✍ Scribed by Stephen L. Nelson
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Build your business, create a budget, and pay your bills
Improve your business processes while making accounting and financial management easy
Drowning in debits and credits? Bogged down in bags of paperwork? It's time to break free of the daily accounting grind and focus on making your business grow! With this book to help, QuickBooks 2004 will get your finances in order so you can get down to business.
Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA provides accounting, business advisory, and tax preparation and planning services to small businesses. He is the author of over 100 books on computer and business topics.
The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun
Discover how to:
* Balance your books and print checks
* Generate comprehensive financial reports
* Design your own invoices and statements
* Determine which customers owe money
* Estimate projects and track expenses
QuickBooks 2004 For Dummies
About the Author
Dedication
Author’s Acknowledgments
Contents at a Glance
Table of Contents
Introduction
About QuickBooks
About This Book
What You Can Safely Ignore
What You Should Not Ignore ( Unless You’re a Masochist)
Three Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Conventions Used in This Book
Special Icons
Part I: You Gotta Start Someplace
Chapter 1: The Big Interview
Getting Ready for the Big Interview
Doing the EasyStep Interview
The Rest of the Story
Chapter 2: Lots of Lists
The Magic and Mystery of Items
Adding Employees to Your Employee List
Customers Are Your Business
It’s Just a Job
Adding Vendors to Your Vendor List
The Other Lists
Organizing and Printing Lists
Exporting List Items to Your Word Processor
Chapter 3: Sharing QuickBooks Files
Sharing a QuickBooks File on a Network
Installing QuickBooks for Network Use
Setting Up User Permissions
Specifying Multi-User Mode
Working in Multi-User Mode
Part II: Daily Chores
Chapter 4: Invoices and Credit Memos
Making Sure That You’re Ready to Invoice Customers
Preparing an Invoice
Fixing Invoice Mistakes
Preparing a Credit Memo
Fixing Credit Memo Mistakes
Printing Invoices and Credit Memos
Sending Invoices and Credit Memos via E-Mail
Customizing Your Invoices and Credit Memos
Chapter 5: Reeling In the Dough
Recording a Sales Receipt
Printing a Sales Receipt
Special Tips for Retailers
Correcting Sales Receipt Mistakes
Recording Customer Payments
Correcting Mistakes in Customer Payments Entries
In the Bank
Improving Your Cash Inflow
Chapter 6: Paying Bills
Pay Now or Pay Later?
Recording Your Bills by Writing Checks
Recording Your Bills the Accounts Payable Way
Paying Your Bills
Tracking Vehicle Mileage
Paying the Sales Tax
A Quick Word on the Vendor Details Window
Chapter 7: Inventory Magic
Setting Up Inventory Items
When You Buy Stuff
When You Sell Stuff
How Purchase Orders Work
Assembling a Product
Time for a Reality Check
Dealing with Multiple Inventory Locations
Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook
Writing Checks
Depositing Money into a Checking Account
Transferring Money between Accounts
To Delete or to Void?
The Big Register Phenomenon
Chapter 9: Paying with Plastic
Tracking Business Credit Cards
Entering Credit Card Transactions
Reconciling Your Credit Card Statement and Paying the Bill
So What About Debit Cards?
Part III: Stuff You Do Every So Often
Chapter 10: Check Printing 101
Getting the Printer Ready
Printing a Check
Printing a Checking Register
Chapter 11: Online with QuickBooks
Doing the Electronic Banking Thing
Using the Online Payroll Service
A Quick Review of the Other Online Opportunities
Chapter 12: Payroll
Getting Ready to Do Payroll without QuickBooks’ Help
Getting Ready to Do Payroll with QuickBooks
Doing Taxes the Right Way
Paying Your Employees
Paying Payroll Liabilities
Preparing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns
Filing Annual Returns and Wage Statements
The State Wants Some Money, Too
Chapter 13: The Balancing Act
Balancing a Non-Online Bank Account
Eleven Things to Do If Your Non-Online Account Doesn’t Balance
Balancing an Online Bank Account
Chapter 14: Reporting On the State of Affairs
What Kinds of Reports Are There, Anyway?
Creating and Printing a Report
Reports Made to Order
Processing Multiple Reports
Last but Not Least: The QuickReport
Chapter 15: QuickBooks Dirty Work
Backing Up Is ( Not That) Hard to Do
Accountant’s Review
Shrinking Files That Are Too Big for Their Own Good
Using an Audit Trail
Using a Closing Password
Chapter 16: Building the Perfect Budget
Is This a Game You Want to Play?
All Joking Aside: Some Basic Budgeting Tips
A Budgeting Secret You Won’t Learn in College
Setting Up a Secret Plan
Adjusting a Secret Plan
Working with Forecasts
Projecting Cash Flows
Using the Formal Business Planner Tool
Using the Expert Analysis Tool
Using the Decision Tools
Part IV: The Part of Tens
Chapter 17: ( Almost) Ten Knowledge Nuggets about Web-ifying Your Business
The Mechanics Are Simple
Web Publishing Is Relatively Cheap
Why the Web Is Better Than Paper
Mom, Don’t Read This
The Web’s Information-Sharing Risk
About Those Content Costs, Dude
A Scary Thought I Shouldn’t Share
Chapter 18: ( Almost) Ten Tips for Business Owners
Sign All Your Own Checks
Don’t Sign a Check the Wrong Way
Review Canceled Checks Before Your Bookkeeper Does
Choose a Bookkeeper Who Is Familiar with Computers and Knows How to Do Payroll
Choose an Appropriate Accounting System
If QuickBooks Doesn’t Work for Your Business
Keep Things Simple
Chapter 19: Tips for Handling ( Almost) Ten Tricky Situations
Selling an Asset
Selling a Depreciable Asset
Owner’s Equity in a Sole Proprietorship
Owner’s Equity in a Partnership
Owner’s Equity in a Corporation
Multiple-State Accounting
Getting a Loan
Repaying a Loan
Chapter 20: ( Almost) Ten Little Ideas for Saving Big on Business Taxes
Trick 1: Benefit from the Appropriate Pension Device
Trick 2: Don’t Take Any More Personal Vacations
Trick 3: Don’t Depreciate — Expense
Trick 4: Incorporate
Trick 5: Consider the Sub S Election
Trick 6: Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds
Trick 7: Create Some Legitimate Job for Your Kids
Trick 8: Relocate Your Business
Chapter 21: ( Almost) Ten Secret Business Formulas
The First “ Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula
The Second “ Most Expensive Money You Can Borrow” Formula
The “ How Do I Break Even?” Formula
The “ You Can Grow Too Fast” Formula
The First “ What Happens if . . .” Formula
The Second “ What Happens if . . .” Formula
The Economic Order Quantity ( a. k. a. Isaac Newton) Formula
The Rule of 72
Part V: Appendixes
Appendix A: Installing QuickBooks in Ten Easy Steps
Appendix B: If Numbers Are Your Friends
Keying In on Profit
In the Old Days, Things Were Different
What Does an Italian Monk Have to Do with Anything?
Two Dark Shadows in the World of Accounting
The Danger of Shell Games
Appendix C: Project Estimating, Billing, and Tracking
Turning On Job and Project Costing
Setting Up a Job
Creating a Job Estimate
Revising an Estimate
Turning an Estimate into an Invoice
Charging for Actual Time and Costs
Tracking Costs
Index
📜 SIMILAR VOLUMES
Despite 30 years of accounting experience and multiple accounting systems, QuickBooks is new to me so I need all the help I can get. This is one of the tools I am using along with tutorial software.
Got a business to run? QuickBooks makes small-business accounting easier, and QuickBooks 2009 For Dummies shows you how! Bookkeeping may not be your favorite part of running a small business, so learning to use QuickBooks might pay off in more ways than one. <p> QuickBooks helps you keep fin
<p><b>Take control of the books and keep your finances in the black with QuickBooks and <i>For Dummies</i></b></p><p>With over four million of his books in print, CPA and perennial bestselling <i>For Dummies</i> author Stephen L. Nelson knows how to make QuickBooks and basic accounting easy for the
<p><b>Take control of the books and keep your finances in the black with QuickBooks and <i>For Dummies</i></b></p><p>With over four million of his books in print, CPA and perennial bestselling <i>For Dummies</i> author Stephen L. Nelson knows how to make QuickBooks and basic accounting easy for the