Quickbooks 2018 All-in-one for Dummies

QuickBooks is known for helping their users effectively handle their financial and business management tasks, and QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies is the go-to guide for anyone looking to gain insight into the latest version of the software. It gets you up to speed on the key features of QuickBooks and small business accounting and makes managing finances a breeze. This book will help you learn all the skills you need to know, like how to invoice customers, pay vendors, manage cash and bank accounts, use activity-based costing, and write a business plan.

Written by highly qualified CPA Stephen L. Nelson, this detailed reference combines eight mini-books into one complete resource. Small business finances can be complicated, but QuickBooks 2018 is a valuable tool for getting them right—and this guide makes it easier.

• Troubleshoot and protect your financial data
• Utilize Cloud storage and access your information from a smartphone
• Plan and set up a QuickBooks system
• Make sense of double-entry bookkeeping
• Handle your financial and business management tasks more effectively

QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies is a helpful resource for getting started with QuickBooks 2018, and a reference guide that will provide insight and answers to experienced users as well.

Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA, MS in Taxation, provides accounting, business advisory, tax planning, and tax preparation services to small businesses. His more than 100 books, including all editions of QuickBooks For Dummies, have sold over 5 million copies.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Book 1: An Accounting Primer 5

Chapter 1: Principles of Accounting 7

The Purpose of Accounting 7

Reviewing the Common Financial Statements 10

The Philosophy of Accounting 23

A Few Words about Tax Accounting 26

Chapter 2: Double-Entry Bookkeeping 27

The Fiddle-Faddle Method of Accounting 28

How Double-Entry Bookkeeping Works 30

Almost a Real-Life Example 36

A Few Words about How QuickBooks Works 44

Chapter 3: Special Accounting Problems 47

Working with Accounts Receivable 48

Recording Accounts Payable Transactions 51

Inventory Accounting 53

Accounting for Fixed Assets 57

Recognizing Liabilities 61

Closing Out Revenue and Expense Accounts 65

One More Thing 68

Book 2: Getting Ready to Use QuickBooks 69

Chapter 1: Setting Up QuickBooks 71

Planning Your New QuickBooks System 71

Installing QuickBooks 74

Dealing with the Presetup Jitters 75

Running the QuickBooks Setup Wizard 77

Identifying the Starting Trial Balance 85

Chapter 2: Loading the Master File Lists 91

Setting Up the Chart of Accounts List 92

Setting Up the Item List 97

Working with the Price Level List 97

Using Sales Tax Codes 98

Setting Up a Payroll Item List 98

Setting Up Classes 99

Setting Up a Customer List 101

Setting Up the Vendor List 106

Setting Up a Fixed Assets List 109

Setting Up a Price Level List 110

Setting Up a Billing Rate Level List 111

Setting Up Your Employees 111

Setting Up an Other Names List 111

Setting Up the Profile Lists 112

Chapter 3: Fine-Tuning QuickBooks 115

Accessing the Preferences Settings 116

Setting the Accounting Preferences 118

Setting the Bills Preferences 121

Setting the Calendar Preferences 121

Setting the Checking Preferences 121

Changing the Desktop View 123

Setting Finance Charge Calculation Rules 126

Setting General Preferences 126

Controlling Integrated Applications 128

Controlling Inventory 129

Controlling How Jobs and Estimates Work 130

Dealing with Multiple Currencies 132

Starting Integrated Payment Processing 132

Controlling How Payroll Works 133

Telling QuickBooks How Reminders Should Work 135

Specifying Reports & Graphs Preferences 136

Setting Sales & Customers Preferences 140

Specifying How Sales Are Taxed 141

Setting the Search Preferences 142

Setting the Send Forms Preferences 143

Fine-Tuning the Service Connection 144

Controlling Spell Checking 145

Controlling How 1099 Tax Reporting Works 146

Setting Time & Expenses Preferences 146

Book 3: Bookkeeping Chores 149

Chapter 1: Invoicing Customers 151

Choosing an Invoice Form 151

Customizing an Invoice Form 152

Invoicing a Customer 162

Billing for Time 168

Printing Invoices 173

Emailing Invoices 173

Recording Sales Receipts 174

Recording Credit Memos 177

Receiving Customer Payments 179

Assessing Finance Charges 181

Using Odds and Ends on the Customers Menu 183

Chapter 2: Paying Vendors 185

Creating a Purchase Order 185

Recording the Receipt of Items 189

Simultaneously Recording the Receipt and the Bill 192

Entering a Bill 194

Paying Bills 198

Reviewing the Other Vendor Menu Commands 201

Chapter 3: Tracking Inventory and Items 205

Looking at Your Item List 206

Adding Items to the Item List 208

Editing Items 223

Adjusting Physical Counts and Inventory Values 224

Adjusting Prices and Price Levels 227

Managing Inventory in a Manufacturing Firm 231

Chapter 4: Managing Cash and Bank Accounts 237

Writing Checks 238

Making Bank Deposits 246

Transferring Money between Bank Accounts 249

Working with the Register 251

Using Edit Menu Commands 258

Reconciling the Bank Account 262

Reviewing the Other Banking Commands 266

Chapter 5: Paying Employees 269

Setting Up Basic Payroll 269

Scheduling Payroll Runs 276

Paying Employees 276

Editing and Voiding Paychecks 278

Paying Payroll Liabilities 279

Book 4: Accounting Chores 281

Chapter 1: For Accountants Only 283

Working with QuickBooks Journal Entries 283

Updating Company Information 286

Working with Memorized Transactions 286

Reviewing the Accountant & Taxes Reports 287

Creating an Accountant’s Copy of the QuickBooks Data File 289

Using the Client Data Review Commands 297

Chapter 2: Preparing Financial Statements and Reports 299

Some Wise Words Up Front 299

Producing a Report 300

Working with the Report Window 301

Modifying a Report 311

Processing Multiple Reports 319

A Few Words about Document Retention 320

Chapter 3: Preparing a Budget 323

Reviewing Common Budgeting Tactics 323

Taking a Practical Approach to Budgeting 327

Using the Set Up Budgets Window 327

Managing with a Budget 332

Some Wrap-Up Comments on Budgeting 334

Chapter 4: Using Activity-Based Costing 337

Reviewing Traditional Overhead Allocation 338

Understanding How ABC Works 340

Implementing a Simple ABC System 345

Seeing How QuickBooks Supports ABC 346

Turning On Class Tracking 347

Using Classes for ABC 348

Chapter 5: Setting Up Project and Job Costing Systems 353

Setting Up a QuickBooks Job 353

Tracking Job or Project Costs 356

Job Cost Reporting 359

Using Job Estimates 360

Progress Billing 362

Book 5: Financial Management 365

Chapter 1: Ratio Analysis 367

Some Caveats about Ratio Analysis 368

Liquidity Ratios 369

Leverage Ratios 371

Activity Ratios 375

Profitability Ratios 379

Chapter 2: Economic Value Added Analysis 385

Introducing the Logic of EVA 385

Seeing EVA in Action 386

Reviewing Some Important Points about EVA 389

Using EVA When Your Business Has Debt 391

Presenting Two Final Pointers 395

And Now, a Word to My Critics 396

Chapter 3: Capital Budgeting in a Nutshell 399

Introducing the Theory of Capital Budgeting 399

Calculating the Rate of Return on Capital 402

Measuring Liquidity 412

Thinking about Risk 412

What Does All of This Have to Do with QuickBooks? 414

Book 6: Business Plans 415

Chapter 1: Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis 417

Seeing How Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Works 418

Calculating Break-Even Points 420

Using Real QuickBooks Data for Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis 422

Recognizing the Downside of the Profit-Volume-Cost Model 424

Using the Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Workbook 426

Chapter 2: Creating a Business Plan Forecast 437

Reviewing Financial Statements and Ratios 438

Using the Business Plan Workbook 439

Understanding the Workbook Calculations 446

Customizing the Starter Workbook 472

Chapter 3: Writing a Business Plan 475

What the Term “Business Plan” Means 475

A Few Words about Strategic Plans 476

Look, Ma: No Strategy 478

A White-Paper Business Plan 480

A New-Venture Plan 483

Book 7: Care and Maintenance 489

Chapter 1: Administering QuickBooks 491

Keeping Your Data Confidential 491

Using QuickBooks in a Multiuser Environment 493

Using Audit Trails 503

Enabling Simultaneous Multiuser Access 504

Maintaining Good Accounting Controls 505

Chapter 2: Protecting Your Data 509

Backing Up the QuickBooks Data File 509

Restoring a QuickBooks Data File 515

Condensing the QuickBooks Company Files 520

Chapter 3: Troubleshooting 529

Using the QuickBooks Help File and This Book 529

Browsing Intuit’s Product-Support Website 531

Checking Another Vendor’s Product-Support Website 533

Tapping into Intuit’s Online and Expert Communities 533

When All Else Fails 534

Book 8: Appendixes 535

Appendix A: A Crash Course in Excel 537

Starting Excel 537

Stopping Excel 538

Explaining Excel’s Workbooks 538

Putting Text, Numbers, and Formulas in Cells 539

Writing Formulas 540

Scrolling through Big Workbooks 541

Copying and Cutting Cell Contents 542

Formatting Cell Contents 544

Recognizing That Functions Are Simply Formulas 546

Saving and Opening Workbooks 549

Printing Excel Workbooks 551

One Other Thing to Know 552

Appendix B: Government Web Resources for Businesses 553

Bureau of Economic Analysis 553

Bureau of Labor Statistics 556

Census Bureau 560

Securities and Exchange Commission 563

Federal Reserve 565

Government Printing Office 567

Internal Revenue Service 569

Appendix C: Glossary of Accounting and Financial Terms 571

Index 599

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