Mastering QuickBooks:

Software Updates, General Ledger and Tips &

Tricks
Presented by Dharma Diaz-Azcuy, CPA
Fall 2015
 Introductions
 WBL is a full service accounting firm
 WBL’s Client Accounting Group support clients with accounting
matters, software needs, special projects and controllership
functions
 Laura Speir, Partner-in-Charge, Accounting Services
 Molly Dyer, Accounting Services Senior Staff, QuickBooks Pro
Advisor
 Dharma Diaz-Azcuy, Accounting Services Manager, QuickBooks
Pro Advisor
 15 years experience as a CPA
 12 years experience as a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (2003-
present)
 Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting, Georgia State
University

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 Training Outline

1. Overview of QuickBooks
2. Software Updates
3. General Ledger
• Maintaining the data base
• Maintaining the transaction
4. Tips & Tricks

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 1. Overview

1. Overview of QuickBooks
 Intuit continues its focus on the growth of QuickBooks
On-Line
• Improvements more in line with desktop version
• Bank feeds rules, updated “pay bills” page, improved register functionality
• Able to improve continuously (vs. once-per-year)
 Desktop version will not be abandoned
• Licensing options for Desktop
versions will remain the same
• Enterprise version now subscription vs. license
 Lateral growth
• Partnership with other software providers to
enhance product

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 1. Overview

Overview of QuickBooks (cont’d)

 Desktop improvements
 Using centers to improve efficiency
• QuickBooks Centers allows users to track the people and
companies you do business with
• Users can manage and view all information and transactions
• QuickBooks Centers include customers, vendors and
employees
 Using forms improves data entry
• All of your everyday QuickBooks tasks, like invoicing, paying
bills and writing checks, are done on forms
• You can reach every form in QuickBooks from the Home page
or the menus

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 1. Overview

Overview of QuickBooks (cont’d)

 Easy way to view company information and input data

 Company Insights page has been improved
• A new dashboard replaces Company Snapshot feature (still available)
• A more up-to-date, cleaner looking user interface
• Real-time company information
• Perform tasks from a single place
• Preview of business financial state
• Access frequent transactions
 Company Snapshot
• More than 20 “widgetized” graph/charts
that you can add to the screen on three
separate tabs
• Some customization and printing options
• Shows company’s financial state, account
balances, income breakdown, customers
who owe you money, best-selling items, and reminders

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 2. Software
Updates

2. Software Updates

 Insights tab in the Home window

 Income Tracker upgrades
 Updated Reminders window
 Pinned notes
 New report formatting
 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates

 Insights tab in the Home window

• Highlights your company’s financial status and
activity
• Creates high-level graphs
• Details income and expenses
• Combines pie and bar charts
 Income Tracker upgrades
• Makes customer transaction information easier
to find using colored boxes
• Displays unbilled time and expenses on new tab

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 2. Software
Updates
Software Updates (cont’d)
 Updated reminders window
• Customizable
• Relevant reminders with specific details
• Financial calendar can be customized
 Pinned notes
• Pin a note to list names for vendor, customer, or
employee
• It appears at the center’s top right when you
select that name in the centers
 New report formatting
• Shaded rows based on levels

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

 QuickBooks Payments--Eventually all other payment
accounts are going to be rolled up into this one account
 New online payments feature replaced the Intuit Merchant
Services, Intuit Payment Network, Intuit Go Payment, and
more
 Now there is one set of rates and rules, one application
process, one website to manage them all

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

 If you already have a payment account and were using it
in QuickBooks, your account should automatically get
converted to a QuickBooks Payments
 If you already have a payment account with Intuit but
have NOT used it in QuickBooks, use the Link Payment
Service to Company File

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

• Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

 To see your payments and reconcile with your account
select the Make Merchant Service Deposits option in the
Banking menu.

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 2. Software
Updates

Software Updates (cont’d)

 Updated online payments

 This opens a window that shows you the bank activity for
your merchant account

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 3. General Ledger

3. General Ledger
 Maintaining your database
 Important to maintain and protect database
 Can risk losing all data due to improper maintenance
 If no back-up exists, data must be restored/reentered manually
• Make sure to contact your accountant
 Restoration is costly and time-consuming
 Can delay financial and tax reporting

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 3. General Ledger

Database maintenance (cont’d)

 Most common problems are corruption, data loss
 Improper shut down
 Power failure
• Surge protectors
 Poor work habits
• Leaving too many screens opened
• Not shutting the program down properly
 PC crashes
 Hardware failure
• One loose cable
 Lack of data base maintenance

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 3. General Ledger

Database maintenance (cont’d)

 Recommended file size (not to exceed)
 Pro/Premier 120-150 MG
 Enterprise 1-1.2 gig
 DB file frags should be single digit
 If file is too large
• Consider starting a new file

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 3. General Ledger

Database maintenance (cont’d)

 Control “1” to get info on:

• File size
• DB file fragments
• Total transactions
• Lists

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 3. General Ledger

Database maintenance (cont’d)

 Create a back-up!
 Run defragmentation routinely
• Fragmentation slows down the system
 Run utilities in QuickBooks
• Verify and/or rebuild data
 Create a portable file
• Restore the portable file into new file, do not replace
 Resort lists
• Unhide inactive lists items
 Copy data file to USB with no other files in it
• Run defragmentation
 Condense data
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 3. General Ledger

3. General Ledger
 Overview
 A complete record of all financial transactions
over the life of the company
 Holds account information needed to prepare
financial statements
 Gathers accounting data from all sub-ledgers
 Accounts Receivable
 Accounts Payable
 Sales Tax
 Payroll

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 3. General Ledger

Working with the General Ledger

 How to save time entering data
• Memorize transactions
• Duplicate transactions
• Income tracker
• Record invoice from sales order
• Receive multiple payments
• Email multiple invoices

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 3. General Ledger

Accurate reporting requires data

maintenance
 Apply credit memos
• Customers
• Vendors
 Correct misapplied payments or credits
 Identify old outstanding checks
• Void
• Reissue
 Set up closing date

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 3. General Ledger

General Ledger
 Use forms when ever possible
• Invoices, receive payments and credit memos
• Bills, pay bills and credit memos
• Transfer funds
 Avoid journal entries to the following accounts:
• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• Bank Accounts
 When is it okay to use journal entries?
• Record depreciation expense
• Record payroll
• Recording year end transactions
• Reclassifications and corrections
• Recording owners contributions other than cash

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 4. Tips & Tricks

4. Tips and Tricks

 Admin Login
• Create a login for each user
• Limit the use of the admin user

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Editing Payments linked to Deposits

• Why?
• May have been posted to wrong customer
• Want to preserve the clear status
• How?
• Create a new payment
• Add it to the deposit
• Delete the incorrect payment

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Adjust items to create correct

sales reports
• Why?
• Accounts impact the general ledger and items
impact sales reports
• Correcting one and not the other results in
sales report not matching the general ledger
• How?
• Use a form (bill, invoice or check for $0) rather
than recording a journal entry

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Track owner-paid business

expenses
• Encourage owner to use business forms of
payments
• Create a Credit Card account named
“purchases by owner”
• Owner may either be reimbursed or
balance may be transferred to loan from
owner or contribution to company

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Prevent users from making

changes to chart of account
• Use the 1099 setup
• Use one of the categories you will never
use in the normal course of business
• Link all unlinked accounts to the
category chosen above

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Terminate QuickBooks on a
workstation
• Available with Pro, Premier, Accountants
and Enterprise
• Use chat screen to close file
• Unsaved data will be lost

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks: Use Your Preferences

 Configure company and user

preferences
 Saves time
 Streamlines daily data entry

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Use Your Preferences

 “Show lowest subaccount only”
• Prevent users from posting to main accounts
 Checking: select preferred bank accounts
• Automatically pulls up correct account
 Show/not show Home page when opening a company file
 Enable the “search” function to appear on each screen
 If you do not bill expenses turn off “mark all expenses as
billable”
 If your company does reimbursable expenses, turn on
“track reimbursable expenses as income”

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Use Your Preferences

• Keep QuickBooks running for quick startups

• Program launches faster
• Launches when you reboot your computer
• Uses more of your computer’s memory
• Turning on “automatically calculate
payments” automatically writes off
insignificant balances
• “Prompt me to refresh” avoids refreshing
reports after each transaction is changed

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Customize Settings
 Allow QuickBooks to sync with Outlook contacts
 Build your favorites menu
 Customizing the icon bar

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Customize Settings
 Allow QuickBooks to sync with Outlook contacts

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com
/support/tools/contact_sync/

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Resources
 Websites in QuickBooks that Intuit has tested
and work well with QuickBooks
 Intuit App Center
(http://appcenter.intuit.com)
 Intuit Marketplace
(http://marketplace.intuit.com)

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 4. Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks (cont’d)

 Exiting QuickBooks
• Close all opened reports
• Click on file and exit
• Backup regularly

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 Questions?
Dharma Diaz-Azcuy
770-512-0500
ddiaz-azcuy@wblcpa.com

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