Stephen L. Nelson - QuickBooks 2021 For Dummies

QuickBooks® 2021 For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020946199

ISBN: 978-1-119-67679-9 (pbk); 978-1-119-67681-2 (ebk); 978-1-119-67677-5 (ebk)

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here

5 Part 1: Quickly into QuickBooks Chapter 1: QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business Why QuickBooks? What Explains QuickBooks’ Popularity? What’s Next, Dude? How to Succeed with QuickBooks Chapter 2: The Big Setup Getting Ready for QuickBooks Setup Stepping through QuickBooks Setup The Rest of the Story Should You Get Your Accountant’s Help? Chapter 3: Populating QuickBooks 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 Lists Printing Lists Exporting List Items to Your Word Processor Dealing with the Chart of Accounts List

6 Part 2: Daily Entry Tasks Chapter 4: Creating 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 Email 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 Making Bank Deposits Improving Your Cash Inflow Chapter 6: Paying the 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 Sales Tax 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 The Lazy Person’s Approach to Inventory Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook Writing Checks Depositing Money in a Checking Account Transferring Money between Accounts Working with Multiple Currencies To Delete or to Void? Handling NSF Checks from Customers 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 and ATM Cards? So What about Customer Credit Cards?

7 Part 3: Stuff You Do from Time to Time Chapter 10: Printing Checks Getting the Printer Ready Printing a Check Printing a Checking Register Chapter 11: Payroll Getting Ready to Do Payroll without Help from QuickBooks Doing Taxes the Right Way Getting Ready to Do Payroll with QuickBooks Paying Your Employees Paying Payroll Liabilities Preparing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns Filing Annual Returns and Wage Statements The State Wants Some Money Too Chapter 12: 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 Forecasting Profits and Losses Projecting Cash Flows Using the Business Planner Tools Chapter 13: Online with QuickBooks Doing the Electronic Banking Thing A Quick Review of the Other Online Opportunities

8 Part 4: Housekeeping Chores Chapter 14: The Balancing Act Balancing a Bank Account Eleven Things to Do If Your Nononline Account Doesn’t Balance Chapter 15: 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 Your Other Reporting Options Last but Not Least: The QuickReport Chapter 16: Job Estimating, Billing, and Tracking Turning On Job Costing Setting Up a Job Creating a Job Estimate Revising an Estimate Turning an Estimate into an Invoice Comparing Estimated Item Amounts with Actual Item Amounts Charging for Actual Time and Costs Tracking Job Costs Chapter 17: File Management Tips Backing Up Is (Not That) Hard to Do Using the Accountant’s Copy Working with Portable Files Using an Audit Trail Using a Closing Password Chapter 18: Fixed Assets and Vehicle Lists What Is Fixed-Assets Accounting? Fixed-Assets Accounting in QuickBooks Setting Up a Fixed Asset List Tracking Vehicle Mileage