can change the font used to display that form item.
9. Click the “OK” button to return to the “Basic Customization” window and show your changes to the right.
10. To add company information to the printed version of the form, check the desired checkboxes in
the “Company & Transaction Information” section.
11. To print a status stamp in the invoice, check the “Print Status Stamp” checkbox.
12. To add a past due stamp to the invoice if using QuickBooks 2018 or later, check the “Print Past
Due Stamp” checkbox.
13. To update your company information, if needed, click the “Update Information…” button to open the
“Company Information” window where you can input any company information required.
14. If you do this, click the “OK” button to return to the “Basic Customization” window when finished.
15. After completing the basic customization, you must then choose what to do next.
16. To set more advanced features of the template, click the “Additional Customization…” button to
display the “Additional Customization” window.
17. To change the placement of elements within the printed version of the form, click the “Layout
Designer…” button to open the “Layout Designer” window.
18. To save the template into your Template List, as is, click the “OK” button.
19. To cancel the changes you made and the creation of the new template, click the “Cancel” button.

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
PERFORMING ADDITIONAL CUSTOMIZATION:
1. To perform advanced customization in the “Additional Customization” window, click the name of
the tab that corresponds to the area of the form to customize.
2. Within the selected tab, check or uncheck the checkboxes next to the names of the fields underneath
the “Screen” and “Print” columns to show or hide their display within both the “Screen” version of the
form- where you perform data entry, and the “Print” version of the form- which is the printed version.
3. Enter the titles you want to display for those fields into the adjacent text boxes.
4. For tabs that display columnar information, such as the “Columns” tab that appears when customizing
an “Invoice” form, you can change the order that the columns are displayed, from left to right, within the
line item area of the form by typing a number into the “Order” field. The columns will be arranged and
displayed left to right within the form from the lowest number to the highest number.
5. To apply print settings to the printed version of the template, click the “Print” tab to specify default
print settings for the template, if desired.
6. To change the display of elements within the printed version of the form template within the
“Layout Designer” window, click the “Layout Designer…” button.
7. Alternatively, to return to the “Basic Customization” window, click the “OK” button.
USING THE LAYOUT DESIGNER WINDOW:
1. To use the “Layout Designer” window, first note that you will see the printed version of the form
within the main screen, surrounded by a ruler at the left and top sides for measurement purposes.
2. You should also see the margins of the printed version of the form.
3. There is also a grid displayed onscreen that you can use to align onscreen objects.
4. You can scroll the content within the window to view the objects within the printed version of the form.
5. There is a toolbar at the top of the window that contains buttons that allow you to manipulate the
selected objects within the window.
6. At the bottom of the window you will see the name of the currently selected object, the current
magnification level, the placement of the selected object onscreen, and its dimensions.
7. There are also two buttons, named “Margins…” and “Grid…” that allow you to control the appearance of
the margins and grid within the window.
8. You also have a checkbox for “Show envelope window,” which you can check to display two areas
within the window where window envelopes will display billing and return address information.
9. You can change the magnification level of the “Layout Designer” window by clicking the “In” and “Out”
buttons within the “Zoom” button group in the toolbar at the top of the window to increase or decrease
the size of the area shown onscreen.
10. You can click the “Undo” button in the “Undo/Redo” button group in the toolbar at the top of the window
to reverse any changes you make.
11. If you accidentally click the “Undo” button too many times, you can click the “Redo” button to reapply a
change you have accidentally reversed.
12. After making changes within this window, you can click the “OK” button to save the layout changes and
return to either the “Basic Customization” or “Additional Customization” window, depending upon which
window you were previously viewing before you clicked the “Layout Designer…” button.
13. You can also click the “Cancel” button, if needed, to cancel any layout design changes you made and
return to the previously opened customization window.

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
CHANGING THE GRID AND MARGINS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To change the margin settings for the form, click the “Margins…” button at the bottom of the window
to open the “Margins” dialog box.
2. Input the desired margin width in inches into the “Top,” “Bottom,” “Left,” and “Right” fields shown.
3. Click the “OK” button to apply the margins to the view shown within the “Layout Designer” window.
4. To change the settings of the grid shown within the “Layout Designer” window, click the “Grid…”
button at the bottom of the window to open the “Grid and Snap Settings” dialog box.
5. You can hide the display of the grid within the “Layout Designer” window by removing the checkmark
from the “Show grid” checkbox.
6. If you do not want to have objects within the “Layout Designer” window align themselves to the grid
when moving them, remove the checkmark from the “Snap to grid” checkbox.
7. You can change the amount of spacing between the lines in the grid by making a selection from the
“Grid spacing” drop-down menu.
8. Click the “OK” button to apply the grid settings to the “Layout Designer” window.
SELECTING OBJECTS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To select an object within the “Layout Designer” window, click it to select it.
2. When an onscreen object is selected, it appears with a border comprised of slashes and containing
eight squares on the corners and sides of the object. These squares are the resizing handles used to
resize the object.
3. To select multiple form objects, click the first object to select it.
4. Hold down the “Shift” key with your free hand.
5. Click any other objects you want to select as part of the group.
6. Release the “Shift” key when finished.
7. To de-select a selected object or objects, click into the blank, or empty, area within the form.
MOVING AND RESIZING OBJECTS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To move selected objects within the “Layout Designer” window, click and drag the objects from one
place to another in the form.
2. To resize a selected object, place your mouse pointer over one of the resizing squares until the mouse
pointer turns into a double-pointed arrow.
3. At that point, click and drag with your mouse to resize the selected object in either direction shown by
the arrows.
4. To make multiple selected objects the same height, the same width, or the exact same size,
simultaneously select the objects you want to make the same height, width, or size.
5. Click either the “Height,” “Width,” or “Size” buttons within the “Make Same” button group in the toolbar at
the top of the window.
6. The selected objects will then be the same height, width, or exact same size as the last object selected,
depending on which of the three buttons you click.

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
FORMATTING OBJECTS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To format objects in the “Layout Designer” window, double-click the text box or data field that you
want to format.
2. Alternatively, select a text box or data field and then click the “Properties…” button in the toolbar at the
top of the “Layout Designer” window to open the “Properties” dialog box.
3. Within the “Properties” dialog box you can set the appearance of the text box or data field by changing
the settings shown within the “Text,” “Border,” and “Background” tabs.
4. For text boxes and labels, enter the text to display into the field shown at the top of the “Properties”
dialog box.
5. To set the appearance of text within the object, click the “Text” tab.
6. In the “Justification” section, you can select either “Left,” “Right,” or “Center” in the “Horizontal” section
and “Top,” “Bottom,” or “Center” in the “Vertical” section to set the horizontal and vertical text alignment.
7. To indent the first line of text within a text box, click the “Indent First Line of Text” checkbox within
the “Horizontal” section.
8. To select the font used to display text within the object, click the “Font…” button to open the
“Example” dialog box.
9. Change the “Font,” “Font style,” “Size,” “Effects,” and “Color” of the font by making choices from the
fields within this dialog box.
10. After setting the font attributes, click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
11. You can set the font color for the object within the “Text” tab by clicking the “Color” button shown to
open the “Change Color” dialog box.
12. Select any font color you want, and click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
13. To change the border of the selected object, click the “Border” tab within the “Properties” dialog box.
14. Choose the sides of the object to which you want to apply a border by checking the “Top,” “Bottom,”
“Left,” and “Right” checkboxes, as desired.
15. If you apply a border to the object, you can select the increment used to round the corners of the
borders by making a selection from the “Rounded Corners” section.
16. You can select the desired border pattern to use from the “Pattern” section.
17. You can select a desired border thickness from the “Thickness” section.
18. You can click the “Color” button to open the “Change Color” dialog box.
19. Select a color for the border, and click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
20. To set a background color for the object, click the “Background” tab within the “Properties” dialog
box.
21. Check the “Fill Background” checkbox.
22. Click the “Background Color” button shown to open the “Change Color” dialog box.
23. Select the background color you want, and click the “OK” button to return to the “Properties” dialog box.
24. Click the “OK” button within the “Properties” dialog box to apply your changes to the selected text box or
data field.

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
COPYING OBJECTS AND FORMATTING IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To copy a selected object within the “Layout Designer” window, click the “Copy” button within the
2. To copy the formatting of a selected object, click the “Copy Format” button within the toolbar at the
top of the window. The button will then change to the “End Format” button.
3. Place your mouse pointer over the object to which you want to paste the formatting of the object whose
formatting you just copied. Note that your mouse pointer now appears as a “paint brush” icon when held
over the objects within the window.
4. Click the object to paste the copied formatting.
5. Repeat steps #3 and #4 until you have applied the copied formatting to all of the necessary objects
within the “Layout Designer” window.
6. When you are finished, click the “End Format” button to turn this feature off and return to your normal
arrow selector mouse pointer.
ADDING AND REMOVING OBJECTS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To add objects to the form, click the “Add” drop-down button in the toolbar at the top of the “Layout
Designer” window.
2. From the drop-down menu that appears, choose the type of object to add to the form: “Text Box,” “Data
Field,” or “Image.”
3. If you select “Text Box,” the “Properties” dialog box will appear onscreen.
4. Enter the text you want the text box to display into the “Text” field at the top of the dialog box and set
any formatting properties you want the text box to possess on the “Text,” “Border,” and “Background”
tabs.
5. Click the “OK” button to add the text box to the form.
6. If you select “Data Field,” the “Add Data Field” dialog box will appear onscreen.
7. Click the name of the data field you want to add to the form within this dialog box.
8. Click the “OK” button to add the data field and its associated label into the form.
9. If you select “Image,” the “Select Image” dialog box will appear onscreen.
10. Use this dialog box to navigate to and select the image you want to add to the form.
11. After selecting the desired image, click the “Open” button.
12. If the image is not within the same directory as the company file, QuickBooks will display a
message informing you that the image must be copied into the “Images” folder within the company file’s
directory.
13. If this message box appears, click the “OK” button within the “Warning” message box to automatically
copy the image to the correct folder.
14. At that point, regardless of whether or not you needed to copy the image to the company file’s image
directory, a “Properties” dialog box appears onscreen, showing you a preview of the image you
selected.
15. Click the “OK” button in the “Properties” dialog box to add the selected image to the form.
16. To remove objects from the form, select the object to remove and click the “Remove” button in the

ACTIONS-
Customizing Forms
ALIGNING AND STACKING OBJECTS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To align objects to one another, click and drag the objects into position using the grid for alignment of
the top, bottom, left and right edges.
2. To center align two differently sized objects over one another horizontally, first align the objects
vertically within the form.
3. Select the first object and click the “Horz” button in the toolbar at the top of the “Layout Designer”
window to align the selected object horizontally within the center of the form.
4. De-select the first object.
5. Select the second object to align horizontally to the first and click the “Horz” button again to align the
object with the center of the form.
6. Use the multiple selection method to select both objects as a group, as they should now be centered
over one another.
7. Move the grouped objects as a single unit to the desired destination within the form.
8. To change the stacking level of objects within the form, select the object whose stacking order you
wish to change.
9. Right-click the selected object and roll over the “Order” command in the pop-up menu that appears.
10. From the side menu of choices that appears, either select “Bring Forward,” to move the object to the
foreground of the stack, or select “Send Backward,” to send the object to the background of the stack.
RESIZING COLUMNS IN THE LAYOUT DESIGNER:
1. To resize the columns displayed within the line items area within the printed version of a form,
click once on the columns shown towards the bottom of the form within the “Layout Designer” window to
select the entire table of columns.
2. Place your mouse pointer between any two columns, to the left or right of the column you want to resize,
until the mouse pointer turns into an icon of a single vertical line intersected by a horizontal arrow.
3. When the mouse pointer changes, click and drag either left or right to increase or decrease the size of
the columns.
4. Note that you cannot select the far right or far left column borders within the table to resize those
columns. You can only resize the entire table to change the far right or far left borders of the table area.
You should not expand the size of the table into the margins of the printed form.

EXERCISES-
Customizing Forms
Purpose:
To be able to create and modify an invoice template.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Lists| Templates” from the Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner of the “Templates” list window and select the
“New” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
9. In the “Select Template Type” dialog box, click the “Invoice” option button, then click the “OK” button.
10. Click the “Manage Templates…” button at the top of the “Basic Customization” window that appears.
11. Type a template name of your choosing into the “Template Name” field and then click “OK.”
12. Click the “Additional Customization…” button at the bottom of the “Basic Customization” window.
13. Click the “Header” tab.
14. Remove the checks for the “Screen” and “Print” columns next to the “P.O. Number” field.
15. Place checkmarks under the “Screen” and “Print” columns next to the “Due Date” field.
16. Click the “Layout Designer…” button to launch the “Layout Designer” window.
17. Double-click the “Rock Castle Construction” field in the upper-left corner of the window to open the
“Properties” dialog box.
18. On the “Text” tab, click the “Color” button and select a different color for the font from the “Change
Color” dialog box.
19. Click the “OK” button within the “Change Color” dialog box to set the new color.
20. Click the “OK” button in the “Properties” dialog box to see the change applied.
21. Click the “OK” button in the Layout Designer” window.
22. Click the “OK” button in the “Additional Customization” window.
23. Click the “OK” button in the “Basic Customization” window.
24. Select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar to open the “Invoices” window.
25. Select the name of the invoice template you just created from the “Templates” drop-down menu in
the upper-right corner of the “Create Invoices” window.
26. Click the drop-down arrow below the “Print” button in the “Main” tab within the Ribbon at the top of
the invoice screen and select the “Preview” command from the drop-down menu.
27. Click the “Zoom In” button in the toolbar at the top of the “Print Preview” window to view the changes
made to the “Print” version.
28. Click the “Close” button in the toolbar at the top of the “Print Preview” window.
29. Close the “Create Invoices” window and the “Templates” list window.

CHAPTER 18-
Estimating
18.1- Creating a Job
18.2- Creating an Estimate
18.3- Duplicating Estimates
18.4- Invoicing from an Estimate
18.5- Updating Job Statuses
18.6- Inactivating Estimates
18.7- Making Purchases for a Job
18.8- Invoicing for Job Costs
18.9- Using Job Reports

Estimating
18.1- Creating a Job:
Project-based businesses that want to track income and expenses for customer projects can use the
“Jobs” feature within QuickBooks to do this. You can create a job for a customer in the “Customers & Jobs”
list. To do this, open the “Customer Center” window and select the name of the customer for whom you
want to make a job within the “Customers & Jobs” list. Then click the “New Customer & Job” button in the
upper-left corner of the Customer Center and choose the “Add Job” command from the drop-down to open
the “New Job” window.
This window is just like the “New Customer” window, except that the first three tabs in the “New Job”
window will already be filled-in with the selected customer’s information. All you need to do is enter a name
for the job into the “Job Name” field at the top of the window and click the “Job Info” tab to enter the specific
job information. On this tab, you can enter a longer description for the job into the “Job Description” field.
Then enter the type of job into the “Job Type” field, or choose a previous entry made within this field from
the drop-down menu. This field helps you categorize the types of projects you perform for customers. You
can use its values as a report filter, so you can see income and expense by job type. Select the status of
the job from the “Job Status” drop-down field. Be sure to update the value within this field as the project
progresses. When the job starts, enter the start date into the “Start Date” field. Then enter the best estimate
as to when the job will be completed into the “Projected End Date” field. When the project finally finishes,
enter its actual end date into the “End Date” field. When finished, click the “OK” button to add the job to the
“Customers & Jobs” list. Note that “Jobs” for “Customers” appear as “subaccount” entries within this list.
After you have created a job for a customer, you can record income and expenses for the customer
job by using the “Customer:Job” column that appears within the line items area in your forms, such as the
“Enter Bills” form, for example. You can also create estimates to give to a customer for a proposed job
within QuickBooks.
18.2- Creating an Estimate:
An estimate is a preliminary sales proposal that is often created for a customer’s job. You can create
multiple estimates for each customer or each job. If the customer accepts an estimate, you can create an
invoice from the estimate, changing it as needed. QuickBooks allows you to create invoices from estimates
either by transferring the entire estimate amount to an invoice or by billing only a portion or percentage of
the estimate amount over several invoices. The ability to bill for only a percentage of the estimate or for
various amounts of selected items in an estimate is called progress invoicing or partial billing.
If you have a job for which you want to create an estimate, select “Customers| Create Estimates”
from the Menu Bar to open the “Estimates” window. Creating an estimate is like creating an invoice, except
the amounts entered into an “Estimate” do not affect any posting accounts within the Chart of Accounts.
Within the “Estimates” window, select the name of the job for which you are creating the estimate
from the “Customer:Job” drop-down menu. Note that you can create estimates for customers without jobs,
but that is less common. If needed, select the desired estimate template to use from the “Template” drop-
down.
Enter the date the estimate is created into the “Date” field. Ensure the correct estimate number is
displayed within the “Estimate #” field, and double-check the customer and job information shown. After
that, click into the “Item” column within the line item area and select the first item within the estimate. Enter
any associated “Quantity,” “Rate,” and “Amount” information for the line item. Continue entering line items
until you have entered all of the items needed for the estimate. You can print the estimate to send to the
customer, if needed, and then click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button to finish.

Estimating
18.3- Duplicating Estimates:
You can also create multiple estimates for the same job, if needed. For example, you may need to
do this if you have a client that needs a few different pricing options for a job, and thus needs multiple
estimates for the same job. You can easily duplicate and modify an existing estimate, versus creating an
entirely new estimate for the same job, to save time performing data entry.
To do this, first display the estimate you want to duplicate within the “Estimates” window. Select
“Edit| Duplicate Estimate” from the Menu Bar to duplicate the estimate. You should see the next highest
available estimate number appear within the “Estimate #” field. Edit the details shown within the new
estimate by changing the information contained in the line item area of the new estimate. Be sure to save
the new estimate you create by clicking either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button.
If you do not want create a second estimate for a job by duplicating an existing estimate, you can
always create a new estimate for the same job from scratch, if you prefer. Also, if you choose to duplicate
an estimate, be careful when you select the “Duplicate Estimate” command from the Menu Bar, as it is
located right next to the “Delete Estimate” command in the drop-down menu.
18.4- Invoicing from an Estimate:
After you have created an estimate and the customer has accepted it, you can use the estimate to
invoice the customer. You can either send them an invoice for the entire amount or send them several
invoices for smaller portions of the total estimated amount. This is called progress invoicing. Progress
invoicing, which is sometimes called progress billing or partial billing, allows you to invoice for jobs you work
on and complete in phases. When using progress invoicing, start by creating an estimate for the total job.
As you complete each phase within the job, you transfer the related items from the original estimate to an
invoice. You can specify which items to include in each invoice, and change the estimated amounts or
percentages of each item, if needed. When you use estimates to create progress invoices, you can run
reports to help you compare estimated costs and revenue to actual costs and revenue.
To create an invoice from an estimate, open the “Create Invoices” window by selecting “Customers|
Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar. Select the job for which you have created an estimate from the
“Customer:Job” drop-down field.
QuickBooks will automatically display the “Available Estimates” window, which shows all of the
available estimates for the selected job. Select the estimate from which you want to create the invoice. Then
click the “OK” button to continue.
In the “Create Progress Invoice Based on Estimate” window that appears, select the option button
for the invoicing option you want to use for the invoice. You can select either “Create invoice for the entire
estimate (100%),” “Create invoice for a percentage of the entire estimate,” or “Create invoice for selected
items or for different percentages of each item.” If you select the first option, click the “OK” button to transfer
all the items from the estimate to the invoice. If you select the second option, enter the percentage of the
total estimate to place into the current invoice by typing the percentage to bill into the “% of estimate” field.
Then click the “OK” button to transfer the selected percentage of all line items amounts within the estimate
to the invoice window. If you select the third option, click the “OK” button to open the “Specify Invoice
Amounts for Items on Estimate” window.
In this window you will see all the items from the estimate shown in a list. You can enter the amounts
or percentage of each item to transfer to the invoice by entering the desired percentages, rates, and/or
quantities into the columns shown. Ensure that the “Show Quantity and Rate” and “Show Percentage”
checkboxes are checked to enable the display of those columns, if desired. After you have entered the

Estimating
18.4- Invoicing from an Estimate- (cont’d.):
amounts for the items to transfer to the invoice, click the “OK” button. Note that all of the items will transfer
to the invoice, but you can set zero amount line items to not print, if desired, by changing the settings within
the “Jobs and Estimates” category within the “Preferences” dialog box in QuickBooks.
At that point, you will see the items you want to bill to the customer displayed within the “Create
Invoices” window. You can double-check and change any information needed within the invoice. After you
have done that, click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons to finish.
18.5- Updating Job Statuses:
Each time the status of a job changes, you should update its status in the “Customers & Jobs” list
within the “Customer Center” window. For example, if you began work on a job that was labeled “Pending,”
you should update the information for the job to reflect the fact that you have started work on it.
You can update a job status by double-clicking the job entry within in the “Customers & Jobs” list, or
by selecting the job within the list and then selecting “Edit| Edit Customer:Job” from the Menu Bar, to open
the “Edit Job” window. Within this window, select the “Job Info” tab and then use the “Job Status” drop-down
to change the job’s status. When finished, click the “OK” button to save your changes.
18.6- Inactivating Estimates:
If you have a customer with multiple outstanding estimates for a job that accepts one of the
estimates, you should make any other estimates for that job inactive. When you make an estimate inactive,
QuickBooks keeps a record of it, but removes its value from the total estimated amount for the selected job.
To inactivate an estimate, display the estimate to inactivate within the “Estimates” window. One way
to do this is to use the “Find” feature within the “Estimates” window. Another way to find the estimate is to
open the “Customer Center” and select the desired job for which you have created the estimate within the
“Customers & Jobs” tab. You can then see the estimates for the job displayed on the “Transactions” tab at
the right side of the “Customer Center” window. You can select the desired estimate to inactivate within the
list shown in the “Transactions” tab and then click the “Manage Transactions” button at the bottom of the
“Transactions” tab. Choose the “Edit Selected Transaction” command from the pop-up menu that appears
to open the selected estimate in the “Estimates” window.
With the estimate you want to inactivate displayed within the “Estimates” window, click the “Mark As
Inactive” button within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window. Then click the “Save & Close”
button to save the changes and close the window.

Estimating
18.7- Making Purchases for a Job:
You can assign purchases you make to a specific customer or job, so you can later bill the customer
for those costs. To do this, use the drop-down within the “Customer:Job” column that appears in the line
item area within forms such as the “Enter Bills” window to select the name of the customer:job you will be
billing for the purchase as you create a bill in the “Enter Bills” window.
Notice that the “Customer:Job” column appears within the line items area in almost every type of
transaction form, from the “Create Purchase Orders” and “Enter Bills” windows to the “Write Checks” and
“Enter Credit Card Charges” window. You use the “Customer:Job” column to assign line item amounts to a
customer:job for future billing or to simply record job costing amounts.
To later bill a customer for line item costs entered into many forms, ensure that there is a
checkmark within the “Billable?” column within the line item area for each line item that you want to bill back
to the customer. To make the line item non-billable if simply recording job costing information and not billing
the cost to the customer, click the “Billable?” checkbox for that line item to remove the check from the
checkbox. You can then save and close the form.
18.8- Invoicing for Job Costs:
If you assign job costs you incur to the correct customer:job, then the next time that you create an
invoice for that customer:job, you can bill for the job costs. To do this, create an invoice by selecting
“Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar. Then use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the
customer:job to which you have assigned job costs.
When you do this, QuickBooks will then display the “Billable Time/Costs” window. To bill the costs,
click the “Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to this invoice?” option button and then click
the “OK” button to continue and open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window. Note that even if you
select not to bill the time and costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add Time/Costs” button that
appears within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the “Choose Billable Time and
Costs” window.
In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Expenses” and “Items” tabs, as needed,
to display the outstanding expenses recorded and items purchased for the selected customer:job. Select
the expenses to bill to the customer by clicking the leftmost column next to each line item to mark it with a
checkmark.
On the “Expenses” tab, you can even markup expenses if needed, by entering the amount or
percentage to mark up the items into the “Markup Amount or %” field. Note that if you mark up the selected
items by a percentage, then you must enter the percent sign into this field, otherwise QuickBooks will
assume it is an amount. If you mark up expenses, select the income account to which you attribute the
markup by selecting it from the “Markup Account” drop-down. If the selected expenses are taxable, check
the “Selected expenses are taxable” checkbox.
In both tabs, you can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add
all of the billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed. Once you have checked the
billable items and expenses, click the “OK” button to add them to the invoice. You can then complete the
invoice as you normally would, and save the invoice by clicking either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New”
button within the “Create Invoices” window when you are finished.

Estimating
18.9- Using Job Reports:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides you with various reports that display general job information, job
costing information, and estimate information. You can access these reports from the “Reports” menu within
the Menu Bar, under the “Jobs, Time & Mileage” report category in QuickBooks Desktop Pro. The names of
the reports and descriptions of their content are listed below.
REPORT NAME: DESCRIPTION:
Job Profitability Summary Summarizes the money made from each customer’s job.
Job Profitability Detail Shows the details of how much was made for a single customer’s job.
Job Estimates vs. Actuals Summary Compares estimated cost to actual cost and estimated revenue to
actual revenue for all customers and jobs.
Job Estimates vs. Actuals Detail For a selected customer or job, compares estimated costs to actual
costs and estimated revenues to actual revenues.
Job Progress Invoices vs. Estimates Compares estimates to the estimates’ progress invoices.
Item Profitability Shows how much money has been made from each item sold.
Item Estimates vs. Actuals For each item, compares estimated cost to actual cost and estimated
revenue to actual revenue.
Profit & Loss by Job Shows how much money has been made or lost on each job.
Estimates by Job Lists all estimates by job.
Unbilled Costs by Job Shows all unbilled costs for each customer job.
Open Purchase Orders by Job Shows all open purchase orders for each customer job.

ACTIONS-
Estimating
TO CREATE A NEW JOB:
1. To create a new job for an existing customer, open the “Customer Center” window.
2. Select the name of the customer for whom you want to make a job within the “Customers & Jobs” list.
3. Click the “New Customer & Job” button in the upper-left corner of the Customer Center and choose the
“Add Job” command from the drop-down to open the “New Job” window.
4. Enter a name for the job into the “Job Name” field at the top of the window.
5. Click the “Job Info” tab.
6. Enter a description for the job into the “Job Description” field.
7. Enter the type of job into the “Job Type” field, or choose a previous entry made within this field from the
drop-down menu.
8. Select the status of the job from the “Job Status” drop-down field.
9. When the job starts, enter the start date into the “Start Date” field.
10. Enter the best estimate as to when the job will be completed into the “Projected End Date” field.
11. When the project finally finishes, enter its actual end date into the “End Date” field.
12. Click the “OK” button to add the job to the “Customers & Jobs” list.
TO CREATE AN ESTIMATE:
1. To create an estimate for a customer or job, select “Customers| Create Estimates” from the Menu
Bar to open the “Estimates” window.
2. Select the name of the job for which you are creating the estimate from the “Customer:Job” drop-down
menu. Note that you can create estimates for customers without jobs, but that is less common.
3. Select the desired estimate template to use from the “Template” drop-down.
4. Enter the date the estimate is created into the “Date” field.
5. Ensure that the correct estimate number is displayed within the “Estimate #” field, and double-check the
customer and job information.
6. Click into the “Item” column within the line item area and select the first item within the estimate.
7. Then enter any associated “Quantity,” “Rate,” and “Amount” information for the line item.
8. Repeat steps # 6 and #7 until you have entered all of the items needed for the estimate.
9. You can print the estimate to send to the customer by clicking the “Print” button within the “Main” tab of
the Ribbon at the top of the “Estimates” window.
10. Click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button to finish.
TO DUPLICATE AN ESTIMATE:
1. To duplicate an estimate, display the estimate that you want to duplicate within the “Estimates”
window.
2. Select “Edit| Duplicate Estimate” from the Menu Bar to duplicate the estimate. You should see the next
highest estimate number appear within the “Estimate #” field.
3. Edit the details of the estimate, as needed, by changing the information in the line item area of the new
estimate.
4. You can print the estimate to send to the customer by clicking the “Print” button within the “Main” tab of
the Ribbon at the top of the “Estimates” window.
5. Click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button.

ACTIONS-
Estimating
CREATING AN INVOICE FROM AN ESTIMATE:
1. To create an invoice from an estimate, open the “Create Invoices” window by selecting “Customers|
Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the job for which you have created an estimate from the “Customer:Job” drop-down field.
3. In the “Available Estimates” window, select the estimate from which you want to create the invoice.
4. Click the “OK” button to continue.
5. In the “Create Progress Invoice Based on Estimate” window that appears, select the option button for
the invoicing option that you want to use for the invoice. You can select either “Create invoice for the
entire estimate (100%),” “Create invoice for a percentage of the entire estimate,” or “Create invoice for
selected items or for different percentages of each item.”
6. If you select the first option, click the “OK” button to transfer all of the items from the estimate to the
invoice. Skip to step #11.
7. If you select the second option, enter the percentage of the total estimate to place into the current
invoice by typing the percentage to bill into the “% of estimate” field. Then click the “OK” button to
transfer the selected percentage of all estimate amounts to the invoice window. Skip to step #11.
8. If you select the third option, click the “OK” button to open the “Specify Invoice Amounts for Items on
Estimate” window where you will enter the amounts and/or percentage of each item to transfer to the
invoice by entering the desired percentages, rates, and quantities into the columns shown.
9. After you have entered the amounts for the items you want to transfer to the invoice, click the “OK”
button to transfer the items to the invoice.
10. At that point, you will then see the items you want to bill displayed within the “Create Invoices” window.
11. Double-check and change any information, as needed, within the invoice.
12. Click either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” buttons to finish.
UPDATING A JOB STATUS:
1. To update the status of a job, open the “Customer Center” window.

2. Double-click the job entry within in the “Customers & Jobs” list or select the job within the list and then
selecting “Edit| Edit Customer:Job” from the Menu Bar to open the “Edit Job” window.
3. Select the “Job Info” tab.
4. Use the “Job Status” drop-down to change the job’s status.
5. Click the “OK” button to save your changes.
INACTIVATING AN ESTIMATE:
1. To inactivate an existing estimate, display the estimate to inactivate within the “Estimates” window.
2. Click the “Mark As Inactive” button within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the window.
3. Click the “Save & Close” button to save your changes and close the window.

ACTIONS-
Estimating
MAKING PURCHASES FOR A JOB:
1. To record purchases for a job, open the desired purchasing form, such as the “Create Purchase
Orders,” “Enter Bills,” “Write Checks,” or “Enter Credit Card Charges” window.
2. Enter the vendor information.
3. Enter the first “Item” or record the expense for the job in the line items area.
4. For each line item entered, use the drop-down within the “Customer:Job” column to select the name of
the customer:job you will be billing for the line item.
5. To bill the customer for the costs later, ensure there is a checkmark within the “Billable?” column for
the same line item.
6. To make the line item non-billable if only recording job costing information and not billing the
cost to the customer, click the line item’s “Billable?” checkbox to remove the check from the checkbox.
7. You can then save and close the form as normal.
INVOICING FOR JOB COSTS:
1. To invoice for recorded job costs, select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. Use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer:job to which you have assigned job costs.
3. In the “Billable Time/Costs” window that appears, to enter the billable costs you can click the “Select the
outstanding billable time and costs to add to this invoice?” option button and then click the “OK” button
to continue and open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window.
4. Note that even if you select not to bill the time and costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add
Time/Costs” button that appears within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the
“Choose Billable Time and Costs” window.
5. In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Expenses” and “Items” tabs, as needed, to
display the outstanding expenses recorded and items purchased for the selected customer:job.
6. Select the expenses to bill to the customer by clicking the leftmost column next to each line item to mark
it with a checkmark.
7. On the “Expenses” tab, you can markup expenses by entering the amount or percentage to mark up the
items into the “Markup Amount or %” field. Note that to mark up selected items by a percentage, you
must enter the percent sign into this field, otherwise QuickBooks will assume it is an amount.
8. If you mark up expenses, select the income account to which you attribute the markup by selecting it
from the “Markup Account” drop-down.
9. If the selected expenses are taxable, check the “Selected expenses are taxable” checkbox.
10. In both tabs, you can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add all
of the billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed.
11. After you have checked the billable items and expenses, click the “OK” button to add them to the
invoice.
12. Complete the invoice as you normally would, and save the invoice by clicking either the “Save & Close”
or “Save & New” button within the “Create Invoices” window when you are finished.
CREATING “JOBS, TIME & MILEAGE” REPORTS:
1. To run a job report, select “Reports| Jobs, Time & Mileage” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the name of the report to display within this category from the side menu of choices that appears.

EXERCISES-
Estimating
Purpose:
To be able to create a job, an estimate, and an invoice based on an estimate.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. Select “Customers| Customer Center” from the Menu Bar to open the “Customer Center” window.
8. Within the “Customers & Jobs” tab, select “Natiello, Ernesto.”
9. Click the “New Customer & Job” button above the tab and then select “Add Job” from the menu.
10. In the “New Job” window, type “Bathroom Remodel” into the “Job Name” field.
11. Click the “Job Info” tab, and enter “ ” into the “Job Description” field.
12. Select “Remodel” from the “Job Type” drop-down.
13. Select “Pending” from the “Job Status” drop-down.
14. Delete the values from the “Projected End Date” and the “End Date” fields.
15. Click the “OK” button to create the new job.
16. Ensure that the “Bathroom Remodel” job is selected within the “Customers & Jobs” tab and then
select “Customers| Create Estimates” from the Menu Bar.
17. Click into the first row under the “Item” column, and type “Removal.”
18. Press the “Tab” key on your keyboard twice to move to the “Qty” column and type “40.”
19. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the estimate and close the “Estimates” window.
20. Ensure that the “Bathroom Remodel” job is selected within the “Customers & Jobs” tab and then
select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
21. Press the “Tab” key on your keyboard to exit the “Customer:Job” field.
22. In the “Available Estimates” window that appears, select the estimate and click the “OK” button.
23. In the “Create Progress Invoice Based on Estimate” dialog box, select the option button for “Create
invoice for a percentage of the entire estimate.”
24. Type “25” into the “% of estimate” text box, and then click the “OK” button to continue.
25. Use the “Template” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the “Create Invoices” window to select the
“Progress Invoice” template.
26. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the progress invoice.
27. Close the “Customer Center” window.

CHAPTER 19-
Time Tracking
19.1- Tracking Time and Printing a Blank Timesheet
19.2- Weekly Timesheets
19.3- Time/Enter Single Activity
19.4- Invoicing from Time Data
19.5- Using Time Reports
19.6- Tracking Vehicle Mileage
19.7- Charging Customers for Mileage

Time Tracking
19.1- Tracking Time and Printing a Blank Timesheet:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides time tracking for any job. Time tracking lets you keep track of the
time a person spends on each job. The person whose time you track can be an employee, an owner, a
partner, or a subcontractor, as long as you have created the subcontractor as a vendor within the “Vendors”
list.
You can then use the time data you entered to perform tasks like invoicing a customer for job labor,
providing hours worked on an employee’s paycheck, tracking the cost of an employee’s gross pay by job, or
simply reporting the number of hours worked by a person, on a job, or with an item, like equipment.
You can enter data into QuickBooks using either the “Weekly Timesheet” window or the “Time/Enter
Single Activity” window. If you want to enter time for multiple jobs or multiple days, the “Weekly Timesheet”
window is the best choice. If you tend to enter a lot of detailed notes about activities or prefer to enter time
data as you complete an activity, use the “Time/Enter Single Activity” window, instead. Either way, the time
information you record in one window displays in the other window. They are simply two different views of
the same time information. So, don’t enter the same data into both forms, as doing that would duplicate the
time data recorded!
Also note that you can print blank weekly timesheets to manually record hours worked by
employees or vendors on paper, which you can later transfer into QuickBooks. To do this, open the “Weekly
Timesheet” window by selecting “Employees| Enter Time| Use Weekly Timesheet” from the Menu Bar.
Within this window, click the drop-down arrow that appears to the right of the “Print” button within the toolbar
at the top of the window. Then choose the “Print Blank Timesheet…” command from the drop-down menu
to open the “Print Timesheets” window. Then click the “Print” button to print the blank timesheets.
19.2- Weekly Timesheets:
You can use the “Weekly Timesheet” window to enter the hours worked by a person within a week,
what they did, for which customer:job, and, optionally, how much you paid them. You can open the “Weekly
Timesheet” window by choosing “Employees| Enter Time| Use Weekly Timesheet” from the Menu Bar.
In the “Weekly Timesheet” window, use the “Name” drop-down to select the name of the individual
for whom you want to view or track time. To change the week you are viewing within the window, select any
date within the week you want to view from the calendar selector button at the top of the window. The days
of the selected week for the selected individual will then be displayed in the window.
Enter the “Customer:Job,” “Service Item,” “Payroll Item,” if you enable your employees to enter hours
via the timesheet, “WC Code,” “Notes,” and the hours per day that the selected person spent doing the
selected type of work into the columns of the same names that are displayed.
Time Tracking
19.2- Weekly Timesheets- (cont’d.):
To copy any hours entered for the selected person from the previous week forward into the
currently selected week, click the “Copy Last Sheet” button in the lower-left corner of this window. This can
save time when performing data entry for individuals who have consistent timesheet entries each week.
When finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save the time recorded and close the window.
19.3- Time/Enter Single Activity:
You can use the “Time/Enter Single Activity” timesheet to enter the hours worked by a person, what
they did, for which customer:job, and, optionally, how much you paid them to do it for a single day. You can
open the “Time/Enter Single Activity” window by selecting “Employees| Enter Time| Time / Enter Single
Activity” from the Menu Bar.
Within the “Time/Enter Single Activity” window, select the date for the activity from the “Date”
calendar selector field. Use the “Name” drop-down to select the person whose time you are entering. Enter
the “Customer:Job,” “Service Item,” “Payroll Item,” if you enable your employees to enter hours via the
timesheet, “WC Code,” and “Notes” you want to record into the fields of the same names. Then enter the
duration of time to record this activity into the “Duration” field. To actively record the time you spend
performing an activity, like “Legal Research” for example, click the “Start” button when you begin the
activity, the “Pause” button when you want to pause the time recording, and the “Stop” button when you
have finished the activity to record the actual time you spent performing the activity as an entry within the
“Duration” field. When you are finished entering time data, click the “Save & Close” button to save the time
and close the window.
19.4- Invoicing from Time Data:
After recording the time that your employees or subcontractors spend performing services for a
customer’s job, you can bill the customer for the work performed in an invoice. To do this, create an invoice
by selecting “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar. Then use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to
select the customer:job to which you have assigned billable time.
When you do this, QuickBooks will then display the “Billable Time/Costs” window. To bill the time,
click the “Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to this invoice?” option button and click the
“OK” button to continue and open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window. Even if you choose not to
bill the time and costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add Time/Costs” button that appears within
the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window.
In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Time” tab to display the billable hours
recorded for the selected customer:job. Select the hours to bill to the customer by clicking the leftmost
column next to each line item to mark it with a checkmark. To choose how QuickBooks will import the
timesheet data into the invoice, click the “Options…” button in the upper-right corner of the tab to open the
“Options for Transferring Billable Time” dialog box. Select the desired option button to indicate how you
want the time data to be imported. Click the “OK” button to set your preference and return to the “Time” tab.
You can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add all of the
selected billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed. After you have checked the
billable hours, click the “OK” button to add them to the invoice. Complete the invoice as you normally would,
and save the invoice by clicking either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button within the “Create
Invoices” window when you are finished.
Time Tracking
19.5- Using Time Reports:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides you with reports that assist you in time tracking. They can be
accessed by selecting “Reports| Jobs, Time & Mileage” from the Menu Bar in QuickBooks Desktop Pro. The
following is a listing of the names and functions of the time reports available in QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
REPORT NAME: DESCRIPTION:
Time by Job Summary Shows hours worked totaled by customer job, and then totaled by
service item per job.
Time by Job Detail Lists each time activity (work done by a person for a particular
customer or job on a specific date), and shows whether the work is
billed, unbilled, or not billable. The report groups and subtotals the
activities first by customer and job and then by service item.
Time by Name Shows hours worked (or tracked as sick or vacation time), subtotaled
first by the name of the person who performed the work, and then by
the customer job for whom the work was performed.
Time by Item Totals the hours by service item, and then subtotals the hours worked
by customer job.
19.6- Tracking Vehicle Mileage:
You can track mileage for vehicles in QuickBooks so you have a record of vehicle mileage for tax
purposes. You can also assign mileage to a specific customer job, so you can bill the customer for the
mileage, if needed. There are some limitations to the use of this data, however. You cannot use the data to
reimburse employees or vendors for mileage. You also cannot track specific vehicle expenses like tolls
paid, gas, and other types of expenses. You can work around this by entering these charges as a bill, which
can be charged to the customer. Also, vehicle mileage information from Quicken will not be imported into
QuickBooks.
Generally, you can use either the standard mileage rate or the actual expenses for calculating
vehicle mileage expenses. You should consult with your tax advisor or the IRS to determine which method
you should use, if any.
To enter vehicle mileage, select “Company| Enter Vehicle Mileage…” from the Menu Bar to launch
the “Enter Vehicle Mileage” window. Use the “Vehicle” drop-down at the top of the window to select for
which vehicle you will be entering mileage. You can type a new vehicle description into this field and then
use the “Quick Add” feature to quickly add the vehicle to the “Vehicle List.” You can click the “Vehicle List”
button in the toolbar at the top of the “Enter Vehicle Mileage” window to open the list of vehicles if you would
like to enter a detailed description about the vehicles used by your company.
Next, use the “Trip Start Date” and “Trip End Date” calendar drop-down fields to input the start and
end dates of the trip you are recording. Input the odometer start and end values into the boxes provided to
fill-in the “Total Miles” by subtracting the two values. You may also simply type the total miles of the trip into
the “Total Miles” box, if needed.
To assign the miles to a specific customer or job, check the “Billable” checkbox in the upper-right
corner of the window and use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer or job to which you
Time Tracking
19.6- Tracking Vehicle Mileage- (cont’d.):
want to assign the mileage. Then use the “Item” drop-down to select your “Mileage” item from your “Item
List.” If you are going to be reimbursed for mileage by the customer, you need to create a “Mileage” item as
an “Other Charge” or “Service” type item within the “Item List” so you can use it to collect the mileage
amounts in an invoice at a later point. After entering the mileage, feel free to add any additional notes into
the “Notes” field, and then click the “Save & Close” button when finished.
Note the “Mileage Rates” button at the top of the “Enter Vehicle Mileage” window. If you click this
button, you will be presented with the “Mileage Rates” dialog box. Here you can input the most recent
“Effective Date” of the federal mileage rate into the column available. Then set the rate in the “Rate” column
next to the specified date. Check with the IRS for any effective rate changes and make sure that you keep
this information current. Just click the “Close” button when you are finished entering the mileage rates.
19.7- Charging Customers for Mileage:
As long as you entered vehicle mileage, marked it as billable, and assigned it to a customer job, you
can invoice the customer:job to collect the mileage. To do this, create an invoice by selecting “Customers|
Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar. Use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer:job to which
you have assigned billable mileage.
When you do this, QuickBooks will display the “Billable Time/Costs” window. To bill the mileage,
click the “Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to this invoice?” option button and click the
“OK” button to continue and open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window. Even if you choose not to
bill the mileage costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add Time/Costs” button that appears within the
“Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window.
In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Mileage” tab to display the billable
mileage recorded for the selected customer:job. Select the mileage to bill to the customer by clicking the
leftmost column next to each line item to mark it with a checkmark.
To choose how QuickBooks will import the data into the invoice, click the “Options…” button in the
upper-right corner of the tab to open the “Options for Transferring Billable Mileage” dialog box and select
the desired option button to indicate how you want the mileage data to be imported. Then click the “OK”
button to set your desired preference and return to the “Mileage” tab.
You can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add all of the
selected billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed. After you have checked the
billable mileage, click the “OK” button to add it to the invoice. Complete the invoice as you normally would,
and save the invoice by clicking either the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button within the “Create
Invoices” window when you are finished.

ACTIONS-
Time Tracking
TO PRINT BLANK WEEKLY TIMESHEETS:
1. To print blank weekly timesheets, select “Employees| Enter Time| Use Weekly Timesheet” from the
Menu Bar.
2. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the “Print” button within the toolbar at the top of the “Weekly
Timesheet” window.
3. Select the “Print Blank Timesheet….” command from the drop-down menu that appears.
4. In the “Print Timesheets” window that appears, click the “Print” button.
USING A WEEKLY TIMESHEET:
1. To use the “Weekly Timesheet” window, select “Employees| Enter Time| Use Weekly Timesheet”
from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Weekly Timesheet” window, use the “Name” drop-down to select the name of the individual for
whom you want to view or track time.
3. To change the week you are viewing, select any date within the week you want to view from the
calendar selector button at the top of the window. The days of the selected week for the selected
individual will then be displayed in the window.
4. Enter the “Customer:Job,” “Service Item,” “Payroll Item,” if you enable your employees to enter hours via
the timesheet, “WC Code,” “Notes,” and the hours per day that the selected person spent doing the
selected type of work into the columns of the same names that are displayed.
5. You can click the “Copy Last Sheet” button in the lower-left corner of this window to copy any hours
entered for the selected person from the previous week forward into the currently selected week.
6. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the time recorded and close the window when you are finished.
USING THE TIME/ENTER SINGLE ACTIVITY WINDOW:
1. To use the “Time/Enter Single Activity” window, select “Employees| Enter Time| Time / Enter Single
Activity” from the Menu Bar.
2. Within the “Time/Enter Single Activity” window, select the date for the activity from the “Date” calendar
selector field.
3. Use the “Name” drop-down to select the person whose time you are entering.
4. Enter the “Customer:Job,” “Service Item,” “Payroll Item,” if you enable your employees to enter hours via
the timesheet, “WC Code,” and “Notes” that you want to record into the fields of the same names.
5. Enter the time duration of the activity into the “Duration” field.
6. To actively record the time spent performing an activity, you can click the “Start” button when you
begin the activity, the “Pause” button to pause the time recording, and the “Stop” button when you have
finished the activity to record the actual time as an entry within the “Duration” field.
7. When you are finished entering time data, just click the “Save & Close” button to save the time and
close the window.

ACTIONS-
Time Tracking
INVOICING A CUSTOMER BASED ON TIME:
1. To invoice a customer for recorded time, select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. Use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer:job to which you have assigned billable time.
3. In the “Billable Time/Costs” window, click the “Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to
this invoice?” option button and then click the “OK” button to continue and open the “Choose Billable
Time and Costs” window.
4. If you choose not to bill the time and costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add Time/Costs”
button that appears within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the “Choose
Billable Time and Costs” window.
5. In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Time” tab to display the billable hours
recorded for the selected customer:job.
6. Select the hours to bill to the customer by clicking the leftmost column next to each line item to mark it
with a checkmark.
7. To choose how QuickBooks will import the timesheet data into the invoice, click the “Options…”
button in the upper-right corner of the tab to open the “Options for Transferring Billable Time” dialog box.
8. Select the desired option button to indicate how you want the time data to be imported.
9. Click the “OK” button to set the preference and return to the “Time” tab.
10. You can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add all of the
selected billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed.
11. After you have checked the billable hours, click the “OK” button to add them to the invoice.
DISPLAYING TIME TRACKING REPORTS:
1. To view time tracking reports, select “Reports| Jobs, Time & Mileage” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the side menu that appears, select the name of the report you want to view.
TO ENTER VEHICLE MILEAGE:
1. To enter vehicle mileage, select “Company| Enter Vehicle Mileage…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Enter Vehicle Mileage” window, use the “Vehicle” drop-down at the top of the window to select
the vehicle for which you will be entering mileage.
3. You can type a new vehicle description into this field and use the “Quick Add” feature to quickly add the
vehicle to the “Vehicle List.”
4. You can click the “Vehicle List” button in the toolbar at the top of the “Enter Vehicle Mileage” window to
open the list of vehicles and enter a detailed description about the vehicles used by your company.
5. Use the “Trip Start Date” and “Trip End Date” calendar drop-down fields to input the start and end dates
of the trip you are recording.
6. Input the odometer start and end values into the boxes provided to fill-in the “Total Miles” by subtracting
the two values. You may also simply type the total miles of the trip into the “Total Miles” box, if needed.
7. To assign the miles to a specific customer or job, check the “Billable” checkbox in the upper-right
corner of the window and use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer or job to which you
want to assign the mileage.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Time Tracking
TO ENTER VEHICLE MILEAGE- (CONT’D.):
8. Then use the “Item” drop-down to select your “Mileage” item from your “Item List.”
9. If you are going to be reimbursed for mileage by the customer, you need to create a “Mileage” item as
an “Other Charge” or “Service” type item within the “Item List” so you can use it to collect the mileage
amounts in an invoice at a later point.
10. After entering the mileage, feel free to add any additional notes into the “Notes” field.
11. Click the “Save & Close” button when you are finished.
12. To enter mileage rates, click the “Mileage Rates” button at the top of the “Enter Vehicle Mileage”
window to open the “Mileage Rates” dialog box.
13. Input the most recent “Effective Date” of the federal mileage rate in the column available.
14. Enter the rate into the “Rate” column next to the specified date. Check with the IRS for any effective rate
changes and make sure that you keep this information current.
15. Click the “Close” button when you are finished entering the mileage rates.
TO INVOICE A CUSTOMER FOR BILLABLE MILEAGE:
1. To invoice a customer for billable mileage, create an invoice by selecting “Customers| Create
Invoices” from the Menu Bar.
2. Use the “Customer:Job” drop-down to select the customer:job to which you have assigned billable
mileage.
3. In the “Billable Time/Costs” window, click the “Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to
this invoice?” option button and click the “OK” button to continue and open the “Choose Billable Time
and Costs” window.
4. If you choose not to bill the mileage costs at this moment, you can later click the “Add Time/Costs”
button that appears within the “Main” tab of the Ribbon at the top of the invoice to open the “Choose
Billable Time and Costs” window.
5. In the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window, click the “Mileage” tab to display the billable mileage
recorded for the selected customer:job.
6. Select the mileage to bill to the customer by clicking the leftmost column next to each line item to mark it
with a checkmark.
7. To choose how QuickBooks will import the data into the invoice, click the “Options…” button in the
upper-right corner of the tab to open the “Options for Transferring Billable Mileage” dialog box.
8. Select the desired option button to indicate how you want the mileage data to be imported.
9. Click the “OK” button to set the preference and return to the “Mileage” tab.
10. You can check the “Print selected time and costs as one invoice item” checkbox to add all of the
selected billable time and costs to the invoice as a single item, if needed.
11. After you have checked the billable mileage, click the “OK” button to add it to the invoice.

EXERCISES-
Time Tracking
Purpose:
To be able to enter hours worked into a weekly timesheet.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Employees| Enter Time | Use Weekly Timesheet” from the Menu
Bar.
8. Use the “Name” drop-down to select “Gregg O. Schneider” from the list.
9. Click into the next available blank row in the “Customer:Job” column and select “Natiello Ernesto:
Bathroom Remodel” from the list to select the job created in the Exercise from Chapter 18.
10. Click into the “Service Item” column, and type “Removal.”
11. Type “8” under the “Tu,” “W,” “Th,” and “F” columns to the right in that row.

CHAPTER 20-
Payroll
20.1- The Payroll Process
20.2- Creating Payroll Items
20.3- Setting Employee Defaults
20.4- Setting Up Employee Payroll Information
20.5- Creating Payroll Schedules
20.6- Creating Scheduled Paychecks
20.7- Creating Unscheduled Paychecks
20.8- Creating Termination Paychecks
20.9- Voiding Paychecks
20.10- Tracking Your Tax Liabilities
20.11- Paying Payroll Tax Liabilities
20.12- Adjusting Payroll Liabilities
20.13- Entering Liability Refund Checks
20.14- Process Payroll Forms
20.15- Tracking Workers Compensation

Payroll
20.1- The Payroll Process:
Before you can use the payroll features of QuickBooks, you must set up payroll for your company in
QuickBooks. To find out how to do this, select “Employees| Payroll| Turn on Payroll in QuickBooks” from the
Menu Bar. In the window that appears, you can evaluate the payroll plans and purchase a payroll plan
through QuickBooks to begin the setup of your initial payroll data.
After you have purchased a payroll plan you can setup basic payroll information by selecting
“Employees| Payroll Setup” from the Menu Bar. Use the “QuickBooks Payroll Setup” wizard to input the
information that QuickBooks will need to know to begin processing payroll for your company file.
QuickBooks uses tax tables that come with your payroll subscription to calculate employee payroll.
QuickBooks calculates each employee’s gross pay, taxes, deductions, and net pay. In QuickBooks, you can
write the paycheck, record the transactions for the correct accounts, print payroll forms, and keep track of
your tax liabilities.
As an employer, you must subtract taxes and other deductions before issuing employee paychecks.
Some typical paycheck deductions are federal and state withholding taxes (income taxes), social security
taxes (FICA), Medicare taxes, and state unemployment insurance. You may also deduct for benefits such
as 401 (k) plan, or contributions to your company’s medical/dental plan. When you withhold social security,
Medicare, and federal withholding taxes from employee paychecks, you must submit regular deposits of the
withheld money and file quarterly forms that list the amounts withheld from each employee paycheck. Here
is an overview of the payroll process and the steps you must complete to do payroll in QuickBooks.
INFORMATION: DESCRIPTION:
Enter information about your company. This includes information about your federal and state tax ID numbers.
This information is entered when you set up your QuickBooks
company. To view company information, select “Company| My
Company” from the Menu Bar.
Enter information about your employees. The QuickBooks “Employees” list stores general information about
employees, and specific information related to payroll (such as the
employee’s salary or hourly rate, filing status, number of exemptions,
and miscellaneous additions, deductions, and company contributions).
You can store payroll information that most employees have in
common in employee defaults. Then, whenever you have a new
employee to add, simply enter information that’s specific to that
employee (name, address, etc…).
Enter information about your payroll items. QuickBooks maintains a “Payroll Item List” that contain items that
affect the amounts on a paycheck, including company payroll
expenses. When you specify you want to use payroll, QuickBooks
creates most payroll items for you, but you add others if needed.
Tax tables for fed, state, and local withholdings. QuickBooks uses tax tables for payroll calculations. You get the
current tax tables and keep them current when you subscribe to one
of the QuickBooks payroll plans. If you choose not to subscribe to one
of these plans, you must calculate and enter payroll tax deductions
manually for each paycheck

Payroll
20.2- Creating Payroll Items:
QuickBooks maintains a list of all the items that affect payroll amounts, including payroll expenses,
in the “Payroll Item” list. There are payroll items for compensation, taxes, other additions and deductions,
and employer-paid expenses. QuickBooks uses payroll items to track individual amounts on a paycheck
and accumulated year-to-date wage and tax amounts for each employee.
When you set up payroll for your company in QuickBooks, many items are added to the list for you.
However, you can also manually create others if you need them. You can view the current set of payroll
items by selecting “Lists| Payroll Item List” from the Menu Bar. You can access the commands that you
need to manage the entries in this list by clicking the “Payroll Item” button in the lower-left corner of this list.
To add a new payroll item, click the “Payroll Item” button in the lower-left corner of the “Payroll Item
List” and then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “Add new payroll item”
window, answer the questions posed to you on each screen and then click the “Next” button until you have
set up the new item. Click “Finish” when you are done to add the item into the “Payroll Item” list.
20.3- Setting Employee Defaults:
You can store information you want to set as the default values when you create a new employee
record within the “employee defaults” in the “Employees” list. After setting default employee values, when
you later add a new employee, QuickBooks will automatically fill-in the default information from the
employee defaults so you won’t need to re-enter it. All you need to do is enter employee-specific
information.
You can access the employee defaults, which appear within the Employee Center, by selecting
“Employees| Employee Center” from the Menu Bar. Then click the “Manage Employee Information” button
in the toolbar at the top of the “Employee Center” window and select the “Change New Employee Default
Settings” command.
In the “Employee Defaults” window, enter any information you would like to have appear by default
whenever you create a new employee record. You can also set default tax information, or default sick and
vacation time information, by clicking either the “Taxes…” or “Sick/Vacation…” buttons to set default values
for those categories in the separate “Taxes Defaults” and “Sick and Vacation Defaults” dialog boxes. After
you have finished setting all your employee defaults, click the “OK” button to save them.
20.4- Setting Up Employee Payroll Information:
You can enter employee payroll information when you add new employees to the “Employees” list
within the “New Employee” window. You can also edit the employee’s payroll data by using the “Edit
Employee” window, if the payroll info changes. In either the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee” windows,
you can enter or edit payroll information by selecting the “Payroll Info” tab at the left side of either window.
On the “Payroll Info” tab, select the payroll schedule for the employee from the “Payroll Schedule”
drop-down menu. Enter the type of pay the employee receives by selecting a compensation “Payroll Item”
from the “Item Name” column within the “Earnings” section. To the right of the selected item, you can enter
the amount of compensation into the “Hourly/Annual Rate” column. Enter any additions, deductions or
company contributions in the “Additions, Deductions & Company Contributions” section by selecting the
name of the desired “Payroll Item” from the “Item Name” column. Enter the “Amount” for each item entered,
as well as the annual “Limit” for each, if needed. If the employee uses time data entered into the “Weekly
Timesheet” or the “Time/Enter Single Activity” windows to record their hours worked, select the “Use time

Payroll
20.4- Setting Up Employee Payroll Information- (cont’d.):
data to create paychecks” checkbox at the bottom of the tab. If the employee is covered by a qualifying
pension plan, check the “Employee is covered by a qualified pension plan” checkbox.
Then set the employee’s payroll tax data by clicking the “Taxes…” button to open the “Taxes” dialog
box. Enter the employee’s payroll tax withholding information into the “Federal,” “State,” and “Other” tabs.
Note that the “Other” tab is used for any special state or local payroll tax information required. After you
have entered their payroll tax information, click the “OK” button within the “Taxes” dialog box to return to the
“New Employee” or “Edit Employee” window.
To enter the employee’s sick and vacation time, click the “Sick/Vacation…” button within the “Payroll
Info” tab to open the “Sick and Vacation” dialog box. In the “Sick” and “Vacation” sections, use the “Accrual
Period” drop-down to select how the employee accrues sick and vacation time. Enter the number of hours
to accrue, the maximum number of hours to accrue, when to begin accruing hours, as well as if and when
the number of hours are to be reset, by entering the desired values into the fields available. After you have
finished entering the sick and vacation information for the employee, click the “OK” button within the “Sick
and Vacation” dialog box to return to the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee” window.
When you are finished setting up the employee’s payroll data, click the “OK” button within either the
“New Employee” or “Edit Employee” windows to close the window and save your changes.

Payroll
20.5- Creating Payroll Schedules:
In QuickBooks, you will most often create employee paychecks by using the scheduled payroll
feature. However, if needed, you can also print unscheduled employee paychecks, as well as termination
paychecks.
Before you start a scheduled payroll, however, you must first create at least one payroll schedule.
You can create and modify payroll schedules by selecting “Employees| Add or Edit Payroll Schedules” from
the Menu Bar to open the “Payroll Schedule List.” To create a new payroll schedule, click the “Payroll
Schedule” button and then choose the “New” command.
In the “New Payroll Schedule” window, enter a name for the payroll schedule into the “What do you
want to name this payroll schedule?” field. Use the next field’s drop-down to select the frequency with which
this payroll will recur. After that, use the “What is the pay period end date?” calendar selector to select the
final date in the pay period. Use the “What date should appear on paychecks for this pay period?” calendar
selector to select the paycheck date for the payroll. If you chose to create a semimonthly or monthly payroll,
you may also need to answer a few more date-related questions in this screen. After you have entered the
payroll schedule information, click the “OK” button. Then follow the onscreen prompts to assign employees
with the same payroll frequency to the selected payroll schedule.
20.6- Creating Scheduled Paychecks:
You can create and print employee paychecks for a scheduled payroll by either selecting
“Employees| Pay Employees| Scheduled Payroll” from the Menu Bar or by clicking the “Pay Employees”
button in the Home page to open the “Employee Center: Payroll Center” window.
In the “Pay Employees” section of the window, select the name of the payroll schedule to pay from
the listing shown. Then click the “Start Scheduled Payroll” button to open the “Enter Payroll Information”
window where you will see the employees assigned to the selected payroll schedule. All employees that
you need to pay on this payroll schedule should appear here with a checkmark next to their names. Check
to ensure that the data shown in the “Payroll Information” section is correct. Also review the hours worked
and amounts shown for each employee. If you need to make changes to a paycheck, click the hyperlinked
name of the employee within this list whose paycheck you wish to inspect to open their paycheck within a
“Preview Paycheck” window. Edit the information shown in the “Preview Paycheck” window and click the
“Save & Close” button to finish. After reviewing the payroll information for accuracy, click the “Continue”
button to continue paying the employees.
Next, review the summary information in the “Review and Create Paychecks” window. In the “Check
Options” section, you can select the option button for “Print paychecks on check stock” to create the
paychecks and print them. If you are recording paychecks that have already been created, you can select
the “Handwrite & Assign check numbers” option button and then enter the first check number into the “First
Check #” field. You can then click the “Create Paychecks” button to create the selected paychecks for the
scheduled payroll.
You can use the “Confirmation and Next Steps” window that appears to finish the payroll. Within this
window you can click the “Print Paychecks” button to print the paychecks you just created, if you chose to
print paychecks in QuickBooks. You can click the “Print Pay Stubs” button to print paystubs for the checks,
if needed. When you are finished, click the “Close” button.

Payroll
20.7- Creating Unscheduled Paychecks:
You can also create unscheduled paychecks for additional checks, such as bonus checks. You can
select “Employees| Pay Employees| Unscheduled Payroll” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Payroll
Information” window. Here you manually set the “Pay Period Ends” and “Check Date.” Then select the
account from which the funds will be withdrawn from the “Bank Account:” drop-down. Place a checkmark
next to the names of the employees to pay. Then click the “Continue” button to continue creating the
paychecks.
In the next screen, select whether the check should be printed or assigned a check number in the
“Check Options” section. Then click the hyperlinked name of the employee shown within the list to open the
“Preview Paycheck” window where you can review and edit the payroll information, if needed. After entering
or editing the paycheck details, click the “Save & Close” button. To create the paychecks, click the “Create
Paychecks” button. If printing the paychecks within QuickBooks, click either the “Print Paychecks” or “Print
Pay Stubs” button, as needed, and then click the “Close” button to finish.
20.8- Creating Termination Paychecks:
To create termination paychecks when an employee leaves, select “Employees| Pay Employees|
Termination Check” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Payroll Information” window. Manually set the
“Pay Period Ends” and “Check Date.” Then select the account from which the funds will be withdrawn from
the “Bank Account:” drop-down. Place a checkmark next to the names of the employees who need a
termination check. To the right of their names, under the “Release Date” column, enter the employee’s
release date. This information will be updated within their employee record when you create the paychecks.
Then click the “Continue” button to continue creating the paychecks.
In the next screen, select whether the check should be printed or assigned a check number in the
“Check Options” section. Then click the hyperlinked name of the employee shown within the list to open the
“Preview Paycheck” window where you can review and edit the payroll information, if needed. After entering
or editing the paycheck details, click the “Save & Close” button. To create the paychecks, click the “Create
Paychecks” button. If printing the paychecks within QuickBooks, click either the “Print Paychecks” or “Print
Pay Stubs” button, as needed. Then click the “Close” button to finish.

Payroll
20.9- Voiding Paychecks:
Although rarely required, you can void paychecks, if needed. Unlike other types of checks, voiding a
paycheck affects tax and liability calculations and payments, and is only performed as a last resort. Most
paycheck errors can be resolved by correcting mistakes and reissuing the paychecks, or by correcting
incorrect amounts issued in the next paycheck. However, if you need to void a paycheck, display the
paycheck you want to void within the “Write Checks” window or select the paycheck to void within the
appropriate checking account register. With the desired paycheck to void displayed in the “Write Checks”
window or selected within the appropriate account register, select “Edit| Void Paycheck” from the Menu Bar.
Then follow the instructions shown onscreen in any message box that appears.
20.10- Tracking Your Tax Liabilities:
As the employer, you need to track both payroll expenses and payroll liabilities. The payroll
expenses you need to track are the employee’s gross pay and the employer’s payroll taxes. QuickBooks
uses an account called “Payroll Expenses” to track the actual costs to your company. Whatever funds you
deduct from employee paychecks aren’t shown here. Those funds are placed into an account called
“Payroll Liabilities.” That makes it easy to see what payroll taxes you owe, so that you can have the
necessary cash available for payment.
As long as you have a valid subscription to one of the QuickBooks payroll options, QuickBooks uses
the current payroll tax tables to keep track of your tax liabilities as they accrue, so you know how much you
owe as of a given date.
To see the amount of payroll liabilities you owe, you can run a “Payroll Liabilities” report. You can
access this report by selecting “Reports| Employees & Payroll| Payroll Liability Balances” from the Menu
Bar.

Payroll
20.11- Paying Payroll Tax Liabilities:
Once you are ready to write a check for the payroll liabilities, you must create a “Liability Check.” Do
NOT create a check using the “Write Checks” window or an account register to pay payroll
liabilities! Unless you use the method shown, QuickBooks will not properly adjust the Payroll
Liabilities account! When you write a check (or enter a General Journal entry) against the “Payroll
Liabilities” account without specifying which specific liabilities to adjust, the total amount of the adjustment is
disbursed amongst the individual liabilities, which causes the balance of each individual liability to be
incorrect! While you can fix it by making liability adjustments to the individual liabilities, it is tedious to fix and
best avoided.
When you subscribe to one of the QuickBooks payroll tax services, you set up scheduled liability
payments as part of the Payroll Setup process. You can view this information within the Payroll Center in
QuickBooks. To pay your scheduled payroll liabilities, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Pay
Scheduled Liabilities” from the Menu Bar. Then check the scheduled payments to make from the listing
shown in the “Pay Taxes & Other Liabilities” section of the “Employee Center: Payroll Center” window. Then
click the “View/Pay” button to open the “Liability Check” window where you can review the liability check or
checks to be created. Then click the “Save & Close” button to finish and save the checks for printing.
If needed, you can select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Create Custom Liability
Payments” to create a custom liability payment for your payroll liabilities. In the window that appears, select
the date range of the liabilities to pay. Then click the “OK” button to view the “Pay Liabilities” window.
In the “Pay Liabilities” window, place a checkmark next to the individual payroll liabilities you need to
pay with the custom liability payment. To create checks for printing, ensure the “To be printed” checkbox is
selected. Make sure that the option button for “Review liability check to enter expenses/penalties” is
selected and then click the “Create” button to create the “Liability Checks.”
Note that “Liability Checks” are a special type of check with a unique tab at the bottom of the check
that indicates exactly which liabilities are being paid with that check. If you have additional penalties to add,
enter them within the “Expenses” tab. If you make modifications to the check, click the “Save & Close”
button when finished to save the changes you have made.
20.12- Adjusting Payroll Liabilities:
If you are using Assisted Payroll, you can’t adjust the liability balance for liabilities paid by the payroll
service, meaning the federal and state tax liabilities. However, you can adjust the liability balance for local
or other taxes not supported by the payroll service.
If you are not using Assisted Payroll or higher, or are in the process of signing up for it, you can
enter an adjustment for any payroll item. Liability balance adjustments change the amounts QuickBooks
shows in payroll reports.
To adjust the liability balance, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Adjust Payroll
Liabilities” from the Menu Bar to open the “Liability Adjustment” window.
In the “Date” field, enter the date on which you are making the adjustment. In the “Effective Date”
field, enter the date as of which you want this adjustment to affect your liability balances. QuickBooks uses
this date to calculate amounts on Forms 940 and 941 and on the payroll liability balances report.
Choose whether this liability adjustment is for the company or a specific employee. In the “Item
Name” field, choose the payroll liability to adjust and enter the amount of the adjustment into the “Amount”
field. You can enter either a positive number or a negative number, as is appropriate. Click “OK” when you
are done to enter the adjustment, which will appear as of the “Effective Date” you entered.

Payroll
20.13- Entering Liability Refund Checks:
If you overpay your payroll liabilities and taxes, you may receive a refund check which you need to
record in QuickBooks to correct your liability balance. To do this, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and
Liabilities| Deposit Refund of Liabilities” from the Menu Bar.
QuickBooks will open the “Refund Deposit for Taxes and Liabilities” window. In this window, choose
the vendor from whom you received the refund check from the “Vendor” drop-down list. In the “Refund
Date” field, enter the date you want this refund check to enter your bank account. In the “For Period
Beginning” field, enter the beginning date of the pay period this refund affects.
Next, indicate whether you want QuickBooks to group this payment with other undeposited funds or
deposit it directly into a bank account. In the “Item Name” column, choose the payroll liability to adjust. In
the “Amount” field, enter the amount of the refund as a positive amount. If the refund is for more than one
payroll item, enter the additional payroll items and their amounts. Click “OK” when you are finished. If you
overpay your payroll liabilities, your liability balance is then negative. After you record the refund check,
QuickBooks increases the liability for the tax specified, which should correct the liability balance.
20.14- Process Payroll Forms:
If you are subscribed to a QuickBooks payroll service, you can print your annual and quarterly
federal payroll forms by selecting “Employees| Payroll Tax Forms & W-2’s| Process Payroll Forms” from the
Menu Bar.
On the “File Forms” tab, select which document to create from the list shown, and then click the
“Create Form” button to open the “Select Payroll Form” window. In that window, select your form and filing
period and then click the “OK” button.
Depending upon which form you selected, a specific wizard will launch to pose questions and show
you information QuickBooks has collected, just like the EasyStep Interview does. Use the wizards to enter
or verify information QuickBooks has collected, and answer all the questions on each screen, until you are
finished creating the forms.

Payroll
20.15- Tracking Workers Compensation:
If you use QuickBooks and subscribe to the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll service, you can take
advantage of the workers compensation tracking feature to manage tracking workers compensation hours
and make the required payments. You must, however, set up the workers compensation feature before you
run a payroll. If you do not, the information may be inaccurate or incomplete. Also, this feature must be
enabled at the beginning of the insurance policy coverage year to completely track the information within
QuickBooks. There is no way to enter “year-to-date” data if starting in the middle of the insurance coverage
year. In that case, you must combine the data in QuickBooks with any information you have manually
tracked to get the correct totals for the year.
When you first sign up for QuickBooks enhanced payroll, the workers compensation feature is not
enabled. To turn it on, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to launch the “Preferences” dialog
box, where you can select the “Payroll & Employees” icon from the list at the left side of the dialog box.
Then click the “Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the dialog box and click the “Workers
Compensation” button within the tab to open the “Workers Comp Preferences” dialog box. Place a
checkmark into the “Track Workers Comp” checkbox to enable the feature. You can also check the “Display
message to assign codes” checkbox to enable a classification prompt when entering employee hours into
the “Pay Employees” or time tracking windows. You can also check the “Exclude overtime premium from
Workers Comp calculation” checkbox if your workers compensation insurance company directs you to treat
all overtime hours as if they were paid at the regular wage rate. After setting the desired options, click the
“OK” button to return to the “Preferences” dialog box. Click the “OK” button in the “Preferences” dialog box
to save the change to the company preferences.
Now you must continue to set up workers compensation tracking by using the “Workers
Compensation Setup” wizard. To open this wizard, select “Employees| Workers Compensation| Manually
Track Existing Workers’ Comp Policy…” from the Menu Bar. The first screen displays information you need
to complete the wizard, and you can gather that information from your insurance company, if necessary.
Then enter the information into the screens and click the “Next” button to move through the wizard.
After you have set up the employees and what codes they are assigned by default, you can issue
paychecks as normal, and the workers compensation will be accrued as you issue paychecks. If you assign
a default workers compensation code to an employee, that code will be used by default when issuing
paychecks or entering hours in a timesheet. However, you can change the code used for any earning line
item in these windows, if needed. You can view the workers compensation information in the “Preview
Paycheck” window as you review the employee paychecks.
When it comes time to pay the workers compensation premiums, you can first run a workers
compensation report by selecting “Reports| Employees & Payroll| Workers Comp Detail” from the Menu
Bar. You can verify the amount to pay, and where it came from, using this report. Since workers
compensation is tracked as a payroll liability, you can pay the premium using the “Pay Liabilities” window to
create the liability check.
You can also create and modify the codes used for workers compensation classification in the
“Workers Comp List.” You can open this list by selecting “Lists| Workers Comp List” from the Menu Bar
when you have workers compensation tracking enabled. You can set up new codes and enter and edit
experience modification factors used for calculations, if needed.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
EXPLORING PAYROLL OPTIONS:
1. To explore your payroll setup options, select “Employees| Payroll| Turn on Payroll in QuickBooks”
from the Menu Bar.
2. Review the various methods of payroll that you can set up in QuickBooks in the window that appears.
TO SET UP PAYROLL:
1. To run the payroll setup wizard, select “Employees| Payroll Setup” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the wizard that appears, answer the questions posed to you and provide the required information
within each screen.
VIEWING AND CREATING PAYROLL ITEMS:
1. To view the current set of payroll items, select “Lists| Payroll Item List” from the Menu Bar.
2. To add a new payroll item, click the “Payroll Item” button in the lower-left corner of the “Payroll Item
List” and then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. In the “Add new payroll item” window, answer the questions posed to you on each screen and then click
the “Next” button until you have set up the new item.
4. Click “Finish” when you are done to add the item into the “Payroll Item” list.
SETTING EMPLOYEE DEFAULTS:
1. To set the employee defaults, select “Employees| Employee Center” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Manage Employee Information” button in the toolbar at the top of the “Employee Center”
window and select the “Change New Employee Default Settings” command.
3. In the “Employee Defaults” window that appears, enter any information you would like to have appear by
default whenever you create a new employee record.
4. You can also set default tax information, or default sick and vacation time information, by clicking either
the “Taxes…” or “Sick/Vacation…” buttons to set default values for those categories in the separate
“Taxes Defaults” and “Sick and Vacation Defaults” dialog boxes.
5. After you have finished setting all of your employee defaults, click the “OK” button to save them.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
ENTERING EMPLOYEE PAYROLL INFO:
1. To enter employee payroll information within the “Employees” list in the “Employee Center”
window, open either the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee” window.
2. In either the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee” windows, you can enter or edit payroll information by
selecting the “Payroll Info” tab at the left side of either window.
3. On the “Payroll Info” tab, select the payroll schedule for the employee from the “Payroll Schedule” drop-
down menu.
4. Enter the type of pay the employee receives by selecting a compensation “Payroll Item” from the “Item
Name” column within the “Earnings” section.
5. To the right of the selected item, enter the amount of compensation into the “Hourly/Annual Rate”
column.
6. Enter any additions, deductions or company contributions in the “Additions, Deductions & Company
Contributions” section by selecting the name of the desired “Payroll Item” from the “Item Name” column.
7. Enter the “Amount” for each item entered, as well as the annual “Limit” for each, if needed.
8. If the employee uses time data entered into the “Weekly Timesheet” or the “Time/Enter Single Activity”
windows to record their hours worked, select the “Use time data to create paychecks” checkbox at the
bottom of the tab.
9. If the employee is covered by a qualifying pension plan, check the “Employee is covered by a qualified
pension plan” checkbox.
10. Set the employee’s payroll tax data by clicking the “Taxes…” button to open the “Taxes” dialog box.
11. Enter the employee’s payroll tax withholding information into the “Federal,” “State,” and “Other” tabs.
Note that the “Other” tab is used for any special state or local payroll tax information required.
12. After you have entered their payroll tax information, click the “OK” button within the “Taxes” dialog box
to return to the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee” window.
13. To enter the employee’s sick and vacation time, click the “Sick/Vacation…” button within the “Payroll
Info” tab to open the “Sick and Vacation” dialog box.
14. In the “Sick” and “Vacation” sections, use the “Accrual Period” drop-down to select how the employee
accrues sick and vacation time.
15. Enter the number of hours to accrue, the maximum number of hours to accrue, when to begin accruing
hours, as well as if and when the number of hours are to be reset, by entering the desired values into
the fields available.
16. After you have finished entering the sick and vacation information for the employee, click the “OK”
button within the “Sick and Vacation” dialog box to return to the “New Employee” or “Edit Employee”
window.
17. After you are finished setting up the employee’s payroll data, click the “OK” button within either the “New
Employee” or “Edit Employee” windows to close the window and save your changes.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
CREATING A PAYROLL SCHEDULE:
1. To create a new payroll schedule, select “Employees| Add or Edit Payroll Schedules” from the Menu
Bar to open the “Payroll Schedule List.”
2. Then click the “Payroll Schedule” button and choose the “New” command.
3. In the “New Payroll Schedule” window, enter a name for the payroll schedule into the “What do you want
to name this payroll schedule?” field.
4. Use the next field’s drop-down to select the frequency with which this payroll will recur.
5. Use the “What is the pay period end date?” calendar selector to select the final date in the pay period.
6. Use the “What date should appear on paychecks for this pay period?” calendar selector to select the
paycheck date for the payroll.
7. If you chose to create a semimonthly or monthly payroll, you may also need to answer a few more date-
related questions in this screen.
8. After you have entered the payroll schedule information, click the “OK” button.
9. Then follow the onscreen prompts to assign employees with the same payroll frequency to the selected
payroll schedule.
CREATING SCHEDULED PAYROLL PAYCHECKS:
1. To run a scheduled payroll, select “Employees| Pay Employees| Scheduled Payroll” from the Menu
Bar or click the “Pay Employees” button in the Home page to open the “Employee Center: Payroll
Center” window.
2. In the “Pay Employees” section of the window, select the name of the payroll schedule to pay from the
listing shown.
3. Click the “Start Scheduled Payroll” button to open the “Enter Payroll Information” window where you will
see the employees assigned to the selected payroll schedule. All employees that you need to pay on
this payroll schedule should appear here with a checkmark next to their names.
4. Check to ensure that the data shown in the “Payroll Information” section is correct.
5. Review the hours worked and amounts shown for each employee.
6. If you need to make changes to a paycheck, click the hyperlinked name of the employee within this list
whose paycheck you wish to inspect to open their paycheck within a “Preview Paycheck” window.
7. Edit the information shown in the “Preview Paycheck” window and click the “Save & Close” button to
finish.
8. After reviewing the payroll information for accuracy, click the “Continue” button to continue paying the
employees.
9. Review the summary information in the “Review and Create Paychecks” window.
10. In the “Check Options” section, you can select the option button for “Print paychecks on check stock” to
create the paychecks and print them.
11. If you are recording paychecks that have already been created, you can select the “Handwrite & Assign
check numbers” option button and then enter the first check number into the “First Check #” field.
12. Click the “Create Paychecks” button to create the selected paychecks for the scheduled payroll.
13. Use the “Confirmation and Next Steps” window that appears to finish the payroll.
14. Within this window you can click the “Print Paychecks” button to print the paychecks you just created, if
you chose to print paychecks in QuickBooks.
15. You can click the “Print Pay Stubs” button to print paystubs for the checks, if needed.
16. When you are finished, click the “Close” button.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
CREATING UNSCHEDULED PAYCHECKS:
1. To create unscheduled paychecks, select “Employees| Pay Employees| Unscheduled Payroll” from
the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Payroll Information” window.
2. Enter the “Pay Period Ends” and “Check Date” field values.
3. Select the account from which the funds will be withdrawn from the “Bank Account:” drop-down.
4. Place a checkmark next to the names of the employees to pay.
5. Click the “Continue” button to continue creating the paychecks.
6. In the next screen, select whether the check should be printed or assigned a check number in the
“Check Options” section.
7. Click the hyperlinked name of any employee shown within the list to open the “Preview Paycheck”
window where you can review and edit the payroll information, if needed.
8. After entering or editing the paycheck details, click the “Save & Close” button.
9. To create the paychecks, click the “Create Paychecks” button.
10. If printing the paychecks within QuickBooks, click either the “Print Paychecks” or “Print Pay Stubs”
button, as needed.
11. Click the “Close” button to finish.
CREATING TERMINATION PAYCHECKS:
1. To create termination paychecks, select “Employees| Pay Employees| Termination Check” from the
Menu Bar to open the “Enter Payroll Information” window.
2. Manually set the “Pay Period Ends” and “Check Date.”
3. Select the account from which the funds will be withdrawn from the “Bank Account:” drop-down.
4. Place a checkmark next to the names of the employees who need a termination check.
5. To the right of their names, under the “Release Date” column, enter the employee’s release date. This
information will be updated within their employee record when you create the paychecks.
6. Click the “Continue” button to continue creating the paychecks.
7. In the next screen, select whether the check should be printed or assigned a check number in the
“Check Options” section.
8. Click the hyperlinked name of the employee shown within the list to open the “Preview Paycheck”
window where you can review and edit the payroll information, if needed.
9. After entering or editing the paycheck details, click the “Save & Close” button.
10. To create the paychecks, click the “Create Paychecks” button.
11. If printing the paychecks within QuickBooks, click either the “Print Paychecks” or “Print Pay Stubs”
button, as needed.
12. Click the “Close” button to finish.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
VOIDING PAYCHECKS:
1. To void a paycheck, display the paycheck you want to void within the “Write Checks” window or select
the paycheck to void within the appropriate checking account register.
2. With the desired paycheck to void displayed in the “Write Checks” window or selected within the
appropriate account register, select “Edit| Void Paycheck” from the Menu Bar.
3. Then follow the instructions shown onscreen in any message box that appears.
TRACKING PAYROLL TAX LIABILITIES:
1. To track payroll tax liabilities, you can double-click either the “Payroll Liabilities” or “Payroll Expenses”
accounts within the “Chart of Accounts” window to view either the account register or a QuickReport
showing the account balances.
2. To run a “Payroll Liabilities” report, select “Reports| Employees & Payroll| Payroll Liability Balances”
from the Menu Bar.
PAYING PAYROLL TAX LIABILITIES:
1. To pay scheduled payroll liabilities, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Pay Scheduled
Liabilities” from the Menu Bar.
2. Check the scheduled payments to make from the listing shown in the “Pay Taxes & Other Liabilities”
section of the “Employee Center: Payroll Center” window.
3. Click the “View/Pay” button to open the “Liability Check” window where you can review the liability
check or checks to be created.
4. Click the “Save & Close” button to finish and save the checks for printing.
5. To create a custom payroll liabilities payment, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities|
Create Custom Liability Payments” from the Menu Bar.
6. In the window that appears, select the date range of the liabilities to pay.
7. Click the “OK” button to view the “Pay Liabilities” window.
8. In the “Pay Liabilities” window, place a checkmark next to the individual payroll liabilities to pay with the
custom liability payment.
9. To create checks for printing, ensure that the “To be printed” checkbox is selected.
10. Make sure the option button for “Review liability check to enter expenses/penalties” is selected and then
click the “Create” button to create the “Liability Checks.”
11. Note that “Liability Checks” are a special type of check with a unique tab at the bottom of the check that
indicates exactly which liabilities are being paid with that check.
12. If you have additional penalties to add, enter them within the “Expenses” tab.
13. If you make modifications to the check, click the “Save & Close” button when finished to save the
changes you have made.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
ADJUSTING A PAYROLL LIABILITY:
1. To adjust a payroll liability balance, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Adjust Payroll
Liabilities” from the Menu Bar to open the “Liability Adjustment” window.
2. In the “Date” field, enter the date on which you are making the adjustment.
3. In the “Effective Date” field, enter the date as of which you want this adjustment to affect your liability
balances.
4. Choose whether this liability adjustment is for the company or a specific employee.
5. In the “Item Name” field, choose the payroll liability to adjust and enter the amount of the adjustment into
the “Amount” field. You can enter either a positive number or a negative number, as is appropriate.
6. Click “OK” when you are done to enter the adjustment, which will appear as of the “Effective Date” you
entered.
ENTERING A PAYROLL LIABILITY REFUND CHECK:
1. To record a payroll liability refund check, select “Employees| Payroll Taxes and Liabilities| Deposit
Refund of Liabilities” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Refund Deposit for Taxes and Liabilities” window, choose the vendor from whom you received
the refund check from the “Vendor” drop-down list.
3. In the “Refund Date” field, enter the date you want this refund check to enter your bank account.
4. In the “For Period Beginning” field, enter the beginning date of the pay period this refund affects.
5. Indicate whether you want QuickBooks to group this payment with other undeposited funds or deposit it
directly into a bank account.
6. In the “Item Name” column, choose the payroll liability to adjust.
7. In the “Amount” field, enter the amount of the refund as a positive amount.
8. If the refund is for more than one payroll item, enter the additional payroll items and their amounts.
9. Click “OK” when you are finished.
PROCESSING FEDERAL PAYROLL FORMS:
1. To print annual and quarterly federal payroll forms if you are subscribed to a QuickBooks payroll
service, select “Employees| Payroll Tax Forms & W-2’s| Process Payroll Forms” from the Menu Bar.
2. On the “File Forms” tab, select which document to create from the list shown, and then click the “Create
Form” button to open the “Select Payroll Form” window.
3. In that window, select your form and filing period and then click the “OK” button.
4. Depending upon which form you selected, a specific wizard will launch to pose questions and show you
information QuickBooks has collected, just like the EasyStep Interview does.
5. Use the wizards to enter or verify information QuickBooks has collected, and answer all the questions
on each screen, until you are finished creating the forms.

ACTIONS-
Payroll
TRACKING WORKERS COMPENSATION:
1. To turn workers compensation tracking on if you subscribe to the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll
service, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to launch the “Preferences” dialog box, where
you can select the “Payroll & Employees” icon from the list at the left side of the dialog box.
2. Click the “Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the dialog box and click the “Workers
Compensation” button within the tab to open the “Workers Comp Preferences” dialog box.
3. Place a checkmark into the “Track Workers Comp” checkbox to enable the feature.
4. You can also check the “Display message to assign codes” checkbox to enable a classification prompt
when entering employee hours into the “Pay Employees” or time tracking windows.
5. You can also check the “Exclude overtime premium from Workers Comp calculation” checkbox if your
workers compensation insurance company directs you to treat all overtime hours as if they were paid at
the regular wage rate.
6. After setting the desired options, click the “OK” button to return to the “Preferences” dialog box.
7. Click the “OK” button in the “Preferences” dialog box to save the change to the company preferences
8. Now you must continue to set up workers compensation tracking by using the “Workers Compensation
Setup” wizard. To open this wizard, select “Employees| Workers Compensation| Manually Track
Existing Workers’ Comp Policy…” from the Menu Bar.
9. The first screen displays information you need to complete the wizard, and you can gather that
information from your insurance company, if necessary.
10. Then enter the information into the screens and click the “Next” button to move through the wizard.
11. After you have set up the employees and what codes they are assigned by default, you can issue
paychecks as normal and the workers compensation will be accrued as you issue paychecks.
12. If you assign a default workers compensation code to an employee, that code will be used by default
when issuing paychecks or entering hours in a timesheet. However, you can change the code used for
any earning line item in these windows, if needed.
13. You can view the workers compensation information in the “Preview Paycheck” window as you review
the employee paychecks.
14. When it comes time to pay the workers compensation premiums, you can first run a workers
compensation report by selecting “Reports| Employees & Payroll| Workers Comp Detail” from the Menu
Bar. You can verify the amount to pay, and where it came from, using this report.
15. Since workers compensation is tracked as a payroll liability, you pay the premium using the “Pay
Liabilities” window to create the liability check.
16. You can create and modify the codes used for workers compensation classification in the “Workers
Comp List.” You can open this list by selecting “Lists| Workers Comp List” from the Menu Bar when you
have workers compensation tracking enabled.
17. You can set up new codes and enter and edit experience modification factors used for calculations, if
needed.

EXERCISES-
Payroll
Purpose:
To be able to pay scheduled employees in QuickBooks.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Employees| Pay Employees| Scheduled Payroll” from the Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Start Scheduled Payroll…” button in the “Pay Employees” section of the Payroll Center.
9. Click “OK” in the message box that appears if QuickBooks warns you that it doesn’t have the
required information to compute amounts for old paychecks in the sample file.
10. If the “Special Paycheck Situation” dialog box appears, click the “Continue” button to continue to
create the payroll.
11. To accept the default scheduled payroll shown in the “Enter Payroll Information” screen, simply click
the “Continue” button in the lower-right corner.
12. Ensure that the “Print paychecks on check stock” option button is selected in the “Paycheck Options”
section.
13. Click the “Create Paychecks” button in the lower-right corner of the screen.
14. Click the “Close” button at the bottom of the “Confirmation and Next Steps” window.
15. In the “Pay Scheduled Liabilities” section of the Payroll Center, note the upcoming payroll liabilities
for the company file.

CHAPTER 21-
Using Credit Card Accounts
21.1- Creating Credit Card Accounts
21.2- Entering Charges on Credit Cards
21.3- Reconciling and Paying Credit Cards

21.1- Creating Credit Card Accounts:
You should set up a QuickBooks credit card account in the Chart of Accounts for each credit card
you use for your business. Like any QuickBooks account, a credit card account has its own register. The
register lists all the charges and credits you’ve recorded, as well as payments you’ve made.
To create a credit card account, open the “Chart of Accounts” window by selecting “Lists| Chart of
Accounts” from the Menu Bar. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts”
window and select the “New” command from the pop-up menu.
In the “Add New Account: Choose Account Type” window, select the “Credit Card” option button and
click the “Continue” button to open the “Add New Account” window. Enter the name for the account into the
“Account Name” field. You can enter an account number into the “Number” field, if account numbering is
enabled within your QuickBooks company file. Enter the account’s “Description” and “Credit Card Acct. No.”
into the fields within the “Optional” section, if desired. After you have added the information to record, click
the “Save & Close” button to create the account.
21.2- Entering Charges on Credit Cards:
QuickBooks allows you to choose when you enter credit card charges. You can enter credit card
charges incrementally as you make charges to the credit card, or you can enter all credit card charges as
lump amounts for each account when you receive the credit card bill. Your choice depends on whether it is
better for your business to enter charges incrementally, or all at once. One advantage to entering charges
incrementally as you charge items is that you can keep close track of how much you owe. In addition, if the
charge is made for a particular customer:job, you can keep track of how much you are spending on that job.
Another advantage of this method is that you can reconcile the charges you entered against the credit card
bill when it arrives, which allows you to spot errors and non-authorized charges more easily.
To enter credit card charges incrementally as they are incurred, select “Banking| Enter Credit Card
Charges” from the Menu Bar to display the “Enter Credit Card Charges” window. In this window, select the
credit card account used for the charge from the “Credit Card” drop-down menu at the top of the window. To
the right of that drop-down, ensure the “Purchase/Charge” option button is selected. Note that you can also
record refunds or credits to a credit card account by selecting the “Refund/Credit” option button, if needed.
Next, use the “Purchased From” drop-down to select the name of the vendor from whom you made
the purchase. Enter the date of the charge into the “Date” field. Enter the credit card transaction number into
the “Ref. No.” field. Enter the amount of the charge into the “Amount” field. If desired, you can enter a note
about the charge into the “Memo” field.
At the bottom of this window, as in the “Write Checks” window, you attribute the total amount
charged to the relevant account, or accounts, by selecting an account from the “Account” column on the
“Expenses” tab. The total amount then appears in the adjacent “Amount” column. If the charge is for a job,
you can select the name of the job from the “Customer:Job” column and set its billing status within the
“Billable?” column. To split the total charge amount between multiple expense accounts, change the
“Amount” value shown for the first account row in the “Expenses” tab, and then repeat the process of
selecting accounts and attributing amounts within in the following rows in the “Expenses” tab until you have
accounted for the total amount charged.
If you use this window for purchasing “Inventory Part” items or buying “Services” from
subcontractors, do not enter the charge amount in the “Amount” field at the top of the form. Instead, click the
“Items” tab at the bottom of the window. Then enter the items purchased with the credit card charge,
including quantities and amounts. The sum value of the items purchased will constitute the total amount of
the charge entered into the “Amount” field above.
21.2- Entering Charges on Credit Cards- (cont’d.):
After entering the credit card charge information, click the “Save & Close” button to save the
transaction and close the window. After you have input the charge, QuickBooks adds the charge amount to
the credit card account’s register, increasing the total account liability by the charge amount. It will add the
same amount to the associated expense account, or accounts, once the bill for the credit card is entered or
paid.
21.3- Reconciling and Paying Credit Cards:
If you enter credit card charges incrementally, you can reconcile the entries made against the credit
card bill when it arrives. This is helpful in preventing unauthorized charges on the card. Reconciling a credit
card account is almost identical to reconciling a bank account.
To reconcile a credit card account, open the chart of accounts and click the credit card account you
want to reconcile to select it. Click the “Activities” button in the lower-left corner of the chart of accounts and
select “Reconcile Credit Card” from the pop-up menu.
That will display the “Begin Reconciliation” dialog box. Input the statement date from your credit card
statement and the ending balance from the statement. Enter any finance charges you accrued, the date
they were accrued, and the account you use to track those charges. Then click “Continue” at the bottom of
the “Begin Reconciliation” dialog box to display the “Reconcile Credit Card” window for the selected
account.
In this window, you will see all of the transactions that haven’t cleared. Use this window to check off
the transactions listed within your credit card statement. Click each transaction that you can match to a
transaction within the credit card statement to place a check mark in front of it and mark it as cleared. When
you are done the “Difference” (in the lower-right corner), should be zero. Click the “Reconcile Now” button
to finish reconciling the account and select an option for the reconciliation report you want to generate.
After reconciling a credit card account, QuickBooks lets you pay all, or part of, the balance due by
taking you immediately to either the “Write Checks” or “Enter Bills” window, depending on which option you
select in the dialog box that appears. The bill or check will already be set to the credit card account. The
amount due for the credit card will also be entered already. You just need to select the name of the
company to whom you pay the credit card balance and then print the check or save the bill.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT:
1. To create a credit card account, open the “Chart of Accounts” window by selecting “Lists| Chart of
Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window and select the
“New” command from the pop-up menu.
3. In the “Add New Account: Choose Account Type” window, select the “Credit Card” option button and
click the “Continue” button to open the “Add New Account” window.
4. Enter the name for the account into the “Account Name” field.
5. To assign an account number, enter one into the “Number” field, if account numbering is enabled within
your QuickBooks company file.
6. Enter the account’s “Description” and “Credit Card Acct. No.” into the fields within the “Optional” section,
if desired.
7. After adding the information you want to record, click the “Save & Close” button to create the account.
ENTERING CREDIT CARD CHARGES:
1. To enter individual charges to a credit card account, select “Banking| Enter Credit Card Charges”
from the Menu Bar to display the “Enter Credit Card Charges” window.
2. Select the credit card account used for the charge from the “Credit Card” drop-down menu at the top of
the window.
3. To the right of that drop-down, ensure that the “Purchase/Charge” option button is selected. Note that
you can also record refunds or credits to a credit card account by selecting the “Refund/Credit” option
button, if needed.
4. Use the “Purchased From” drop-down to select the name of the vendor with whom you made the
purchase.
5. Enter the date of the charge into the “Date” field.
6. Enter the credit card transaction number into the “Ref. No.” field.
7. Enter the amount of the charge into the “Amount” field.
8. If desired, you can enter a note about the charge into the “Memo” field.
9. At the bottom of this window, attribute the amount charged to the desired expense account, or accounts,
by selecting an account from the “Account” column on the “Expenses” tab. The total amount will appear
in the adjacent “Amount” column.
10. If the charge is for a job, you can select the name of the job from the “Customer:Job” column and set its
billing status within the “Billable?” column.
11. To split the total charge amount between multiple expense accounts, change the “Amount” value
shown for the first account row in the “Expenses” tab, and then repeat the process of selecting accounts
and attributing amounts within in the following rows in the “Expenses” tab until you have accounted for
the total amount charged.
12. To use this window for purchasing “Inventory Part” items or buying “Services” from
subcontractors, do not enter the charge amount within the “Amount” field at the top of the form.
Instead, click the “Items” tab at the bottom of the window and enter the items purchased with the credit
card charge, including quantities and amounts. The sum value of the items purchased will constitute the
total amount of the charge entered into the “Amount” field above.
13. After entering the credit card charge information, click the “Save & Close” button to save the transaction
and close the window

ACTIONS-
RECONCILING A CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT:
1. To reconcile a credit card account after receiving the bill for the credit card account, select
“Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Begin Reconciliation” window, select the credit card account to reconcile with the bill you have
received by choosing it from the “Account” drop-down.
3. Enter the statement date of the credit card bill into the “Statement Date” field.
4. Enter the ending balance due from your credit card bill into the “Ending Balance” field.
5. If there are any finance charges for the credit card, enter the amount and date of the charges into the
“Finance Charge” and “Date” fields. Then use the adjacent “Account” drop-down to select the expense
account used to track finance charge amounts.
6. Click the “Continue” button to continue to the “Reconcile Credit Card” window.
7. Compare the transactions listed within the credit card bill to the uncleared transactions shown within the
“Charges and Cash Advances” section and the Payments and Credits” section. For each transaction
listed within these sections that is also found within the credit card bill, click into the leftmost
“Checkmark” column to mark the transaction as “cleared.” QuickBooks should place a checkmark to the
left of each transaction you select.
8. Assuming there are no discrepancies between the bill and your recorded transactions, the “Difference”
shown in the lower-right corner of this window should be zero after you have finished marking all of the
cleared transactions. If any amount is shown, try to find the error. Perhaps a charge was not entered
that should have been, or possibly there are unauthorized charges within the credit card bill. Find and
correct any errors until the “Difference” shown is zero.
9. Click the “Reconcile Now” button to display the “Select Reconciliation Report” dialog box.
10. Make sure that the “Detail” button is selected, and the click the Display” button to view the report.
11. Click “OK” at the message that QuickBooks displays.
12. After you have finished reconciling your credit card account, QuickBooks asks if you would like to enter
a bill or write a check for the balance due. Select the option button for the choice that you prefer: “Write
a check for payment now” or “Enter a bill for payment later.”
13. Click the “OK” button after making your selection.
14. Select the name of the company to whom you remit payments for the selected credit card account from
either the “Pay to the Order of” field in the “Write Checks” window or the “Vendor” field in the “Enter
Bills” window.
15. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the transaction.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to enter credit card charges.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Banking| Enter Credit Card Charges” from the Menu Bar.
8. Within the “Enter Credit Card Charges” window, use the “Credit Card” drop-down at the top of the
window to select the “CalOil Credit Card.”
9. In the “Purchased From” field, enter “Bayshore CalOil Service.”
10. In the “Amount” field, type “54.”
11. In the “Expenses” tab, ensure the account pre-fill of “60100 - Automobile:60110 - Fuel” is shown.
12. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the charge.
13. Select “Banking| Reconcile…” from the Menu Bar.
14. In the “Begin Reconciliation” screen, select “20600 - CalOil Card” from the “Account” drop-down.
15. If using QuickBooks 2020, then for the “Statement Date,” type “01/14/25.”
16. For the “Ending Balance” type “436.62.”
17. Click the “Continue” button to continue and open the “Reconcile Credit Card” window
18. Click the “Mark All” button to mark all transactions as being cleared. The “Difference” amount shown
in the lower-right corner of the window should be zero.
19. Click the “Reconcile Now” button.
20. Select the “Write a check for payment now” option button within the “Make Payment” dialog box.
21. Click the “OK” button to continue.
22. In the “Select Reconciliation Report” dialog box, choose the “Detail” option button and then click the
“Display” button.
23. Click the “OK” button within the “Reconciliation Report” dialog box to close it.
24. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the “Reconciliation Detail” report to close it.
25. In the “Write Checks” window, use the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down field to select the “CalOil
Company.”
26. Click the “Save & Close” button within the “Write Checks” window.

CHAPTER 22-
Assets and Liabilities
22.1- Assets and Liabilities
22.2- Creating and Using Other Current Asset Accounts
22.3- Removing Value from Other Current Asset Accounts
22.4- Creating Fixed Asset Accounts
22.5- Creating Liability Accounts
22.6- Setting the Original Cost of the Fixed Asset
22.7- Tracking Depreciation
22.8- The Loan Manager
22.9- The Fixed Asset Item List

22.1- Assets and Liabilities:
QuickBooks has two account types that track the value of short-term and long-term assets. The
Other Current Asset account tracks assets likely to be converted into cash, or used up, within one year.
Examples of “Other Current Asset” accounts include prepaid expenses and short-term notes receivable. A
Fixed Asset account tracks assets your business owns that are NOT likely to be converted into cash or
used up within a year. “Fixed Asset” accounts track the value of long-lived assets with a larger value that
assist you in performing your business. The value of these items are expensed over the “useful life” of the
asset, which will vary. Examples include furniture, some office equipment, computers, and vehicles.
QuickBooks also has two account types that track long-term and short-term liabilities. The Other
Current Liability account tracks liabilities your company expects to pay within a year. An example would
be a short-term loan. A Long-Term Liability account tracks debt your business is not likely to pay off within
a year. For example, when making a major purchase for your company, such as when purchasing a vehicle,
you will often take out a long-term loan. The long-term loan taken out to purchase equipment is an example
of a long-term liability.
As when creating any account in QuickBooks, you create all the asset and liability accounts within
the “Chart of Accounts” window, which you can access by selecting “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the
Menu Bar. Then click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the window and choose the “New”
command from the pop-up menu to open the “New Account: Choose Account Type” window.
In this window, select the option button for the type of account to create. Note that for many asset
and liability accounts, you may need to select the “Other Account Types” option button and then select the
type of account to create from the adjacent drop-down menu. After making a choice, click the “Continue”
button to open the “Add Account” window.
Enter the “Name” and “Number” for the account into the fields of the same name shown. Note that
account numbering must be enabled within your QuickBooks company file to view the “Number” field. Then
enter any additional account information within the “Optional” section. When finished, click either the “Save
& Close” or “Save & New” buttons to save the account. If you choose the “Save & New” choice, be sure to
change the account type before creating the next new account, if needed, by using the “Account Type”
drop-down at the top of the window to select the account type.
22.2- Creating and Using Other Current Asset Accounts:
The “Other Current Asset” account type tracks assets your company expects to use up or convert
into cash in the next year. Other current assets might include short-term notes receivable, or prepaid
expenses. Your inventory account is an example of an other current asset.
Let’s take a “Prepaid Rent” other current asset account as an example. Assume you have signed an
agreement to lease a new office space for $1,000 per month. Also assume you needed to make a
prepayment of 6 months’ worth of rent before you could move into the new office space. If using the accrual
accounting method, you must attribute expense to the period it is incurred, not when you actually pay it. So,
you would NOT want to simply write a check for the next 6 months’ worth of rent and attribute the entire
amount to the “Rent Expense” account for the month in which you wrote the check, as that will not
accurately reflect when the rent expense is actually incurred. Instead, you use the other current asset
account of “Prepaid Rent” to help show the rent expense as it is actually incurred.
To do this, open the “Write Checks” window when the first payment is due by selecting “Banking|
Write Checks” from the Menu Bar. Enter the total amount of the payment (6,000) and select the landlord as
the vendor from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down field. On the “Expenses” tab, select the “Prepaid Rent”

22.2- Creating and Using Other Current Asset Accounts- (cont’d.):
other current asset account. In the adjacent “Amount” column, enter “5,000.” This shows that $5,000 of the
$6,000 payment is being traded to another asset account for the prepayment of the rent. Click into the next
row in the “Expenses” tab and select the “Rent Expense” account. QuickBooks should automatically
attribute the remaining $1,000 to that account for the first month of rent, as it is being incurred.
For the next five months after this, you will not write a check for the rent, but rather create a “General
Journal Entry” that decreases the amount in the “Prepaid Rent” other current asset account by $1,000 and
increases the amount of the “Rent Expense” account by $1,000 to show the other current asset being “used
up” and show the rent expense being incurred in the correct accounting period.
22.3- Removing Value from Other Current Asset Accounts:
In this lesson, you will learn how to enter a “General Journal Entry” to decrease the value of an other
current asset account. Let’s use the example from the last lesson of the “Prepaid Rent” other current asset
account into which five months of prepaid rent was placed. As you later incur your monthly rent expense of
$1,000 per month over the next five months, you will use up part of the prepaid rent expense and enter
each change to the value of that account either through the “General Journal Entry” window or by making
an entry directly into the register for that account. So for each of the following five months, decrease the
amount of the rent as it is actually incurred from the “Prepaid Rent” other current asset account and assign
the value of the rent to the “Rent” expense account.
To enter a “General Journal Entry” select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the
Menu Bar to open the “General Journal Entry” window. In this window, enter the date of the entry into the
“Date” field. Enter a reference number for the entry into the “Entry No.” field. Click into the first row under the
“Account” column and select the “Rent Expense” account. Enter “1,000” into the adjacent “Debit” column
within that row to show the increase to the selected rent expense account. Then click into the “Account”
column in the next blank row and select the “Prepaid Rent” other current asset account. QuickBooks should
automatically attribute $1,000 to the “Credit” column, decreasing its value. If not, click into the “Credit”
column and enter “1,000.” When finished making the entry, click the “Save & Close” button.
Alternately, you can create a “General Journal Entry” within the associated account register by
simply recording the increase or decrease to the selected account’s value. The advantage to this method is
that you will not need to worry about the “Credit” and “Debit” rules for account types, as long as you know
which account should be increasing or decreasing.
Using the same example shown above, another way to create this entry is to open the “Chart of
Accounts” window by selecting “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar. Within the “Chart of Accounts”
window, double-click the “Prepaid Rent” account to open its account register. Within the account register
window, click into the next blank transaction row. Enter the date of the transaction into the “Date” field. Enter
a reference code into the “Ref” field. Because you know that the value of this account is decreasing, click
into the “Decrease” column and enter “1,000.” Then select the “Rent Expense” account from the “Account”
drop-down within the same transaction row. Then click the “Record” button at the bottom of the transaction
window to record the transaction. Note that QuickBooks enters the term “GENJRN” into the “Type” field, so
you can see this is simply another way to record a general journal entry.

22.4- Creating Fixed Asset Accounts:
A “Fixed Asset” account tracks assets your business owns that are NOT likely to be converted into
cash within a year. A fixed asset is something of significant value that is necessary for the operation of your
business, like vehicles, computers, furniture, and some office equipment. Many times the purchase of a
fixed asset will also incur a long-term liability, such as when acquiring an auto loan to buy a new vehicle.
Fixed assets are not for immediate sale, but they do have a value. Since they are useful for a long
time, you don’t completely charge their entire cost to the year in which you purchased them. Instead, you
spread their cost over several years, which is called the “useful life” of the asset. However, because fixed
assets wear out or become obsolete (like computers), their value declines constantly from the day you
purchase them. When the value of fixed assets decline over a period, the amount of value that is lost is
called depreciation. The total amount of this decline over a period of time is called accumulated
depreciation.
We will now examine one method for creating fixed asset accounts, noting their original value, and
recording their accumulated depreciation. There are many ways to track fixed asset value and depreciation
and this is just one suggested method. This method works well to show the original cost, the accumulated
depreciation, and the current book value for a single fixed asset on separate lines within the Balance Sheet
for clarity of reporting. However if you are currently tracking fixed assets and asset depreciation in other
ways, you can rest assured that you can continue using your own method.
When you refer to the value of a fixed asset at any point in time you are referring to its “book value.”
This is determined by subtracting its accumulated depreciation, which is the total amount of depreciation
that has occurred since the asset’s original purchase date, from its original cost.
Usually, you will want your company’s Balance Sheet to show the original cost of an asset on one
line with the accumulated depreciation subtracted from the original cost on a second line, and the current,
or “book,” value on a third line. The method you will learn in this lesson allows you to see each asset’s cost
and its accumulated depreciation separately on your balance sheet.
To do this, you need to create a primary fixed asset account for each asset and then create two
subaccounts under each primary fixed asset account: one for the “original cost” and one for the
“accumulated depreciation.”
First, create a new primary “Fixed Asset” account for the fixed asset. Leave the “Opening Balance”
field blank if purchasing the asset after your company file’s “start date,” as that value will be determined by
the two subaccounts (“original cost” and “accumulated depreciation”) you will need to create to track its
book value.
Next, create the two “Fixed Asset” subaccounts- one for the asset’s original cost and one for the
asset’s accumulated depreciation. These two subaccounts should also be of the “Fixed Asset” account
type. When creating these accounts, ensure you click the checkbox for “Subaccount of” within the “New
Account” window and select the correct primary fixed asset account for which these subaccounts will track
the original cost and depreciation.
When creating the “Original Cost” subaccount for assets purchased BEFORE your company file’s
“start date,” enter the “Opening Balance” as the original cost of the asset. For assets purchased AFTER the
“start date,” leave the “Opening Balance” field blank, as the value of the asset will come from the value of
the transactions you still need to enter, such as a loan you received or checks you wrote to buy the fixed
asset. When creating the “Accumulated Depreciation” subaccount, the amount you enter as the “Opening
Balance” also depends on whether you acquired the asset after or before your company file’s “start date.” If
you acquired the asset AFTER the “start date,” leave the “opening balance” field blank. If you acquired the
asset BEFORE your “start date,” enter the accumulated depreciation of the asset as of the start date as a
negative number.

22.5- Creating Liability Accounts:
You can create liability accounts to track amounts you need to pay to someone else. If the liability is
to be paid off within the year, it is an “Other Current Liability.” If you have a line of credit, that would be an
example of an other current liability.
You can also create “Long Term Liability” accounts for amounts you expect to pay off in a period
greater than a year. For example, when you purchase a fixed asset like a vehicle, you typically incur a long
term liability- like an auto loan.
When you make payments on liabilities, note that the total amount due will often be attributed
partially to the liability account, reducing the amount owed, and partially to interest expense. If you make the
loan payments within the “Write Checks” window by hand, be sure to record the correct amounts on the
“Expenses” tab using the associated amortization table for the loan. That way, you will know how much of
each payment made will reduce the amount owed, and how much is interest expense. You can also make
use of the “Loan Manager” within QuickBooks to assist you in creating loan payments if you know the terms
of the loan.
22.6- Setting the Original Cost of the Fixed Asset:
When purchasing a fixed asset, attribute any amounts spent or borrowed to buy the fixed asset
directly to the “Original Cost” subaccount. For example, if you took out a loan to buy a fixed asset, assign
the value of the loan to the “Original Cost” subaccount for the fixed asset when entering the original amount
of the loan into the associated long-term liability account register.
22.7- Tracking Depreciation:
Your accountant should provide you with the amounts to enter for depreciation on your fixed assets.
They should at least double-check your depreciation entries. After you have those amounts, you can enter
them into the “Decrease” column of the “Accumulated Depreciation” subaccount’s register you created for
the fixed asset. The amount will then be attributed to an expense account like “Depreciation Expense.” The
“Accumulated Depreciation” subaccount will always have a negative balance, as it tracks the loss of value
to the fixed asset which is its parent account.

22.8- The Loan Manager:
Assuming you have all of the relevant information about a loan, you can enter the loan into the Loan
Manager to set up a payment schedule. Using the Loan Manager allows you to manage all the loans you
need to pay from a single screen.
To add a loan to the Loan Manager, select “Banking| Loan Manager” from the Menu Bar to launch
the “Loan Manager” window. Click the “Add a Loan…” button to open the “Add a Loan” window, and select
the name of the liability account you want to add from the “Account Name” drop-down. The balance of the
account will be shown as the “Current Balance.” Use the “Lender” drop-down to select the name of the bank
who lent you the money. Enter the “Origination Date” of the loan, which is the date used to calculate the
loan maturity date and the number of remaining payments. Enter the original amount of the loan into the
“Original Amount” field. In the “Term” section, enter the terms of the loan by typing a number and selecting
the time increments from the drop-down. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
On the next screen, enter the due date of the next payment within the field provided. In the “Payment
Amount” field, enter the total amount of the loan payment. Enter the “Next Payment Number,” if desired.
From the “Payment Period” drop-down, select the type of payments you make. If the loan has an escrow
payment, select the “Yes” option button for that question and then enter the escrow amount and the asset
account used to track escrow payments. You can also leave a check in the “Alert me 10 days before a
payment is due” checkbox to have that feature applied. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
On the next screen, enter the interest rate as a percentage into the “Interest Rate” text box. From the
“Compounding Period” drop-down, select the type of compounding used for the loan: “Monthly” or “Exact
Days.” If you select “Exact Days,” then select whether the lender is using a 360 or 365 day year for their
calculations from the “Compute Period” drop-down. Select the bank account from which you make the
payments from the “Payment Account” drop-down. Use the “Interest Expense Account” drop-down to select
the expense account you use to track loan interest payments. Use the “Fees/Charges Expense Account”
drop-down to select the expense account used to record the amounts assessed for late payments and other
penalties. When finished, click the “Finish” button. The loan will be added into the “Loan List” in the “Loan
Manager” window. You can click it to select it and then click the three tabs below it to view the “Summary” of
the loan, the “Payment Schedule,” or the “Contact Info” for the lender.
To set up a payment for a loan listed in the “Loan List,” select the loan in the list and then click the
“Set Up Payment…” button to launch the “Set Up Payment” dialog box. Use the “This payment is:” drop-
down to select either “A regular payment” or “An extra payment.” Double-check the payment information to
ensure the amounts listed are correct. Use the drop-down in the “Payment Method” section to select the
method of payment to use. Click the “OK” button to view the loan payment as either a check to pay now or
bill you can pay later, depending on the choice made from the drop-down in the “Payment Method” section.
To edit a loan, select the loan name in the “Loan List” section of the “Loan Manager” window and
then click the “Edit Loan Details…” button to launch the same wizard you used to create the loan. Change
any loan information within the wizard, as needed. To delete a loan from the “Loan Manager,” select the
name of the loan in the “Loan List” and then click the “Remove Loan…” button. Click “Yes” in the
confirmation dialog box to remove the selected loan.
In the “Loan Manager” window you can also click the “What If Scenarios…” button to launch the
“What If Scenarios” dialog box. Use the drop-down at the top of this dialog box to answer hypothetical
questions about your loans, such as “What if I change my interest rate?” You can select a question you wish
to investigate further and enter any requested information in the area below. This can be a useful tool for
comparing loans to ensure you aren’t paying too much for the money you have borrowed.

22.9- The Fixed Asset Item List:
You can use the “Fixed Asset Item List” to track your individual fixed assets. You can use this list to
enter information about the purchase price of an asset, its purchase date, and whether the asset was new
or used at purchase. You can also enter the asset’s sale price if you decide to sell the asset at a later point
in time.
To open the Fixed Asset Item List, select “Lists| Fixed Asset Item List” from the Menu Bar. To then
add a new fixed asset to the Fixed Asset Item List, click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list
and select “New” from the pop-up menu.
In the “Asset Name/Number” field, type the name or number of the asset. Use the “Asset Account”
drop-down to select the asset account used to track the value of the asset. In the “Purchase Information”
section, set whether the item is “New” or “Used.” You can type a purchase description into the next text box.
Set the purchase date in the “Date” field. Enter the “Cost” of the item in that field. Enter the name of the
“Payee/Vendor” in the field provided. Then enter any optional information you want to track in the “Asset
Information” section.
When you sell the asset, you can edit the item and then enter the sales information when it is sold.
To enter custom field information or create custom fields, click the “Custom Fields” button at the right side of
the window to open the “Custom Fields” dialog box.
To create new custom fields, click the “Define Fields” button to open a “Set up Custom Fields for
Items” dialog box, where you can create new custom fields the same way that you create new custom fields
within the “Item List.” Then click the “OK” button to return to the “Custom Fields” dialog box. Then enter any
values for the fixed asset item into the custom fields shown in the “Custom Fields” dialog box and then click
the “OK” button to return to the “New Item” window. Click “OK” when you are finished.

ACTIONS-
CREATING ASSET AND LIABILITY ACCOUNTS:
1. To create asset and liability accounts, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Chart of Accounts” window that opens, click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the
chart of accounts window and select “New” from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. In the “New Account: Choose Account Type” window, select the option button that corresponds to the
type of account that you want to create. Note that for many of the asset and liability account types, you
may need to select the “Other Account Type” option button and then select the type of account to create
from the adjacent drop-down menu.
4. Then click the “Continue” button to continue to the “Add Account” window.
5. In the “Name” field, type a name for the account.
6. You can enter an account number into the “Number” field if you have enabled account numbering within
your company file.
7. If the account is to be the subaccount of another primary account you have created, check the
“Subaccount of” checkbox and then select the name of its primary account from the adjacent drop-down.
8. Enter any optional account information into the “Optional” section.
9. You can click the “Save & Close” button to create the account and close the window or you can click the
“Save & New” button to save the account but leave the “Add Account” window open. If you choose the
“Save & New” choice, be sure to change the account type, if needed, by using the “Account Type” drop-
down at the top of the window to select your account type before creating the next new account.
USING ACCOUNT REGISTERS TO CREATE GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRIES:
1. To use an account register to enter a general journal entry, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from
the Menu Bar to open the “Chart of Accounts” window.
2. Double-click the desired balance sheet account (Asset or Liability) to open its account register.
3. In the next blank transaction row within the account register window, enter the date of the transaction
into the “Date” field.
4. Enter a reference number into the “Ref” field.
5. Then click into either the “Increase” or “Decrease” column and enter the amount of the transaction.
6. Select the other account this transaction affects from the “Account” drop-down in the transaction row.
7. Click the “Record” button at the bottom of the transaction window to record the transaction.
CREATING A GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRY FOR TWO ACCOUNTS:
1. To create a general journal entry that affects two accounts, select “Company| Make General
Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar to open the “General Journal Entry” window.
2. Enter the date of the entry into the “Date” field.
3. Enter a reference number for the entry into the “Entry No.” field.
4. Then click into the first row under the “Account” column and select the account to debit.
5. Enter the amount to debit the selected account into the adjacent “Debit” column within that row.
6. Click into the “Account” column in the next blank row and select the account to credit.
7. QuickBooks should automatically attribute the balancing amount to the “Credit” column. If not, click into
the “Credit” column and then enter the balancing amount.
8. When you are finished making the entry, click the “Save & Close” button.

ACTIONS-
THE LOAN MANAGER:
1. To add a loan to the Loan Manager, select “Banking| Loan Manager” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Add a Loan…” button in the Loan Manager window that opens.
3. Select the name of the liability account to add from the “Account Name” drop-down.
4. Use the “Lender” drop-down to select the name of the bank who lent you the money.
5. Enter the “Origination Date” of the loan.
6. Enter the original amount of the loan into the “Original Amount” field.
7. In the “Term” section, enter the terms of the loan by typing a number and selecting the time increments
from the drop-down.
9. Enter the due date of the next payment into the field provided.
10. In the “Payment Amount” field, enter the total amount of the loan payment.
11. Enter the “Next Payment Number,” if desired.
12. From the “Payment Period” drop-down, select the type of payments you make.
13. If the loan has an escrow payment, select the “Yes” option button for that question and enter the escrow
amount and the asset account used to track escrow payments.
14. Check the “Alert me 10 days before a payment is due” checkbox to have that feature applied.
16. Enter the interest rate as a percentage into the “Interest Rate” text box.
17. From the “Compounding Period” drop-down, select the type of compounding used for the loan:
“Monthly” or “Exact Days.” If you select “Exact Days,” select whether the lender is using a 360 or 365
day year for their calculations from the “Compute Period” drop-down.
18. Select the bank account from which you make the payments from the “Payment Account” drop-down.
19. Use the “Interest Expense Account” drop-down to select the expense account you use to track loan
interest payments.
20. Use the “Fees/Charges Expense Account” drop-down to select the expense account used to record the
amounts assessed for late payments and other penalties.
21. When finished, click the “Finish” button.
22. To edit a loan in the Loan Manager window, select the loan name in the “Loan List” section of the
“Loan Manager” window.
23. Click the “Edit Loan Details…” button.
24. This will launch you through the same wizard used to create the loan, allowing you to change any
information needed within the screens in the wizard.
25. To delete a loan in the Loan Manager window, select the name of the loan in the “Loan List” and then
click the “Remove Loan…” button.
26. Click “Yes” in the confirmation dialog box to remove the selected loan.
27. To run “What If” scenarios in the Loan Manager window, click the “What If Scenarios…” button to
launch the “What If Scenarios” dialog box.
28. Use the drop-down at the top of this dialog box to select a hypothetical question to answer.
29. Enter any requested information in the area below.
30. Click “Close” when you are finished.

ACTIONS-
THE FIXED ASSET ITEMS LIST:
1. To add a new fixed asset to the Fixed Asset Item List, select “Lists| Fixed Asset Item List” from the
Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list and select “New” from the pop-up menu.
3. In the “Asset Name/Number” field, type the name or number of the asset.
4. Use the “Asset Account” drop-down to select the asset account used to track the value of the asset.
5. In the “Purchase Information” section, set whether the item is “New” or “Used.”
6. You can type a purchase description into the next text box.
7. Set the purchase date in the “Date” field.
8. Enter the “Cost” of the item in that field.
9. Enter the name of the “Payee/Vendor” in the field provided.
10. Then enter any optional information you want to track in the “Asset Information” section.
11. When you sell the asset, you can edit the item and then enter the sales information when it is sold.
12. To enter custom field information or create custom fields, click the “Custom Fields” button at the
right side of the window to open the “Custom Fields” dialog box.
13. To create new custom fields, click the “Define Fields” button to open a “Set up Custom Fields for
Items” dialog box, where you can create new custom fields the same way that you create new custom
fields within the “Item List.”
14. Then click the “OK” button to return to the “Custom Fields” dialog box.
15. Then enter any values for the fixed asset item into the custom fields shown in the “Custom Fields” dialog
box and then click the “OK” button to return to the “New Item” window.
16. Click “OK” when you are finished.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To create and use fixed asset and long term liability accounts and add a loan to the “Loan Manager.”
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
8. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window and then select
the “New” command from the pop-up menu.
9. Within the “Add Account” Choose Account Type” window, select the “Fixed Asset (major
purchases)” option button and then click the “Continue” button to open the “Add Account” window.
10. Type “New Car” into the “Account Name” field.
11. Click the “Save & New” button.
12. Ensure the “Account Type” drop-down is still set to “Fixed Asset.”
13. Type “Original Cost” into the “Account Name” field.
14. Click the “Subaccount of” checkbox and then use the adjacent drop-down to select “New Car.”
16. Type “Accumulated Depreciation” into the “Account Name” field.
17. Click the “Subaccount of” checkbox and then use the adjacent drop-down to select “New Car.”
19. Use the “Account Type” drop-down at the top of the “Add Account” window to select “Long Term
Liability.”
20. Type “New Car Loan.”
22. Double-click on the “Original Cost” subaccount of the “New Car” fixed asset account in order to open
its account register in a new window.
23. Select “East Bayshore Auto Mall” from the “Payee” drop-down menu.
24. Enter “35000” into the “Increase” column.
25. Select the “New Car Loan” long term liability account from the “Account” drop-down.
26. Click the “Record” button to record the general journal entry through the account register.
27. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the “New Car:Original Cost” account register window to
close it.
28. Inspect the changes to the balances shown within the selected accounts in the “Chart of Accounts.”
29. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the “Chart of Accounts” window to close it.
30. Select “Banking| Loan Manger” from the Menu Bar to open the “Loan Manager” window.
31. Click the “Add a Loan…” button to open the “Add Loan” window.
(cont’d.)

EXERCISES-
Exercises- (cont’d.):
32. Use the “Account Name” drop-down to select “New Car Loan.”
33. Use the “Lender” drop-down to select “Great Statewide Bank.”
34. Use the “Origination Date” calendar selector to choose “12/15/2024.”
35. Enter “35000” into the “Original Amount” field.
36. Enter “72” into the “Term” field and ensure that the adjacent drop-down is set to “Months.”
38. Enter “1/15/2025” into the “Due Date of Next Payment” field.
39. Enter “614.85” into the “Payment Amount” field.
41. Enter “6” into the “Interest Rate” field.
42. Select “Checking” from the “Payment Account” drop-down menu.
43. Click the “Finish” button to add the loan to the “Loan Manager” window.
44. Click the “Close” button within the “Loan Manager” window to close it.

CHAPTER 23-
Equity Accounts
23.1- Equity Accounts
23.2- Recording an Owner’s Draw
23.3- Recording a Capital Investment

Equity Accounts
23.1- Equity Accounts:
Equity is basically the difference between what you have (your assets) and what you owe (your
liabilities). If you sold all your assets today and paid off your liabilities using the money received from the
sale of your assets, the money you’d have left over would be your equity.
A balance sheet shows your company assets, liabilities, and equity on a particular date. Because
equity is the difference between total assets and total liabilities, it’s also true that total assets equal the sum
of total liabilities and equity.
As you enter the opening balances of your assets and liabilities while creating the company file,
QuickBooks calculates the amount of equity and records it in an equity account called Opening Balance
Equity. In addition to the “Opening Balance Equity” account, QuickBooks often sets up another type of
equity account for you called Retained Earnings. This account tracks your company’s net income from
previous fiscal years. QuickBooks automatically transfers your profit or loss to Retained Earnings at the end
of each fiscal year.
If your company is a sole proprietorship, you don’t have to add any more equity accounts to your
chart of accounts. All the equity belongs to the company’s sole owner. If your business is a partnership,
you’ll probably want to set up separate equity accounts for each partner.
23.2- Recording an Owner’s Draw:
If your company is a sole proprietorship, you can take draws against the equity you have in your
company. To record an owner’s draw, simply create a check to yourself, which you may place in your “Other
Names” list to avoid confusion, and assign the amount of the check to the equity account you use to record
your draws, like “Owner’s Equity:Owner’s Draws.”
23.3- Recording a Capital Investment:
As an owner of a sole proprietorship or partnership, a capital investment is personal money you, or a

business partner, invests into your business. You use an equity account to track capital investments. You
may call it something like “Owner’s Equity:Owner’s Contributions.”
To create a capital investment, select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar. Click “Cancel”
on the “Payments to Deposit” window and any other screen that may appear, if you want to record the
investment separately, until you reach the “Make Deposits” window.
In the “Make Deposits” window, select the account into which you want to deposit the money from
the “Deposit To” drop-down. In the next blank transaction line, select the name of the person making the
investment from the “Received From” drop-down. Select the appropriate equity account you use to track
capital investments from the “From Account” drop-down. Then enter the amount they are investing into the
“Amount” column. Then save the transaction by clicking the “Save & Close” button.

ACTIONS-
Equity Accounts
MAKING AN OWNER’S DRAW:
1. To record an owner’s draw, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar.
2. Make the check out to the owner.
3. In the “Expenses” area of the check, assign the amount of the check to the equity account you use to
record owner's draws.
4. Click “Save & Close” to save the check.
MAKING A CAPITAL INVESTMENT:
1. To record a capital investment, select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click “Cancel” to deposit the investment check by itself.
3. In the “Make Deposits” window, choose the bank account into which you're depositing the money.
4. In the detail area, enter the name of the person from whom you received the money and the amount of
the investment.
5. From the "From account" drop-down list, choose the appropriate equity account.
6. Save the transaction.

EXERCISES-
Equity Accounts
Purpose:
To be able to make an owner’s draw and record capital investments.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
3. Click the “Open a sample file” button and then select “Sample service-based business” from the
drop-down of choices.
4. If this is your first time opening this file, then confirm you want to download the “Sample service-
based business” file from Intuit in the message box that appears.
8. After backing up the file, select “Banking| Write Checks” from the Menu Bar to record an owner’s
draw.
9. In the “Pay to the Order of” field, type “Larry Wadford.”
10. For the “$” field, type “100.”
11. In the “Expenses” area of the check, assign the amount of the check to “Owner’s Equity:Owner's
Draw.”
12. Click “Save & Close” to save the check.
13. Now you will record an owner’s contribution by selecting “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu
Bar.
14. Click “Cancel” to deposit the investment check by itself.
15. In the “Make Deposits” window, select “Checking“ from the “Deposit To” drop-down.
16. In the first row, select “Larry Wadford” from the “Received From” drop-down.
17. From the "From account" drop-down list, choose “Owner’s Equity:Owner’s Contributions.”
18. For the “Chk No.” field, type “1234.”
19. For the “Pmt Meth.,” select “Check.”
20. For the “Amount,” type “500.”
21. Click “Save & Close.”

CHAPTER 24-
Writing Letters with QuickBooks
24.1- Using the Letters and Envelopes Wizard
24.2- Editing Letter Templates

24.1- Using the Letters and Envelopes Wizard:
Since you are already keeping much of your vendor and customer information in QuickBooks, it can
be useful to note you can also send customized letters to them without having to retype much of the
information. QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides you with a variety of different business letters you can edit,
as needed, to suit your particular company.
QuickBooks uses the “Letters and Envelopes” wizard to assist you in creating these letters. To start
the “Letters and Envelopes” wizard, choose “Company| Prepare Letters with Envelopes” from the Menu Bar.
Then select the type of letters to create from the side menu of choices that appears.
In the “Letters and Envelopes” wizard that appears, answer the questions posed to you in each
screen and then click the “Next” button to continue through the screens until you are finished. Note that to
use this feature, you must have Microsoft Word and either QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier.
24.2- Editing Letter Templates:
While you can make small changes to each letter as you print them individually, you can also
enforce global editing changes to all future copies of a letter by editing the letter template, which is the
original copy of the letter, to make changes to all future copies of the letter you produce.
To edit the letter templates, select “Company| Prepare Letters with Envelopes| Customize Letter
Templates…” from the Menu Bar. In the “Letters and Envelopes” window, select the “View or Edit Existing
Letter Templates” option button and click the “Next” button. In the “Types of Letters” section, choose the
option button to display a listing of letters within the selected category in the list to the right. In the “Letters
Templates Available” list, select the name of the letter template you want to edit and then click the “Next”
button.
Edit the document in Microsoft Word, adding any additional fields using the “Add-Ins” tab in
Microsoft Word 2019 through 2010 or Office 365. When finished, click the “Save” button in the Quick
Access Toolbar at the very top of the Microsoft Word 2019 through 2010 or Office 365 application to save
your changes to the template. You can then close Microsoft Word by clicking the “X” in the upper-right
corner of the application window.
When you edit the letter template, you can add and edit the text contained within the body of the
letter, as well as change dynamic information by using the “Add-Ins” tab in Microsoft Word 2019 through
2010 or Office 365 to add more fields of data. Be careful, though! Any changes you make and save within
the letter template will affect all future letters based on the template.

ACTIONS-
USING THE LETTERS AND ENVELOPES WIZARD:
1. To write letters using the “Letters and Envelopes” wizard, select “Company| Prepare Letters with
Envelopes” from the Menu Bar.
2. From the side menu that appears, select the type of letter to create.
3. The “Letters and Envelopes” wizard will appear.
4. Answer any questions posed in each screen, and click the “Next” button to proceed until finished.
5. Change the letters as needed in Microsoft Word.
6. In Microsoft Word 2019 through 2010 or Office 365, click the “File” tab in the Ribbon.
7. Click the “Print” command at the left side of the backstage view in Microsoft Word.
8. Set any printing options you would like in the area to the right.
9. Click the “Print” button in the area to the right to print the documents.
EDITING THE QUICKBOOKS LETTER TEMPLATES:
1. To edit the letter templates used by the “Letters and Envelopes” wizard in QuickBooks, select
“Company| Prepare Letters with Envelopes| Customize Letter Templates…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Letters and Envelopes” window, select the “View or Edit Existing Letter Templates” option button.
3. Click the “Next” button.
4. In the “Types of Letters” section, choose the option button to display a listing of letters within the
selected category in the list to the right.
5. In the “Letters Templates Available” list, select the name of the letter template to edit.
6. Click the “Next” button.
7. Edit the document in Microsoft Word, adding any additional fields using the “Add-Ins” tab in Microsoft
Word 2019 through 2010 or Office 365.
8. Click the “Save” button in the Quick Access Toolbar at the very top of the Microsoft Word 2019 through
2010 or Office 365 application to save your changes to the template.
9. Close Microsoft Word by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the application window.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to make a customer letter in QuickBooks. You must have Microsoft Word installed.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Company| Prepare Letters with Envelopes| Customer Letters…”
from the Menu Bar.
8. In the “Letters and Envelopes” window, click the “Next” button to continue.
9. Click the “Accept credit app” letter.
11. For the “Name,” type “Tom Ferguson.”
12. For the “Title,” type “President.”
14. Click “OK” in the “QuickBooks Information Is Missing” dialog box which appears.
15. Look at the letters that Microsoft Word has created.
16. When finished, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the Microsoft Word application to exit the
program.
17. Click the “Cancel” button within the “Letters and Envelopes” window.

CHAPTER 25-
Company Management
25.1- Viewing Your Company Information
25.2- Setting Up Budgets
25.3- Using the To Do List
25.4- Using Reminders and Setting Preferences
25.5- Making General Journal Entries
25.6- Using the Cash Flow Projector
25.7- Using Payment Reminders

Company Management
25.1- Viewing Your Company Information:
If you move or get a new phone number, you’ll want to change your company’s information to reflect
that update. To update your company’s information in QuickBooks, select “Company| My Company…” from
the Menu Bar. Then click the “Edit” button in the upper-right corner of the window that appears to open the
“Company Information” dialog box. In the dialog box that appears, change any inaccurate information and
click the “OK” button to save your changes. You can then close the “My Company” window.
25.2- Setting Up Budgets:
Budgets can be created for either Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet accounts, but they do have to be
account-based. You can create them from scratch, from actual data from the previous fiscal year, or from
the previous fiscal year's budget. A budget is uniquely identified by its fiscal year, the account type (either
Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet) and if desired, further identified by Customer:Job or Class.
To create a budget, select “Company| Planning and Budgeting| Set Up Budgets” from the Menu Bar.
If you have already created a budget, you can click the “Create New Budget” button. In the “Create New
Budget” window, choose the fiscal year for the new budget and then choose to create a budget for either
“Profit and Loss” or “Balance Sheet” accounts by clicking the desired option button. Click the “Next” button
to continue.
If you selected a “Balance Sheet” budget, then click “Finish” to begin entering budget data. If you
chose “Profit and Loss," you can specify the additional criteria of segmenting it by either “Customer:Job” or
“Class," if class tracking has been turned on. You can then click “Next” again to choose whether to “Create
budget from scratch” or “Create budget from previous year's actual data” by selecting the desired option
button. Click the “Finish” button to create the new budget.
At that point, enter the amounts you want to budget for each account into the months shown. When
finished, click the “Save” button to save the data. Then click the “OK” button to close the budget window.
25.3- Using the To Do List:
You can remind yourself of tasks you want to complete by a certain date. You can look at your notes
in the “To Do” list at any time, or you can use the “Reminders” list to see the notes whose dates are due.
To create a new “To Do” note, select “Company| To Do List” from the Menu Bar. Click the “To Do”
drop-down button and choose “New To Do” from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “Add To Do”
window, select the type of “To Do” note you want to create from the “Type” drop-down. Select the priority
from the “Priority” drop-down. If the task requires the presence of another individual, check the “With”
checkbox. Then use the drop-down below that to select the type of individual. This can be either a “Lead,”
“Customer,” “Vendor,” or “Employee.” Then use the next drop-down to choose the name of the specific
individual required. Enter the date that the note is due by selecting a date from the “Due” field. To specify a
time, check the “Time” checkbox and enter a time into the adjacent fields. You must enter detailed notes
about the “To Do” item into the “Details” field. Then select the status of the note by choosing one from the
“Status” drop-down. When finished, click the “OK” button to add the note to your “To Do” list.
When you complete a “To Do” note, you can double-click its entry within the “To Do List” window to
open the “Edit To Do” window. Then select “Done” from the “Status” drop-down and click the “OK” button.
The note will then appear within the “To Do List” window with a checkmark in the far left “Done” column. To
delete a note from the list, click its name within the “To Do List” window. Then click the “To Do” drop-down
button and choose the “Delete Selected To Do” command. Then click the “OK” button.

Company Management
25.4- Using Reminders and Setting Preferences:
A nice feature of the QuickBooks Desktop Pro program is that when you open it up, you can have
reminders appear to tell you if you have transactions to complete, such as paying your bills or depositing
funds. If you don’t see the reminders window when you open QuickBooks, and you would like to, you can
enable it by selecting “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar. Select “Reminders” from the list at the left
side of the dialog box and then click the “My Preferences” tab at the right side of the dialog box. Check the
“Show Reminders List when opening a Company file” checkbox and then click the “OK” button to enable the
feature.
25.5- Making General Journal Entries:
You can create general journal entries to record transactions you don’t enter through other forms
and screens in QuickBooks. Actually, you create general journal entries when you make entries directly into
the account registers for transactions like depreciation expense transactions. While QuickBooks is a terrific
program because it simplifies accounting using the concept of checking registers, you can still create
general journal entries if you prefer to work with more traditional credits and debits.
General journal entries made in QuickBooks must use double-entry. That is, the credit and debit
amounts must balance for the transaction to be posted. To create a general journal entry, select “Company|
Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar. Enter the date of the general journal entry into the
“Date” field. Then enter the transaction reference number into the “Entry No.” field. Then select the accounts
involved in the transaction and enter their credit or debit amounts. To post the balanced transaction, click
the “Save & Close” button.
25.6- Using the Cash Flow Projector:
You can use the data you have already entered into QuickBooks along with the Cash Flow Projector
to create an estimate of the cash flow in your company for the next six weeks. After you set up the
information needed to create the cash forecast, you can view the cash available in a report. You can even
view how making changes to estimated receipts and disbursements could affect your future cash balance.
To start the Cash Flow Projector, select “Company| Planning & Budgeting| Cash Flow Projector”
from the Menu Bar to launch the Cash Flow Projector. Read about what this tool will provide to you on the
initial screen and then click the “Next” button to continue.
In the second screen, check any accounts you want to use as the beginning cash balance for your
company. You can enter any manual adjustments to that balance in the “Adjust Balance” box at the bottom
of this window. Note that this adjustment will be used each time you create the cash flow forecast, although
it can be changed later, if desired. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
In the next screen, use the drop-down under the “Itemized Cash Receipts” section to select which
projection method you want to use for cash receipts. To learn more about the projection methods, you can
click the helpful hyperlinks in the upper-right corner of the window. If you selected the manual projection
method, enter a date, description, and amount for your cash receipts into the section provided below the
drop-down. Repeat this step to enter all desired cash receipts for each week. Then enter any adjustments in
the weekly summary section at the bottom of the screen. If you selected an automatic projection method,
edit the itemized cash receipts, as necessary, and enter any adjustments in the weekly summary section. If
you have entered all your cash transactions in QuickBooks, entering adjustments in the weekly summary
section may not be necessary. Click the “Next” button to continue.
Company Management
25.6- Using the Cash Flow Projector- (cont’d.):
In the next screen, enter any expenses that are not accounts payable. You can either enter detailed
expenses, or a summary of multiple expenses in one line. Enter these into the “Business Expenses”
section. You can also make adjustments at this time, as well. Note that each screen has a “Preview
Projection” button at the bottom you can click to see how your changes will impact the forecast. Then click
the “Next” button to continue.
In the last screen, review the bills in your accounts payable account. You can adjust the payment
dates, if needed. You can also adjust the weekly accounts payables summaries at the bottom of the
window, if needed. At that point, you can click the “Finish Projection” button to create the Cash Flow
Projection. This document can be printed by clicking the “Print…” button at the bottom of the window. You
can also click the “Save as PDF…” button to save it as a PDF document. When finished, click the “Close”
button to close the projection. Then you can close the Cash Flow Projector by clicking the “Close” button.
25.7- Using Payment Reminders:
If using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2020 or later, you can use the new “Payment Reminders” feature
to email automated payment reminders for customer invoices that are due or overdue. By default, the
“Payment Reminders” feature is enabled in the company file’s preferences and it sends payment reminders
at 10AM if QuickBooks is open. Otherwise, it sends them the next time you open the company file.
To disable this preference or change its default reminder time, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the
Menu Bar. Then click the “Payments” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window and click the
“Company Preferences” tab to the right. In the “Payment Reminders” section on this tab, you can select the
“No” option to disable payment reminders, if desired. If enabled, you can select the default time to prompt
you to send them by selecting a time from the “If QuickBooks Desktop is open, prompt me at” drop-down.
You can set the reminder frequency by selecting an option button choice for “Daily,” “Weekly,” or “Monthly”
below the drop-down. Note that you can also uncheck the checkbox at the left end of this setting to disable
payment reminder prompts, if desired.
Also, check the options you have enabled for sending forms via email by clicking the “Send Forms”
icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window. Ensure you have correctly configured your email client on
the “My Preferences” tab within the “Send E-Mail Using” section. After setting your desired payment
reminder and email preferences, click the “OK” button in this window to apply them.
Next, you must schedule the payment reminders and create the associated customer mailing lists.
To start, select “Customers| Payment Reminders| Schedule Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar. Then
click the Get Started” button in the “Schedule Payment Reminders” window that opens. In the next window,
a new, blank schedule appears. To set the schedule’s name, click the “New Schedule” hyperlink to open the
“Edit schedule name” dialog box, type a new name for the schedule, and then click the “OK” button.
Then use the “Select mailing list” drop-down for the new schedule to select the mailing list, which is
a set of customers, to remind. To create a new mailing list, click the “Add New” choice in the drop-down
menu to open the “Add mailing list” window. Type a name for the mailing list into the “Name” field.
Optionally, enter a description into the “Description” field. Then click the “Next” button to continue to a listing
of your customers. To add all the customers, click the checkbox at the top of the left-most column of
checkboxes. Otherwise, check the checkbox to the left of the names of the individual customers to add.
Then click the “Save” button when you are finished to return to the schedule.
Next, click the “Add Reminder” button for the schedule to set when to remind the customers in the
selected mailing list within the “Add reminder” window that appears. Type the number of days before or

Company Management
25.7- Using Payment Reminders- (cont’d.):
after the customer’s due date to send the payment reminder into the “Enter” field at the top of this window.
Then use the adjacent drop-down to select either “before” or “after” the due date. Then type the email’s
“Subject” and “Body” into the associated fields or edit the existing content. Note that you can insert a data
field at your current insertion point in either field by clicking the “Insert Field” button and then selecting the
name of the field to insert at that location. When finished, you can check your spelling by clicking the
“Check spelling” button. When you are ready to continue, click the “OK” button.
You can add another reminder for the selected schedule, up to 5 per schedule, by clicking the “Add
Reminder” button for the schedule and then repeating the process. To disable the schedule, click the toggle
switch button to the left of its name to turn it on or off. To delete the schedule, click the “Delete schedule”
button, which looks like a trash can icon, at the left end of the schedule and then click “Yes” in the
confirmation warning message box that appears. To create another new schedule, up to 5 total, click the
“New Schedule” button in the upper-right corner of the window and then repeat the previous steps. After you
are finished within the “Schedule payment reminders” window, click the “Save” button within it to save the
payment reminders and close the window.
In the next window, which appears after the first time you configure payment reminders, you can
click the “Let’s do it” button to review and send your first reminders in the “Send Reminders” window that
then appears. You can also manually open this window by selecting “Customers| Payment Reminders|
Review & Send Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar. At the left side of the window, the reminders to
send are checked. You can click a row in this area to preview the specific email in the area to the right. You
can then make editing to changes within the fields to the right for the selected email, if needed. You can
click the checkboxes to the left of the invoices to toggle the invoice payment reminder selections on and off.
You can also click the checkbox at the top of the column of checkboxes to toggle all invoice payment
reminder checkbox selections on or off. To permanently remove checked invoices from this particular
reminder schedule, if desired, ensure they are checked and then click the “Remove” button below the
invoice list. Then click the “Remove Email” button in the confirmation warning message box that appears.
Alternatively, to only delay sending an invoice payment reminder instead, without removing it, then simply
uncheck the invoice reminder’s checkbox to de-select it before clicking the “Send Now” button.
To send reminders for the selected invoices, ensure the checkboxes are checked for the desired
invoice payment reminders. Then click the “Send Now” button in the lower-right corner to send reminders
for the selected customer invoices. Note that this is the same window that will appear when you need to
send payment reminders to customers in the future. You can click the “Close” button to close this window, if
necessary. After sending payment reminders, the reminders appear in the invoice’s “See History” link and
also appear within the customer’s “Sent Email” tab for the customer’s record in the “Customer Center.”
To edit the payment reminder schedules in the future, just select “Customers| Payment Reminders|
Schedule Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar again to reopen the “Schedule payment reminders
window, make any changes you want, and then click the “Save” button again. To edit or delete the mailing
lists you have created, select “Customers| Payment Reminders| Manage Mailing list” from the Menu Bar to
open the “Manage mailing list” window. Use the drop-down to the right of any mailing list you have created
to select the “Edit” or “Delete” command, as desired. If you select the “Edit” command, you can edit the
names of the customers in the selected mailing list within the “Add mailing list” window that then opens, just
as when you created the mailing list. If you select the “Delete” command, you must then click the “Yes”
button in the confirmation warning message box that appears to delete the selected mailing list.
You can also create a new mailing list in the window by clicking the “New list” button in its upper-
right corner and then creating the mailing list in the “Add mailing list” window that opens, just as you
previously did. To close the “Manage mailing list” window, click the “Close” button in its lower-right corner.

ACTIONS-
Company Management
VIEWING YOUR COMPANY INFORMATION:
1. To view and/or update your company’s information, select “Company| My Company…” from the
Menu Bar and then click the “Edit” button in the upper-right corner of the window that appears to open
the “Company Information” dialog box.
2. In the dialog box that appears, change any inaccurate information and click the “OK” button to save your
changes.
3. You can then close the “My Company” window.
SETTING UP BUDGETS:
1. To create new budgets, select “Company| Planning & Budgeting| Set Up Budgets” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “Create New Budget” button.
3. In the “Create New Budget” window, choose the fiscal year for the new budget and click “Next” to
continue.
4. Then choose “Profit and Loss” or “Balance Sheet” accounts by clicking the appropriate option button,
and click “Next” to continue.
5. If you choose “Profit and Loss," you can specify additional criteria of either “Customer:Job” or “Class," if
class tracking has been turned on.
6. Then choose whether you want to “Create budget from scratch” or “Create budget from previous year's
actual data” by selecting the appropriate option button, and then clicking “Next” to continue.
7. Click “Finish” to create the new budget.
8. At that point, you can simply place the amounts that you want to budget for each account for the months
shown. When you have entered your budget, simply click “Save” to save the data.
9. Click “OK” to close the budget window.
USING THE TO DO LIST:
1. To use the To Do List, select “Company| To Do List” from the Menu Bar.
2. To create a new “To Do” note, slick the “To Do” drop-down button, and choose “New To Do” from the
pop-up menu that appears.
3. In the “Add To Do” window, select the type of “To Do” note to create from the “Type” drop-down.
4. Select the priority from the “Priority” drop-down.
5. If the task requires the presence of another individual, check the “With” checkbox.
6. Use the drop-down below that to select either a “Lead,” “Customer,” “Vendor,” or “Employee.”
7. Then use the next drop-down to choose the name of the specific individual required.
8. Enter the date that the note is due by selecting a date from the “Due” field.
9. To specify a time, check the “Time” checkbox and enter a time into the adjacent fields.
10. You must enter detailed notes about the “To Do” item into the “Details” field.
11. Select the status of the note by choosing one from the “Status” drop-down.
12. When finished, click the “OK” button to add the note to your “To Do” list.
13. To complete a “To Do” note, double-click its entry within the “To Do List” window.
14. In the “Edit To Do” window, select “Done” from the “Status” drop-down and click the “OK” button.
15. To delete a note in the “To Do” list, click its name within the “To Do List” window.
16. Click the “To Do” drop-down button and choose the “Delete Selected To Do” command.

ACTIONS-
Company Management
USING REMINDERS AND SETTING PREFERENCES:
1. To enable reminders in a company file, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select “Reminders” from the list at the left side of the dialog box and then click the “My Preferences” tab
at the right side of the dialog box.
3. Check the “Show Reminders List when opening a Company file” checkbox and then click the “OK”
button to enable the feature.
MAKING GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRIES:
1. To create a General Journal entry, select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu
Bar.
2. Enter the date of the general journal entry into the “Date” field.
3. Enter the transaction reference number into the “Entry No.” field.
4. Select the accounts involved in the transaction and enter their credit or debit amounts.
5. To post the transaction, click the “Save & Close” button.
USING THE CASH FLOW PROJECTOR:
1. To open the Cash Flow Projector, select “Company| Planning & Budgeting| Cash Flow Projector” from
the Menu Bar.
3. Check any accounts you want to use as the beginning cash balance for your company.
4. You can enter any manual adjustments to that balance in the “Adjust Balance” box at the bottom of this
window. Note that this adjustment will be used each time you create the cash flow forecast, although it
can be changed later, if desired.
6. Use the drop-down under the “Itemized Cash Receipts” section to select which projection method to use
for cash receipts.
7. If you selected the manual projection method, enter a date, description, and amount for your cash
receipts into the section provided below the drop-down. Repeat this step to enter all desired cash
receipts for each week. Then enter any adjustments in the weekly summary section at the bottom of the
screen.
8. If you selected an automatic projection method, edit the itemized cash receipts, as necessary, and
enter any adjustments in the weekly summary section. If you have entered all your cash transactions in
QuickBooks, entering adjustments in the weekly summary section may not be necessary.
10. Enter any expenses that are not accounts payable. You can either enter detailed expenses, or a
summary of multiple expenses in one line.
12. Review the bills in your accounts payable account. You can adjust the payment dates, if needed.
13. Click the “Finish Projection” button to create the Cash Flow Projection.
14. This document can be printed by clicking the “Print…” button at the bottom of the window.
15. You can also click the “Save as PDF…” button to save it as a PDF document.
16. When finished, click the “Close” button to close the projection.
17. You can close the Cash Flow Projector by clicking the “Close” button.
ACTIONS-
Company Management
USING PAYMENT REMINDERS:
1. To set payment reminder references and email preferences if using QuickBooks Desktop Pro
2020 or later, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Then click the “Payments” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window and click the “Company
Preferences” tab that appears to the right.
3. To disable payment reminders, if desired, select the “No” option in the “Payment Reminders” section
on this tab.
4. If they are enabled, then you can select the default time to prompt you to send them by selecting a time
from the “If QuickBooks Desktop is open, prompt me at” drop-down.
5. You can set the reminder frequency by selecting an option button choice for “Daily,” “Weekly,” or
“Monthly” below the drop-down.
6. Alternatively, to disable payment reminder prompts, if desired, uncheck the checkbox at the left
end of this same setting.
7. To then check your email preferences, then click the “Send Forms” icon at the left side of the
“Preferences” window.
8. Ensure you have correctly configured your email client on the “My Preferences” tab within the “Send E-
Mail Using” section.
9. After setting your desired payment reminder and email preferences, click the “OK” button in this window
to apply them.
10. To schedule payment reminders and create the associated mailing lists of customers, select
“Customers| Payment Reminders| Schedule Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar.
11. Then click the Get Started” button in the “Schedule Payment Reminders” window that appears.
12. In the next window, a new, blank schedule appears.
13. To set the name of the schedule, click the “New Schedule” hyperlink to open the “Edit schedule name”
dialog box, type a new name for the schedule, and then click the “OK” button in the dialog box.
14. Then use the “Select mailing list” drop-down for the new schedule to select the mailing list, which is a
set of customers, to remind.
15. To create a new mailing list, click the “Add New” choice in the drop-down menu to open the “Add
mailing list” window.
16. Type a name for the mailing list into the “Name” field.
17. Optionally, enter a description into the “Description” field.
18. Then click the “Next” button to continue to a listing of your customers.
19. To add all the customers, click the checkbox at the top of the left-most column of checkboxes.
20. Alternatively, check the checkbox to the left of the names of the individual customers to add.
21. Then click the “Save” button when you are finished to return to the schedule.
22. Next, click the “Add Reminder” button for the schedule to set when to remind the customers in the
selected mailing list within the “Add reminder” window that appears.
23. Type the number of days before or after the customer’s due date to send the payment reminder into the
“Enter” field at the top of this window.
24. Then use the adjacent drop-down to select either “before” or “after” the due date.
25. Then type the email’s “Subject” and “Body” into the associated fields or edit the existing content.
26. To insert a data field at your current insertion point in either field, click the “Insert Field” button and
then select the name of the field to insert at that location.
27. When finished, you can check your spelling by clicking the “Check spelling” button.
28. When you are ready to continue, click the “OK” button.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
Company Management
USING PAYMENT REMINDERS- (CONT’D.):
29. To add another reminder for the selected schedule, up to 5 per schedule, click the “Add Reminder”
button for the schedule and then repeat steps 23 through 28.
30. To disable the schedule, click the toggle switch button to the left of its name to turn it on or off.
31. To delete the schedule, click the “Delete schedule” button, which looks like a trash can icon, at the left
end of the schedule and then click “Yes” in the confirmation warning message box that appears.
32. To create another new schedule, up to 5 total, click the “New Schedule” button in the upper-right
corner of the window and then repeat steps 13 through 29 for the new schedule that appears.
33. To save the payment reminders and close the window after you are finished within the
“Schedule payment reminders” window, click the “Save” button within it.
34. In the next window, which appears the first time you configure payment reminders, you can click the
“Let’s do it” button to review and send your reminders in the “Send Reminders” window that opens.
35. Alternatively, to manually open this window at any point in time, select “Customers| Payment
Reminders| Review & Send Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar.
36. At the left side of the window, the reminders to send are checked.
37. You can click a row in this area to preview the specific email in the area to the right.
38. You can then make editing to changes within the fields to the right for the selected email, if needed.
39. You can click the checkboxes to the left of the invoices to toggle the invoice payment reminder
selections on and off.
40. You can also click the checkbox at the top of the column of checkboxes to toggle all invoice payment
reminder checkbox selections on or off.
41. To permanently remove checked invoices from this particular reminder schedule, if desired,
ensure they are checked and then click the “Remove” button below the invoice list.
42. Then click the “Remove Email” button in the confirmation warning message box that appears.
43. Alternatively, to only delay sending an invoice payment reminder instead, without removing it,
then uncheck the invoice reminder’s checkbox to de-select it before clicking the “Send Now” button.
44. To send reminders for the selected invoices, ensure the checkboxes are checked for the desired
invoice payment reminders.
45. Then click the “Send Now” button in the lower-right corner to send reminders for the selected invoices.
46. You can click the “Close” button to close this window, if necessary.
47. After sending payment reminders, the reminders appear in the invoice’s “See History” link and also
appear within the customer’s “Sent Email” tab for the customer’s record in the “Customer Center.”
48. To edit the payment reminder schedules in the future, select “Customers| Payment Reminders|
Schedule Payment Reminders” from the Menu Bar again to reopen the “Schedule payment reminders
window, make any changes you want, and then click the “Save” button again.
49. To edit or delete the mailing lists you have created, select “Customers| Payment Reminders|
Manage Mailing list” from the Menu Bar to open the “Manage mailing list” window.
50. Use the drop-down to the right of any mailing list you have created to select the “Edit” or “Delete”
command, as desired.
51. If you select the “Edit” command, you can edit the names of the customers in the selected mailing list
within the “Add mailing list” window that then opens, just as when you created the mailing list.
52. If you select the “Delete” command, you must then click the “Yes” button in the confirmation warning
message box that appears to delete the selected mailing list.
53. To create a new mailing list in the window, click the “New list” button in its upper-right corner and
then create the mailing list in the “Add mailing list” window that opens, just as you previously did.
54. To close the “Manage mailing list” window, click the “Close” button in its lower-right corner.

EXERCISES-
Company Management
Purpose:
To be able to manage company information.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks.
down of choices.
7. After backing up the file, select “Company| My Company” from the Menu Bar.
8. Then click the “Edit” button in the upper-right corner of the “Company Information” section within the
“My Company” window. This button’s icon looks like the tip of a pencil.
9. In the “Company Information” window that then opens, review the information and then click the
“OK” button to close the window.
10. Then click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the “My Company” window to close it.
11. Select “Company| Make General Journal Entries…” from the Menu Bar.
12. Click into the first row, under the “Account” column and select “63000 - Office Supplies.”
13. In the “Debit” column, type “15.”
14. In the “Memo” field, type “Paper.”
15. In the next row, under the “Account” column, type “10400 - Petty Cash.”
16. In the “Memo” field, type “Paper.”
17. Make sure that the “Credit” column shows “15.”
18. Click “Save & Close” to post the transaction.

CHAPTER 26-
Using QuickBooks Tools
26.1- Company File Cleanup
26.2- Exporting and Importing List Data Using IIF Files
26.3- Advanced Importing of Excel Data
26.4- Updating QuickBooks
26.5- Using the Calculator
26.6- Using Portable Company Files
26.7- Using the Calendar
26.8- The Income Tracker
26.9- The Bill Tracker
26.10- The Lead Center
26.11- Moving QuickBooks Desktop Using the Migrator Tool

26.1- Company File Cleanup:
In QuickBooks you can condense the data in your company file to remove old transactions. This
removes detailed transactions prior to a specified date and replaces them with general journal entries. It can
also remove inactive list records from your company file. This can often improve performance in company
files with a high volume of transactions entered. Starting in QuickBooks 2019, you can also choose to
remove audit trail data only, if desired, to help reduce your company file’s size.
To condense data, select “File| Utilities| Condense Data…” from the Menu Bar. If needed, enter the
password for the “Admin” account for the company file. If one hasn’t been created, create one in the
“Sensitive Data Protection Setup” window that opens, select a password reset question and enter its
answer, and then click the “OK” button to continue.
Then answer the questions in each screen of the wizard that appears and click the “Next” button to
continue through the screens. If using QuickBooks 2019 or later, the first screen lets you select the “Keep
all transactions, but remove audit trail info to date” option to only remove audit trail info. To remove
transactions from a specified date, instead, select the “Remove the transactions you select from the
company file” option. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
For most condensing processes, select the “Transactions before a specific date” option button in the
first or second screen, depending on your version of QuickBooks, and then select the date before which to
remove transactions from the adjacent calendar drop-down. Be careful NOT to select the “All transactions”
option button in this screen, as doing that removes ALL transactions from the company file! Then continue
answering questions in each screen and clicking the “Next” button until you must backup the company file
and begin the condense procedure. At that point, click the “Begin Condense” button.
During this process, an additional copy of your company file, called the “archive copy,” is created.
The archive copy contains a copy of your company’s data before any transactions are removed. The
archive copy’s file name will contain the date you run the condense process, your company name, and the
label "Copy.” You should never use the archive copy for active data entry. You can use the archive copy to
run reports for those periods in which transactions have already been condensed. If the condense process
completes successfully, the archive copy and the condensed data files co-exist on your disk. To keep a
separate archive in another location, you must backup the archive file in a separate backup process.
26.2- Exporting and Importing List Data Using IIF Files:
You can export list data to an IIF file, which saves it in a text format for transfer to another company
file or to other applications that can use IIF files. You can also import IIF file data into company files.
However, Intuit doesn’t provide assisted technical support for importing and exporting IIF files, so you may
want to choose another method unless you are very comfortable with importing and exporting data.
To create an IIF export file, select “File| Utilities| Export| Lists to IIF Files…” from the Menu Bar. In
the next screen, choose which lists to export to the IIF file format. Then click the “OK” button to continue and
open the “Export” dialog box. Select the folder into which to save the export file and what to name it. Then
click the “Save” button to save the IIF file with the information from the selected lists.
To import an existing IIF file into an opened QuickBooks company file, select “File| Utilities| Import|
IIF Files…” from the Menu Bar. For versions of QuickBooks Desktop Pro before 2019, then select the IIF file
to import in the dialog box that opens and double-click the IIF file to import its data. If using QuickBooks
Desktop Pro 2019 or later, however, an “Import IIF file” window opens, instead. The import process has
been improved starting with the 2019 release to prevent users from importing corrupted data. If using this
version, then click the “Import IIF” button in the “Import IIF file” window to open a dialog box where you can

26.2- Exporting and Importing List Data Using IIF Files- (cont’d.):
then find and double-click the IIF file to import.

If you successfully import the IIF file, a window opens and shows the number of imported items. If
not, then a different window opens, instead, and shows the number of items imported and not imported. You
can click the “Review Now” button in this window to find and correct the errors in your IIF file. Then save the
file and select “Yes” if asked to keep the file type. Then close the window and re-import the corrected IIF
file.
26.3- Advanced Importing of Excel Data:
You can import list data into QuickBooks using Microsoft Excel. You can also easily copy and paste
data from an Excel workbook into lists within your company file without having to perform an import. To see
how you can perform this task, please review lesson “3.11- Adding Multiple List Entries from Excel.” In
addition to being able to copy and paste Excel data, you can also perform an advanced importing of Excel
data into your QuickBooks lists.
To import information from an Excel workbook into QuickBooks's customer, vendor, item, or account
lists, select “File| Utilities| Import| Excel Files…” from the Menu Bar. In the window that appears, click the
“Advanced Import” button. On the “Set Up Import” tab, click the “Browse…” button at the right end of the
“File:” text box to launch a dialog box where you can select the Excel file to import. Then select the sheet in
the workbook from which to import the data by using the drop-down below the file name. If the data you are
importing has column labels, check the “This data file has header rows” checkbox to use the topmost row of
data in the selected sheet as a header.
In the “Data Mapping” section, you must tell QuickBooks which columns in the Excel file should be
imported into which fields in the QuickBooks list. Click the “<Add New>” choice from the “Choose a
mapping:” drop-down to create a new data mapping for the Excel data and launch the “Mappings” dialog
box. Type a name for the new data mapping into the “Mapping name:” field. Select into which list you want
to import the data from the “Import type:” drop-down. When you do this, the available fields in the list will
appear in the left column. For each piece of data that has a match in your Excel import file, click into the
right column and select the name of the Excel column (if your list has headers) to which the data
corresponds. When finished, click the “Save” button to save the data mapping.
To preview the data before importing, click the “Preview” button to view the data as it will look when
imported, along with any errors that would occur if the data was imported. At the bottom of this window you
can select how you want QuickBooks to handle imported rows that cause errors. When the data looks good,
click the “Import” button to import the data.
26.4- Updating QuickBooks:
To ensure QuickBooks is up to date, select “Help| Update QuickBooks Desktop…” from the Menu
Bar. QuickBooks can either manually or automatically search for updates. To change that setting in the
“Update QuickBooks Desktop” screen, click the “Options” tab. Select “Yes” or “No” to the “Automatic
Update” option to turn the feature on or off. If it is turned off, you have to connect to the Internet and click
the “Update Now” button on the “Overview” tab to download the updates manually.

26.5- Using the Calculator:
To open the calculator within your operating system, select “Edit| Use Calculator” from the Menu
Bar. The calculator lets you double-check numbers or perform other tasks for which you need a calculator.
26.6- Using Portable Company Files:
You can create a portable company file you can take with you on portable media or e-mail to another
for use. For example, to email a copy of your company file to your accountant for review, you could send
them a portable company file, which has a .QBM extension. When they open the file you sent in
QuickBooks, it opens the file and create a QuickBooks company file (with the .QBW file extension) from the
data. However, changes made to a portable company file cannot be imported back into your original
company file without overwriting any changes made in the original company file. To use a company file
while someone makes changes to a copy you can import, use the “Accountant’s Review” feature, instead.
To make a portable company file, select “File| Create Copy…” from the Menu Bar. In the window
that appears, select the “Portable company file” option button and click the “Next” button to continue. In the
“Save Portable Company File” dialog box, choose where to save the portable copy of the company file and
what to name it. Then click the “Save” button. Click “OK” at the message box that tells you QuickBooks
must close and reopen the company file first. QuickBooks will then create the portable copy for you. Click
“OK” in the message box that appears.
To later open a portable company file and create a new QuickBooks company file you can use, open
QuickBooks and select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the Menu Bar. In the “Open or Restore
Company” window that appears, select the “Restore a portable file” option and click the “Next” button to
continue. In the “Open Portable Company File” dialog box that appears, select the portable company file to
open and then click the “Open” button to return to the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box. Read the
information shown and then click the “Next” button to continue.
In the “Save Company File as” dialog box that appears, enter the name and location to which you
want to save the company file that will be created from the portable copy. When that has been
accomplished, click the “Save” button to open the portable copy and create a new company file from its
data, which you can then use.
You can easily create and send a portable company file to another person or location by selecting
“File| Send Company File| Portable Company File” from the Menu Bar to open the “Send Portable Company
File” dialog box. If sending the file for the first time, click the “Browse” button to open a “Select Shared
Folder” dialog box you can use to select a shared folder into which to save the copy and then click the “OK”
button to confirm your choice. The choice will appear within the field shown in the “Send Portable Company
File” dialog box in the future. Alternately, you can type a shared folder address into this field, if desired.
Then click the “Send” button to create a portable company file in the selected location.
26.7- Using the Calendar:
You have a calendar feature that allows you to see company information, such as when bills are
due, in a calendar layout. To open the calendar, click the “Calendar” button in the QuickBooks Icon Bar,
click the “Calendar” icon within the Home Page, or select “Company| Calendar” from the Menu Bar.
Within the calendar, you can see the current date selected within a month-style layout. For the
selected date, you can also see the transactions entered, bills due, and other company transactions shown

26.7- Using the Calendar- (cont’d.):
in a listing at the bottom of the calendar window. To the right of the calendar you can see a listing of
upcoming transaction items that are due, such as to do items and bills, as well as past due items. You can
open any items shown within these areas by double-clicking them to open the original transaction window.
At the top of the calendar is a toolbar you can use to change the dates displayed. You can use the
left and right pointing arrows to move through the months shown. The name of the currently displayed
month and year is displayed within the toolbar. To jump back to select the current date, click the “Today”
button within the toolbar. To change the layout of the calendar, click either the “Daily View,” “Weekly View,”
or “Monthly View” buttons.
To select a particular date within the calendar, either click the date shown in the calendar view or
select a date from the “Select a date” calendar drop-down in the toolbar at the top of the window.
You can also filter the transactions shown within the calendar by using the “Show” drop-down. The
choice selected by default is “All Transactions.” However, you can choose to view only selected
transactions by making a choice from this drop-down menu.
When finished viewing the calendar window, close it by clicking the small “x” in the upper-right
corner of the window or by pressing the “Esc” key on your keyboard.
26.8- The Income Tracker:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides the Income Tracker tool to make it easier to create and process
the sales within your company file. However, this tool is not available when multicurrency is enabled within
a company file. You can access the Income Tracker by selecting “Customers| Income Tracker” from the
Menu Bar.
Within the Income Tracker window that opens, you can see all of your sales appear within a list. You
can click the colored bars at the top of the window to filter the list and display only the “Unbilled,” “Unpaid,”
or “Paid” sales within the list. You can also use the “Customer:Job,” “Type,” “Status,” and “Date” drop-
downs in the toolbar above the list to filter the list items. To display all of the items again after filtering the
list, click the “Clear / Show All” button at the right end of the toolbar at the top of the list.
You can also set the display of the unbilled sales items within the list by clicking the “Gear” icon
button in the upper-right corner of the Income Tracker window. In the drop-down menu that appears, check
or uncheck the checkboxes for the types of unbilled items you want to show or hide. The choices include
“Estimates” and “Time & Expenses.” Then click the “OK” button in the drop-down menu to apply your
changes. You can click the “Cancel” button to close the drop-down without making a change, if needed.
You can perform actions on the sales items shown within the list in the Income Tracker window. To
perform an action on an individual sales item, click into the “Action” column for the desired line item and
then choose the action to perform from the drop-down menu of choices available. The choices that are
available will vary, depending on the type of sales items selected.
You can also perform an action on a batch of selected sales items of the same sales item type. For
example, you could choose to batch email or batch print selected invoices or mark a batch of estimates as
“inactive.” To do this, filter the list, as desired. Then check the checkbox to the left of the list items on which
you want to perform the batch action. Note that you can click the checkbox that appears at the top of the
column of checkboxes to select all of the displayed items, if needed.
After selecting the items, click the “Batch Actions” drop-down button in the lower-left corner of the
Income Tracker window and select the action to perform from the pop-up menu that appears. For batch
printing, select the name of the type of sales form you selected under the “Print Selected” command in the

26.8- The Income Tracker- (cont’d.):
pop-up menu. To batch email selected transactions, select the “Batch Email” command, instead. To mark
selected estimates as inactive, select the “Mark As Inactive” command in the pop-up menu.
To edit a transaction shown within the list of sales items, simply double-click the line item to open
the transaction for editing in a new window. Alternatively, you can select the line item in the list, click the
“Manage Transactions” button towards the lower-left corner of the window, and then select the “Edit
Highlighted Row” command in the pop-up menu that appears.
To create a new sales transaction, click the “Manage Transactions” button towards the lower-left
corner of the window and then select the type of new sales transaction to create from the pop-up menu that
appears.
26.9- The Bill Tracker:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides the Bill Tracker tool to make it easier to create and process
payables and purchase orders within your company file. However, this tool is not available when
multicurrency is enabled within a company file. You can access the Bill Tracker by selecting “Vendors| Bill
Tracker” from the Menu Bar.
Within the Bill Tracker window that opens, you can see all of your purchase orders and paid and
unpaid bills for the last 30 days appear within a list. You can click the colored bars at the top of the window
to filter the list and display only the “Unbilled,” “Unpaid,” or “Paid” items within the list. You can also use the
“Vendor,” “Type,” “Status,” “Date,” and “Group By” drop-downs in the toolbar above the list to filter the list
items that are shown or to group them by vendor. To display all of the items again after filtering the list, click
the “Clear / Show All” button at the right end of the toolbar at the top of the list.
If you select the “Vendor” choice from the “Group By” drop-down, you will see the transactions within
the list grouped into collapsible and expandable sections by vendor. You can click the arrows to the left of
each vendor name shown to expand or collapse the group of transactions for that vendor. You can select
the “None” choice from the “Group By” drop-down to remove the grouping by vendor, if needed.
You can perform actions on the items shown within the list in the Bill Tracker window. To perform
actions on an individual item, click the line item on which you want to perform an action. You can click the
button shown in the “Action” column for the desired line item to perform the most “immediate” action for the
selected line item. To choose another action to perform, instead, click the drop-down to the right of that
button and then select the desired action to perform from the drop-down menu of choices that appears. The
choices that are available will vary, depending on the type of purchase order or payables item selected.
You can also perform an action on a batch of selected items of the same item type. For example,
you could choose to batch print selected purchase orders or pay a batch of selected bills. To do this, filter
the list, as desired. Then check the checkbox to the left of the list items on which you want to perform the
batch action. Note that you can click the checkbox that appears at the top of the column of checkboxes to
select all of the displayed items, if needed.
After selecting the items, click the “Batch Actions” drop-down button in the lower-left corner of the
Bill Tracker window and select the action to perform from the pop-up menu that appears. For batch printing,
select “Purchase Orders” under the “Print Selected” command in the pop-up menu. To batch pay selected
bills, select the “Pay Bills” command, instead. To mark selected purchase orders as closed, select the
“Close Purchase Orders” command in the pop-up menu.
To edit a transaction shown within the list of items, simply double-click the line item to open the
transaction for editing in a new window. Alternatively, you can select the line item in the list, click the

26.9- The Bill Tracker- (cont’d.):
“Manage Transactions” button towards the lower-left corner of the window, and then select the “Edit
Highlighted Row” command in the pop-up menu that appears.
To create a new purchase order or payables-related transaction, click the “Manage Transactions”
button towards the lower-left corner of the window and then select the type of new transaction to create
26.10- The Lead Center:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro provides the Lead Center as a way to keep track of potential customer
leads for your company file. To open the Lead Center, select “Customers| Lead Center” from the Menu Bar.
The Lead Center window that appears onscreen is divided into three panes. The left pane is used to select
and sort the leads you have entered. The upper-right “Lead Information” pane is used to display and edit the
information for a selected lead. The bottom-right pane contains four tabs: “To Do’s,” “Contacts,” “Locations”
and “Notes.” You can click these tabs to view to dos, contacts, locations, and notes about a selected lead.
To add a single new lead, click the “New lead” button in the toolbar at the top of the window to open
an “Add Lead” window. In the “Add Lead” window, enter a unique name for the lead into the “Name” field.
Choose a status for the lead from the “Status” drop-down.
To enter company information for the lead, click the “Company” tab. Enter the company name and
main phone number into the “Company Name” and “Main Phone” fields. You can enter whatever data you
want into the three fields at the top of the tab. By default, they are “Website,” “Main Email” and “Additional
Email.” However, you can click the drop-down to the right of any field name to select a different field, if
desired.
To add location information, enter a location name into the “Location” field and then type an address
into the “Address” field. To add another location, click the “Add Another Location” button and repeat the
process. After adding a second location, you can use the “Main Address” drop-down to select the main
location, if desired.
To add contacts for the lead, click the “Contacts” tab. Enter the name and job of the primary contact
into the “Job Title,” “Mr./Ms./…,” “First Name,” “MI,” and “Last Name” fields. Then enter whatever data you
want into the five fields at the bottom of the tab. By default, they are “Work Phone,” “Work Fax” “Mobile,”
“Main Email,” and “Additional Email.” However, you can click the drop-down to the right of any field name to
select a different field, if desired. Ensure that the “Is Primary Contact” checkbox is checked. To add another
contact after the primary contact, click the “Add Another Contact” button and then repeat the process. When
you are finished creating the new lead, click the “OK” button at the bottom of the “Add Lead” dialog box to
save it into the Lead Center window.
To add multiple leads at a time, click the “Import Multiple Leads” button at the top of the Lead Center
window to open an “Import Leads” dialog box. You can either manually enter the lead data into each row or
you can paste that data into the rows from an Excel spreadsheet. If you want to paste one column of data at
a time from an Excel worksheet, you simply need to click into the topmost cell under the column to which
you want to paste the copied column data in the “Import Leads” dialog box and then press “Ctrl” + “V” on
your keyboard to paste the data into the column. After entering your leads, click the “Continue” button.
QuickBooks will tell you how many leads it will import and give you a chance to correct any errors. When
ready, click the “Continue” button again to import the leads. Then click the “OK” button when finished.
To edit a lead within the Lead Center, double-click the name of the lead to edit within the left pane of
the Lead Center window to open an “Edit Lead” dialog box. Change whichever information is required within

26.10- The Lead Center- (cont’d.):
the “Edit Lead” dialog box and then click the “OK” button in the dialog box to save your changes.
To filter the leads shown in the left pane of the Lead Center window, use the drop-down at the top of
the pane to select the type of leads to display within the pane below. To view all of your leads again, select
the “All Leads” or “Active Leads” choice from the same drop-down menu.
To add, edit, or delete to dos, contacts, locations, or notes for a selected contact, you can right-click
the information area within the desired tab in the lower-right pane of the Lead Center window. From the
pop-up menu that appears you can select the “Edit” or “Delete” commands to edit or delete the data you
right-clicked. To add new data of the selected type, just select the “New” command from the pop-up menu.
To convert a lead into a customer, select the lead to convert from the left pane of the Lead Center
window. Then click the “Convert this Lead to a Customer” button in the upper-right corner of the Lead
Center window. Note that you may lose some data when converting a lead into a customer, as lead records
can contain more information than customer records can. Also note that you cannot undo this action after it
has been completed. When you are ready to convert the lead, click the “Yes” button in the confirmation
message box that appears to permanently convert the lead into a customer record.
26.11- Moving QuickBooks Desktop Using the Migrator Tool:
Starting with QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019, you can now easily move your last 3 opened company
files and QuickBooks Desktop Pro itself to another computer by using the new Migrator tool. This helps
users easily migrate to new computers. To use this feature, you must be the admin user. You will also need
to ensure the computer to which you are moving QuickBooks Desktop Pro is connected to the internet and
that you have a USB flash drive with enough free space to move all the required QuickBooks files. The
Migrator tool will let you know how much free space you require as part of the migration process.
Note that while this tool copies most required information from the old computer’s installation, it
doesn’t copy over multi-user setup information, payroll and payment setup information, Intuit Data Protect
information, any company files older than the three most recently-opened files, or backup information. This
information will need to be manually reconfigured on the new computer. However, all the information
remains on the old computer, too, in case you need to refer to it.
To move QuickBooks and the three most-recent company files to a new computer, open
QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later. Then select “File| Utilities| Move QuickBooks to another computer”
from the Menu Bar. If any company files are opened, click “OK” in the “Heads up” dialog box to close them.
Then, in the “Move QuickBooks to another computer” window that opens, click the “I’m ready” button after
reading it. Then create a one-time use, complex password that you will later need to re-enter on the new
computer to finish transferring the files. Be sure to write down the password so you don’t forget it. However,
you will only need to use it once to finish the transfer. Then click the “Continue” button. Then select the USB
flash drive to use and click the “Copy data” button. Then wait for the files to copy to the USB drive.
When finished, eject the USB drive. Then insert it into the new computer to which you are migrating
the files. Then either wait for the “Move QuickBooks” tool to launch on the new computer or open the USB
flash drive and manually run the “Move_Quickbooks.bat” file. Then enter the password you created on the
other computer to access the protected files and click the “Let’s go” button. Then wait for the migrator tool to
install QuickBooks Desktop Pro and copy over the files. The files are automatically deleted from the USB
flash drive after they finish copying. Then finish setting up any required setup information on the new
computer. It is also strongly suggested that you rename the old company files on the old computer, so as
not to accidentally use them in the future.

ACTIONS-
COMPANY FILE CLEANUP:
1. To condense data, select “File| Utilities| Condense Data…” from the Menu Bar.
2. If needed, enter the password for the “Admin” account for the company file. If one hasn’t been created,
create one in the “Sensitive Data Protection Setup” window that opens, select a password reset
question and enter its answer, and then click the “OK” button to continue.
3. At that point, answer the questions in each screen of the “Condense Data” wizard that appears and click
the “Next” button to continue through the screens
4. If using QuickBooks 2019 or later, the first screen lets you select the “Keep all transactions, but
remove audit trail info to date” option to only remove audit trail info.
5. To remove transactions from a specified date, instead, select the “Remove the transactions you
select from the company file” option.
6. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
7. For most condensing processes, select the “Transactions before a specific date” option button in the
first or second screen, depending on your version of QuickBooks, and then select the date before which
to remove transactions from the adjacent calendar drop-down.
8. Be careful NOT to select the “All transactions” option button in this screen, as doing that will remove
ALL transactions from the company file!
9. Then continue answering questions in each screen and clicking the “Next” button until you must backup
the company file and begin the condense procedure.
10. At that point, click the “Begin Condense” button when you are sure you want to proceed.
11. Click the “OK” button to dismiss the message and open the “Back Up Company File” window.
12. Click the “Create Back Up” button to back up your company file and then condense your company file.
EXPORTING AND IMPORTING LIST DATA USING IIF FILES:
1. To create an IIF export file, select “File| Utilities| Export| Lists to IIF Files…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the next screen, choose which lists to export to the IIF file format.
3. Then click the “OK” button to continue and open the “Export” dialog box.
4. Select the folder into which to save the export file and what to name it.
5. Then click the “Save” button to save the IIF file with the information from the selected lists.
6. To import an existing IIF file into an opened QuickBooks company file, select “File| Utilities| Import|
IIF Files…” from the Menu Bar.
7. For versions of QuickBooks Desktop Pro before 2019, then select the IIF file to import in the dialog
box that opens and double-click the IIF file to import its data.
8. If using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later, however, an “Import IIF file” window opens, instead.
If using this version, then click the “Import IIF” button in the “Import IIF file” window to open a dialog box
where you can then find and double-click the IIF file to import.
9. At that point, if you successfully import the IIF file, a window opens and shows the number of imported
items.
10. If not, then a different window opens, instead, and shows the number of items imported and not
imported.
11. You can click the “Review Now” button in this window to find and correct the errors in your IIF file.
12. Then save the file and select “Yes” if asked to keep the file type.
13. Then close the window and re-import the corrected IIF file.

ACTIONS-
ADVANCED IMPORTING OF EXCEL DATA:
1. To import Excel data, select “File| Utilities| Import| Excel Files…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the window that appears, click the “Advanced Import” button.
3. On the “Set Up Import” tab, click the “Browse…” button at the right end of the “File:” text box to launch a
dialog box where you can select the Excel file to import.
4. Select the sheet in the workbook from which to import data by using the drop-down below the file name.
5. If the imported data has column labels, check the “This data file has header rows” checkbox.
6. Click the “<Add New>” choice from the “Choose a mapping:” drop-down to create a new data mapping.
7. In the “Mappings” dialog box, type a name for your data mapping into the “Mapping name:” text box.
8. Select into which list you want to import the data from the “Import type:” drop-down.
9. For each piece of data in the left column that has a match in your Excel import file, click into the right
column and select the name of the Excel column to which the data corresponds.
10. When you are finished, click “Save” to save the data mapping.
11. To preview the data before importing, click the “Preview” button.
12. At the bottom of this window you can select how you want QuickBooks to handle import errors.
13. When the data looks good, click “Import” to import the data.
UPDATING QUICKBOOKS MANUALLY:
1. To manually update QuickBooks, connect to the Internet.

2. Select “Help| Update QuickBooks Desktop…” from the Menu Bar.
3. Click the “Update Now” button on the “Overview” tab to manually download and install any new updates.
4. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the window to close it.
USING THE CALCULATOR:
1. To open your computer’s calculator app, select “Edit| Use Calculator” from the Menu Bar.
2. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the calculator to close it when you are finished.
CREATING PORTABLE COMPANY FILES:
1. To create a portable company file, select “File| Create Copy…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the window that appears, select the “Portable company file” option button and click the “Next” button
to continue.
3. In the “Save Portable Company File” dialog box, choose where to save the portable copy of the
company file and what to call it. When you are ready, click the “Save” button.
4. Click “OK” at the message box that tells you QuickBooks must close and reopen the company file first.
QuickBooks will then create the portable copy for you.
5. Click “OK” in the message box that appears.

ACTIONS-
OPENING PORTABLE COMPANY FILES:
1. To open a portable company file to create a new QuickBooks company file you can use, open
QuickBooks and select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Open or Restore Company” window that appears, select the “Restore a portable file” option and
then click the “Next” button to continue.
3. In the “Open Portable Company File” dialog box that appears, select the portable company file you
would like to open and click the “Open” button to return to the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box.
4. Read the information and then click the “Next” button to continue.
5. In the “Save Company File as” dialog box that appears, enter the name and location to which you want
to save the company file that will be created from the portable copy.
6. Click the “Save” button to open the portable copy and create a new company file from the data, which
you can then use.
TO CREATE AND SEND A PORTABLE COMPANY FILE:
1. To create and send a portable company file to another person or location, select “File| Send
Company File| Portable Company File” from the Menu Bar to open the “Send Portable Company File”
dialog box.
2. If sending the file for the first time, click the “Browse” button to open a “Select Shared Folder” dialog box
you can use to select a shared folder into which to save the copy and then click the “OK” button to
confirm your choice. Alternately, you can type a shared folder address into this field, if desired.
3. The choice appears in the field shown in the “Send Portable Company File” dialog box in the future.
4. Click the “Send” button to create a portable company file in the selected location.
USING THE CALENDAR:
1. To open the calendar, click the “Calendar” button in the QuickBooks Icon Bar, click the “Calendar” icon
within the Home Page, or select “Company| Calendar” from the Menu Bar.
2. Within the calendar, you can see the current date selected within a month-style layout.
3. For the selected date, you can see the transactions entered, bills due, and other company transactions
shown in a listing at the bottom of the calendar window.
4. To the right of the calendar you can see a listing of upcoming transaction items that are due, such as to
do items and bills, as well as past due items.
5. You can open any items shown within these areas by double-clicking them to open the original
transaction window.
6. You can use the left and right pointing arrows shown in the toolbar at the top of the calendar to move
through the months shown.
7. To jump back to select the current date, click the “Today” button within the toolbar.
8. To change the layout of the calendar, click either the “Daily View,” “Weekly View,” or “Monthly View”
buttons.
9. To select a particular date within the calendar, either click the date shown in the calendar view, or
select a date from the “Select a date” calendar drop-down in the toolbar at the top of the window.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
USING THE CALENDAR- (CONT’D.):
10. You can also filter the transactions shown within the calendar by using the “Show” drop-down. The
choice selected by default is “All Transactions.” However, you can choose to view only selected
transactions by making a choice from this drop-down menu.
11. When you are finished viewing the calendar window, close it by clicking the small “x” in the upper-right
corner of the window or by pressing the “Esc” key on your keyboard.
THE INCOME TRACKER:
1. To open the Income Tracker, select “Customers| Income Tracker” from the Menu Bar.
2. Within the Income Tracker window that opens, you can see all of your sales appear within a list.
3. To filter the list and display only the “Unbilled,” “Unpaid,” or “Paid” sales within the list, click the
colored bars at the top of the window.
4. To filter the list items, use the “Customer:Job,” “Type,” “Status,” and “Date” drop-downs in the toolbar
above the list.
5. To display all of the items again after filtering the list, click the “Clear / Show All” button at the right
end of the toolbar at the top of the list.
6. To set the display of unbilled sales items within the list, click the “Gear” icon button in the upper-
right corner of the Income Tracker window.
7. In the drop-down menu that appears, check or uncheck the checkboxes for the types of unbilled items
you want to show or hide. The choices include “Estimates” and “Time & Expenses.”
8. Click the “OK” button in the drop-down menu to apply your changes or click the “Cancel” button to close
the drop-down without making a change.
9. To perform an action on an individual sales item, click into the “Action” column for the desired line
item and then choose the action to perform from the drop-down menu of choices available. The choices
that are available will vary, depending on the type of sales items selected.
10. To perform an action on a batch of selected sales items of the same sales item type, filter the list, as
desired.
11. Then check the checkbox to the left of the list items on which you want to perform the batch action.
12. To select all of the displayed items, if needed, click the checkbox that appears at the top of the
column of checkboxes.
13. After selecting the items, click the “Batch Actions” drop-down button in the lower-left corner of the
Income Tracker window and select the action to perform from the pop-up menu that appears.
14. For batch printing, select the name of the type of sales form you selected under the “Print Selected”
command in the pop-up menu.
15. To batch email selected transactions, select the “Batch Email” command, instead.
16. To mark selected estimates as inactive, select the “Mark As Inactive” command in the pop-up menu.
17. To edit a transaction shown within the list of sales items, double-click the line item to open the
transaction for editing in a new window.
18. Alternatively, you can select the line item in the list, click the “Manage Transactions” button towards the
lower-left corner of the window, and then select the “Edit Highlighted Row” command in the pop-up
menu that appears.
19. To create a new sales transaction, click the “Manage Transactions” button towards the lower-left
corner of the window and then select the type of new sales transaction to create from the pop-up menu
that appears.

ACTIONS-
THE BILL TRACKER:
1. To open the Bill Tracker, select “Vendors| Bill Tracker” from the Menu Bar.
2. Within the Bill Tracker window that opens, you can see all of your purchase orders and paid and unpaid
bills for the last 30 days appear within a list.
3. To filter the list and display only the “Unbilled,” “Unpaid,” or “Paid” items within the list, click the
colored bars at the top of the window.
4. To filter the list items that are shown or to group them by vendor, use the “Vendor,” “Type,”
“Status,” “Date,” and “Group By” drop-downs in the toolbar above the list.
5. To display all of the items again after filtering the list, click the “Clear / Show All” button at the right
end of the toolbar at the top of the list.
6. To see the transactions within the list grouped into collapsible and expandable sections by
vendor, select the “Vendor” choice from the “Group By” drop-down.
7. To expand or collapse a group of transactions for a vendor, click the arrows to the left of each
vendor name shown.
8. To remove the grouping by vendor, if needed, select the “None” choice from the “Group By” drop-
down.
9. To perform actions on an individual item, click the line item on which you want to perform an action.
10. To perform the most “immediate” action for the selected line item, click the button shown in the
“Action” column for the desired line item.
11. To choose another action to perform, instead, click the drop-down to the right of that button and then
select the desired action to perform from the drop-down menu of choices that appears. The choices that
are available will vary, depending on the type of purchase order or payables item selected.
12. To perform an action on a batch of selected items of the same item type, filter the list, as desired.
13. Then check the checkbox to the left of the list items on which you want to perform the batch action.
14. To select all of the displayed items, if needed, click the checkbox that appears at the top of the
column of checkboxes.
15. After selecting the items, click the “Batch Actions” drop-down button in the lower-left corner of the Bill
Tracker window and select the action to perform from the pop-up menu that appears.
16. For batch printing, select “Purchase Orders” under the “Print Selected” command in the pop-up menu.
17. To batch pay selected bills, select the “Pay Bills” command, instead.
18. To mark selected purchase orders as closed, select the “Close Purchase Orders” command in the
pop-up menu.
19. To edit a transaction shown within the list of items, double-click the line item to open the transaction
for editing in a new window.
20. Alternatively, you can select the line item in the list, click the “Manage Transactions” button towards the
lower-left corner of the window, and then select the “Edit Highlighted Row” command in the pop-up
menu that appears.
21. To create a new purchase order or payables-related transaction, click the “Manage Transactions”
button towards the lower-left corner of the window and then select the type of new transaction to create

ACTIONS-
THE LEAD CENTER:
1. To open the Lead Center, select “Customers| Lead Center” from the Menu Bar.
2. To add a single new lead, click the “New lead” button in the toolbar at the top of the window to open an
“Add Lead” window.
3. In the “Add Lead” window, enter a unique name for the lead into the “Name” field.
4. Choose a status for the lead from the “Status” drop-down.
5. To enter company information for the lead, click the “Company” tab.
6. Enter the company name and main phone number into the “Company Name” and “Main Phone” fields.
7. Enter whatever data you want into the three fields at the top of the tab. By default, they are “Website,”
“Main Email” and “Additional Email.” However, you can click the drop-down to the right of any field name
to select a different field, if desired.
8. To add location information, enter a location name into the “Location” field and then type an address
into the “Address” field.
9. To add another location, click the “Add Another Location” button and repeat the process.
10. After adding a second location, you can use the “Main Address” drop-down to select the main location, if
desired.
11. To add contacts for the lead, click the “Contacts” tab.
12. Enter the name and job of the primary contact into the “Job Title,” “Mr./Ms./…,” “First Name,” “MI,” and
“Last Name” fields.
13. Enter whatever data you want into the five fields at the bottom of the tab. By default, they are “Work
Phone,” “Work Fax” “Mobile,” “Main Email,” and “Additional Email.” However, you can click the drop-
down to the right of any field name to select a different field, if desired.
14. Ensure that the “Is Primary Contact” checkbox is checked.
15. To add another contact after the primary contact, click the “Add Another Contact” button and then
repeat the process.
16. When you are finished, click the “OK” button at the bottom of the “Add Lead” dialog box.
17. To add multiple leads at a time, click the “Import Multiple Leads” button at the top of the Lead Center
window to open an “Import Leads” dialog box.
18. You can either manually enter the lead data into each row or you can paste that data into the rows from
an Excel spreadsheet.
19. If you want to paste one column of data at a time from an Excel worksheet, simply click into the topmost
cell under the column to which you want to paste the copied column data in the “Import Leads” dialog
box and then press “Ctrl” + “V” on your keyboard to paste the data into the column.
20. After entering your leads, click the “Continue” button.
21. QuickBooks will tell you how many leads it will import and give you a chance to correct any errors.
22. When ready, click the “Continue” button again to import the leads.
23. Then click the “OK” button when finished.
24. To edit a lead within the Lead Center, double-click the name of the lead to edit within the left pane of
the Lead Center window to open an “Edit Lead” dialog box.
25. Change whichever information is required within the “Edit Lead” dialog box and then click the “OK”
button in the dialog box to save your changes.
26. To filter the leads shown in the left pane of the Lead Center window, use the drop-down at the top
of the pane to select the type of leads to display within the pane below.
27. To view all of your leads again, select the “All Leads” or “Active Leads” choice from the same drop-
down menu.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
THE LEAD CENTER- (CONT’D.):
28. To add, edit, or delete to dos, contacts, locations, or notes for a selected contact, right-click the
information area within the desired tab in the lower-right pane of the Lead Center window.
29. To edit or delete the data you right-clicked, select the “Edit” or “Delete” commands from the pop-up
menu that appears.
30. To add new data of the selected type, select the “New” command from the pop-up menu.
31. To convert a lead into a customer, select the lead to convert from the left pane of the Lead Center
window.
32. Click the “Convert this Lead to a Customer” button in the upper-right corner of the Lead Center window.
33. When you are ready to convert the lead, click the “Yes” button in the confirmation message box that
appears to permanently convert the lead into a customer record.
MOVING QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP USING THE MIGRATOR TOOL:
1. Note that to use this feature, you must be the admin user. You also need to ensure the computer to
which you are moving QuickBooks Desktop Pro is connected to the internet and that you have a USB
flash drive with enough free space to move all the required QuickBooks files.
2. To move QuickBooks and the three most-recent company files to a new computer, open
QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 or later.
3. Then select “File| Utilities| Move QuickBooks to another computer” from the Menu Bar.
4. If any company files are opened, click “OK” in the “Heads up” dialog box to close them.
5. Then, in the “Move QuickBooks to another computer” window that opens, click the “I’m ready” button.
6. Then create a one-time use, complex password that you will later need to re-enter on the new computer
to finish transferring the files. Be sure to write down the password so you don’t forget it.
7. Then click the “Continue” button.
8. Then select the USB flash drive to use and click the “Copy data” button.
9. Then wait for the files to copy to the USB drive.
10. When finished, eject the USB drive.
11. Then insert it into the new computer to which you are migrating the files.
12. Then either wait for the “Move QuickBooks” tool to launch on the new computer or open the USB flash
drive and manually run the “Move_Quickbooks.bat” file.
13. Then enter the password you created on the other computer to access the protected files and click the
“Let’s go” button.
14. Then wait for the migrator tool to install QuickBooks Desktop Pro and copy over the files.
15. The files are automatically deleted from the USB flash drive after they finish copying.
16. Then finish setting up any required setup information on the new computer.
17. It is also strongly suggested that you rename the old company files on the old computer, so as not to
accidentally use them in the future.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
There are no exercises for this chapter.

CHAPTER 27-
Using the Accountant’s Review
27.1- Creating an Accountant’s Copy
27.2- Transferring an Accountant’s Copy
27.3- Importing Accountant’s Changes
27.4- Removing Restrictions

27.1- Creating an Accountant’s Copy:
You can create an accountant’s copy of your company file to give to your accountant, should they
ask for one. When an accountant’s copy is created, you can still use your company file and import changes
made by your accountant in the accountant’s copy back into your company file later. This gives you more
flexibility for data entry than the portable company file option does.
To create an accountant’s copy of the currently opened company file, select “File| Send Company
File| Accountant’s Copy| Save File…” from the Menu Bar. Click the “Next” button in the wizard that appears
and select a dividing date. The dividing date is the date before which your accountant can make changes,
but you cannot. After that has been selected, click the “Next” button to continue. At that point, select the
removable media to which you will be saving the copy and then click the “Save” button to create the copy.
After creating the accountant’s copy, give the file you created to your accountant to make the necessary
changes. At this point, your original company file will display text that says “Accountant’s Changes Pending”
within its title bar. You can still perform data entry in the original company file, but you cannot make some
kinds of changes to the company file- such as deleting, renaming, or structurally rearranging the existing
accounts in the chart of accounts.
27.2- Transferring an Accountant’s Copy:
If you work with an accountant who uses the QuickBooks for Accountants Edition, you can use the
“File Transfer” ability in QuickBooks Desktop Pro to send an accountant’s copy to your accountant. To use
this feature you must be using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2013 or better, have an Internet connection and an
e-mail address, and you must know your accountant’s e-mail address. This feature allows you to save the
accountant’s copy to an Intuit web server, which notifies your accountant via e-mail to download the copy.
To perform this task, select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Send to Accountant…”
from the Menu Bar. In the “Send Accountant’s Copy” window that appears, click the “Next” button to
continue.
In the next screen, use the “Dividing Date” drop-down to select a dividing date for your accountant’s
copy file. The dividing date is the date before which your accountant can make changes, but you cannot.
After selecting a dividing date, click the “Next” button to continue. In the next screen, enter your
accountant’s e-mail address into the “Accountant’s e-mail address” and “Reenter accountant’s e-mail
address” fields. Then enter your name and e-mail address into the “Your name” and “Your e-mail address”
fields. Then click the “Next” button to continue. In the next screen, enter a password for the accountant’s
copy stored on the web server. Your accountant will need this password to access your accountant’s copy.
You can enter the same password that you use for the “Admin” account within your company file, if desired.
You can also enter your own strong password into the “Password” and “Reenter password” fields. A strong
password is at least 8 characters long with at least 1 digit, 1 special character and 1 capital letter. You must
let your accountant know what the password is so they can download your company file. Then click the
“Send” button to create and upload your accountant’s copy, and be sure to let your accountant know what
the password is.
Your accountant will receive an e-mail with a link they can click to download and open your
accountant’s copy. They will need to enter the password you created to do this. Also, your original company
file will display text that says “Accountant’s Changes Pending” within its title bar. After creating the
accountant’s copy, you can still perform normal data entry in the original company file, but you cannot make
some kinds of changes to the company file- such as deleting, renaming, or structurally rearranging the
existing accounts in the chart of accounts.

27.3- Importing Accountant’s Changes:
After creating an accountant’s copy of your company file, you must import your accountant’s
changes back into your company file later on to restore full functionality to your original company file.
If your accountant sends you a file, open your company file and insert the copy of the changes your
accountant gave to you on the removable media (i.e. DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, flash drive). Then select “File|
Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Import Accountant’s Changes from File…” from the Menu Bar.
You must make a backup before you can import the accountant’s changes, so make a backup file
when prompted to do so by QuickBooks. Then navigate to the folder or drive that contains the file with the
changes and double-click the file to open it and import the changes. The “Accountant’s Changes Pending”
message in the title bar of the company will then disappear. That means you have successfully imported the
changes.
If you receive the changes from the internet using the “File Transfer” feature, you will receive an e-
mail from your accountant informing you that the changes to the accountant’s copy are complete and that
you have changes to import. At that point, you have 30 days to import the accountant’s changes into your
company file.
To download these changes, open your company file. Select “File| Send Company File|
Accountant’s Copy| Import Accountant’s Changes from Web…” from the Menu Bar. After the download is
completed, you will see a listing of the accountant’s changes appear within your company file. Note that the
“Accountant’s Changes Pending” message has also disappeared from the title bar of the company file.
27.4- Removing Restrictions:
After creating an accountant’s copy of your company file, you will see the “Accountant’s Changes
Pending” message within the title bar of the company file. You may also notice that some tasks, such as
deleting accounts within the chart of accounts, cannot be performed on a company file when it is waiting for
changes from an accountant. If it turns out you will not be importing changes from your accountant, you can
remove the restrictions placed on your company file after creating an accountant's copy. If you do this, you
will not be able to import any changes to your company file from the existing accountant’s copy. However,
you will be able to restore the full functionality of your company file.
To remove restrictions from a company file, open the company file. Select “File| Send Company File|
Accountant’s Copy| Remove Restrictions…” from the Menu Bar. In the message box that appears
onscreen, check the checkbox and click the “OK” button to remove the accountant’s copy restrictions.

ACTIONS-
CREATING AN ACCOUNTANT’S COPY FILE:
1. To create an accountant’s copy of your company file, open the company file for which you want to
create an accountant’s copy.
2. Select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Save File…” from the Menu Bar.
3. Click the “Next” button in the wizard that appears and then select a dividing date.
4. Once that has been selected, click the “Next” button to continue.
5. Select the removable media to which you will be saving the copy and click the “Save” button.
6. After creating the accountant’s copy, give the saved file you created to your accountant to make the
necessary changes.
7. At this point, your original company file will display text that says “Accountant’s Changes Pending”
within its title bar. You can still perform data entry in the original company file, but you cannot make
some kinds of changes to the company file- such as deleting, renaming, or structurally rearranging the
existing accounts in the chart of accounts.
TRANSFERRING AN ACCOUNTANT’S COPY:
1. To create and send an accountant’s copy of your company file to your accountant, open the
company file for which you want to create an accountant’s copy.
2. Select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Send to Accountant…” from the Menu Bar.
3. In the “Send Accountant’s Copy” window that appears, click the “Next” button to continue.
4. Use the “Dividing Date” drop-down to select a dividing date for your accountant’s copy. The dividing
date is the date before which your accountant can make changes, but you cannot.
5. After selecting a dividing date, click the “Next” button to continue.
6. Enter your accountant’s e-mail address into the “Accountant’s e-mail address” and “Reenter
accountant’s e-mail address” fields.
7. Enter your name and e-mail address into the “Your name” and “Your e-mail address” fields.
9. Enter a password for the accountant’s copy on the web server. Your accountant will need this password
to access your accountant’s copy. You can enter the same password that you use for the “Admin”
account within your company file, if desired. You can also enter your own strong password into the
“Password” and “Reenter password” fields. A strong password is at least 8 characters long with at least
1 digit, 1 special character and 1 capital letter. You must let your accountant know what the password is
so they can download your company file.
10. Click the “Send” button to create and upload your accountant’s copy, and be sure to let your accountant
know what the password is.
11. Your accountant will receive an e-mail with a link that they can click to download and open your
accountant’s copy. They will need to enter the password you created to do this.
12. Your original company file will display text that says “Accountant’s Changes Pending” within its title bar.
After creating the accountant’s copy, you can still perform normal data entry in the original company file,
but you cannot make some kinds of changes to the company file- such as deleting, renaming, or
structurally rearranging the existing accounts in the chart of accounts.

ACTIONS-
IMPORTING THE ACCOUNTANT’S CHANGES:
1. To import your accountant’s changes if your accountant sends you a file with their changes,
open your company file and insert the copy of the changes your accountant gave to you on the
removable media (i.e. DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, flash drive).
2. Select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Import Accountant’s Changes from File…” from
the Menu Bar.
3. Make a backup file when prompted to do so by QuickBooks.
4. Navigate to the folder or drive that contains the file with the changes and double-click the file to open it
and import the changes.
5. The “Accountant’s Changes Pending” message in the title bar of the company file will disappear. That
means you have successfully imported the changes.
6. If you receive the changes from the internet by using the “File Transfer” feature, then you will
receive an e-mail from your accountant informing you that the changes to the accountant’s copy are
complete and that you have changes to import. At that point, you have 30 days to import the
accountant’s changes into your company file.
7. To download these changes, open your company file.
8. Select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Import Accountant’s Changes from Web…” from
the Menu Bar.
9. After the download is completed, you will see a listing of the accountant’s changes appear within your
company file.
10. The “Accountant’s Changes Pending” message will then disappear from the title bar of the company file.
REMOVING ACCOUNTANT’S COPY RESTRICTIONS:
1. To remove accountant’s copy restrictions from a company file, open the company file.
2. Select “File| Send Company File| Accountant’s Copy| Remove Restrictions…” from the Menu Bar.
3. In the message box that appears onscreen, check the checkbox and click the “OK” button to remove the
accountant’s copy restrictions.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:

CHAPTER 28-
Using the Help Menu
28.1- Using Help

Using the Help Menu
28.1- Using Help:
QuickBooks Desktop Pro has a multitude of different support features. Answers to almost any
QuickBooks question can be found by using the “QuickBooks Desktop Help” feature, which lets you search
for help topics by subject and display the information that is found. Another help feature is the online
“QuickBooks Support” that can assist you with technical support for your QuickBooks Desktop Pro software,
and also lets you search for online help topics regarding the QuickBooks software. A listing of some of the
various help features available within QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2020 appear in the table below.
Topic Does Access by selecting…

QuickBooks Help This lets you search for topics within all the Select “Help| QuickBooks Desktop
local and online help resources for additional Help” from the Menu Bar.
assistance.
QuickBooks Support You can contact someone in customer support Select “Help| Support” from the
directly or search the online database for an Menu Bar.
answer to your questions.
What’s New? Allows upgrading users to quickly familiarize Select “Help| New Features| What’s
themselves with the new features in New” from the Menu Bar.
QuickBooks as they open windows within the
program.
Year End Guide A checklist that lists the steps you should Select “Help| Year End Guide” from
review at the end of your business year. the Menu Bar.

ACTIONS-
Using the Help Menu
USING HELP:
1. To use the help features in QuickBooks, select “Help” from the Menu Bar.
2. Then select the desired type of assistance to use from the drop-down menu of choices that appears to
open the help resource within a new window.

EXERCISES-
Using the Help Menu
Purpose:

CHAPTER 29-
Creating a Legal Company File
29.1- Making a Legal Company Using Express Start
29.2- Making a Legal Company Using the EasyStep Interview
29.3- Reviewing the Default Chart of Accounts
29.4- Entering Vendors
29.5- Entering Clients and Cases
29.6- Enabling Class Tracking for Law Firms
29.7- Creating Billing Line Items

29.1- Making a Legal Company Using Express Start:
The Express Start feature lets you quickly create a new company file by simplifying the longer
EasyStep Interview into shorter sections, so you can start using QuickBooks right away. When you first
open QuickBooks, the option to create a company file by using Express Start appears in the “QuickBooks
Desktop Setup” screen. This is the same screen that opens if you select “File| New Company…” from the
Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” window. To use the
Express Start feature, first select either the “For myself (I’m the admin)” or the “For someone else” option
button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen.
To continue using the Express Start setup, click the “Start Setup” button to continue. Alternatively,
for advanced features and setup, you can instead use the EasyStep Interview to customize your company
file. To do this, click the “Other Options” drop-down at the bottom of the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup”
screen, instead. Then click the “Advanced Setup” command in the drop-down menu to use the EasyStep
Interview, which is discussed in a later lesson, to create your company file, instead.
If you continue using the Express Start and selected the “For myself (I’m the admin)” option button,
then the next screen lets you sign in with an existing Intuit ID or create a new one. To sign in with an
existing Intuit ID, enter the Intuit ID or e-mail address associated with the Intuit ID into the “Email or user ID”
field. You must be connected to the internet for this part of the company file setup. Then enter the password
for the Inuit ID into the “Password” field. Then click the “Sign In” button to sign in.
Alternatively, to create a new Intuit account, click the “Create an account” link in this page to show
an account creation screen. Then enter an email address to use for the Inuit ID into the “Email address”
field. Optionally, enter a phone number into the “Phone (recommended)” field. Enter an account password
into the “Password” and “Confirm password” fields. Select a security question from the “Security question”
drop-down and type an answer into the “Answer” field. Write the question and answer down, as you may
need it to validate your identity later. Finally, click the Create account” button to create the new account.
Alternatively, if you do not want to sign in using your Intuit ID, click the “Remind Me” drop-down
button at the bottom of this screen, select how long to defer signing-in from the drop-down, and then click
“Yes” in the confirmation message box that appears.
After signing-in, or skipping it entirely if you chose the “For someone else” option button on the first
screen, the next screen requires you to enter your company’s name as you want it to appear to customers
and vendors into the “Business Name” field.
Next, click the “Help me choose” hyperlink next to the “Industry” field to open the “Select Your
Industry” window. This window allows you to select your company file’s industry. Your industry choice
impacts which features of QuickBooks are enabled and disabled and determines the initial chart of accounts
used by your company file. You can also change these settings later, if needed.
Since you are creating a legal company, scroll through the “Industry” list in the lower-left corner of
this window until you find the “Legal Services” industry choice and click that industry choice to select it. The
chart of accounts for a “Legal Services” company file will appear in the window to the right for you to review,
if desired. After making your industry selection, click the “OK” button to return to the Express Start screen.
Next, use the “Business Type” drop-down to select your company file’s legal structure. This
determines its tax-related settings. Then enter the email address for the company’s administrator into the
“Admin’s email” field. The remaining fields in this screen are all optional. You can enter your company’s
FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) or your social security number into the “Employer
Identification Number (EIN)” field. You can enter the main business phone number into the “Phone” field.
You can enter your business address into the “Business Address” fields and also enter the associated city,
state, zip, and country into the “City, ”State,” “Zip,” and “Country” fields. After completing the fields in this
screen, click the “Create Company” button to continue.

29.1- Making a Legal Company Using Express Start- (cont’d.):
A “Working” message box momentarily appears to show the progress of the program at creating
your company file. When completed, the message box disappears and your new company file appears
along with the “Finish” screen of the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window. If desired, you can click any of
the “Learn More” buttons in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window to learn about the features shown. To
begin entering data into your new QuickBooks file, click the “Start Working” button in the “QuickBooks
Desktop Setup” screen to close the window and start using QuickBooks Desktop Pro.
29.2- Making a Legal Company Using the EasyStep Interview:
In QuickBooks, you can also use the EasyStep Interview to create a company file. You complete the
EasyStep Interview by entering information into different screens shown in the Interview. After entering
information into a screen, click the “Next >” button to proceed to the next screen and repeat the process.
After answering all questions in all the screens, click the “Go To Setup” button to start using QuickBooks.
Within the EasyStep Interview, if questions arise that you must answer and you are unsure of the
correct answer, don’t worry! You can go usually go back and change your answers later. In most screens,
you can click the “< Back” button to return to a previous screen and change your answers. Also, if
necessary, you can click the “Leave…” button to exit the EasyStep Interview. However, if you leave the
EasyStep Interview prior to actually saving your company file, your data entry up until that point will be lost.
A message box will tell you if this is the case before you exit, so you need not worry about losing your data.
Before entering data into the EasyStep Interview, you need to gather some information. First, and
most importantly, you need to select a “start date” for your QuickBooks company file. The start date is the
date as of which you will enter all of the balances in the accounts used by your company file. Because of
this, you may want to pick a date that isn’t too far in the past, since you need to record each transaction that
has occurred from the start date through the current date to ensure you create a company file that is both
financially accurate and also ready for daily data entry.
Many people choose the last day of the previous financial period, such as a quarter or month, as
the start date. Remember you have to enter all of the transactions that have occurred from the start date
through the current date, or at least enter accurate journal entries representing those transaction values, to
use the company file and have accurate balances. So don’t go too far into the past if you don’t want to
spend hours performing data entry!
You also need to know the account balances of your checking, savings, and any other accounts
within the company file as of the start date. This can often be found on a balance sheet created as of the
start date. If that isn’t available, bank statements as of the start date can also be used.
You also need to have a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or the Social Security
Number found on your company’s tax returns. Once you have all of this information, you can start the
EasyStep Interview.
To create a company file in QuickBooks, select “File| New Company…” from the Menu Bar or click
the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” dialog box that appears in QuickBooks
when there is no company file opened to show the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window. In this window,
select an option button to choose for whom you are creating the company file. Then click the “Other
Options” drop-down button and select the “Advanced Setup” command to start the EasyStep Interview.
Within the EasyStep Interview, you can see the “Interview Progress” meter at the left side of the
screen. As you complete the screens in the EasyStep Interview, your overall progress is reflected within this
meter. In the first screen, labeled “Enter your company information,” you enter information about your

29.2- Making a Legal Company Using the EasyStep Interview- (cont’d.):
company. Required fields are noted by a red asterisk to the left of the field name. Begin by entering the
name of your company into the “Company name” field. You can then move to the next field by simply
pressing the “Tab” key on your keyboard or by clicking into the next field with your mouse. The next field is
the “Legal name” field. This is most often the same thing as your “Company name” field, but can be different
for DBA businesses.
Next, enter either your FEIN or Social Security Number, as appropriate, into the “Tax ID” field. Then
enter your complete street address into the “Street address” field set. Enter your city into the “City” field.
Then select the abbreviation for your state from the “State” drop-down menu. Next enter your zip code into
the “Zip” field. Select your country from the “Country” drop-down menu, if necessary. Enter your phone
number and fax number, if desired, into the “Phone” and “Fax” fields using the formatting you want
displayed on your forms within QuickBooks, like invoices for example. You can enter a default e-mail
address for the company into the “E-mail address” field. You can also enter the website address of your
company into the “Web site” field, if you would like. Once you have finished entering data into this screen,
The next screen, titled “Select your industry,” is the screen that allows you to create your legal
company file. So, scroll through the list and then select the “Legal Services” choice from the listing shown.
When you have made your industry selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
The next screen asks how your company is organized. Select the option button that corresponds to
the legal structure of your company. This assists QuickBooks in choosing accounts for your company’s
chart of accounts and also in assigning accounts to tax form lines. Once you have made your selection,
In the next screen you select the first month of your fiscal year from the drop-down menu shown.
Your fiscal year is quite often the same as your tax year. A fiscal year is simply a 12-month period used for
reporting a company’s financial status. For many companies, the first month of the fiscal year is “January.”
This allows them to have the fiscal year coincide with the income tax year. Once you have selected the first
month in your fiscal year, click the “Next >” button to continue.
In the next screen, titled “Set up your administrator password,” you can create a password for the
“Administrator” account of your company file. The “Administrator” account has access to all of your
company’s financial information. However, you can create users and assign access privileges at any time.
An administrator password is required to restore a data file that contains sensitive data, like credit card
numbers, social security numbers, or FEIN information. To create a password for the “Administrator”
account, enter it into both the “Administrator password” and “Retype password” fields. If you do this, make
sure that you know what this password is. Also, note that passwords you create are case-sensitive. When
you are ready, click the “Next >” button to continue.
In the next screen, called “Create your company file,” you create the actual QuickBooks company
file that you will use. This is when you decide what to name the company file, and where you will save it.
Note this information, as you will most likely need it later. When you are ready to save the company file, you
can click the “Next >” button to continue. This will launch the “Filename for New Company” dialog box. This
is a standard Windows “Save As” dialog box. So, you use it to select the folder into which you want to save
the company file. Once you have selected where you want to save the company file, you can then enter the
name that you want to give to the company file into the “File name:” field. This defaults to the name of the
company, but you can change it if needed. Once you know where you will save the file and what you will
name it, click the “Save” button to save the company file and return to the EasyStep Interview.
The next screen in the EasyStep Interview is the “Customizing QuickBooks for your business”
screen. This screen informs you that the next several screens will customize your QuickBooks company file

29.2- Making a Legal Company Using the EasyStep Interview- (cont’d.):
by asking you questions about your company, your customers, and how you pay your bills. At this point and
hereafter, you can click the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep Interview screen to
save your progress and return later to complete the EasyStep Interview, if needed. Once you are ready to
continue, click the “Next >” button.
Next, for your industry selection, the EasyStep Interview shows a series of screens that allow you to
customize your legal company file. Answer any questions posed in each screen and then click the “Next >”
button to continue until you have finished customizing your company file.
When you have finished answering all of the questions in the EasyStep Interview, you will see the
final congratulations screen. Click the “Go To Setup” button to open a window that instructs you to create
your customers, inventory, and vendors. You can close this window when you are finished reviewing the
next steps that you should take to complete setting up your company file.
29.3- Reviewing the Default Chart of Accounts:
After you initially create your company file, you should review the chart of accounts to add, edit or
remove any accounts, as needed. Please review the lesson titled “The Chart of Accounts” in Chapter 3 if
you need help adding, editing, and deleting accounts within the chart of accounts. Before you make any
changes, however, you should inspect the default chart of accounts provided by QuickBooks so you can
see what changes you would like to make.
Note that, by default, QuickBooks doesn’t display account numbers for the accounts it creates. If you
would like to assign account numbers, you can enable that feature within the “Preferences” window within
QuickBooks. To do this, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Preferences” window.
Next, click the “Accounting” category shown in the list at the left side of the window. Then click the
“Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the window. You can then click the checkbox that states
“Use account numbers” to enable account numbers within QuickBooks. Then click the “OK” button to apply
the change to your company file.
You can use up to 7 digits within your account numbers, although by default you receive 5 digit
accounts numbers. QuickBooks uses the following standard numbering convention that you should adhere
to when creating new accounts.
Assets: 10000-19999
Liabilities: 20000-29999
Equity: 30000-39999
Income: 40000-49999
Expenses (Cost of Goods Sold): 50000-59999
Expenses (Non-COGS): 60000-69999
Other Income: 70000-79999
Other Expenses: 80000-89999
Non-posting Accounts: 90000-99999
Also note that you may need to add additional accounts for trust management into your chart of
accounts within QuickBooks. QuickBooks gives you an asset account named “Client Trust Account” into
which you can place these funds. You can use subaccounts to separate funds for the individual trust
accounts held. If managing trusts, you should review chapters 30, 31, and 32 within this manual.

29.4- Entering Vendors:
After creating the company file and reviewing the chart of accounts, you should add any vendors to
your “Vendor List.” You only need to add beginning balances for vendors to whom you owed money as of
the “start date” of your QuickBooks company file. You can add more vendors to your Vendor List, as
needed. However, if managing trust accounts, you should also add your own law firm to the vendor
list. This is due to the fact that your law firm may occasionally be paid from the client’s trust account instead
of receiving payment from the client directly. In this case, you need to enter the bill to the client’s trust
account and list your firm as the vendor within the bill.
To review the process of entering a vendor record, please review the lesson titled “The Vendors
List” in Chapter 3 of this manual. Unlike most vendor records you create within QuickBooks, when you enter
your own law firm as a vendor, you will typically set the default account used to an income account. That
way, when the bill is paid from the client’s trust account, it will accurately show up as income earned for the
firm, versus being shown as an expense for the firm.
29.5- Entering Clients and Cases:
After you have finished creating your initial vendors within your QuickBooks company file, you
should then enter any clients and cases who owed you money as of the “start date” of the company file. You
can always add additional clients and cases, as the need arises, later on.
Note that clients are often referred to within the QuickBooks program as “customers,” while your
cases, matters, and projects are collectively referred to as “jobs.” Therefore, you enter both your clients and
cases as customers and jobs into the “Customer:Job List” within QuickBooks.
To enter your clients into QuickBooks, please review the lesson titled “The Customers & Jobs List”
in Chapter 3. To enter your cases into QuickBooks, please review the lesson titled “Creating a Job” in
Chapter 18 to learn how to enter jobs for customers into QuickBooks.
When creating the cases (or projects and matters) as jobs within the “New Job” window, you should
note that it’s very common for a single case to have multiple billing rates. You may also have differing rates
for each client or case. You should take advantage of the “Custom Fields” within the “Customers” list to
create multiple custom fields such as “Partner Rate” and “Paraprofessional Rate.” You should review the
lesson titled “Using Custom Fields” in Chapter 3 to review the process for creating custom customer fields, if
needed.
You can enter these rates into the “Additional Info” tab when creating a new job to show the various
rates available for that client/case when creating invoices. This allows you to easily override the default
billing rate associated with the line items for a specific case when creating invoices for this matter in the
future.
You should also add these custom billing rate fields to your invoice templates so they will appear
when performing data entry within the invoice template, but will not appear in the printed version you send
to clients. To learn how to add custom fields to invoices, you should review the lesson titled “Performing
Advanced Customization” in Chapter 17. When customizing the invoice, click the “Header” tab to show any
custom customer fields you have created. You can then check the “Screen” checkbox next to those client
billing rate fields so that they will be available onscreen when creating the invoice. This will allow the user
who creates the invoices to see the rates available for the case and override the line item rates, if needed,
but not display these rates on the printed copy that you send to the client.

29.6- Enabling Class Tracking for Law Firms:
You can enable classes within QuickBooks to classify all transactions for reporting purposes. As
used within law firms, classes often represent individual lawyers, partners, or departments within the firm.
You can then create reports within QuickBooks that can detail transaction amounts by class. For example, if
you create a class for each partner in a law firm, then you can easily review the income earned by a
particular law firm partner by using classes. You could also generate a report that lists all transactions
classified to a specified partner. However, before you can create the classes within your company file, you
must first enable class tracking within QuickBooks.
To enable class tracking within QuickBooks, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar to open
the “Preferences” window. Then click the “Accounting” icon at the left side of the window. In the area to the
right, click the “Company Preferences” tab and then check the “Use class tracking for transactions”
checkbox. You should also check the “Prompt to assign classes” checkbox to remind the person that
performs data entry within QuickBooks to classify all transactions entered. When finished, click the “OK”
button to enable classes.
Next, enter the partners and/or departments by which you want to classify your transactions into the
“Class List” within QuickBooks. You can open this list by selecting “Lists| Class List” from the Menu Bar.
Within the “Class List” window you can see two default classes shown. You can rename these two classes
if desired, by simply editing the classes, or you can delete them and create new classes for your law firm.
To edit a class shown, first select the class to change within the “Class List” window. Then click the
“Class” button in the lower-left corner of the window and select the “Edit Class” command from the pop-up
menu that appears. Within the “Edit Class” window, enter a new description into the “Class Name” text box
and then click the “OK” button to approve your changes when finished.
To delete a class shown in the window that has not been used in any transactions, select the class
to delete and then click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the window. Then select the “Delete
Class” command from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “Delete Class” confirmation dialog box that
appears, click the “OK” button to delete the selected class.
To create a new class, click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the “Class List” window and
select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears. In the “New Class” window, enter the name
of the partner/department into the “Class Name” text box. Optionally, note that if you wish to make this new
class a “subclass” of another class you have created, for example- the lawyers within a department, select
the “Subclass of” checkbox and then use the adjacent drop-down menu to select the main class underneath
which the current entry will be classified. After entering the class information, click the “OK” button to add
the new class into your “Class List.”
In the future, when entering transactions into QuickBooks, you will see a new “Class” drop-down
menu appear within the transaction forms. You can then select the desired value from the drop-down to
classify the transactions, as needed. If you enabled the “Prompt to assign classes” checkbox within the
“Preferences” window, any unclassified transaction you create will prompt you to classify it before closing
the transaction window, if you accidentally save an unclassified transaction in the future. This creates a
valuable double-check to ensure appropriate classifying of transactions for accurate reporting in the future.

29.7- Creating Billing Line Items:
Line items are simply the various types of items you create within the “Item List” for use within the
line item areas in your purchase and sales forms. Since you will want to use the same item to track income
for legal services provided, as well as expenses for payments to partners, you will set the items up as
“double-sided services” within the “Item List” in QuickBooks. A “double-sided” service is simply a service
item you create that can be used to track income when used in sales forms and also track expense when
used to pay the partners in the firm for their billable hours. The vast majority of your legal services provided
will be set up as double-sided services for ease of use within QuickBooks. This allows you to use
timesheets to record the hours a partner spends performing the service. You can then use these recorded
timesheet hours to invoice the client, and also pay the partners for the services rendered, if the partners are
paid an hourly rate for billable hours.
To create the items, first open the “Item List” within QuickBooks by selecting “Lists| Item List” from
the Menu Bar. If you need assistance in creating reimbursable service items, please review the lesson titled
“Setting Up Inventory” in Chapter 5 and “Service Items” in Chapter 6 of this manual. When creating double-
sided services, you will need to check the “This service is used in assemblies or is performed by a
subcontractor or partner” checkbox to display both the “Purchase Information” and “Sales Information”
sections within the “New Item” window. Then select the desired “Partner Drawing” equity account for the
“Expense Account” side of the item and select the desired “Legal Fee Income” account for the “Income
Account” side of the item. Also, if you pay partners based on billable hours, be sure to enter the billable rate
for the partner into the “Cost” field and be sure to set up separate billable rate items for each partner.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A NEW LEGAL COMPANY FILE USING EXPRESS START:
1. The “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen appears when you first open QuickBooks Desktop.
2. To open the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen at any other time, select “File| New Company…”
from the Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” window.
3. To use the Express Start feature, select either the “For myself (I’m the admin)” or the “For someone
else” option button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen.
4. To continue using the Express Start setup, click the “Start Setup” button to continue.
5. If you selected the “For myself (I’m the admin)” option button, then the next screen lets you sign in
with an existing Intuit ID or create a new one.
6. To sign in with an existing Intuit ID, enter the Intuit ID or e-mail address associated with the Intuit ID
into the “Email or user ID” field.
7. Then enter the password for the Inuit ID into the “Password” field.
8. Then click the “Sign In” button to sign in.
9. Alternatively, to create a new Intuit account, click the “Create an account” link in this page to show
an account creation screen.
10. Then enter an email address to use for the Inuit ID into the “Email address” field.
11. Optionally, enter a phone number into the “Phone (recommended)” field.
12. Enter an account password into the “Password” and “Confirm password” fields.
13. Select a security question from the “Security question” drop-down and type your answer into the
“Answer” field. Write the question and answer down, as you may need it later to validate your identity.
14. Finally, click the Create account” button to create the new account.
15. Alternatively, if you do not want to sign in using your Intuit ID, click the “Remind Me” drop-down
button at the bottom of this screen, select how long to defer signing-in from the drop-down, and then
click “Yes” in the confirmation message box that appears.
16. After signing-in, or skipping it entirely if you chose the “For someone else” option button on the
first screen, the next screen requires you to enter your company’s name, as you want it to appear to
customers and vendors, into the “Business Name” field.
17. Click the “Help me choose” hyperlink by the “Industry” field to open the “Select Your Industry” window.
18. Scroll through the “Industry” list in the lower-left corner of this window until you find the “Legal Services”
industry choice and click that industry choice to select it.
19. The chart of accounts for a “Legal Services” company file appears for you to review, if desired.
20. After making your industry selection, click the “OK” button to return to the Express Start screen.
21. Use the “Business Type” drop-down to select the legal structure of your company file.
22. Then enter the email address for the company’s administrator into the “Admin’s email” field.
23. Optionally, you can enter your company’s FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) or your social
security number into the “Employer Identification Number (EIN)” field.
24. You can enter the main business phone number into the “Phone” field.
25. You can enter your business address into the “Business Address” fields and then enter the associated
city, state, zip, and country into the “City, ”State,” “Zip,” and “Country” fields.
26. After completing the fields in this screen, click the “Create Company” button to continue.
24. A “Working” message box then appears to show the program’s progress at creating your company file.
25. When completed, the message box will disappear and you will see your new company file appear along
with the “Finish” screen of the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
26. If desired, you can click any of the “Learn More” buttons shown in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup”
window to learn more about the additional features shown.
27. To begin entering data, click the “Start Working” button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A NEW LEGAL COMPANY FILE USING THE EASYSTEP INTERVIEW:
1. To create a company file using the EasyStep Interview, select “File| New Company…” from the
Menu Bar or click the “Create a new company” button in the “No Company Open” dialog box that
appears in QuickBooks if no company file is opened to show the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
2. To start the EasyStep Interview, select an option button to choose for whom you are creating the
company file in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window.
3. Then click the “Other Options” drop-down button and select the “Advanced Setup” command.
4. In the “EasyStep Interview” window, enter your company’s name into the “Company name” field.
5. Then enter the company’s legal name into the “Legal name” field.
6. Enter either your FEIN or Social Security Number, as appropriate, into the “Tax ID” field.
7. Enter your complete street address into the “Street address” field set.
8. Enter your city into the “City” field.
9. Select the abbreviation for your state from the “State” drop-down menu.
10. Enter your zip code into the “Zip” field.
11. Select your country from the “Country” drop-down menu, if necessary.
12. Enter your phone number and fax number, if desired, into the “Phone” and “Fax” fields using the
formatting which you would like to have displayed on your forms within QuickBooks.
13. Enter a default e-mail address for the company into the “E-mail address” field.
14. Enter the website address of your company into the “Web site” field, if you would like.
15. Once you have finished entering your data into this screen, you can click the “Next >” button to continue.
16. The next screen, titled “Select your industry,” select the “Legal Services” choice.
17. When you have made your industry selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
18. Select the option button that corresponds to the legal structure of your company.
19. Once you have made your selection, click the “Next >” button to continue.
20. Select the first month of your fiscal year from the drop-down menu shown.
21. Once you have selected the first month in your fiscal year, click the “Next >” button to continue.
22. In the next screen, titled “Set up your administrator password,” you can enter a password into both the
“Administrator password” and “Retype password” fields. If you do this, make sure that you know what
this password is. Also, note that passwords you create are case-sensitive.
23. When you are ready, click the “Next >” button to continue.
24. In the next screen, called “Create your company file,” click the “Next >” button to continue.
25. In the “Filename for New Company” dialog box, select the folder into which you want to save the file.
26. Enter the name that you want to give to the company file into the “File name:” field.
27. Click the “Save” button to save the company file and return to the EasyStep Interview.
28. The next screen in the EasyStep Interview is the “Customizing QuickBooks for your business” screen.
This screen informs you that the next several screens will customize your QuickBooks company file by
asking you questions about your company, your customers, and how you pay your bills. At this point
and hereafter, you can click the “Leave…” button in the lower-left corner of the EasyStep Interview
screen to save your progress and return later to complete the EasyStep Interview, if needed.
29. Once you are ready to continue, click the “Next >” button.
30. Next, the EasyStep Interview shows a series of screens that allow you to customize your company file
for your legal services company. Answer the questions posed in each screen and click the “Next >”
button to continue until you have finished customizing your company file.
31. When finished with the EasyStep Interview, the final congratulations screen appears. Click the “Go To
Setup” button to open a window that instructs you to create your customers, inventory, and vendors.
Close this window to complete setting up your company file.

ACTIONS-
ENABLING ACCOUNT NUMBERS WITHIN A COMPANY FILE:
1. To enable account numbering, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar
2. In the “Preferences” window, click the “Accounting” category in the list at the left side of the window.
3. Then click the “Company Preferences” tab at the right side of the window.
4. Click the checkbox that states “Use account numbers” to enable account numbers within QuickBooks.
5. Click the “OK” button to apply the changes to your company file.
ENTERING YOUR LAW FIRM AS A VENDOR:
1. To enter your law firm as a vendor, open the “New Vendor” window within QuickBooks.
2. Enter the name of your law firm into the “Vendor Name” text box. Do not enter an opening balance.
3. Click the “Address Info” tab in the “New Vendor” window.
4. Enter the name of the law firm into the “Company Name” field. If you are a sole practitioner, you can
enter your name into the “Mr./Ms./…,” “First Name,” “M.I.,” and “Last Name” fields.
5. Enter your job title into the “Job Title” field.
6. Enter your contact information you wish to record into the next eight fields that are available. For each
labels shown. Then record the associated information within the adjacent data field to the right of each
drop-down field label. The data fields shown by default are, from top to bottom and left to right: “Main
Phone,” “Work Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “Main Email,” “CC Email,” “Website” and “Other 1.” Your choices
of alternate fields for which you can substitute the default information are: “Home Phone,” “Alt. Phone,”
“Alt. Mobile,” “Alt. Fax,” “Alt. E-mail 1,” “Alt. Email 2,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “URL 1,” “URL 2,”
“URL 3,” “URL 4,” “Skype ID,” “Other 2,” and “Other 3.”
7. In the “Address Details” section at the bottom of this tab, type your billed from address directly into the
“Billed From” text box or click the “Edit” button to the right of the “Billed From” field and enter the billing
address into the fields within the “Edit Address Information” window that appears.
8. If you choose to enter the address information into the “Edit Address Information” window, click the “OK”
button when finished to display the address you entered within the “Billed From” text box.
9. If the shipped from address is the same as the billed from address, click the “Copy >>” button to copy
the billing information into the “Shipped From” text box that appears to the right. If they are not the
same, enter the shipping address into the “Shipped From” text box.
10. When finished, click the “Payment Settings” tab at the left side of the “New Vendor” window.
11. Skip the “Account No.” field.
12. Skip the “Credit Limit” field.
13. Use the “Payment Terms” drop-down field to select your terms.
14. Enter your name as you want it to appear on checks you issue for payments to your company into the
“Print Name on Checks as” field.
15. Skip the “Tax Settings” tab.
16. Click the “Account Settings” tab to continue.
17. Use the three drop-down fields shown to enter up to three accounts that can appear automatically when
you enter a bill for yourself. Note that for your own vendor record, these accounts will typically be
“Income” accounts. These accounts will appear within the “Account” fields in a bill if you select your own
vendor record when entering the bill. This can save you some time if you always attribute the amounts
to the same account or accounts.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
ENTERING YOUR LAW FIRM AS A VENDOR- (CONT’D.):

19. Use the “Vendor Type” drop-down to select a vendor type from the drop-down available, or enter a new
vendor type into the “Vendor Type” drop-down.
20. At the right side of the “Additional Info” tab, enter any custom field values for any custom fields that you
have created.
21. When finished, click the “OK” button to save the vendor record and close the window.
ENTERING CLIENTS AND CASES:
1. To enter your clients into QuickBooks, please review the lesson “The Customers & Jobs List” in
Chapter 3 of this manual.
2. To enter your cases into QuickBooks, please review the lesson “Creating a Job” in Chapter 18 of this
manual to learn how to enter jobs for customers into QuickBooks.
3. When creating the cases (or projects and matters) as jobs within the “New Job” window, you should
note that it’s very common for a single case to have multiple billing rates. You may also have differing
rates for each client or case. You should take advantage of the “Custom Fields” within the “Customers”
list to create multiple custom fields such as “Partner Rate” and “Paraprofessional Rate.” You should
review the lesson “Using Custom Fields” in Chapter 3 to review the process for creating custom
customer fields, if needed.
4. You can enter these rates into the “Additional Info” tab when creating a new job to show the various
rates available for that client/case when creating invoices. This allows you to easily override the default
billing rate associated with the line items for a specific case when creating the invoices for this matter.
5. You should also add these custom billing rate fields to your invoice templates so that they will appear
when performing data entry within the invoice template, but will not appear in the printed version that
you send to clients. To learn how to add custom fields to invoices, you should review the lesson
“Performing Advanced Customization” in Chapter 17 of this manual.
6. When customizing the invoice, click the “Header” tab to show any custom customer fields you have
created. You can then check the “Screen” checkbox next to those client billing rate fields so that they
will be available onscreen when creating the invoice. This will allow the user who creates the invoices to
see the rates available for the case and override the line item rates, if needed, but not display these
rates on the printed copy that you send to the client.
ENABLING CLASS TRACKING WITHIN QUICKBOOKS:
1. To enable class tracking, select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Preferences” window that opens, click the “Accounting” icon at the left side of the window.
3. Click the “Company Preferences” tab and then check the “Use class tracking for transactions” checkbox.
4. You should also check the “Prompt to assign classes” checkbox to remind the person that performs data
entry within QuickBooks to classify all transactions entered.
5. When finished, click the “OK” button to enable classes.
6. Next, enter the partners and/or departments into the “Class List” within QuickBooks. You can open this
list by selecting “Lists| Class List” from the Menu Bar.
(cont’d.)

ACTIONS-
ENABLING CLASS TRACKING WITHIN QUICKBOOKS- (CONT’D.):
7. Within the “Class List” window you can see two default classes shown. You can rename these two
classes if desired, by simply editing the classes, or you can delete them and create new classes.
8. To edit a class shown, first select the class to change within the “Class List” window. Then click the
“Class” button in the lower-left corner of the window and select the “Edit Class” command from the pop-
up menu that appears.
9. Within the “Edit Class” window you can then enter a new description into the “Class Name” text box, and
then click the “OK” button to approve your changes when finished.
10. To delete a class shown in the window that has not been used in any transactions, select the class to
delete and then click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the window. Then select the “Delete
Class” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
11. In the “Delete Class” dialog box that appears, click the “OK” button to delete the selected class.
12. To create a new class, click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the “Class List” window and
then select the “New” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
13. In the “New Class” window, enter the name of the partner/department into the “Class Name” text box.
14. Note that if you wish to make this new class a “subclass” of another class that you have created, for
example- the lawyers within a department, then select the “Subclass of” checkbox and then use the
adjacent drop-down menu to select the main class underneath which the current entry will be classified.
15. Click the “OK” button to add the new class into your “Class List.”
16. To classify transactions in the future when entering them into QuickBooks, use the “Class” drop-
down that appears in the transaction forms to select the desired value from the drop-down to classify the
transactions, as needed.
17. If you enabled the “Prompt to assign classes” checkbox within the “Preferences” window, any
unclassified transaction you create will prompt you to classify it before closing the transaction window if
you accidentally save an unclassified transaction in the future. This creates a valuable double-check to
ensure appropriate classifying of transactions for accurate reporting.
CREATING BILLING LINE ITEMS:
1. To create the billing line items, first open the “Item List” within QuickBooks by selecting “Lists| Item
List” from the Menu Bar.
2. If you need assistance in creating reimbursable service items, please review the lesson “Setting Up
Inventory” in Chapter 5 and “Service Items” in Chapter 6 of this manual.
3. When creating double-sided services, you will need to check the “This service is used in assemblies or
is performed by a subcontractor or partner” checkbox in order to display both the “Purchase Information”
and “Sales Information” sections within the “New Item” window.
4. You can then select the desired “Partner Drawing” equity account for the “Expense Account” side of the
item, and select the desired “Legal Fee Income” account for the “Income Account” side of the item.
5. Also, if you pay partners based on billable hours, be sure to enter the billable rate for the partner into the
“Cost” field and be sure to set up separate billable rate items for each partner.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create a basic legal company file and then prepare the file for basic trust accounting
and trust fund management.
Exercises:
1. Start the QuickBooks application, if necessary.

2. Select “File| New Company…” from the Menu Bar.
3. Click the “Other Options” drop-down button in the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” screen and then
click the “Advanced Setup” command in the drop-down menu to start the EasyStep Interview.
4. In the “Enter your company information” screen, type the information as shown in the screenshot
below, and then click the “Next >” button to continue.

EXERCISES-
5. In the “Select your industry” screen, select the “Legal Services” choice from the listing shown and
then click the “Next >” button to continue.
6. In the “How is your company organized?” screen select the “Partnership or LLP” choice from the
options shown onscreen, and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
7. In the “Select the first month of your fiscal year” screen select “January” from the drop-down menu,
and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
8. In the “Set up your administrator password” screen, type “coMp1ex” into the “Administrator
password” and “Retype password” fields and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
9. On the “Create your company file” screen click the “Next >” button to continue.
10. Save the file with the name given into the default directory by simply clicking the “Save” button within
the “Filename for New Company” dialog box.
11. Read the “Customizing QuickBooks for your business” screen and click “Next >” to continue.
12. In the “What do you sell?” screen, select the “Services only” option and then click the “Next >” button
to continue.
13. In the “Do you charge sales tax?” screen, select the “No” option and then click the “Next >” button to
continue.
14. In the “Do you want to create estimates in QuickBooks?” screen, select the “No” option and then
15. In the “Using statements in QuickBooks” screen, select the “Yes” option, and then click the “Next >”
button to continue.
16. In the “Using invoices in QuickBooks” screen, select the “Yes” option and then click the “Next >”
button to continue.
17. In the “Using progress invoicing” screen, select the “No” option and then click the “Next >” button to
continue.
18. In the “Managing bills you owe” screen, select the “Yes” option and then click the “Next >” button to
continue.
19. In the “Tracking time in QuickBooks” screen, select the “Yes” option and then click the “Next >”
button to continue.
20. In the “Do you have employees?” screen, select the “Yes” option, check the “We have W-2
employees” checkbox, and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
21. In the “Using accounts in QuickBooks” screen, click the “Next >” button to continue.
22. In the “Select a date to start tracking your finances” screen, select the “Beginning of this fiscal year”
option and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
23. In the “Review income and expense accounts” screen, place a checkmark in front of all of the
unchecked accounts to add all listed accounts shown and then click the “Next >” button to continue.
24. In the “Congratulations!” screen, click the “Go to Setup” button to quit the EasyStep Interview and
start creating your company file’s items.
25. Close the “QuickBooks Desktop Setup” window that opens and then close the “New Feature Tour”
window that opens, too, so you can see your company file’s Home page.
26. Select “Edit| Preferences…” from the Menu Bar in order to open the “Preferences” window.
27. Select the “Accounting” icon at the left side of the “Preferences” window and then click the
“Company Preferences” tab to the right.
28. Check the “Use account numbers” and “Use class tracking for transactions” checkboxes. Check the
“Prompt to assign classes” check box, if it is unchecked.
29. Click the “OK” button at the far right of the “Preferences” window to set your preferences.

EXERCISES-
30. Select “Vendors| Vendor Center” from the Menu Bar to open the Vendor Center.
31. Click the “New Vendor…” button in the upper-left corner of the “Vendor Center” and select the “New
Vendor” command from the drop-down menu to open the “New Vendor” window.
32. You will now enter the law firm as a vendor for trust management and billing by typing “Brown &
Associates, P.C.” into the “Vendor Name” and “Company Name” text boxes.
33. Click the “Account Settings” tab, and then select “45400- Legal Fee Income” from the first account
prefill drop-down menu to set the income account as the vendor default when used in transactions
within QuickBooks.
34. Click the “OK” button within the “New Vendor” window to save the record.
35. Close the Vendor Center window.
36. Select “Customers| Customer Center” from the Menu Bar.
37. Click the “New Customer & Job” button in the upper-left corner of the “Customer Center” window
and then select the “New Customer” command from the drop-down menu that appears.
38. In the “New Customer” window, enter “Doe, Jon” as the “Customer Name.”
39. Enter “Jon” into the “First Name” field and “Doe” into the “Last Name” field.
40. Click the “Additional Info” tab, and then click the “Define Fields” button.
41. Type “Partner Rate” into the “Label” column, and then check the “Cust” column to the right.
42. Click the “OK” button to add that field to the “Customer:Job” list, and click “OK” in the “Information”
message box that appears.
43. In the “Partner Rate” field within the “Custom Fields” area, enter “200.00.”
44. Click the “OK” button to save the client into the “Customer:Job” list.
45. Ensure that “Doe, Jon” is selected within the “Customers & Jobs” tab, and then click the “New
Customer & Job” button in the upper-left corner of the “Customer Center.”
46. Select “Add Job” from the drop-down menu to open the “New Job” window.
47. Type “Trust Fund Account” into the “Job Name” field at the top of the window.
48. Click the “OK” button within the “New Job” window to add the case to the selected customer.
49. Close the “Customer Center window.
50. Select “Lists| Templates” from the Menu Bar.
51. Select the “Intuit Professional Invoice” within the “Templates List.”
52. Click the “Templates” button in the lower-left corner of the window and then select the “Edit
Template” command from the pop-up menu that appears.
53. Click the “Additional Customization…” button at the bottom of the “Basic Customization” window.
54. Click the “Make a Copy” button in the “Locked Template” message box that appears.
55. On the “Header” tab, check the “Screen” checkbox next to the “Partner Rate” label and then click
“OK” in the “Layout Designer” message that appears.
56. Click the “OK” button within the “Additional Customization” window.
57. Click the “OK” button within the “Basic Customization” window.
58. Note the name of the invoice template for later use and then close the “Templates List.”
59. Select “Lists| Class List” from the Menu Bar.
60. Select “Partner/Location #1” within the list, click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the
window, and then select the “Edit Class” command from the pop-up menu.
61. Type “Bob Brown” into the “Class Name” text box and then click the “OK” button.
62. Select “Partner/Location #2” within the list, click the “Class” button in the lower-left corner of the
window, and then select the “Edit Class” command from the pop-up menu.
63. Type “Dan Smith” into the “Class Name” text box and then click the “OK” button.

EXERCISES-
64. Close the “Class List” window.

65. Select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar.
66. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner of the list window, and then select the “New” command
67. In the “New Item” window, select “Service” from the “Type” drop-down.
68. Type “Legal Services- Bob Brown” into the “Item Name/Number” field.
69. Check the “This service is used in assemblies or is performed by a subcontractor or partner”
checkbox.
70. Type “Legal Services” into both the “Description on Purchase Transactions” and the “Description on
Sales Transactions” text boxes.
71. Enter “150.00” into the “Cost” field.
72. Select “30900- Partner 1 Draws” for the “Expense Account.”
73. Type “200.00” into the “Sales Price” field.
74. Select “45400- Legal Fee Income” from the “Income Account” drop-down.
75. Click the “OK” button to save the item.
77. You can close the company file. Note that you will need this company file to complete the
exercises in the following chapters. You will need to enter the administrator password of
“coMp1ex” each time you open this company file in the future. The exercises build upon
each other and must be completed in sequential order.

CHAPTER 30-
Setting Up a Trust Account
30.1- What is an IOLTA?
30.2- Creating Accounts for Trust Management
30.3- Creating Items for Trust Management

30.1- Trust Management Overview and IOLTA Accounts:
In this chapter, we will review the processes that often occur within QuickBooks when dealing with a
trust account. One type of trust account used by many legal professionals is an IOLTA or Interest on
Lawyer’s Trust Account. Most lawyers use an IOLTA account to hold client funds separately from their own
funds. An IOLTA account is an interest-bearing checking account. The interest earned from all IOLTA
accounts within a state is pooled together to assist low-income individuals to afford legal aid.
An IOLTA account is used in three main situations. First being when a lawyer receives funds from a
client to perform legal services. Second being when a lawyer receives funds from a settlement that must be
paid to a client. Third being when a lawyer receives funds or is otherwise holding property for a client that
the lawyer has not yet earned or must return at a later date. A lawyer cannot hold their funds and the client’s
funds in the same account, so IOLTA accounts are used to separate these funds and hold smaller amounts
of money from clients for a short span of time.
An important note to make here is that if a lawyer intends to hold a large sum of money for a client,
or intends to hold the funds for an extended period of time, the lawyer should NOT place those funds into an
IOLTA account but should rather place the funds into an account to be held in trust for that particular client.
Note that within QuickBooks however, many of the same types of transactions will occur when
dealing with a trust account held for a particular client and an IOLTA account. In this chapter we will review
many of the types of transactions that occur when dealing with trust accounts in a law firm. The processes
shown here will allow you to concurrently track funds held in trust with the typical accounting funds for a
common small law firm within a single QuickBooks company file. Note that if you have a trust account that
contains a high volume of transactions along with a relatively low volume of transactions for the law firm,
you should consider creating a completely separate company file to record your client’s trust transactions.
It is important to note that each state has its own rules of professional conduct regarding the
handling of client trust funds. You should consult your own state’s Bar Association or counsel to ensure that
your setup is in compliance with the rules for your state. Failure to comply could result in penalties.
30.2- Creating Accounts for Trust Management:
If you use an IOLTA account to track funds in trust for use in paying client expenses, you should
ensure that you create the necessary accounts within the QuickBooks “Chart of Accounts” window. Please
review the lesson “The Chart of Accounts” in Chapter 3 if you need to reference creating and managing
accounts.
First you should create a separate account called “Client Trust Account” as a “Bank” type account
within QuickBooks to record all client trust fund transactions. This should be the account that is set up as an
IOLTA account at your local bank.
Second, create a new “Accounts Payable” type account named “Client Trust A/P” in order to track
bills and payments for the client’s trust account. You should also consider renaming the primary Accounts
Payable used by the law firm for its own bills to something like “Operating A/P” in order to distinguish it even
further from the accounts payable account used for the client-related accounts payable.
Third, you should create an account named “Client Trust Liabilities” as an “Other Current Liability”
account type. You will use this account to track all client deposits and costs.
Finally, and optionally, you can create a separate credit card account named something like “Client
Trust Credit Card” as a “Credit Card” account type if you use a credit card to pay for client costs and you
want the client’s trust account to pay the credit card’s bill. Note that some states may not allow the use of a
credit card to pay for client expenses. If used, ensure that the credit card is ONLY used for client expenses!

30.2- Creating Accounts for Trust Management (cont'd.):
For each of the accounts listed except the “Client Trust Liabilities,” you should also consider creating
subaccounts for each client and case/matter. For example, under the “Client Trust Account,” you could
create a subaccount named “Jon Doe, Trust Account.” You could then create this same subaccount under
the “Client Trust Credit Card” and “Client Trust A/P” accounts. That way, you can specify to which client and
case/matter the individual transaction amounts should be attributed. Alternatively, you can simply keep
separate primary accounts for each client and case/matter, if preferred.
30.3- Creating Items for Trust Management:
In this lesson we will examine the items that you should create within the “Item List” in your
QuickBooks company file to use when managing trust accounts. Please review the lesson “Setting Up
Inventory” in Chapter 5 and “Service Items” in Chapter 6 if you need assistance in creating reimbursable
items. The items created will be “doubled-sided items” like the ones created in lesson “29.7- Creating Billing
Line Items” within this manual.
First you should set up double-sided “service” type items for any expenses that are provided and
paid for by the law firm and then later reimbursed by the client, such as photocopying charges and postage.
You can then use these items to collect reimbursement to the law firm from your client’s trust account.
When creating these items, set the “Expense Account” field within the “Purchase Information” side of the
item to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account that you created in the last lesson. You can then set the “Income
Account” field within the “Sales Description” side of the item to the appropriate expense account. Once you
have created these items, you can use them within the “Enter Bills” window to record expenses as you
provide services or incur the costs for the client. Note that you should fill-in the “Customer:Job” field for the
line items when used in a bill to record the client and matter to which the recorded expense should apply.
Also note that you should consider adopting a naming convention for these items for the law firm
expenses that are passed-through to the client, such as “Client Expenses- Postage,” so as not to confuse
them with normal types of items used in invoices that record income through their use in a sales form and
record expense when used in a purchase transaction.
Next you should create items for client costs that are paid directly from the client’s trust account. For
example, if you use a “Client Credit Card” account to pay for client expenses you could then choose to have
the client’s trust account pay for the credit card bill when it arrives. To set up items that represent these
types of expenses, you must create a double-sided service item. You can then set the account fields within
both the “Purchase Information” and “Sales Information” sections to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account.
You can then use this type of item within bills entered against the “Client A/P” account or within credit card
charges made against the “Client Credit Card” account. Once again, a separate naming convention for
these type of items can be useful when creating them within the “Item List.”
Finally you should create doubled-sided service items that will be used for any lawyer’s fees that will
be paid directly from the client trust account. As with the items that you just created, the accounts shown in
both the “Purchase Information” and “Sales Information” side of this item should be set to the “Client Trust
Liabilities” account and you should also consider a naming convention for these items, such as “Fees Paid
from Trust,” as well. When you enter this item into a bill, the item transfers the listed amount into the “Client
Trust A/P” account.

ACTIONS-
CREATING ACCOUNTS FOR TRUST MANAGEMENT:
1. To create accounts for trust management if you use an IOLTA account to track funds in trust for
use in paying client expenses, ensure that you create the necessary accounts within the QuickBooks
“Chart of Accounts” window. Please review the lesson “The Chart of Accounts” in Chapter 3 if you need
to reference creating and managing accounts.
2. You should create a separate account called “Client Trust Account” as a “Bank” type account within
QuickBooks to record all client trust fund transactions. This should be the account that is set up as an
IOLTA account at your local bank.
3. Create a new “Accounts Payable” type account named “Client Trust A/P” in order to track bills and
payments for the client’s trust account. You should also consider renaming the primary Accounts
Payable used by the law firm for its own bills to something like “Operating A/P” in order to distinguish it
even further from the accounts payable account used for the client-related accounts payable.
4. You should create an account named “Client Trust Liabilities” as an “Other Current Liability” account
type. You will use this account to track all client deposits and costs.
5. Optionally, you can create a separate credit card account named something like “Client Trust Credit
Card” as a “Credit Card” account type if you use a credit card to pay for client costs and you want the
client’s trust account to pay the credit card’s bill. Note that some states may not allow the use of a credit
card to pay for client expenses. If used, ensure that the credit card is ONLY used for client expenses!
6. For each of the accounts listed except the “Client Trust Liabilities,” you should also consider creating
subaccounts for each client and case/matter. For example, under the “Client Trust Checking” account,
you could create a subaccount named “Jon Doe, Trust Account.” You could then create this same
subaccount under the “Client Trust Credit Card” and “Client Trust A/P” accounts. That way, you can
specify to which client and case/matter the individual transaction amounts should be attributed.
Alternatively, you can simply keep separate primary accounts for each client and case/matter, if
preferred.

ACTIONS-
CREATING ITEMS FOR TRUST MANAGEMENT:
1. To create billing line items for trust management, please review the lesson “Setting Up Inventory” in
Chapter 5 and “Service Items” in Chapter 6 if you need assistance in creating reimbursable items.
2. First you should set up double-sided “service” type items for any expenses that are provided
and paid for by the law firm and then later reimbursed by the client, such as photocopying
charges and postage. You can then use these items to collect reimbursement to the law firm from your
client’s trust account.
3. When creating these items, set the “Expense Account” field within the “Purchase Information” side of the
item to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account that you created in the last lesson. You can then set the
“Income Account” field within the “Sales Description” side of the item to the appropriate expense
account.
4. Once you have created these items, you can use them within the “Enter Bills” window to record
expenses as you provide services or incur the costs for the client. Note that you should fill-in the
“Customer:Job” field for the line items when used in a bill to record the client and matter to which the
recorded expense should apply.
5. Also note that you should consider adopting a naming convention for these items for the law firm
expenses that are passed-through to the client, such as “Client Expenses- Postage,” so as not to
confuse them with normal types of items used in invoices that record income through their use in a sales
form and record expense when used in a purchase transaction.
6. Next you should create items for client costs that are paid directly from the client’s trust
account. For example, if you use a “Client Credit Card” account to pay for client expenses you could
then choose to have the client’s trust account pay for the credit card bill when it arrives.
7. To set up items that represent these types of expenses, you must create a double-sided service
item.
8. You can then set the account fields within both the “Purchase Information” and “Sales Information”
sections to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account. You can then use this type of item within bills entered
against the “Client A/P” account or within credit card charges made against the “Client Credit Card”
account.
9. Once again, a separate naming convention for these type of items can be useful when creating them
within the “Item List.”
10. Finally you should create doubled-sided service items that will be used for any lawyer’s fees that
will be paid directly from the client trust account.
11. As with the items that you just created, the accounts shown in both the “Purchase Information” and
“Sales Information” side of this item should be set to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account and you should
also consider a naming convention for these items, such as “Fees Paid from Trust,” as well.
12. When you enter this item into a bill, the item transfers the listed amount into the “Client Trust A/P”
account.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to set up a QuickBooks legal company file for trust fund management and trust
accounting.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks and then open the “Brown & Associates, P.C.” company file completed through
the exercise at the end of Chapter 29 and log-in using the “coMp1ex” password.
2. Select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” from the Menu Bar.
3. Select the “10900- Client Trust Account” within the “Chart of Accounts” window.
4. Click the “Account” button in the lower-left corner of the window and then select the “New” command
5. Select “Bank” in the “New Account” window, and then click the “Continue” button.
6. For the “Account Name” type, “Doe, Jon- Trust Fund Checking.”
7. Enter “1090001” into the “Number” field in the upper-right corner of the window.
8. Check the “Subaccount of” checkbox, and then use the adjacent drop-down menu to select “10900-
Client Trust Account.”
9. Click the “Save & New” button to continue creating accounts.
10. Use the “Account Type” drop-down at the top of the window to select “Accounts Payable.”
11. Type “20000” into the “Number” field.
12. Type “Law Firm Accounts Payable” into the “Account Name” field.
13. Click the “Save & New” button to save the account.
14. Ensure the “Account Type" drop-down is still set to “Accounts Payable.”
16. Type “Client Trust Accounts Payable” into the “Account Name” field.
17. Click the “Save & New” button to save the record.
18. Ensure the “Account Type" drop-down is still set to “Accounts Payable.”
20. Type “Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P” into the “Account Name” field.
21. Check the “Subaccount of” checkbox, and then select “20100 - Client Trust Accounts Payable” from
the adjacent drop-down menu.
22. Click the “Save & New” button to save the record.
23. Use the “Account Type" drop-down to select “Other Current Liability.”
24. Enter “25000” into the “Number” field.
25. Type “Client Trust Liabilities” into the “Account Name” field.
26. Click the “Save & New” button to create the new account and leave the window open.
27. Use the “Account Type" drop-down to select “Credit Card.”
29. Type “Client Trust AMEX” into the “Account Name” field.
30. Click the “Save & New” button to create the new account and leave the window open.
31. Ensure that the “Account Type" is still set to “Credit Card.”
32. Enter “22001” into the “Number” field.
33. Type “Doe, Jon- Trust AMEX” into the “Account Name” field.
34. Check the “Subaccount of” checkbox, and then select “22000 - Client Trust AMEX” from the
adjacent drop-down menu.

EXERCISES-
35. Click the “Save & Close” button to create the new account and close the window.
36. Click the “No” button if the “Set Up Online Services” message box appears onscreen.
37. Close the “Chart of Accounts” window after reviewing the accounts that you created.
38. Select “Lists| Item List” from the Menu Bar to open the “Item List” window.
39. Click the “Item” button in the lower-left corner and then select the “New” command from the pop-up
menu that appears to open a “New Item” window.
40. Select “Other Charge” from the “Type” drop-down menu.
41. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Client Trust- Postage.”
42. Check the “This item is used in assemblies or is a reimbursable charge” checkbox.
43. Type “Postage” into both the “Description on Purchase Transactions” and the “Description on Sales
Transactions” text boxes.
44. Leave the “Cost” and “Sales Price” fields blank as they will be filled-in during billing and invoicing.
45. Use the “Expense Account” drop-down to select “25000- Client Trust Liabilities.”
46. Use the “Income Account” drop-down to select “66500- Postage and Delivery.”
49. Select “Service” from the “Type” drop-down menu.
50. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Client Trust- Expert Consultant.”
checkbox.
52. Type “Expert Consultant” into both the “Description on Purchase Transactions” and the “Description
on Sales Transactions” text boxes.
54. Use both the “Expense Account” and “Income Account” drop-downs to select “25000- Client Trust
Liabilities.”
57. Select “Service” from the “Type” drop-down menu.
58. In the “Item Name/Number” text box, type “Client Trust- Firm Legal Fees.”
checkbox.
60. Type “Legal Fees” into both the “Description on Purchase Transactions” and the “Description on
Sales Transactions” text boxes.
62. Use both the “Expense Account” and “Income Account” drop-downs to select “25000- Client Trust
Liabilities.”

CHAPTER 31-
Managing a Trust Account
31.1- Depositing Client Money into the Client Trust Account
31.2- Entering Bills to Pay from the Trust Account
31.3- Recording Bills for Office Expenses
31.4- Paying Bills from the Client Trust Account
31.5- Using a Client Trust Credit Card
31.6- Time Tracking and Invoicing for Legal Professionals
31.7- Paying the Law Firm’s Invoices Using the Client Funds
31.8- Refunding Unused Client Trust Account Funds
31.9- Escheated Trust Funds

31.1- Depositing Client Money into the Client Trust Account:
In this chapter, we will review the transactions that you will need to use in order to correctly account
for funds held within a client’s trust account within most, if not all, states. You should always be aware of the
reporting requirements within your state and adhere to the regulations given. While you will have all of the
required transactions and accounting information stored within the legal company file in QuickBooks, it is
important to remember that you must also keep paper copies of ALL records related to your client trust
account, including bank-created records. Be sure to keep paper copies of all of this information!
The first transaction that we will cover is making a deposit of client funds into the client’s trust
account. You should review the lesson on “Making Deposits” in Chapter 10 if you need to review the
process.
Start by selecting “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar within QuickBooks. Within the “Make
Deposits” window, you will select the “Client Trust Checking” from the “Deposit To” field at the top of the
window. Then select the date of the deposit from the “Date” calendar selector. In the “Memo” field, you
should enter the client’s name, the matter or case, and any other relevant identifying information.
Then select the name of the client and matter from the drop-down that appears when you click into
the first empty row underneath the “Received From” column. Then select the “Client Trust Liabilities”
account from the adjacent “From Account” column’s drop-down menu. You can then re-enter the memo
information in the “Memo” column. You then enter the payment method into the “Pmt. Meth.” column and
enter the check number into the “Chk. No.” field, if required. You can then use the “Class” drop-down to
classify the partner who manages the trust account and handles the client from the “Class” drop-down. You
then enter the amount of the deposit into the “Amount” field.
Once you have finished recording the necessary information, click the “Save & Close” button to
record the client’s deposit.
31.2- Entering Bills to Pay from the Trust Account:
In this lesson, we will review entering bills that are to be paid from the client trust account.
Remember that when entering these types of bills, you will want to use the special “Client Trust A/P”
account that was created specifically for this purpose. It is very important to remember to select this account
from the top of the “Enter Bills” window when entering these bills so as to not enter these bills against the
law firm’s A/P account. When you enter these bills, the transaction will automatically “move” the funds out of
the Client Trust Liabilities account and place them into the Client Trust A/P account. Later on, when you pay
the bills entered into the Client Trust A/P account, the balance will be decreased. To review the process for
entering bills, please review the lesson “Entering Bills” from Chapter 12.
To start, select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window. Then
select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P” Account” drop-down at the top of the screen. You can
then enter the vendor by selecting a name from the “Vendor” drop-down. For services provided by your firm,
you can enter the name of your firm into the “Vendor” list and then select it from this drop-down menu. You
can then enter the “Date” and “Bill Due” field’s values.
Next, click to the “Items” tab at the bottom of the screen and select the services or expenses
indicated by the bill. You can always add as many service items as needed to track the services and
expenses that you pay from the client account. For each item entered, be sure to select the client and
matter or case from the “Customer:Job” drop-down for each line item. You should also mark each line item
as “Not Billable” by clearing the checkmark from the box shown in the “Billable?” column. You do this
because all charges in the “Client Trust A/P” account will be paid using funds from the client trust account.

31.2- Entering Bills to Pay from the Trust Account (cont'd.):
Because of this, you would not want to pass those costs through to the client in an invoice, which would
double their effect. Therefore, you mark the line items as “Not Billable” to prevent this possibility.
Then use the “Class” drop-down for each item to select the partner responsible for the client. You
can then click the “Save & Close” button to finish entering the bill.
31.3- Recording Bills for Office Expenses:
In this lesson, we will review entering bills for minor expenses incurred for each client that can then
be entered as a single bill for the monthly totals. This could be performed with a minor charge, such as
postage, for example. You can enter a single bill for this at the end of the month and then split it amongst all
of the clients who will, in turn, pay their portion of the bill from their trust account balances.
You record this bill in much the same way that you recorded the bill within the last lesson. When
entering the line items within this bill, use the double-sided service items that you created for expenses
provided and paid for by the firm and then reimbursed by the client from the previous chapter.
Also, be sure that you mark each line item entered for each client and case as being “Not Billable,”
since the clients will pay these charges from their trust account and NOT through invoices. However, be
sure to record each client and case by making the correct selections from the “Customer:Job” drop-down for
each amount listed for each item, as these amounts WILL be included within the “Trust Account
Transactions by Client” report that you will create later.
31.4- Paying Bills from the Client Trust Account:
In this lesson we will examine how to pay bills from the client’s trust account using the “Pay Bills”
window. If you need to review paying bills, please read the lesson “Paying Bills” in Chapter 12 of the
manual. To start the process, select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar within QuickBooks to open the
“Pay Bills” window.
Next, select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P Account” drop-down that appears at the top
of the “Pay Bills” window when you have multiple Accounts Payable accounts enabled within a company
file. This will filter the window to show only bills entered against the “Client Trust A/P” account.
Next you should ensure that you select the “Client Trust Checking” account from the “Account” field
within the “Payment” section of this window to ensure that the funds from the client trust account will be
used to pay the client bills. You can then mark and pay the bills, as normal. Note that you should remember
to change the payment account and accounts payable account choices within the “Pay Bills” window when
you go to pay the law firm’s bills in the future. You will always need to check the choices made within these
fields when paying bills to ensure that the correct funds are used to pay the correct bills!

31.5- Using a Client Trust Credit Card:
In this lesson we will examine using the “Client Credit Card” account to track and pay all client costs,
if allowable within your state. Remember that if you do use a client credit card to NEVER mix charges
between the client and the firm’s credit cards! Before you begin, you should review all of the lessons within
Chapter 21 regarding entering and paying credit card bills.
You can enter charges using the items you created just as you would when creating bills for
payment from the client trust account. You simply enter these charges into the “Enter Credit Card Charges”
window by selecting “Banking| Enter Credit Card Charges” from the Menu Bar. Then select the “Client Trust
Credit Card” account from the “Credit Card” account drop-down at the top of the window. Be sure to use the
“Items” tab to enter the line items that represent the services and expenses you pay from the client trust
account. Just as when creating bills, be sure to mark each line item as “Not Billable” when entering the
charges. When you have finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save the charges.
When the credit card bill arrives, you can then reconcile the client credit card account with the bill
received. After a successful reconciliation, you can select to “Enter a Bill” for the charges and be sure to
select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P Account” drop-down at the top of the bill. Then select the
“Client Credit Card” account from the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the bill. You can then click the “Save
& Close” button to save and close the bill.
Then you can pay the bill that was received by using the “Pay Bills” window to pay the bill entered
against the “Client Trust A/P” account with funds from the “Client Trust Checking” as usual.
31.6- Time Tracking and Invoicing for Legal Professionals:
Next we will examine tracking time for the partners and paraprofessionals within the firm. Note that if
you wish to use time tracking for hourly billing, you should first set up an item for each partner or
paraprofessional within the firm and assign their billing rates within the “Sales Price” fields. Review the
lesson “29.7- Creating Billing Line Items” within Chapter 29 of this manual for assistance in creating line
items to use for legal billing. Note that the “Income Account” associated with the items should be the “Legal
Fee Income” account. You should also review the lesson on “Weekly Timesheets” in Chapter 19 to
reacquaint yourself with the basics of timesheet entry, if needed.
Within the “Weekly Timesheet” window, select the desired partner or paraprofessional and set the
desired week. Then enter the client’s matter or case from the “Customer:Job” column. Then enter the
individual line items within the “Service” column for each client’s case or matter. You should enter any notes
needed into the “Notes” column. If you will be paying the partner or paraprofessional from the time entered
into the weekly timesheet, then select the type of earning they receive from the “Payroll Item” drop-down.
Finally, you should set whether or not the time entered is billable by using the “Billable” column to indicate
billable and non-billable hours. For hours marked as billable, you can then use the hours entered to invoice
the client, if desired. You can review the lesson “Invoicing from Time Data” in Chapter 19 if you would like to
review the process prior to creating the invoices.
You can then bill for the time when you open an invoice for the selected client and matter or case
within QuickBooks. Normally, QuickBooks will ask if you wish to use any billable hours that have been
entered when you select the client and matter for whom you have performed the timesheet entry within an
invoice form. However, if you do not have QuickBooks set up to prompt you, or if you are using an older
version of QuickBooks, then simply click the “Add Time/Costs…” button within the “Create Invoices” window
to open the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window. You can then select the billable hours to place into
the invoice shown on the “Time” tab and then click “OK.”

31.6- Time Tracking and Invoicing for Legal Professionals- (cont'd.):
Note that if you entered a custom field for the “Partner Rate” within the “Customer:Job” list when you
created the client and case or matter, you can see this information in the invoice form and use it to manually
enter the line item’s billable rate, if needed. You can review entering this information in lesson 29.5-
Entering Clients and Cases within Chapter 29 of this manual.
31.7- Paying the Law Firm’s Invoices Using the Client Funds:
You can also use QuickBooks to pay invoices created by the law firm using funds from the client’s
trust account. Before you do this, however, you should check to ensure that there are sufficient funds within
the trust fund to cover the invoice amounts. You should NEVER overdraw a client’s trust account, as there
are severe penalties for doing this.
To do this, simply enter the amount to bill the customer as a bill against the “Client Trust A/P”
account using the law firm as the “Vendor” for the bill, and using a doubled-sided “Fees Paid from Trust”
line item within the “Items” tab of the bill. You should review lesson 30.3 in Chapter 30 of this manual for a
review of creating this item, if needed. You must enter a separate bill for each invoice, and be sure to enter
the invoice number within the reference number on the bill. This will provide a clear connection between the
invoice number and the bill entered. Next, you can pay the bill using the funds available in the “Client Trust
Checking” account by using the “Pay Bills” window.
After that, you can open the “Receive Payments” window to record the receipt of funds from the
client trust account. Enter the amount received from the client trust fund and ensure that it is used to make
the payment on the correct invoice. You can also note the invoice number paid within the “Memo” field of
the “Receive Payments” window.
31.8- Refunding Unused Client Trust Account Funds:
You can easily issue a refund check to return unused client trust account funds, if the need arises.
To do this, first open the “Write Checks” window within QuickBooks. Then select the “Client Trust Checking”
account from the “Bank Account” drop-down at the top of the window. You can then select the name of the
client and matter/case from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down within the check form. You can then enter
the amount of the client’s trust fund to be refunded into the “$” field. Be sure to select the correct check date
from the “Date” field’s calendar selector. Be sure to enter a detailed description of the refund into the
“Memo” field, as well.
Then, on the “Expenses” tab shown at the bottom of the check window, select the “Client Trust
Liabilities” account. This will remove the amount returned from the amount of liability owed to the client. Be
sure to also note the reason in this “Memo” field, as well. You can then select the name of the client and
case/matter from the “Customer:Job” column, and be sure to indicate that these are “Not Billable” amounts
entered. Then select the correct class from the adjacent “Class” field’s drop-down menu.
When you are finished you can then print the check, if needed. After recording and optionally
printing the check, click the “Save & Close” button.

31.9- Escheated Trust Funds:
In this lesson, we will examine using QuickBooks to return escheated trust funds. Escheat occurs
when there are no legal heirs to property. Most commonly this is used to return abandoned trust funds to
the state. For example, if a lawyer held funds in trust for a client and then could no longer find the client or
any other legal heirs after pursuing all avenues possible. When escheat occurs, law firms are required to
send the funds to the state along with a detailed report. The reporting requirements vary from state to state,
and you should check with your state to find the specifics. Escheated funds are then held by the state and
can be collected at a later date by the original owner, should they return and claim the funds.
If you have escheated funds to give to your state, the process is similar to creating a refund check
for the trust funds. First open the “Write Checks” window. Then select the “Client Trust Checking” account
from the “Bank Account” drop-down at the top of the window. You can then enter the name of the state
agency to whom you remit escheated funds from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down within the check form.
You can set the name as a vendor within your Vendor List. You can then enter the amount of the client’s
escheated trust fund into the “$” field. Be sure to select the correct check date from the “Date” field’s
calendar selector. Be sure to enter a detailed description of the escheatment into the “Memo” field, as well.
Then, on the “Expenses” tab shown at the bottom of the check window, select the “Client Trust
Liabilities” account. This will remove the amount returned from the amount of liability owed to the client. Be
sure to also note the reason in this “Memo” field, as well. You can then select the name of the client and
case/matter from the “Customer:Job” column, and be sure to indicate that these are “Not Billable” amounts
entered. Then select the correct class from the adjacent “Class” field’s drop-down menu.
When you are finished you can then print the check, if needed. After recording and printing the
check, click the “Save & Close” button. You will then need to remit the check along with any accompanying
reporting required by your state to the designated vendor.

ACTIONS-
DEPOSITING CLIENT MONEY INTO A CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT:
1. You should review the lesson on “Making Deposits” in Chapter 10 if you need to review the process.
2. To deposit client money into a client trust account, select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu
Bar within QuickBooks.
3. Within the “Make Deposits” window, you will select the “Client Trust Checking” from the “Deposit To”
field at the top of the window.
4. Select the date of the deposit from the “Date” calendar selector.
5. In the “Memo” field, you should enter the client’s name, the matter or case, and any other relevant
identifying information.
6. Select the name of the client and matter from the drop-down that appears when you click into the first
empty row underneath the “Received From” column.
7. Select the “Client Trust Liabilities” account from the adjacent “From Account” column’s drop-down
menu.
8. You can then re-enter the memo information in the “Memo” column.
9. You then enter the payment method into the “Pmt. Meth.” column and enter the check number into the
“Chk. No.” field, if required.
10. You can then use the “Class” drop-down to classify the partner who manages the trust account and
handles the client from the “Class” drop-down.
11. You then enter the amount of the deposit into the “Amount” field.
12. Once you have finished recording the necessary information, click the “Save & Close” button to record
the client’s deposit.
ENTERING BILLS TO PAY FROM THE TRUST ACCOUNT:
1. If you need to review the process for entering bills, please review the lesson “Entering Bills” from
Chapter 12.
2. To start enter bills to pay from the trust account, select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to
open the “Enter Bills” window.
3. Select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P” Account” drop-down at the top of the screen.
4. Enter the vendor by selecting a name from the “Vendor” drop-down. For services provided by your firm,
enter the name of your firm into the “Vendor” list and then select it from this drop-down menu.
5. You can then enter the “Date” and “Bill Due” field’s values.
6. Click to the “Items” tab at the bottom of the screen and select the services or expenses indicated by the
bill. You can always add as many service items as needed to track the services and expenses that you
pay from the client account.
7. For each item entered, be sure to select the client and matter or case from the “Customer:Job” drop-
down for each line item.
8. You should also mark each line item as “Not Billable” by clearing the checkmark from the box shown in
the “Billable?” column. You do this because all charges in the “Client Trust A/P” account will be paid
using funds from the client trust account. Because of this, you would not want to pass those costs
through to the client in an invoice, which would double their effect. Therefore, you mark the line items as
“Not Billable” to prevent this possibility.
9. Then use the “Class” drop-down for each item to select the partner responsible for the client.
10. You can then click the “Save & Close” button to finish entering the bill.

ACTIONS-
RECORDING BILLS FOR OFFICE EXPENSES:
1. In this lesson, we will review entering bills for minor expenses incurred for each client that can then be
entered as a single bill for the monthly totals. This could be performed with a minor charge, such as
postage, for example. You can enter a single bill for this at the end of the month and then split it
amongst all of the clients who will, in turn, pay their portion of the bill from their trust account balances.
2. You record this bill in much the same way that you recorded the bill within the last lesson. When
entering the line items within this bill, use the double-sided service items that you created for expenses
provided and paid for by the firm and then reimbursed by the client from the previous chapter.
3. Also, be sure that you mark each line item entered for each client and case as being “Not Billable,” since
the clients will pay these charges from their trust account and NOT through invoices.
4. However, be sure to record each client and case by making the correct selections from the
“Customer:Job” drop-down for each amount listed for each item, as these amounts WILL be included
within the “Trust Account Transactions by Client” report that you will create later.
PAYING BILLS FROM THE CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT:
1. If you need to review paying bills, please read the lesson “Paying Bills” in Chapter 12.
2. To pay bills from the client trust account, select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar within
QuickBooks to open the “Pay Bills” window.
3. Select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P Account” drop-down that appears at the top of the
“Pay Bills” window when you have multiple Accounts Payable accounts enabled within a company file.
This will filter the window to show only bills entered against the “Client Trust A/P” account.
4. Next you should ensure that you select the “Client Trust Checking” account from the “Account” field
within the “Payment” section of this window to ensure that the funds from the client trust account will be
used to pay the client bills.
5. You can then mark and pay the bills, as normal.
6. Note that you should remember to change the payment account and accounts payable account choices
within the “Pay Bills” window when you go to pay the law firm’s bills in the future. You will always need
to check the choices made within these fields when paying bills to ensure that the correct funds are
used to pay the correct bills!

ACTIONS-
USING A CLIENT TRUST CREDIT CARD:
1. Before you begin, you should review all of the lessons within Chapter 21 regarding entering and paying
credit card bills.
2. To enter charges to a client trust credit card, use the items you created, just as when creating bills
for payment from the client trust account. You simply enter these charges into the “Enter Credit Card
Charges” window by selecting “Banking| Enter Credit Card Charges” from the Menu Bar.
3. Select the “Client Trust Credit Card” account from the “Credit Card” account drop-down.
4. Be sure to use the “Items” tab to enter the line items that represent the services and expenses you pay
from the client trust account.
5. Just as when creating bills, be sure to mark each line item as “Not Billable” when entering the charges.
6. When you have finished, click the “Save & Close” button to save the charges.
7. When the credit card bill arrives, you can then reconcile the client credit card account with the bill
received. After a successful reconciliation, you can select to “Enter a Bill” for the charges and be sure to
select the “Client Trust A/P” account from the “A/P Account” drop-down at the top of the bill. Then select
the “Client Credit Card” account from the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the bill. You can then click the
“Save & Close” button to save and close the bill.
8. Then you can pay the bill that was received by using the “Pay Bills” window to pay the bill entered
against the “Client Trust A/P” account with funds from the “Client Trust Checking” as usual.
TIME TRACKING AND INVOICING FOR PARTNERS AND PARAPROFESSIONALS:
1. To perform time tracking and invoicing, first create items for each partner or paraprofessional in the
firm and assign their billing rates in the “Sales Price” fields. Review the lesson 29.7- Creating Billing
Line Items within Chapter 29 for help with creating line items to use for legal billing. Note that the
“Income Account” associated with the items should be the “Legal Fee Income” account.
2. You should also review the lesson on “Weekly Timesheets” in Chapter 19 to reacquaint yourself with the
basics of timesheet entry, if needed.
3. Within the “Weekly Timesheet” window, select the desired partner or paraprofessional and set the
desired week.
4. Enter the client’s matter or case from the “Customer:Job” column.
5. Enter the individual line items within the “Service” column for each client’s case or matter.
6. Enter any notes needed into the “Notes” column.
7. If you will be paying the partner or paraprofessional from the time entered into the weekly timesheet,
then select the type of earning they receive from the “Payroll Item” drop-down.
8. Set whether or not the time entered is billable by using the “Billable” column to indicate billable and non-
billable hours. For hours marked as billable, you can then use the hours entered to invoice the client, if
desired. You can review the lesson “Invoicing from Time Data” in Chapter 19 of the QuickBooks
Desktop Pro manual if you would like to review the process before creating the invoices.
9. You can then bill for the time when you open an invoice for the selected client and matter or case within
QuickBooks. Simply click the “Add Time/Costs…” button within the “Create Invoices” window to open
the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window. You can then select the billable hours to place into the
invoice shown on the “Time” tab and then click “OK.”
10. Note that if you entered a custom field for the “Partner Rate” within the “Customer:Job” list when you
created the client and case or matter, you can see this information in the invoice form and use it to
manually override the line item’s billable rate, if needed.

ACTIONS-
PAYING THE LAW FIRM’S INVOICES USING CLIENT FUNDS:
1. You can use QuickBooks to pay invoices created by the law firm using funds from the client’s trust
account. Before you do this, however, you should check to ensure that there are sufficient funds within
the trust fund to cover the invoice amounts. You should NEVER overdraw a client’s trust account, as
there are severe penalties for doing this.
2. To pay the law firm’s invoices using client funds, simply enter the amount to bill the customer as a
bill against the “Client Trust A/P” account using the law firm as the “Vendor” for the bill, and using a
doubled-sided “Fees Paid from Trust” line item within the “Items” tab of the bill. You should review
lesson 30.3 in Chapter 30 for a review of creating this item, if needed.
3. You must enter a separate bill for each invoice, and be sure to enter the invoice number within the
reference number on the bill. This will provide a clear connection between the invoice number and the
bill entered.
4. Next, you can pay the bill using the funds available in the “Client Trust Checking” account by using the
“Pay Bills” window.
5. After that, you can open the “Receive Payments” window to record the receipt of funds from the client
trust account. Enter the amount received from the client trust fund and ensure that it is used to make the
payment on the correct invoice. You can also note the invoice number paid within the “Memo” field of
the “Receive Payments” window.
REFUNDING UNUSED CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT FUNDS:
1. To issue a refund check to return unused client trust account funds, if the need arises, first open
the “Write Checks” window within QuickBooks.
2. Select the “Client Trust Checking” account from the “Bank Account” drop-down at the top of the window.
3. Select the name of the client and matter/case from the “Pay to the Order of” drop-down within the check
form.
4. You can then enter the amount of the client’s trust fund to be refunded into the “$” field.
5. Select the correct check date from the “Date” field’s calendar selector.
6. Enter a detailed description of the refund into the “Memo” field, as well.
7. On the “Expenses” tab shown at the bottom of the check window, select the “Client Trust Liabilities”
account to remove the amount returned from the amount of liability owed to the client.
8. Also note the reason in the “Memo” field within the “Expenses” tab, as well.
9. Select the name of the client and case/matter from the “Customer:Job” column.
10. Be sure to indicate that these are “Not Billable” amounts entered.
11. Select the correct class from the adjacent “Class” field’s drop-down menu.
12. When you are finished you can then print the check, if needed.
13. After recording and optionally printing the check, click the “Save & Close” button.

ACTIONS-
HANDLING ESCHEATED TRUST ACCOUNT FUNDS:
1. To return escheated funds to your state, open the “Write Checks” window.
2. Then select the “Client Trust Checking” account from the “Bank Account” drop-down at the top of the
window.
3. You can then enter the name of the state agency to whom you remit escheated funds from the “Pay to
the Order of” drop-down within the check form. You can set the name as a vendor within your Vendor
List.
4. You can then enter the amount of the client’s escheated trust fund into the “$” field.
5. Be sure to select the correct check date from the “Date” field’s calendar selector.
6. Be sure to enter a detailed description of the escheatment into the “Memo” field, as well.
7. Then, on the “Expenses” tab shown at the bottom of the check window, select the “Client Trust
Liabilities” account. This will remove the amount returned from the amount of liability owed to the client.
8. Be sure to also note the reason in this “Memo” field, as well.
9. You can then select the name of the client and case/matter from the “Customer:Job” column, and be
sure to indicate that these are “Not Billable” amounts entered.
10. Then select the correct class from the adjacent “Class” field’s drop-down menu.
11. Then select the correct class from the adjacent “Class” field’s drop-down menu.
12. When you are finished you can then print the check, if needed. After recording and printing the check,
click the “Save & Close” button.
13. You will then need to remit the check along with any accompanying reporting required by your state to
the designated vendor.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to perform the basic transactions required to manage a trust fund account and perform
trust accounting.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks and open the “Brown & Associates, P.C.” company file completed through the
end of the Exercise in Chapter 30 and log-in using the “coMp1ex” password.
2. Select “Banking| Make Deposits” from the Menu Bar to open the “Make Deposits” window.
3. Select “1090001- Doe, Jon- Trust Fund Checking” from the “Deposit To” drop-down.
4. Click the “OK” button within the “Setting Default Accounts” message box that appears onscreen.
5. Type “Jon Doe- initial trust fund deposit” into the “Memo” field.
6. Click into the first row underneath the “Received From” column
7. Select the “Trust Fund Account” job under the “Doe, Jon” customer entry from the drop-down menu.
8. Click into the adjacent “From Account” column and then select “25000- Client Trust Liabilities.”
9. Type “Jon Doe- initial trust fund deposit” underneath the “Memo” column in the same row.
10. Type “1234” as the “Chk No.” in the same row.
11. Select “Check” as the “Pmt Meth.” in the same row.
12. Select “Bob Brown” from the “Class” drop-down within the same row.
13. Enter “2000” into the “Amount” column within the same row.
14. Click the “Save & Close” button at the bottom of the window to record the deposit.
15. Select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window.
16. Use the “A/P Account” drop-down at the top of the window to select “20101 - Doe, Jon- Client Trust
A/P” from the drop-down menu of choices.
17. Type “USPS” into the “Vendor” line, and then click the “Quick Add” button within the “Vendor Not
Found” message box that appears when you exit the field to quick add the vendor to the vendor list.
18. Type “POSTAGE01” into the “Ref. No.” field.
19. Enter “6.40” into the “Amount Due” field.
20. Type “First month of postage” into the “Memo” field.
21. Click the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Enter Bills” window.
22. Select “Client Trust- Postage” from the “Item” drop-down within the first row on the “Items” tab.
23. Enter “10” into the “Qty” column within the same row.
24. Enter “.64” into the “Cost” field within the same row.
25. Click “No” in the “Item’s Cost Changed” message box appears onscreen.
26. Click into the Customer:Job” column within the same row and select the “Trust Fund Account” job
under the “Doe, Jon” customer from the drop-down that appears.
27. Uncheck the checkbox underneath the “Billable?” column within the same row. This will mark the
row as “Not Billable.”
28. Select “Bob Brown” from the “Class” drop-down within the same row.
29. Click the “Save & Close” button to record the bill for client postage.
30. Select “Banking| Enter Credit Card Charges” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Credit Card
Charges” window.
31. Use the “Credit Card” drop-down at the top of the window to select “22001- Doe, Jon- Trust AMEX”
from the Menu Bar.

EXERCISES-
32. Type “Dr. Jones” into the “Purchased From” text field, and then exit the field.
33. Click the “Quick Add” button within the “Name Not Found” message box. Then select the “Vendor”
option button and click the “OK” button within the “Select Name Type” message box to add the name
into the “Vendor List.”
34. Type “CONSULT01” into the “Ref No.” field.
35. Enter “500” into the “Amount” field.
36. Type “Expert witness consultation” into the “Memo” field.
37. Click the “Items” tab at the bottom of the window.
38. Select “Client Trust- Expert Consultant” from the “Item” column in the first row on the “Items” tab.
39. Enter “8” for the “Qty” column within the same row.
40. Enter “62.50” under the “Cost” column within the same row.
41. Click “No” in the “Item’s Cost Changed” message box if it appears.
43. Uncheck the checkbox underneath the “Billable?” column within the same row. This will mark the
row as “Not Billable.”
44. Use the “Class” drop-down to select “Bob Brown.”
45. Click the “Save & Close” button to save the credit card charge.
46. Select “Banking| Reconcile” from the Menu Bar to open the “Begin Reconciliation” window.
47. Select “22000- Client Trust AMEX” from the “Account” drop-down menu.
48. Enter the last day on the month within which you recorded the previous credit card charge within the
“Statement Date” field.
49. Enter “500” into the “Ending Balance” field.
50. Click the “Continue” button.
51. Click the “500” entry made within the “Charges and Cash Advances” list to mark the charge as
reconciled. The “Difference” shown in the lower-right corner should be “0.”
52. Click the “Reconcile Now” button to finish reconciling the credit card account.
53. In the “Make Payment” window, select the “Enter a bill for payment later” option button and then click
the “OK” button to continue to the “Enter Bills” window.
54. Click the “OK” button within the “Information” message box, if it appears.
55. Click the “Close” button within the “Select Reconciliation Report” window.
56. Ensure that the “20101- Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P” account is selected from the “A/P Account”
drop-down at the top of the window.
57. Type “American Express” into the “Vendor” field, and then click the “Quick Add” button within the
“Vendor Not Found” message box that appears when you exit the field to add them as a vendor.
58. Enter the same date as the date you selected for the reconciliation into the “Date” field.
59. Type “CREDIT01” into the “Ref. No.” field.
60. Type “First month of credit card charges” into the “Memo” field.
61. On the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the window, change the “Account” shown to “22001- Doe,
Jon- Trust AMEX” so that the expense is correctly attributed to the subaccount. Note that when
reconciling a main account when charges are incurred on the subaccounts, you should attribute the
amounts back to the individual subaccounts on the “Expense” tab when the bill arrives. Since the
entire “500” dollar amount is attributable only to the single subaccount, that is what is selected.
62. Type “This client’s portion of the first month’s credit card bill” into the adjacent “Memo column.

EXERCISES-
65. Click the “Save & Close” button to enter the credit card bill.
66. Select “Employees| Employee Center” from the Menu Bar to open the “Employee Center” window.
67. Click the “New Employee…” button in the upper-left corner of the “Employee Center” window to
open the “New Employee” window.
68. On the “Personal” tab, type “Bob” into the “First Name” field and “Brown” into the “Last Name” field.
69. Enter “123-45-6789” into the “Social Security No.” field.
70. Click the “Payroll Info” tab, and then click into the “Item Name” column underneath the “Earnings”
section and select the “< Add New >” command from the drop-down menu.
71. In the “Add new payroll item” window that appears, select the “Hourly wages” option button and then
click the “Next” button to continue.
72. Select the “Regular Pay” option from the choices shown and then click the “Next” button to continue.
73. Type “Regular Hourly Wage” into the “Enter name for hourly item:” text box and then click the “Next”
button to continue.
74. Ensure that account “66000- Payroll Expenses” is selected and then click the “Finish” button.
75. Back on the “Payroll Info” tab, enter “125” into the “Hourly/Annual Rate” column next to the “Regular
Hourly Wage” shown.
76. Check the “Use time data to create paychecks” checkbox below the “Earnings” section.
77. Click the “Taxes…” button to open the “Taxes for Bob Brown” window and then click the “State” tab.
78. Use the “State” drop-down to select “MI” for both the “State Worked” and “State Subject to
Withholding” drop-down menus.
79. Click the “Set Up” button in the “Payroll Item Not Found” dialog box.
80. In the “Add new payroll item” window, leave the name as is and click the “Next” button to continue.
81. Type “State of Michigan” into the “Enter name of agency to which liability is paid” field, and then click
the “Quick Add” button in the “Vendor Not Found” message box to add the vendor to the “Vendor
List” when you exit the field.
82. Type “38-1234567” into the “Enter the number that identifies you to the agency” field.
83. Leave the “Liability account” set at “24000- Payroll Liabilities” and click the “Next” button to continue.
84. Click the “Finish” button.
85. Click “OK” in the “Schedule Payments” message box that appears.
86. Click “OK” within the “Taxes for Bob Brown” window.
87. Click “Set Up” in the “Payroll Item Not Found” message box to set up Michigan unemployment.
88. Leave the name as is, and click the “Next” button to continue.
89. Select “State of Michigan” from the “Enter name of agency to which liability is paid” drop-down.
90. Type “38-1234567” into the “Enter the number that identifies you to the agency” field.
91. Leave the accounts as they are and click the “Next” button to continue.
92. Leave the rates as they are, and click the “Next” button to continue.
93. Click the “Finish” button to save the payroll item.
94. Click “OK” in the “Schedule Payments” message box that appears.
95. Click “OK” in the “QuickBooks Desktop Information” window that appears, if needed.
96. Click “OK” in the “Taxes for Bob Brown” window.
97. Click “OK” within the “New Employee” window.
98. Click the “Leave As Is” button in the message box that appears.

EXERCISES-
99. Close the “Employee Center” window after entering Bob Brown as an employee.
100. Select “Employees| Enter Time| Use Weekly Timesheet” from the Menu Bar to open the “Weekly
Timesheet” window.
101. Select “Bob Brown” from the “Name” drop-down.
102. Ensure that the “Week Of” range is showing a week for which you want to enter billing information.
103. Click into the Customer:Job” column within the first row and select the “Trust Fund Account” job
104. Underneath the “Service Item” column in the same row, select “Legal Services- Bob Brown” from the
drop-down menu.
105. Use the “Payroll Item” columns drop-down within the same row to select “Regular Hourly Wage.”
106. Enter “Provided legal services” in the “Notes” column within the same row.
107. Enter “8” under “M” and “Tu” within the selected week.
108. Ensure the “Billable?” column has a check mark in the checkbox to show these are billable hours.
109. Click the “Save & Close” button at the bottom of the weekly timesheet to save the time data.
110. Select “Customers| Create Invoices” from the Menu Bar to open the “Create Invoices” window where
you can invoice the customer for the hours entered.
111. Use the “Template” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the window to select the “Copy of: Intuit
Professional” invoice that you created and customized in the Exercise for Chapter 1.
112. Uncheck the “Email Later” checkbox in the “Main” tab of the Ribbon in the invoice, if it is checked.
113. Use the “Customer:Job” drop-down in the upper-left corner of the “Invoice” window to select the
“Trust Fund Account” job underneath the “Doe, Jon” customer entry.
114. Select “Bob Brown” from the “Class” drop-down at the top of the window.
115. The “Billable Time/Costs” window should then appear onscreen. Choose the “Select the outstanding
billable time and costs to add to this invoice?” option button and then click the “OK” button to display
the “Choose Billable Time and Costs” window.
116. Click the “Time” tab, if needed, and click on each entry on this tab to mark it with a checkmark at the
left end of the row.
117. Click the “OK” button to add the checked entries into the invoice.
118. Enter “200” into the “Rate” column for each line item shown within the “Invoice” window, if needed.
119. Use the “Class” drop-down for each line item to select “Bob Brown.”
120. Enter “First month’s legal billing” into the “Memo” field at the bottom of the invoice.
121. Click the “Save & Close” button to save and close the invoice.
122. Select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Pay Bills” window in order to pay client
bills from the vendor’s using the client trust fund.
123. Select the “Show all bills” option at the top of the “Pay Bills” window.
124. Select the account “20101- Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P” from the “A/P Account” drop-down.
125. Check both the “USPS” and the “American Express” bills to select them to be paid.
126. Use the “Account” drop-down at the bottom of the window to select “1090001 - Doe, Jon- Trust Fund
Checking” as the account used to pay the selected bills.
127. Click “OK” within the “Setting Default Accounts” message box, if it appears.
128. Click the “Pay Selected Bills” button at the bottom of the window to pay the bills.
129. Click the “Done” button in the “Payment Summary” window.
130. There is now $1,493.60 left in the client’s trust fund checking. We will now use that amount as a
payment against invoice # 1 that was created for the client. Note that this will be a partial payment.
131. Select “Vendors| Enter Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Enter Bills” window.

EXERCISES-
132. Ensure that “20101- Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P” is selected from the “A/P Account” drop-down.
133. Select “Brown & Associates, P.C.” from the “Vendor” drop-down menu.
134. Type “INVOICE#1” into the “Ref. No.” field.
135. Enter “1493.60” into the “Amount Due” field.
136. Enter “First month’s legal services invoice. Invoice #1” into the “Memo” field.
137. Enter “0” for any amounts shown on the “Expenses” tab, under the “Amount” column.
138. Delete any accounts shown on the “Expenses” tab at the bottom of the window.
139. Select the “Items” tab at the bottom of the “Enter Bills” window.
140. Click into the “Item” column, and then select the “Client Trust- Firm Legal Fees” item.
141. Enter “1” into the “Qty” column in the same row.
142. Enter “1493.60” into the “Cost” column in the same row.
143. Click “No” within the “Item’s Cost Changed” message box that appears.
144. Ensure that the “Amount” column displays “1493.60.”
146. Ensure that you remove the checkmark from the “Billable?” checkbox to note that these are NOT
billable costs.
148. Click the “Save & Close” button to record the bill.
149. Select “Vendors| Pay Bills” from the Menu Bar to open the “Pay Bills” window.
150. Select account “20101- Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P” from the “A/P Account” drop-down.
151. Select the bill to pay that you just entered shown within this window.
152. Use the “Account” drop-down at the bottom of the window to select “1090001 - Doe, Jon- Trust Fund
Checking.” The “Ending Balance” shown below that drop-down should be zero.
153. Click the “Pay Selected Bills” button to pay the bill with the funds from the client trust checking.
154. Click the “Done” button in the “Payment Summary” window.
155. Now select “Customers| Receive Payments” from the Menu Bar to open the “Receive Payments”
window where you will indicate the bill payment as crediting the invoice amount owed.
156. Use the “Received From” drop-down at the top of the window to select the “Trust Fund Account” job
under the “Doe, Jon” customer.
157. For the “Amount” field, type “1493.60.”
158. Click the “Check” payment method button.
159. For the “Check #” field, enter “3.”
160. For the “Memo” field, type “Payment by check from trust fund checking account.”
161. Ensure the amount is attributed to the invoice shown below. There is an underpayment option in the
lower-left corner of this window. Select the “Leave this as an underpayment” option button selected.
162. Click the “Save & Close” button to record the payment.
163. Select “Lists| Chart of Accounts” to view the chart of accounts window. There should be no funds left
in accounts “1090001,” “20101,” or “25000.” There should be “1706.40” remaining to be collected
from the client in account “11000.” There should also be “1493.60” in account “12000.”
164. Close the chart of accounts window when you are finished reviewing the account balances.

CHAPTER 32-
Trust Account Reporting
32.1- Creating a Trust Account Liability Proof Report
32.2- Creating a Trust Liability Balances by Client Report
32.3- Creating a Client Ledger Report
32.4- Creating an Account Journal Report

32.1- Creating a Trust Account Liability Proof Report:
In this chapter we will learn how to create basic customized reports that are needed in order to
manage trust accounts. This lesson examines creating the Trust Account Liability Proof Report, which is
used to ensure the balance in the trust account is never overdrawn when paying the invoices from the law
firm. Note that there are severe penalties in place for overdrawing a client’s trust account.
To create this report, you will need to create a custom summary report. You can do this by selecting
“Reports| Custom Reports| Summary” from the Menu Bar. In the “Modify Report” window that appears,
select the “Display” tab. Then use the “Display rows by” drop-down menu within the “Columns” section to
select “Account list.”
Next, click the “Filters” tab within the “Modify Report” window. Select the “Account” filter at the left
side of the tab, and then choose “Multiple Accounts…” from the drop-down that appears at the right side of
the tab. This will then display the “Select Account” window where you can choose the “Client Trust
Checking,” the “Client Trust A/P,” the “Client Trust Liabilities,” and (if used) the “Client Costs Credit Card”
accounts. Then click the “OK” button to add these accounts to your report. Next, use the “Date” filter to
select “All.”
You can then click to the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Proof” into the “Report Title”
field. For the “Subtitle” field, you can type “Total MUST always be zero.” This will remind the user that when
viewing this report, the total shown onscreen should always be zero once all of the trust account’s
transactions have been entered. This is also the proof report that you can use as a double-check after using
all of a trust account’s funds to pay invoices from the law firm. Once you have finished making your report
customizations, click the “OK” button to preview the report. You can then save this as a custom report within
the company file by simply memorizing the report.
32.2- Creating a Trust Liability Balances by Client Report:
The next type of report that we will examine creating is the Trust Liability Balances by Client Report.
This report can show you the liability balances for all clients. Once again, start by creating a custom
summary report within QuickBooks. You can do this by selecting “Reports| Custom Reports| Summary”
from the Menu Bar.
In the “Modify Report” window, click the “Display” tab. Then select “Customer” from the “Display
rows by” drop-down menu within the “Columns” section.
Next, click the “Filters” tab. Select the “Name” filter on the “Filters” tab and then select “All
customers/jobs.” You can then select the “Account” filter and use the drop-down to select the “Client Trust
Liabilities” account. Then select the “Date” filter and change the setting to “All.”
You can then click to the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Balances by Client” into the
“Report Title” field. When you have finished making your customizations, simply click the “OK” button to
save them. You can then save this as a custom report within the company file by simply memorizing the
report.
Also note that when previewing this report onscreen, you can double-click on any transaction
summary shown to use the QuickZoom feature to display a custom transaction detail report for the selected
client’s case or matter. This custom transaction detail report will show all of the individual transactions that
make the balance that is totaled within the main report.

32.3- Creating a Client Ledger Report:
The next report that you will learn to create is the Client Ledger Report. This report will allow you to
view the individual transactions that have been attributed to the “Client Trust Liabilities” account. Within this
report, the “Source Name” column shown will be the “Payee” field for checks written and will be blank for
deposited amounts received. If you need to change the name of the column to “Payee” for reporting
purposes, you can easily export the report to Microsoft Excel, where you can then rename the column and
print the report.
To create this report in QuickBooks, start by creating a custom transaction detail report. You can do
this by selecting “Reports| Custom Reports| Transaction Detail” from the Menu Bar.
In the “Modify Report” window that appears, click the “Display” tab to add columns to the report. You
will need to add the “Source Name,” “Debit,” and “Credit” columns by ensuring those fields are checked
within the “Columns” area. You can uncheck the “Name,” “Account,” “Class,” “Clr,” “Split,” and “Amount”
fields. In the area to the right of the columns, select “Customer” from the “Total by” drop-down menu to
show the transaction details totaled by customer. In the “Report Date Range” section at the top of the tab,
use the “Dates” drop-down to select “All.”
Next, click the “Filters” tab to filter the report. Select the “Account” filter and then use the drop-down
to select the “Client Trust Liabilities” account. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client
Trust Account Liabilities Ledger” into the “Report Title” field. When you are finished, you can then click the
“OK” button to save your changes and preview the report. You can then memorize the report to save it as a
custom report for future use.
32.4- Creating an Account Journal Report:
The next report that you will learn to create is the Account Journal Report. This report will allow you
to view the individual transactions that have been attributed to the “Client Trust Checking” account. Within
this report, the “Source Name” column shown will be the “Payee” field for checks written and will be blank
for deposited amounts received. The “Name” column will be the client and matter. The “Paid Amount”
column is the amount of the deposit or check. Negative amounts are checks and positive amounts are
deposits. If you need to change the name of the columns to “Payee,” “Client/Matter,” and “Amount” for
reporting purposes, you can easily export the report to Microsoft Excel, where you can then rename the
columns and print the report.
To create this report in QuickBooks, start by creating a standard Check Detail report. Then click the
“Customize Report” button within the toolbar at the top of the report to open the “Modify Report” window.
Here you can click the “Display” tab to add columns to the report. You will need to add the “Source Name,”
and “Memo” columns by ensuring those fields are checked within the “Columns” area. You can uncheck the
“Account,” and “Original Amount” fields. In the “Report Date Range” section at the top of the tab, use the
“Dates” drop-down to select “All.”
Next, click the “Filters” tab to filter the report. Select each filter other than the “Account” and
“Amount” filters and click the “Remove Selected Filter” button to remove all filters EXCEPT the “Account”
and “Amount” filters. Then select the “Account” filter and then use the drop-down to select the “Client Trust
Checking” account. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client Trust Checking Account-
Account Journal” into the “Report Title” field. When you are finished, you can then click the “OK” button to
save your changes and preview the report. You can then memorize the report to save it as a custom report
for future use.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A TRUST ACCOUNT LIABILITY PROOF REPORT:
1. To create a trust account liability proof report, select “Reports| Custom Reports| Summary” from the
Menu Bar.
2. In the “Modify Report” window that appears, select the “Display” tab. Then use the “Display rows by”
drop-down menu within the “Columns” section to select “Account list.”
3. Click the “Filters” tab within the “Modify Report” window.
4. Select the “Account” filter at the left side of the tab, and then choose “Multiple Accounts…” from the
drop-down that appears at the right side of the tab. This will then display the “Select Account” window
where you can choose the “Client Trust Checking,” the “Client Trust A/P,” the “Client Trust Liabilities,”
and (if used) the “Client Costs Credit Card” accounts.
5. Then click the “OK” button to add these accounts to your report.
6. Next, use the “Date” filter to select “All.”
7. You can then click to the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Proof” into the “Report Title” field.
8. For the “Subtitle” field, you can type “Total MUST always be zero.” This will remind the user that when
viewing this report, the total shown onscreen should always be zero once all of the trust account’s
transactions have been entered. This is also the proof report that you can use as a double-check after
using all of a trust account’s funds to pay invoices from the law firm.
9. Once you have finished making your report customizations, click the “OK” button to preview the report.
10. You can then save this as a custom report within the company file by simply memorizing the report.
CREATING A TRUST LIABILITY BALANCES BY CLIENT REPORT:
1. To create a trust liability balances by client report, select “Reports| Custom Reports| Summary” from
the Menu Bar.
2. In the “Modify Report” window, click the “Display” tab.
3. Then select “Customer” from the “Display rows by” drop-down menu within the “Columns” section.
4. Next, click the “Filters” tab.
5. Select the “Name” filter on the “Filters” tab and then select “All customers/jobs.”
6. You can then select the “Account” filter and use the drop-down to select the “Client Trust Liabilities”
account.
7. Then select the “Date” filter and change the setting to “All.”
8. You can then click to the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Balances by Client” into the
“Report Title” field.
9. When you have finished making your customizations, simply click the “OK” button to save them.
10. You can then save this as a custom report within the company file by simply memorizing the report.
11. Also note that when previewing this report onscreen, you can double-click on any transaction summary
shown to use the QuickZoom feature to display a custom transaction detail report for the selected
client’s case or matter. This custom transaction detail report will show all of the individual transactions
that make the balance that is totaled within the main report.

ACTIONS-
CREATING A CLIENT LEDGER REPORT:
1. Within this client ledger report, the “Source Name” column is the “Payee” field for checks written and is
blank for deposited amounts received. If you need to change the name of the column to “Payee” for
reporting purposes, you can easily export the report to Microsoft Excel, where you can then rename the
column and print the report.
2. To create a client ledger report, start by creating a custom transaction detail report by selecting
“Reports| Custom Reports| Transaction Detail” from the Menu Bar.
3. In the “Modify Report” window that appears, click the “Display” tab to add columns to the report. You
must add the “Source Name,” “Debit,” and “Credit” columns by ensuring those fields are checked within
the “Columns” area. You can uncheck the “Name,” “Account,” “Class,” “Clr,” “Split,” and “Amount” fields.
4. In the area to the right of the columns, select “Customer” from the “Total by” drop-down menu to show
the transaction details totaled by customer.
5. In the “Report Date Range” section at the top of the tab, use the “Dates” drop-down to select “All.”
6. Next, click the “Filters” tab to filter the report.
7. Select the “Account” filter and then use the drop-down to select the “Client Trust Liabilities” account.
8. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client Trust Account Liabilities Ledger” into the
9. When you are finished, you can then click the “OK” button to save your changes and preview the report.
10. You can then memorize the report to save it as a custom report for future use.
CREATING AN ACCOUNT JOURNAL REPORT:
1. Within this account journal report, the “Source Name” column shown is the “Payee” field for checks
written and is blank for deposited amounts received. The “Name” column is the client and matter. The
“Paid Amount” column is the amount of the deposit or check. Negative amounts are checks and positive
amounts are deposits. If you need to change the name of the columns to “Payee,” “Client/Matter,” and
“Amount” for reporting purposes, you can easily export the report to Microsoft Excel, where you can then
rename the columns and print the report.
2. To create an account journal report, start by creating a standard “Check Detail” report.
3. Then click the “Customize Report” button within the toolbar at the top of the report to open the “Modify
Report” window.
4. Here you can click the “Display” tab to add columns to the report. You will need to add the “Source
Name,” and “Memo” columns by ensuring those fields are checked within the “Columns” area. You can
uncheck the “Account,” and “Original Amount” fields.
7. Select each filter other than the “Account” and “Amount” filters and click the “Remove Selected Filter”
button to remove all filters EXCEPT the “Account” and “Amount” filters.
8. Then select the “Account” filter and then use the drop-down to select the “Client Trust Checking”
account.
9. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client Trust Checking Account- Account Journal”
into the “Report Title” field.
10. When you are finished, you can then click the “OK” button to save your changes and preview the report.
11. You can then memorize the report to save it as a custom report for future use.

EXERCISES-
Purpose:
To be able to create and save custom reports that you can use to double-check account balances
and export to Excel in order to modify and send to state authorities to satisfy trust reporting requirements.
Exercises:
1. Open QuickBooks and open the “Brown & Associates, P.C.” company file completed through the
end of the Exercise in Chapter 31 and log-in using the “coMp1ex” password.
2. Create a custom summary report. You can do this by selecting “Reports| Custom Reports|
3. In the “Modify Report” window that appears, click the “Display” tab.
4. Under the “Columns” sections, select “Account list” from the “Display rows by” drop-down menu.
6. Select the “Account” filter at the left side of the tab.
7. In the area to the right choose “Multiple Accounts…” from the “Account” drop-down.
8. In the “Select Account” window, choose “10900- Client Trust Account,” “1090001- Doe, Jon- Trust
Fund Checking,” “20100- Client Trust Accounts Payable,” “20101- Doe, Jon- Client Trust A/P,”
“22000- Client Trust AMEX,” “22001- Doe, Jon- Trust AMEX,” and “25000- Client Trust Liabilities” by
clicking them to place a checkmark next to their names.
9. Click the “OK” button to add these accounts to your report.
10. Select the “Date” filter at the left side of the tab.
11. At the right side of the tab, select “All” from the “Date” drop-down.
12. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Proof” into the “Report Title”
field.
13. For the “Subtitle” field, you can type “Total MUST always be zero.”
14. Click the “OK” button in the “Modify Report” window to preview the report.
15. Click the “Memorize” button in the toolbar at the top of the window.
16. Click the “OK” button to memorize the report.
17. Close the report window.
18. Create a custom summary report. You can do this by selecting “Reports| Custom Reports|
20. Under the “Columns” sections, select “Customer” from the “Display rows by” drop-down menu.
23. In the area to the right, choose “25000- Client Trust Liabilities” from the drop-down menu.
24. Select the “Date” filter at the left side of the tab.
25. At the right side of the tab, select “All” from the “Date” drop-down.
26. Select the “Name” filter from the list of filters show at the left side of the window.
27. Use the “Name” drop-down that appears to select “All customers/jobs.”
28. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Trust Liability Balances by Client” into the

EXERCISES-

33. Create a custom transaction detail report. You can do this by selecting “Reports| Custom Reports|
Transaction Detail” from the Menu Bar.
35. Add the “Source Name,” “Debit,” and “Credit” columns by ensuring those fields are checked within
the “Columns” area.
36. Uncheck the “Name,” “Account,” “Class,” “Clr,” “Split,” and “Amount” columns within the “Columns”
list.
37. In the area to the right of the columns, select “Customer” from the “Total by” drop-down menu to
show the transaction details totaled by customer.
40. Select the “Account” filter and then use the drop-down to select the “25000- Client Trust Liabilities”
account.
41. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client Trust Account Liabilities Ledger” into the
46. Create a standard check detail report. You can do this by selecting “Reports| Banking| Check Detail”
from the Menu Bar.
47. Then click the “Customize Report” button within the toolbar at the top of the report to open the
“Modify Report” window.
48. Click the “Display” tab to add columns to the report.
49. You will need to add the “Source Name” and “Memo” columns by ensuring those fields are checked
within the “Columns” area.
50. Uncheck the “Account” and “Original Amount” fields within the “Columns” area.
53. Select each filter other than the “Account” and “Amount” filters and click the “Remove Selected
Filter” button to remove all filters EXCEPT the “Account” and “Amount” filters.
55. In the area to the right choose “Multiple Accounts…” from the “Account” drop-down.
56. In the “Select Account” window, choose “10900- Client Trust Account” and “1090001- Doe, Jon-
Trust Fund Checking.”
57. Click “OK” to add those accounts to the report.
58. You can then click the “Header/Footer” tab and type “Client Trust Checking Account- Account
Journal” into the “Report Title” field.
62. You can close the report window when you are finished.
63. You can then close the company file and exit QuickBooks.

Legal References
IOLTA References (Updated September 2019):
Below are some IOLTA references you may find useful. You can find many of the legal requirements
for the states at the links listed below. You should ALWAYS consulting the appropriate authorities within
your state before handling client trust fund accounting to learn the rules and best practices for client trust
accounting and IOLTA accounting that apply to your state.
1. American Bar Association- Directory of IOLTA Programs by State-

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/interest_lawyers_trust_accounts/resources/directory_of_iolta_progr
ams/
2. American Bar Association- IOLTA Resources-
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/interest_lawyers_trust_accounts/resources/

QuickBooks Keyboard Shortcuts
General Key Activity Key

To start QuickBooks without a company Ctrl + double- Display the Chart of Accounts list Ctrl + A
file click Display the Write Checks window Ctrl + W
To suppress the desktop windows (at Alt (while Copy a transaction in a register Ctrl + O
Open Company window) opening)
Display the Customer:Job list Ctrl + J
Display information about QuickBooks F2
Delete a check, invoice, transaction, or item from Ctrl + D
Cancel Esc a list
Record (when black border is around ↵ (Enter key) Edit lists or registers Ctrl + E
OK, Next or Previous button)
QuickFill and Recall (type first few letters of abc Tab
Record (always) Ctrl + ↵ (Enter name and press Tab, name fills in)
key)
Find a transaction Ctrl + F
Dates Key Go to register of transfer account Ctrl + G
Next day + (plus key) Display the Help in context F1
Previous day - (minus key) History of A/R or A/P transaction Ctrl + H
Today T Create an Invoice Ctrl + I
First day of the Week W Display the List for the current field Ctrl + L
Last day of the weeK K Memorize transaction or report Ctrl + M
First day of the Month M Display the Memorized transaction list Ctrl + T
Last day of the montH H New invoice, bill, check or list item Ctrl + N
First day of the Year Y Paste copied transaction in register Ctrl + V
Last day of the yeaR R Print Ctrl + P
Date calendar Alt + down arrow QuickZoom on report ↵ (enter key)
Editing Key QuickReport on transaction or list item Ctrl + Q
Edit transaction selected in register Ctrl + E Display the Use Register window Ctrl + R
Delete character to right of insertion Del Show list Ctrl + S
point Use list item Ctrl + U
Delete character to left of insertion point Backspace
Display the Transaction Journal Ctrl + Y
Delete line from detail area Ctrl + Del
Insert line in detail area Ctrl + Ins Moving around a window Key
Cut selected characters Ctrl + X Next field Tab
Copy selected characters Ctrl + C Previous field Shift + Tab
Paste cut or copied characters Ctrl + V Report column to the right Right arrow
Copy line in an invoice Ctrl + Alt + Y Report column to the left Left arrow
Paste copied line in an invoice Ctrl + Alt + V Beginning of current field Home
Increase selected check or other from + (plus key) End of current field End
number by one Line below in detail area or on report Down arrow
Decrease selected check or other form - (minus key) Line above in detail area or on report Up arrow
number by one Down one screen Page Down
Undo changes made in field Ctrl + Z Up one screen Page Up
Help window Key Next word in field Ctrl + →
Display QuickBooks Desktop Help F1 Previous word in field Ctrl + ←
Select next option or topic Tab First item on list or previous month in register Ctrl + PgUp
Select previous option or topic Shift + Tab Last item on list or next month in register Ctrl+ PgDn
Display selected topic ↵ (Enter key) Close active window Esc
Close Help window Alt + F4

2020 QuickBooks Desktop Pro For Lawyers Manual

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A Presentation of TeachUcomp Incorporated.

Copyright © TeachUcomp, Inc. 2019

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 2

Welcome to TeachUcomp, Inc.’s Mastering QuickBooks

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 3

Chapters/Lessons: Pages: Chapters/Lessons: Pages:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 4

Chapters/Lessons: Pages: Chapters/Lessons: Pages:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 5

Chapters/Lessons: Pages: Chapters/Lessons: Pages:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 6

1.2- The Centers

1.3- The Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcuts

1.4- The Open Window List

1.5- The Icon Bar

1.6- Customizing the Icon Bar

1.7- The Chart of Accounts

1.8- Accounting Methods

1.9- Financial Reports

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 7

1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 8

1.1- The Home Page and Insights Tabs- (cont’d.):

1.2- The Centers:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 9

1.3- The Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcuts:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 10

1.4- The Open Windows List:

Open Windows List

“Open Windows” Button

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 11

1.5- The Icon Bar:

1.6- Customizing the Icon Bar:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 12

1.7- The Chart of Accounts:

Although you do not have to be fluent in accounting terminology to understand QuickBooks, it is

Lightning Bolt: Indicates online Attach: Indicates

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 13

1.7- The Chart of Accounts- (cont'd.):

Balance Sheet Accounts:

Profit & Loss Statement Accounts (Income Statement Accounts):

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 14

1.8- Accounting Methods:

1.9- Financial Reports:

Name: Description of Function: How to View Report:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 15

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 16

USING THE CENTERS:

USING THE MENU BAR AND KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS:

USING THE OPEN WINDOW LIST:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 17

CUSTOMIZING THE ICON BAR:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 18

DISPLAYING FINANCIAL REPORTS:

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 19

1. Start the QuickBooks application.

©TeachUcomp, Inc. QuickBooks Desktop Pro for Lawyers 2020 20

2.2- Using the EasyStep Interview

2.3- Returning to the EasyStep Interview

2.4- Creating a Local Backup Copy

2.5- Restoring a Company File from a Local Backup Copy

2.6- Setting Up Users

2.7- Single and Multiple User Modes