Introduction to Quickbooks
If you are new to Quickbooks this is the place to start
UK Version of Quickbooks
Ok so you have just signed up to Quickbooks and you need some basic help, lets get some basics out the way. QuickBooks is made by an American company called Intuit. However what you should have ( hopefully) is the UK version of Quickbooks. This is important as the products are different and the US version will not comply with all the UK rules on VAT etc.
Log on and user rights
You will have or been given a log in to QuickBooks, its an online program that can be accessed anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. Use Chrome as your browser, I have seen many instances where Edge, Safari and others don't always display all the information from Quickbooks making it in some cases difficult to use on other browsers. Your log in will be either standard or Admin. The admin log in or user rights will give you access to everything you will need on Quickbooks , if you have been given standards access and you find through using that you don't have access to everything you will need to speak to the person in your organisation that set it up to change your access to Admin.
Full Accounting with Quickbooks
Quickbooks is a full double entry accounting program . It will handle your Sales Invoices, statements, reminders, keep track of who owes you money, your Purchase Invoices ( called Bills on Quickbooks) remittance advices, who you owe money to. Your VAT, file your VAT Returns directly with HMRC through what's called MTD. Your payroll and PAYE if you have subscribed to that part of the program. It will keep your "books", so how much is in the bank, your profit and loss, how much money you are making, your balance sheet what your business or non profit is "worth" and so much more.
Set up and opening balances
How your program is set up with the correct opening balances and the settings within the program are very important and will determine the quality and depth of the information coming out of the system. There is an old adage in computing, garbage in garbage out and nothing is more true than that when using an online accounting program like QuickBooks. Don't know what to do, let us help you , get your system set up correctly from the start. See the section on loading on opening balances for more details of what to do.
Within the settings, you can turn on classes, locations, projects, stock , design correctly your chart of accounts, whether you take deposits, give discounts, VAT whether you are on cash or accrual accounting. etc etc. so take your time and ensure this important area is correctly set up. There are a log more details in our What's in the settings cog in Quickbooks page
Bank Feed
There is a brilliant function within Quickbooks whereby you can link your bank account or accounts directly to quickbooks and Intuit encourages you to do so. However you do need to know what you are doing otherwise your accounts will quickly be in a mess. Decide which account or accounts you want to link, decide when you want to bring in transactions from. The default settings will mean you could duplicate or miss hundreds of transactions simply by a click, so go to the custom settings and select the exact dates that you want. In our training we will explain what linking the bank feed actually does, what the suggestions from Quickbooks are based on , how to set up rules, how and when to automate and when not to. The difference between a purchase ledger payment and a cash book payment and why its really easy to get it wrong in quickbooks bank feed and easily end up in a mess. Once you know what the system is doing and understand rather than just pushing buttons you are much more likely to have accurate accounts saving you time and money.
Importing transactions
You can import transactions into Quickbooks, either by way of excel or csv file imports and through third party apps. In the advanced version of the program you can set up spreadsheets which sync information. But understand what's happening before doing so - thats the key. I have seen so many duplicate entries and a mess in Quickbooks by incorrect set up .
Who's doing what and procedures
Its a really good idea when you start your system to decide what needs to be done each month and who's doing it. For example Basic Inputting of data, reconciling bank accounts, chasing debts, paying suppliers, month end accounts, journals, depreciation, accruals, Prepayments, work in progress, stock adjustments, producing the VAT Returns, producing the accounts and checking the data and closing the period. If you are not doing all of this on a regular basis then your accounts will not be complete and accurate.
UK Version of Quickbooks
Ok so you have just signed up to Quickbooks and you need some basic help, lets get some basics out the way. QuickBooks is made by an American company called Intuit. However what you should have ( hopefully) is the UK version of Quickbooks. This is important as the products are different and the US version will not comply with all the UK rules on VAT etc.
Log on and user rights
You will have or been given a log in to QuickBooks, its an online program that can be accessed anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. Use Chrome as your browser, I have seen many instances where Edge, Safari and others don't always display all the information from Quickbooks making it in some cases difficult to use on other browsers. Your log in will be either standard or Admin. The admin log in or user rights will give you access to everything you will need on Quickbooks , if you have been given standards access and you find through using that you don't have access to everything you will need to speak to the person in your organisation that set it up to change your access to Admin.
Full Accounting with Quickbooks
Quickbooks is a full double entry accounting program . It will handle your Sales Invoices, statements, reminders, keep track of who owes you money, your Purchase Invoices ( called Bills on Quickbooks) remittance advices, who you owe money to. Your VAT, file your VAT Returns directly with HMRC through what's called MTD. Your payroll and PAYE if you have subscribed to that part of the program. It will keep your "books", so how much is in the bank, your profit and loss, how much money you are making, your balance sheet what your business or non profit is "worth" and so much more.
Set up and opening balances
How your program is set up with the correct opening balances and the settings within the program are very important and will determine the quality and depth of the information coming out of the system. There is an old adage in computing, garbage in garbage out and nothing is more true than that when using an online accounting program like QuickBooks. Don't know what to do, let us help you , get your system set up correctly from the start. See the section on loading on opening balances for more details of what to do.
Within the settings, you can turn on classes, locations, projects, stock , design correctly your chart of accounts, whether you take deposits, give discounts, VAT whether you are on cash or accrual accounting. etc etc. so take your time and ensure this important area is correctly set up. There are a log more details in our What's in the settings cog in Quickbooks page
Bank Feed
There is a brilliant function within Quickbooks whereby you can link your bank account or accounts directly to quickbooks and Intuit encourages you to do so. However you do need to know what you are doing otherwise your accounts will quickly be in a mess. Decide which account or accounts you want to link, decide when you want to bring in transactions from. The default settings will mean you could duplicate or miss hundreds of transactions simply by a click, so go to the custom settings and select the exact dates that you want. In our training we will explain what linking the bank feed actually does, what the suggestions from Quickbooks are based on , how to set up rules, how and when to automate and when not to. The difference between a purchase ledger payment and a cash book payment and why its really easy to get it wrong in quickbooks bank feed and easily end up in a mess. Once you know what the system is doing and understand rather than just pushing buttons you are much more likely to have accurate accounts saving you time and money.
Importing transactions
You can import transactions into Quickbooks, either by way of excel or csv file imports and through third party apps. In the advanced version of the program you can set up spreadsheets which sync information. But understand what's happening before doing so - thats the key. I have seen so many duplicate entries and a mess in Quickbooks by incorrect set up .
Who's doing what and procedures
Its a really good idea when you start your system to decide what needs to be done each month and who's doing it. For example Basic Inputting of data, reconciling bank accounts, chasing debts, paying suppliers, month end accounts, journals, depreciation, accruals, Prepayments, work in progress, stock adjustments, producing the VAT Returns, producing the accounts and checking the data and closing the period. If you are not doing all of this on a regular basis then your accounts will not be complete and accurate.
