How-to

Best Practice for Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks Online [VIDEO]

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qbo undeposited funds video featured

Video slides

Video transcript

00:00 QuickBooks Online and deposited funds
00:01 the best practice for handling them
00:06 quick answer is to enter the undeposited
00:10 funds and then enter the deposit so
00:15 undeposited funds are entered the upper
00:18 left the new button under customers and
00:23 receive payment and enter the pertinent
00:31 information there and choose your
00:32 invoices and after that when you
00:37 actually make the deposit in the bank
00:38 you also come up to the new button under
00:42 other bank deposit you’ll enter the
00:46 pertinent information up top and then
00:49 you’ll check your undeposited funds and
00:52 that you’re going to deposit okay so I’d
01:00 like to start every video on with a
01:01 quick answer like that and then after I
01:03 get into a little detail so what are
01:07 undeposited funds for starters
01:09 these are receive checks there may be
01:12 cash that aren’t yet deposited into the
01:17 bank so you want to record them as a
01:19 sale you want to send a customer a
01:23 receipt you want to acknowledge that an
01:26 invoice is no longer outstanding and the
01:30 reason you want to do that is because
01:32 you know it’s kind of a thing I’ve
01:36 always preached that you want your
01:37 software your accounting software to
01:41 match reality you want it to reflect
01:43 reality because that’s its job is to
01:46 reflect the reality of your business so
01:48 that’s why you acknowledge that this
01:51 cash has been received but you know
01:54 again the reality is also that it is not
01:56 yet been entered into or deposited into
01:59 your bank account so it allows you also
02:05 when you when you make a deposit you
02:07 know probably a lot of businesses are
02:09 going to batch a lot of checks together
02:11 you know
02:12 from client one client to client three
02:14 and client for you know for $100 each
02:17 let’s say for a $400 deposit will your
02:20 bank statements gonna reflect a 400
02:22 dollar deposit you know if you didn’t
02:25 enter these undeposited funds
02:28 individually you know the the for $100
02:32 payments you received then you know
02:37 you’d have a tough time matching it to
02:41 your bank statement okay your bank
02:43 statements gonna say 400 you’re gonna
02:45 have for $100 payment receipts so he
02:50 said this way
02:51 QuickBooks knows it was these four
02:53 payments that comprised that $400
02:57 deposit hope that makes sense we’ll get
03:01 into a little more detail here okay so
03:04 back to entering undeposited funds as I
03:08 mentioned in the upper left there’s the
03:10 new button the customers heading in the
03:12 received payment okay let’s go back to
03:15 that screen all right so the first thing
03:23 you’re gonna do is enter the customer
03:25 who made the payment of course and we’ll
03:28 just pick someone at random from this
03:30 list who hopefully I was outstanding
03:32 invoice they do so I picked Red Rock
03:36 diner and then the date the payment was
03:39 made okay that’s gonna be reflected on
03:42 the receipt and they you know again you
03:43 want that they made payment yesterday
03:46 but you didn’t get a chance to enter it
03:47 into QuickBooks until today you want to
03:49 change that to yesterday’s payment
03:51 payment date you can honor the payment
03:55 method cash check or credit I’m not sure
04:03 when credit would apply there might be
04:07 circumstances since I have it as an
04:08 option but typically I would say it’s
04:11 going to be cash or cheque and then a
04:14 reference number this could be your
04:16 customers cheque number or some other
04:18 unique identifier so if need be if there
04:21 was a problem or you needed to do
04:23 some digging around on something you
04:25 could have a valid reference number like
04:32 I said you can put a check number in
04:33 there and you want to put it in
04:36 undeposited funds is you I guess right
04:41 that’s probably why credits in here
04:43 because this is receive payment it’s you
04:45 know this is what specifies that it goes
04:47 to undeposited funds so you could
04:49 obviously receive a credit payment and
04:52 you know but not probably wouldn’t put a
04:56 ton to positive funds so and after you
05:01 enter that information up there like I
05:06 said put it under positive funds go the
05:07 next slide here if it’s in response to
05:11 an invoice then you’re gonna match click
05:14 the checkbox next to the appropriate
05:15 invoice and that is it so let’s say that
05:19 our customer Red Rock diner paid on this
05:25 hundred fifty six dollar invoice and
05:27 that’s gonna reflect down here the 70
05:31 dollar invoice is still outstanding
05:32 you can click either save and new to
05:36 enter a new undeposited funds for a new
05:39 client or if that’s your last one save
05:43 and send we’ll send a customer a receipt
05:45 so even close will do exactly what it
05:48 says and close it take you back to the
05:52 dashboard there okay so you know you’ve
06:00 entered all of your undeposited funds
06:04 and now you’ve come back from the bank
06:11 where you actually made the deposit into
06:13 your checking account so we’re savings
06:17 you want to enter that into QuickBooks
06:19 so that is also a bit new and it’s under
06:23 other bank deposit
06:31 and let’s see what do we do we just did
06:35 Red Rock diner tastes assy
06:38 well first you want to select your
06:41 account that you’re going to put it in
06:43 which most times would be checking I
06:46 imagine perhaps savings the date you
06:49 made the deposit again if you made a
06:51 deposit this also helps with if you made
06:53 it yesterday
06:55 if you made it yesterday make sure you
06:57 pay yesterday because this will also
06:59 help with you know reconciling your
07:02 checking account again you want your
07:04 accounting software to match reality so
07:08 select the accountant a date we hit the
07:12 check box next to the appropriate
07:13 undeposited funds that we deposited and
07:17 it’s a similar sort of thing you can see
07:21 Red Rock diner the date all the
07:23 information we entered previously you
07:27 have a chance to edit it here
07:29 and I can do save a new to enter another
07:33 bank deposit or save and close’ will do
07:37 save and close the show we deposited at
07:39 one hundred fifty six dollars and there
07:41 we go our transactions and QuickBooks
07:44 Online match what actually happened in
07:47 reality so that’s it it’s a pretty
07:54 straightforward sort of thing the
07:55 intuitive to enter and as long as you
07:58 understand why it’s important to enter
08:00 undeposited funds and you know the
08:04 detail and again have that information
08:06 in your accounting software match
08:08 reality you know when saying with the
08:12 deposit then yeah it was really good
08:15 like I said it’s a pretty simple thing
08:16 to do so anyhow if you know that’s
08:21 simple some other bookkeeping tasks
08:23 aren’t as simple and bookkeeping isn’t
08:25 everybody’s cup of tea particularly if
08:27 you’re a small business owner you know
08:29 your your expertise is in your craft you
08:33 know whatever whatever you’re selling
08:35 and you know bookkeeping might be a
08:39 chore for you so if that’s the case you
08:42 check out ba keeper there’s
08:44 link down in the description and what ba
08:47 keeper is basically a bookkeeping
08:50 service that utilizes artificial
08:54 intelligence to handle the bulk of the
08:58 workload and then also implements a
09:00 human element to kind of qualify things
09:03 to you know to double check to make sure
09:06 everything’s going alright so what you
09:08 know what it does though allows you to
09:11 work more on your business and less on
09:13 data entry and you know spend more time
09:17 pumping to grow so if you find in
09:20 bookkeeping to be a chore definitely
09:23 click on that link and just check it out
09:26 and see if it’s something that might
09:29 help and make your life easier so that’s
09:33 it for this video you like you know it
09:37 is format with every quickbooks online
09:41 every video that i post you know or have
09:45 been posting recently is start out with
09:47 the quick answer so you can get the
09:50 information you need right off the bat
09:51 and then doing a little more detail on
09:53 the subject matter if you like that
09:54 format being short to the point up front
09:57 and detailed and do the rest of the
10:00 video you could show that that you like
10:05 that by giving the video a like and you
10:07 find yourself searching for quickbooks
10:09 online how to videos fairly often or you
10:11 think you might search in the future you
10:13 can subscribe and then you’ll know to
10:14 check spreadsheets for business first to
10:18 see if i covered the subject and that
10:21 mean quick and easy for you so so I got
10:24 appreciate you guys watching
10:26 take care

QuickBooks Online User Types & Permission Setup [VIDEO]

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qbo user permission video featured

What types of user permissions can be set up in QuickBooks online? Video summary

Manage users in QBO by navigating the following:

Gear (icon) > Manage Users (Your Company section) > Add user (button)

Different users have different needs

A Company Administrator can perform all tasks in QuickBooks Online. An example of a Company Administrator is an owner or a trusted manager.

A Standard user is someone that you can pick and choose what they have access to. An employee would be an example of a Standard user.

A Reports only user, as you might expect, only has access to reports. There are exceptions, however. They can’t see payroll information or reports with contact info in them.

Finally, a Time-tracking only user can only see their own timesheet. Nothing else. A subcontractor is someone who might have Time-tracking only permissions.

Creating a new user in QBO

Click on the Gear (icon) and select Manage Users (in the Your Company section).

You will see a list of users.

Next, click Add user (button) and select user type. Your choices will be:

  • Standard
  • Company admin
  • Reports only
  • Time tracking only

After that, you’ll Select access rights & user settings. These settings are up to you.

After that’s done, you’ll enter the user’s contact info. They’ll then receive a notification via email and will have to sign in to QuickBooks Online to confirm access.

What about payroll access for Standard users?

Granting payroll access is a decision you must make for Standard users.

Granting payroll access is done on the Select access rights (screen).

If Standard users do not have payroll access, then individual payroll information will be masked (hidden).

For example, on Workers > Employees, nothing will be shown. The user will receive a notification that they don’t have access rights.

On the Transaction report, payroll entries will mask names. All the Standard user will see is “Payroll.”

Finally, on the Bank register, payroll entries will also mask names. Here too, all the user will see is “Payroll.”

Payroll access is not an option in the sample company. That’s why there is no walkthrough in the video.

Adding company admin access rights + user settings

Determine if this user is your accountant (my accountant). If so, check the corresponding box. You can only have one user as your accountant (my accountant).

Click Next (button) and enter the user’s First name, Last name, and Email. Since they are a Company admin there are no settings to specify.

Entering standard user access rights in QuickBooks Online

For Standard users, the first thing to decide is how much access you want this user to have?

You can give them “All” access. Which is just a little less than a Company admin.

You can give them “None” access.

Or, you can give them “Limited” access; which is access to customer and/or vendor information.

If you give them Customers permissions they will have access to the following:

  • Estimates
  • Invoices
  • Sales receipts
  • Statements
  • Charges
  • Credits
  • Customers
  • Products
  • Services
  • Sales tax
  • Receive payments
  • Run related reporting

If you give them Vendors permissions they will have access to the following:

  • Bills
  • Purchases
  • Vendors
  • Products
  • Services
  • Pay bills
  • Write checks
  • Run related reporting

If a Standard user has Limited access rights, they can’t:

  • Edit accounts
  • View quantities on hand
  • View bank registers
  • See income/expenses

Entering standard user settings in QuickBooks Online

After you determine Standard user access rights, you’ll be asked to specify their settings. There are three determinations to make:

  • Edit users?
    • Yes, No, or View only
  • Edit company info?
    • Yes or No
  • Manage subscriptions?
  • Yes, No, or View only

Finally, you’ll be asked to give their First name, Last name, and Email so that they can log in to QBO and confirm their status.

Reports only access rights/user settings

For users that you only want to give Reports only access – all you need to do is enter their First name, Last name, and Email so that they can log in to QuickBooks Online and confirm their status.

Time-tracking only access rights/user settings

For users that you only want to give Time-tracking access – you can select the appropriate employee or vendor from the dropdown.

If the appropriate employee or vendor is not yet entered into QBO, then you can click Add new and enter their info.

Then, you’ll give their First name, Last name, and Email so that they can log in to QuickBooks Online and confirm their status.

Apply For & Connect Existing QuickBooks Online Payments Accounts [VIDEO]

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Where and how to sign up for QuickBooks Payments in QBO video summary

For a new account:

  1. Gear icon
  2. Account and Settings (Your Company)
  3. Payments
  4. Learn more (button)

For an existing account

  1. Gear icon
  2. Account and Settings (Your Company)
  3. Payments
  4. Connect (button)

What does QBO Payments do?

QBO Payments allows your small business to accept payment by:

  • Credit card
  • Apple Pay
  • Bank transfer

There is a “small” fee per transaction for all of the above.

If your customer has prior authorization, they can pay online invoices with “Pay Now” button. They can also pay over the phone. Either option will get you paid quicker.

Customers have the option of entering their credit card information too. All transactions are automatically entered into QBO.

Applying for a QBO Payments account

  1. Gear icon > Account and Settings
  2. Left menu > Payments
  3. Learn more (button)
  4. Set up payments (button)

Section 1 of the application will ask for information about your business Some information will already be populated. So, enter any additional information that is needed and double-check what was auto-filled Click “Next.”

Section 2 of the application asks for owner information. Complete what is needed here.

Section 3 of the application asks for bank information Just search for your bank. When you find your bank, enter your account & routing number.

Connect existing QBO Payments account

If you have one of the following, you can connect it to QBO Payments:

  • GoPayment
  • QuickBooks Merchant Services
  • Intuit Merchant Services
  • Intuit Check Solution

Click on the gear icon and then Account and Settings.

Then, click on Payments on the left menu.

Finally, click the Connect button.

If you’re having trouble, click Help at the top of the screen and then Contact us. Support will call back and walk you through the process.

If you plan on processing over $7.5K per month be sure to ask for special pricing.

19 Minutes To Master Sales Tax in QuickBooks Online [VIDEO]

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qbo sales tax setup video featured

Video transcript

00:00 sales tax and QuickBooks Online how to
00:02 manage the quick answers our first to go
00:09 to taxes and then add or edit tax rates
00:13 and agencies or edit sales tax settings
00:15 where you can edit what you’ve already
00:18 entered and that’s like I said in taxes
00:21 and then the add edit tax rates and
00:25 agencies click new to add a new sales
00:28 tax rate or if you want to enter what
00:33 you’ve sorry edit which you’ve
00:35 previously entered click on edit sales
00:37 tax settings if you want a view
00:41 reporting on your sales tax liability
00:46 you go to taxes again view sales tax
00:48 liability report that is here here you
00:55 can specify the reporting period or put
00:59 in custom dates and you can select which
01:02 tax agency you want to see reporting on
01:05 just change those settings at run report
01:07 and finally any other sales tax setting
01:11 you might want to edit is the sales tax
01:15 category for products and services to do
01:17 that you go to sales products and
01:21 services and you get here you’ll see a
01:26 listing of your products and services
01:28 just click the one you want to edit
01:30 click Edit under the action column and
01:39 towards the bottom of the product
01:41 service information screen you should
01:45 see sales tax category okay so that’s
01:50 quick answers now we’ll get into a
01:52 little more detail about all that so
01:58 before I get into it I want to start off
02:02 with a caveat did recently QuickBooks
02:07 Online has made some changes to the user
02:11 experience and
02:13 I’m getting conflicting information
02:15 between what I see in the sample company
02:17 which is what I use for my examples
02:20 obviously I use that for purposes of
02:22 privacy so I’m seeing a difference
02:24 between that and what I’m seeing
02:28 elsewhere so what I chose to do in order
02:35 to get this video out not sit on it
02:38 forever is to basically cover both ways
02:41 so I guess whatever QuickBooks has got
02:46 going on in terms of that you new user
02:48 interface if it’s affecting you yet
02:52 then you should still be able to use
02:54 this video if it’s not you should also
02:56 still be able to use this video so with
02:58 all that said we’ll get into it here
03:03 capabilities of QuickBooks Online it’s
03:05 supposed to have a sales tax engine it
03:07 makes calculations that basically kind
03:09 of a wizard for figuring out sales tax
03:12 what it does do though once you enter
03:14 information automatically calculates
03:15 every time that you enter an invoice or
03:18 a sales receipt okay so it’s based on
03:21 the location of the sale and the type of
03:24 product and basically everything you
03:26 entered during setup there supposed to
03:29 be a sales tax enter where you can view
03:31 upcoming tax payments see liability
03:33 reports change settings and all that you
03:36 can as I covered in a quick answer still
03:38 do most of that but again
03:40 things have changed somewhat so I can’t
03:44 walk you through an example of the old
03:47 basic setup or any of the old examples
03:50 because again the sample company has
03:53 changed is different than they used to
03:56 be but here’s how the old way used to do
04:00 basic setup and you go to left menu
04:03 taxes and in setup sales tax there would
04:06 be a button there you would confirm your
04:08 address your place of business and it
04:12 would ask you if you needed to collect
04:14 sales tax outside of where your address
04:17 was and you’d click typically no they’re
04:25 in close the window then
04:27 he would also select a filing frequency
04:28 and you’d be giving guidance on that
04:30 based on your locality and the
04:35 anticipated amount of receipts you had
04:37 how often you should file unfortunately
04:40 seems for the time being all that’s gone
04:42 you’re now left to kind of sort it
04:47 figure it all out yourself I would
04:50 assume that’s a functionality that
04:52 they’ll bring back but yeah I don’t know
04:55 like I said things are a little weird
04:56 now as of the recording of this video so
05:00 the new way though you know that I’m
05:02 still go to taxes on the left menu then
05:04 like I said add edit tax rates and
05:06 agencies let that load up and your first
05:14 time you’re probably going to when
05:16 you’re setting it up you’re gonna want
05:17 to click new and you’re gonna choose
05:22 whether you do a single or combined tax
05:26 rate and if you’re not familiar a single
05:31 tax rates pretty straight forward that
05:34 would be like a state sales tax
05:35 now obviously sometimes counties and/or
05:40 cities or you know other other
05:46 governments will implement an additional
05:49 sales tax you know to pay for schools to
05:53 pay for new arenas to pay for whatever
05:57 it is so when they do that when you
06:00 start stacking sales tax rates that’s
06:03 when you’ve got a combined rate okay
06:06 what I would suggest doing until they
06:08 get to a little wizard back up and
06:10 running if they do is to go to this
06:14 address right here sales tax states calm
06:17 and that’s an easy way to look up what
06:21 the sales tax rate is in a specific area
06:23 but I would definitely double check that
06:25 against the appropriate State Department
06:29 of Revenue website just to confirm it
06:35 so once you have it entered if you want
06:39 to edit mention go to edit sales tax
06:46 settings here and this isn’t editing
06:50 being sales tax for one of the
06:54 government entities attended earlier
06:57 this is more general settings you know
07:00 as you can see do you charge sales tax
07:02 where your default sales tax is and
07:05 whether you want to make all new
07:08 customers taxable or and/or all new
07:11 products and services taxable so there’s
07:13 more general settings not the specific
07:16 settings those would be edited here of
07:18 course where you would click on the
07:21 relevant government entity and click
07:24 Edit there you can change the rate
07:37 oops what did you do there I don’t know
07:42 what happened get back on track here
07:59 a little bit more about those general
08:06 options that you can edit you know it
08:09 asked do you charge sales tax if you
08:13 sell physical goods typically the answer
08:15 is gonna be yes again the old with the
08:20 old way it used to walk you through
08:22 where you could kind of I don’t know it
08:28 gave me more guidance on what was
08:31 taxable and how much based off your
08:32 locality and everything it just doesn’t
08:34 seem to do that now but so typically the
08:37 answer is gonna be yes but it’s
08:39 complicated topic so make sure you do
08:40 your research you pick a default sales
08:44 tax that’s a drop-down like I showed you
08:47 from previously entered agencies and
08:49 then make all new customer product
08:52 services taxable depends on the nature
08:54 of your business
08:55 but I would imagine that would typically
08:56 be checked also okay so a little bit
09:02 more about tax categories for products
09:04 and services again that sales products
09:06 and services then you want to add it for
09:08 a specific product or service
09:27 so the sales tax category like I said
09:31 it’s a drop-down you can choose either
09:33 taxable standard rate non-taxable or
09:36 choose a special category if you’re
09:38 unsure you might take a look at special
09:40 categories to make sure this particular
09:43 product or service doesn’t fall under
09:45 one of those let’s take a look at that
09:48 here and this is what I was talking
09:55 about how it’ll kind of walk you through
09:57 a little bit as far as different
10:00 products and services are concerned so
10:02 if you were in the business of
10:05 professional services
10:06 you know you might click that look and
10:10 see it’ll narrow it down if your
10:13 services say photographer fall under
10:18 this category you know again you keep
10:22 narrowing it down and check the button
10:26 click the button and hit done and it’ll
10:31 apply the appropriate sales tax given
10:36 your locality like I said and a
10:40 particular product or service if you
10:45 can’t find that particular product or
10:49 service in that special category list
10:52 then just go ahead and click taxable
10:55 standard rate unless you’re certain it’s
10:58 non-taxable I used to be able to check
11:05 the sales tax calculation by looking at
11:10 sales receipt and invoices again as far
11:13 as I can tell that’s no longer an option
11:17 like if we go to all sales here sales
11:21 all sales select receipt or invoice
11:23 click on the sales tax link it used to
11:26 be where sales tax was calculated you
11:30 know it was clickable kind of hyperlink
11:33 in the bottom right and then you could
11:35 viewer edit the sales tax calculation
11:37 from
11:38 there now if we look at for instance an
11:55 open invoice that depends in part what’s
12:03 on the invoice course it’s all
12:06 non-taxable services then if something’s
12:12 not quite right
12:13 no kiddin I see we can click on another
12:17 one here I’m good
12:31 and this one doesn’t have sales tax that
12:37 was a payment though we tried one more
12:40 invoice yeah all right so anyhow like I
12:51 said it used to
12:53 obviously the functionalities gotten a
12:55 lot worse yeah that’s the way it used to
13:00 work it could be that they bring that
13:01 functionality back but the time being as
13:05 far as I can tell it’s gone the sales
13:09 tax enter the old way again and the left
13:12 menu you go to taxes and then sales tax
13:17 in some instances if you do payroll you
13:22 might see payroll taxes as a tab or a
13:30 sub option there but in this case the
13:34 sample companies and set up that way and
13:37 if it were I’m not sure if it would be
13:40 there the way the way things have gone
13:44 with these changes anyhow it did there
13:51 were a bunch of they call them cards or
13:55 whatever across the screen there where
13:57 you know they were kind of graphical and
14:01 easy to navigate like sales tax to was
14:04 their tax break down it showed you that
14:08 you know what you keep an eye on what
14:11 the sales tax do what you had accrued to
14:15 be owing all the agencies in terms of
14:19 set in terms of sales tax and tax break
14:21 down which was kind of the main area of
14:24 the screen it had sales tax amounts and
14:27 what was due this month what was
14:28 upcoming was overdue a lot of great
14:29 information then you had a opportunity
14:37 to view your return which was again
14:39 based on what it hadn’t already been
14:40 entered into QuickBooks Online when it
14:43 was time to pay
14:44 typically that was done on the say
14:47 States website where you would file that
14:49 return but you know it was all prepared
14:53 for him and it would also then record
14:56 the payment quickbooks online when you
14:57 click the record payment button finally
15:00 ur is history in the sales tax settings
15:02 sales tax settings that they do still
15:05 have where you can view at it mentor
15:06 agencies history that’s that the
15:11 comparable thing now is the the sales
15:15 tax liability report and you can view
15:19 previously paid or filed returns so the
15:23 old sales tax center had a lot of great
15:24 information now not as much I mean some
15:29 should does show what you oh here on the
15:31 main screen depending on breaks it down
15:36 by agency and that but it seemed to me a
15:41 lot more user-friendly previously there
15:47 were also the reports in the upper right
15:48 and sales tax liability report which
15:50 still has and taxable customer report
15:53 which might exist in reports now I feel
15:58 like it does let’s take a look here and
16:05 there were also shortcuts in a sales tax
16:07 center on the right side that navigate
16:10 to all the areas that fed into sales tax
16:12 calculation so you could jump straight
16:14 to him from there which was also handy
16:17 now you basically got I can mention the
16:22 sales tax owed that’s the main screen in
16:25 the sales tax center and the sales tax
16:29 liability report kind of your two
16:31 options and still-living talked a little
16:39 bit about the sales tax liability report
16:41 earlier and you select the appropriate
16:42 report period in tax agency and click
16:46 the run report button still loading
16:54 so that basically covers everything look
16:59 I know that was kind of a not the best
17:03 video ever I would love to give you more
17:10 up-to-date information but like I said
17:12 it seems like it’s in kind of in flux
17:14 for the time being so that is what it is
17:17 and I can always record a new video if I
17:20 have to in the future but so I don’t
17:25 know if you run into similar
17:26 circumstances then I did you saw me
17:28 struggling here and everything’s changed
17:30 where it’s located frankly it’s not as
17:33 not as robust as it used to be you know
17:38 and it can be a pain in the butt to deal
17:41 with so you know you’ve got a business
17:44 to run you’ve got sales that need to be
17:46 made and if you don’t have time to DIY
17:49 your bookkeeping you should check out
17:51 bots keeper what it is is a in essence
17:55 it’s a AI based bookkeeping but with a
17:58 human element to kind of qualifying
18:02 things you might say so a lot of the
18:05 tasks that you had to do are automated
18:07 and again you can work more on your
18:09 business you can work on bringing in
18:10 more sales and worry less about data
18:13 entry and worry less about slow internet
18:16 connections and fumbling around with
18:20 backwards changes they’ve made to
18:22 QuickBooks so there’s a link for that
18:25 down in the description if you want to
18:27 check that out and that’s all there is
18:30 so you know I still tried to make even
18:34 though things were a little wacky tried
18:36 to make this video quick into the point
18:38 upfront to get your answers and then if
18:41 you wanted to get into more detail you
18:43 know I tried to do that to try to give
18:45 you as much information as possible give
18:47 you this slides to reference and if that
18:50 worked for him
18:51 I would appreciate a like and if you
18:54 find yourself looking up topics on
18:57 QuickBooks Online fairly frequently and
19:00 want to skip searchbar in the future and
19:04 just check out my channel I
19:07 have posted and will continue to post
19:09 more videos if you subscribe you can do
19:13 that and yeah thanks for watching
19:15 take care

QuickBooks Online Vendor Setup | Save Time & Track Expenses

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qbo add vendor video featured

Video transcript

00:00 adding vendors and QuickBooks Online the
00:05 quick way or the quick explanation is to
00:08 simply go to expenses and quickbooks
00:11 online and click on benders and click
00:15 the new vendor button the green one on
00:18 the upper right enter as much
00:20 information as possible about the vendor
00:23 save and the new vendor should appear a
00:28 new list below if you need to enter a
00:30 lot of new vendors and then you’ll
00:32 probably want to import their
00:34 information you do that by clicking the
00:35 little drop down arrow behind new
00:37 vendors and click import vendors you’ll
00:43 be taken to this screen where you can
00:47 browse for your list your Excel document
00:54 with the vendors and click Next
00:58 map your fields and make sure what your
01:01 fields are match what QuickBooks expects
01:05 them to be or needs them to be click
01:07 Next give it one last chance to edit
01:10 everything all the different fields and
01:12 click import and that’s the quick answer
01:19 so now we can talk about adding vendors
01:22 a little more in-depth okay so there’s
01:24 two basic reasons that you would want to
01:28 add vendors to quickbooks online and the
01:32 first is because you want to save time
01:34 entering the information about vendors
01:36 on purchase forms if you have vendors
01:40 saved and then you can just choose them
01:42 from a drop-down menu all the
01:43 information you entered on that vendor
01:45 information screen will automatically
01:47 populate things like address terms those
01:51 sorts of things so it’ll save you time
01:53 second of all it gives you an
01:56 opportunity to run reports about your
01:58 vendors and for instance how much you
02:00 spent on each individual vendor so I’m
02:06 going little more in depth in that
02:07 adding vendors here and we’ll start on
02:10 adding individual vendors and like I
02:15 said and the first step is course to
02:17 navigate to the a vendor screen which is
02:21 lucking menu expenses vendors and then
02:23 click new bedroom like i said when the
02:27 new vendors added a little show up from
02:29 the list below so as I said expenses
02:34 vendors click that new vendor you’ll get
02:40 the vendor information screen here and
02:45 watching far ok so most of these fields
02:50 are pretty self-explanatory yeah first
02:54 fields company
02:55 now if the year leonard is an individual
02:57 not a company can understand last name
03:00 here these fields here or more if you
03:04 had like a contact maybe a sales person
03:09 or something at the vendor company but
03:14 if it’s just an individual their first
03:16 and last name camera display name as
03:19 this is where you can change if you the
03:24 way it’s displayed if you wanted to
03:25 display do something different from the
03:27 company you can specify that there the
03:31 print uncheck as option allows you to
03:35 change how the name will be displayed
03:41 the vendors name on the checks issued to
03:45 them for payment if you want that to be
03:48 something different besides the company
03:49 name specify that here address obviously
03:54 pretty self explanatory notes ok this is
04:00 information that you can enter about the
04:02 vendor that will only be seen by people
04:03 in your company so the vendor won’t see
04:08 this and you know you can enter any
04:12 anything that you feel is appropriate or
04:15 that somebody who’s working with your
04:18 books might need to know or need a
04:21 reference about this
04:22 vendor attachment says is where you can
04:27 attach files is such as maybe you know a
04:32 PDF of a w-9 or contracts or anything
04:35 else that’s specifically this vendor and
04:39 so you want to be able to readily find
04:46 let’s see information and an email phone
04:54 number fax number
04:55 oh that website self-explanatory
04:59 then we got a couple of fields here on
05:01 this screen you only see billing rate in
05:05 other instances you might see cost great
05:07 information about DS was a little tough
05:12 to come by but here’s my interpretation
05:16 first of all the billing rate this is
05:19 that the vendor provides a service so an
05:21 example might be a lawyer okay in that
05:26 case you know they build my day an hour
05:27 so you would enter whatever that rate
05:29 may be $100 $200 $300 05:33 whatever the cost rate will only appear
05:40 I think if you have activated projects
05:45 for your company okay and then if the
05:49 vendor is a contractor
05:52 so again information is a little hard to
05:56 find on that but you know it’s only a
06:00 field that will be used under certain
06:03 circumstances terms it’s pretty
06:08 straightforward
06:08 these are the default payment terms the
06:11 defender has you can always change these
06:14 you know when you enter on the purchase
06:19 form to what the actual terms are but if
06:24 they’re gonna consistently give you the
06:26 same terms then you can you know have
06:31 this information populate automatically
06:34 opening balance
06:36 in the answer of date for that opening
06:37 balance they’re usually gonna be left
06:40 blank QuickBooks recommends that you
06:43 leave it blank because there will be no
06:47 details about the balance captured no
06:50 transactions that will add up to equal
06:54 that balance if you do enter them out
06:56 here it’s going to increase your
06:58 accounts payable and decrease your
07:03 opening balance equity okay so keep that
07:08 in mind if the you’re bringing in an
07:11 opening balance QuickBooks recommends
07:13 you know entering the transactions and
07:18 creating a balance that way we can
07:23 outnumber ok so this is the lenders
07:26 number for your business and apostrophe
07:31 in their vendors number for your
07:34 business I know show up as a memo on the
07:37 check so this isn’t your number for the
07:40 vendors the vendors number for you ok
07:44 business ID numbers of being the
07:47 employment identification number or
07:50 social security number and that is used
07:52 when you create a 1099 for this vendor
07:55 if you create a 1099 if you do plan on
07:58 creating a 1099 you’ll want to check
08:01 this track payments for 1099 bucks ok
08:05 because that will make sure those
08:09 vendors included when you run the 1099 08:11 wizard as a rule of thumb if you know
08:15 maybe you know intuitively this is a ten
08:18 and a nine vendor maybe now I’m new to
08:20 this and the rule of thumb for issuing a
08:24 1099 is when you’re purchasing services
08:27 from this particular vendor and if
08:31 they’re unincorporated okay if they meet
08:35 both those check both those boxes then
08:38 you’re probably going to be issuing a
08:39 1099 08:42 so let’s look at the second method of
08:48 creating new vendors and it’s importing
08:50 a vendor list and again to do that it’s
08:57 this new tender button except you’re
08:59 gonna click the little drop down arrow
09:01 you can select the import vendors okay
09:07 what I recommend you do before you make
09:12 up this list and Excel of your vendors
09:16 and all their information is to download
09:17 this sample file click here and then
09:20 you’re gonna get a sample file that
09:22 looks something like this and the reason
09:24 I recommend that is because all of your
09:27 fields are going to be laid out for you
09:29 here okay it’s basically a template for
09:32 your upload and that’ll just make the
09:35 process of uploading this information
09:38 that much easier so you’ll get a file
09:40 that looks like this you want to go
09:42 through select all this dummy
09:46 information so to speak and delete it
09:51 okay and then re-enter the information
09:55 about your particular vendors once
10:01 you’ve done that and save it you can
10:03 browse for that file select it and click
10:12 next thing so then it’s gonna come to
10:16 this map data step and you know you’re
10:21 gonna compare your fields to the
10:24 quickbooks online fields make sure the
10:26 same in most cases usually quickbooks
10:29 online smart enough to know what’s what
10:32 but just make sure you don’t have a fax
10:34 number going to a phone number
10:37 you know something else you know the
10:41 field one of your fields going to the
10:44 wrong field in quickbooks online if you
10:47 okay with all of that click Next then
10:51 you better the import step this is one
10:53 last chance to edit
10:54 any of this information for all your
10:57 different vendors see for instance down
10:59 here we’ve got this note that was
11:04 included as a vendor okay so we would
11:06 just check that to not include it and in
11:11 this case we should be good to go click
11:16 import it’ll tell you how many total
11:21 were successfully imported and you’ll
11:24 see them all down here in your then the
11:27 list thing so that is it those are the
11:36 two main ways to and offenders the
11:39 quickbooks online and if you don’t have
11:45 time to DIY your bookkeeping you know
11:49 and maybe you don’t enjoy the
11:52 bookkeeping aspect a lot of people don’t
11:54 maybe you’d like to work more on your
11:56 business more than data entry work on
12:01 increasing sales you know helping your
12:05 business grow and less time on
12:09 bookkeeping and then take a look at ba
12:12 keeper that ba keeper this company i
12:16 found apparently to google back start up
12:19 and day what it does is uses AI they had
12:27 a lot of the bookkeeping and then uses
12:31 your people to kind of where necessary i
12:36 guess is the way they put it you know
12:41 with my understanding is you can take as
12:43 much control or as little as you won
12:45 over it
12:45 because what you have ba keeper do for
12:48 you and i know that it also ties in with
12:51 quickbooks online so if you like to
12:53 quickbooks online interface and i want
12:56 to be able to run reports or are used to
12:58 it or that
12:59 you know again you can use Bakke burn to
13:03 handle some of the things that can be
13:06 easily automated the the menial
13:09 transactions so to speak so there is a
13:13 link for that down in the description to
13:17 learn more from what I looked up about
13:20 the company it’s really well reviewed on
13:22 kaptara and other sites so if your book
13:26 he was driving you crazy you might check
13:28 that out anyhow if you thought this
13:32 video was a fairly short and to the
13:34 point but detail enough to give you
13:36 information that you needed give it a
13:38 like and if you’d like to not worry
13:44 about searching around on other
13:47 quickbooks online topics and like save
13:50 time you can subscribe click on my
13:52 channel I’ll have other QuickBooks
13:55 Online videos up and hopefully

QuickBooks Online Products & Services – 6 Min Read With Pics

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qbo products and services featured

Products and services can be easily added and maintained in QuickBooks Online.

Products and services in QBO are the items you buy and sell to conduct business. Keeping this list of items well maintained will help ensure that your sales and purchase forms have the information they need. It will also contribute to more useful reporting for your small business.

What are products and services in QuickBooks Online?

Products and services are the items that appear on sales and purchase forms. If you plan on using these forms, then you should take the time to enter all your products and services into QBO.

Each item will be linked to an account in your Chart of Accounts. Every time a product or service transaction takes place, an entry is made.

Whether you sell products, services, or both depends on the industry you’re in and the nature of your business.

quickbooks online types of items
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Inventory

These are products that you purchase and/or sell. Inventory quantities are tracked. In order to manage inventory, you must have a QBO Plus subscription.

For example, if you own a boutique clothing store, the clothes you sell would be inventory.

Non-inventory

These are items that you buy and sell but don’t want to keep track of the quantity on hand.

Hand soap for an auto mechanic is an example of a non-inventory item.

Service

This is something that you sell which is intangible.

Delivery of your product is an example.

Bundle

A grouping of products and/or services that you sell together.

A restaurant that offers a meal (main, side, and drink) is an example of a bundle.

Products and services settings

sales settings
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

If you’ll remember, Products and Services settings are accessed by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right. Then Accounts and Settings (below Your Company).

Products and services settings are a sub-section of Sales settings. Check the box next to the features you want to utilize and click “Save” when you are finished.

Show Product/Service column on sales forms

This option must be turned on in order for the product/service column to appear on sales forms. If it is off, your customers won’t see details about the products and services involved in the transaction.

Show SKU column

SKUs are used to track inventory. Turning on this feature will add a SKU/barcode column to sales forms. If you have a considerable amount of inventory to track, you should check the box to turn this on.

Turn on price rules

Read this post to learn more about price rules. Price rules allow you to give discounts on certain products and to certain customers.

Track quantity and price/rate

Turn this on too if you track inventory. It will add rate and quantity fields to estimates, invoices, and sales receipts.

Track inventory quantity on hand

Another feature that should be turned on if you plan to track inventory. Once you do, QBO will keep track to stock levels for products.

How to add products and services to QuickBooks Online

qbo enter new inventory item
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Every product or service you add will start with clicking on the gear icon in the upper-right part of the screen. From here, you will select “Products and Services” underneath Lists.

Next, select click on the green New button.

Choose whether you want to add an Inventory item, Non-inventory item, Service, or Bundle.

There are several fields to complete here. The more detailed information you can provide, the better your reporting will be in the future.

Keep in mind that the available fields will be slightly different depending on the type of item you’re adding.

Name and SKU

Name is a description of the product or service. Make it detailed enough, but be aware of the space it will take up on forms and reports.

SKU is a unique combination of letters and numbers used to identify a product or service. You can look at it as shorthand for a given product or service.

Category

If you have many products and services, you can group similar ones into categories. Doing so will allow you to better organize your items.

Initial quantity on hand (Inventory)

Enter the number of units you had in stock on the As of date (below). If your As of date is today, then enter your QOH right now.

As of date (Inventory)

This is when you will begin tracking inventory levels. The As of date can be any date in the past. Your current inventory level will depend on the Initial quantity on hand (above) and the inventory transactions that have taken place since the As of date.

Reorder point (Inventory)

If you would like to be alerted if the quantity on hand drops below a specific level – enter that level here.

Inventory asset account (Inventory)

This is the account where the value of your inventory on hand will be recorded for the balance sheet. By default “Inventory Asset” is selected. If you would like to use a different account, select “+ Add new.”

Description

If you are going to offer this product/service for sale to customers, make sure the checkbox is checked.

Also, write a description for the product or service which will show up on customers’ sales forms. This can be the same as the item’s Name or different.

Sales price/rate

This is the standard price you will charge for this product or service. Don’t worry if you want to charge different customers different rates. You can specify that later, in price rules.

Income account

Here, select the appropriate account to record sales of the product/service to.

Sales tax category (Inventory)

If sales tax has not been set up in QBO, then you might not see this field. Best to have sales tax set up correctly so that QBO can keep track of it accurately.

The Sales tax category you choose will determine the amount owed depending on what the item is and where you sell it.

Two options will be available by default ” Taxable – standard rate” and “Nontaxable.” You’ll also have the option to “Choose a special category” if this inventory item is of a specific type.

If you “Choose a special category” you’ll be taken to a list of item types and sub-types. Choose the appropriate item type and click “Done.”

qbo new inventory choose special category sales tax type
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Purchasing information

qbo enter new inventory item show more
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

If this is a product or service that you will be purchasing from a vendor, check this box.

Doing so will cause some other options to appear.

Enter the description for this item you’d like to see on purchase forms.

Cost

This is the standard (typical) cost for this item.

Expense account

Like the Income account, this is where purchases of this item will be recorded to.

Preferred Vendor

Choosing a Preferred Vendor for purchased items will speed up purchase order and bill creation.

Select “Add new” if your Preferred Vendor for this item isn’t set up yet. Then, all you’ll need to do is enter a Name for the vendor to make them preferred.

Click Save and close when you’re done.

You’ll then be taken to the Products and Services screen where you will see your newly-created item.

Save time by making duplicates of similar products and services

quickbooks online make product or service inactive or duplicate
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

If you’re entering a product/service that is very similar to an existing one – save time by making a copy.

From the Products and Services screen, select the similar product/service and click the down arrow (▼) by the word “Edit” in the Action column. Select “Duplicate.”

The Product/Service Information window will pop up with fields already populated. Make the needed changes and then click “Save and close.”

Importing lists of products and services into QuickBooks Online

qbo import sample file products and services
Click to enlarge
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

If you have a lot of new products and services to set up, you might consider importing them into QuickBooks Online.

You will need to have the items (with relevant information ) in a spreadsheet. By downloading the sample file, you can see the order of the columns and the naming conventions. To avoid error, it’s advised to simply fill in your item information into the sample file. Once you’re done, save the file in a location where you can find it.

The columns included in the sample file will depend on the options you choose when setting up the company (in Account and Settings).

When you’re ready to upload, go to Sales Center and select the Products and Services tab. Choose “Import a file.”

Browse for the saved spreadsheet and select “Open.”

Ensure that all item information is in the correct fields and click “Import.”

Also, here’s a handy tip:

If you want to update your pricing, across-the-board, you can export a product and services list. Then, you can update prices in a spreadsheet and re-import.

Delete a QuickBooks Online product or service

Is your Products and Services list getting cluttered with obsolete items?

You can reduce the clutter by deleting them. Technically, you’re making them “Inactive.” But, the effect is the same.

To do so, click the checkbox on the left-hand side of the page. Then, at the top, select the Batch actions dropdown. Select “Make inactive” then click “Yes” to confirm.

Change the columns in the Products and Services list

quickbooks online products and services change columns
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Another action you can take if you feel like the Products and Services list is too cluttered is to remove columns. You can also add them too.

To do so, click the gear icon. Not the one in the far upper right, the one above the Action heading on the right side of the list.

Here, you’ll see every available column (after you click “Show more”). Click the checkboxes to toggle them on/off.

You can also determine how many rows you’d like to see in the Products and Services list. Plus you can “Compact” the list and “Group by category.”

QuickBooks Online products and services

With your products and services set up, maybe you’re ready to run some periodic sales promotions? Read this post to see how to do that in QBO.

Do you have any other tips or tricks for managing your products and services in QuickBooks Online?

Talk to me on Twitter!

QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts Setup & Optimization

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A customized QBO Chart of Accounts will help ensure that your financial reporting tells you what you need to know to run your small business.

Setting up the Chart of Accounts helps small businesses get off on the right foot in QuickBooks Online. Doing so will help you avoid reporting errors and confusion. A customized QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts will help you run better reporting. This will help you manage your small business more effectively.

Many people don’t even know what a Chart of Accounts is. Those who do, usually don’t want anything to do with it. It’s a technical accounting task and it seems complicated.

Your (or your bookkeeper/accountant’s) answers to the QuickBooks Online startup questions will determine your default Chart of Accounts. Customizations should still be made to make sure it suits your needs in the future.

What is the QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts?

A Chart of Accounts is the collection of the categories that make up your business’ financial statements. Every financial transaction your business creates ends up in one (or more) categories.

Examples of categories are:

  • Income
    • Product sales
    • Service sales
    • Discounts
  • Expenses
    • Cost of sales
      • Material
      • Labor
      • Overhead
    • Marketing
    • Your salary
  • Assets
    • Cash
    • Accounts receivable
    • Inventory
    • Equipment
    • Real estate
  • Liabilities
    • Accounts payable
    • Loans outstanding
  • Equity
    • Common stock
    • Retained earnings
quickbooks online navigate to chart of accounts
Click to enlarge
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Where do I find the Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online?

Hover over Accounting in the left-hand menu. Select Chart of Accounts.

quickbooks online left menu chart of accounts
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Customizing the QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts

A customized Chart of Accounts in QBO will allow your financial statements to better convey valuable information. Having titled accounts, in the correct order, will prioritize information. Additionally, it reduces the chance of errors and confusion.

Some accounts can not be changed. Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Accounts Payable(A/P), for example.

Other accounts will be created depending on the settings you choose.

If you create a new account, you’ll be asked to specify an Account and Detail Type. This is very important! What you choose will determine what financial statement this account shows up on. You don’t want a Liability account appearing on the Income Statement. Or an Expense account reflecting as Equity on the Balance Sheet.

New accounts

quickbooks online chart of accounts create new
Click to enlarge
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

While in the Chart of Accounts, select the green “New” box in the upper-right corner.

The Account Type you select will give you different options for Detail Type.

Select the Account Type and Detail Type that are most appropriate.

If you would like to Name the account something different, you can do so. A Description can also be entered if you’d like to give more clarification.

Do consider making new accounts for each checking, savings, credit card, and loan account. Also, for your major sources of revenue and expenses. You’ll be glad you have these itemized when you run your financial statements.

Sub-accounts

Sub-accounts break down the balance in an account into subtotals. For instance, a restaurant might have an Equipment account with a balance of $30,000. The Equipment account might have two sub-accounts with balances as follows:

Vehicles: $20,000
Oven: $10,000

The use of sub-accounts allows you to run summary statements and detailed statements depending on how deep you want to dive.

Editing existing accounts

Accounts can be edited by clicking the dropdown arrow (▼) in the Action column. The arrow will be next to View register or Run report. Click “Edit” to make changes.

Some changes will not be allowed by QuickBooks Online. Others will give you a warning that accounting/reporting will be affected.

Think about renaming accounts so that they better reflect your business. Also, don’t hesitate to delete those that you won’t need.

quickbooks online edit chart of accounts
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Deleting/making accounts inactive

You might not need all the default accounts. Or, if you’ve been in business for a while, you might have accounts that you no longer need.

There’s a sweet spot for the number of accounts you should have. Just enough detail to give you the information you need. Yet, not so many accounts that your financial statements are overly bloated.

You can make accounts inactive by selecting the dropdown arrow (▼) in the Action column. Select “Make inactive.” Remember that not all accounts can be deleted.

If you find yourself regretting the deletion of an account, you can restore it. Just click the gear icon above the Action header and check the “Include inactive” box. Find your mistakenly deleted account and click “Make active.” It’s like it never happened…

quickbooks online restore deleted account
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Merging accounts

Maybe, at one time, you thought you wanted two similar, but distinct accounts? But, you came to realize that the distinction was unnecessary.

No worries, accounts can be merged. But, keep in mind that this is a permanent change!

Simply copy the Name of the account you want to keep. Paste that name into the account you don’t need anymore. Make sure the Account and Detail Type are the same. Also, if applicable, make sure that the same parent account is specified.

That’s it! Your Chart of Accounts is now a little less cluttered!

quickbooks online merging accounts confirm

Other tips for optimizing your Chart of Accounts

Once in awhile review your Chart of Accounts to make sure it is still set up to serve you best. Here are some things to review (Credit):

  1. Note accounts that have a $0 or very low balance – consider deleting or merging
  2. Review all account names to ensure that they are accurate and descriptive
  3. Create parent/sub-account relationships where appropriate

QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts

Are there any other tips or tricks you use to make sure your Chart of Accounts is optimized?

Talk to me on Twitter!

Yes, You Can Have More Than One QuickBooks Online Company

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qbo settings featured

When you create a new QuickBooks Online company, take the time to review the settings and make sure your business gets off on the right foot.

Account & Settings is where a small business owner can customize their QBO experience. From communications with vendors and customers to detailed accounting settings. Reviewing these options will allow you to convey the image you want to your customers and give you the information you need to manage your business.

One account, multiple QuickBooks Online companies

You can have multiple QuickBooks Online companies under one account. Each company will need its own subscription plan.

If you currently have multiple companies under multiple accounts, you can merge them.

Here’s how:

  1. Sign in with the account you no longer want to use
  2. Send an invite to the account you do want to use
    1. From the company you want to switch accounts on
    2. Choose “Company Admin” as the user type
  3. Open the email for the account you want to use – click the invite link

If you can’t send an invite, you don’t have the correct administrative privileges.

QuickBooks Online settings

Click the gear icon in the upper-right

Select Account & Settings.

quickbooks online account & settings click gear icon
Click to enlarge
Credit: qbo.intuit.com

Company settings

These fields are pretty straightforward. They will appear on documents such as invoices, sales receipts, and customer estimates.

All of this is required, so I would suggest filling all applicable fields completely.

Company name – Pretty self-explanatory. You’ll enter your EIN/SSN here too.

Company type – LLC, Sole Proprietor, Corporation, etc… Also, your industry will be entered here.

Contact info – Email, phone, and website.

Address – Includes company, customer-facing, and legal address.

company settings
Credit: qbo-intuit.com

Sales settings

Customize– Choose a template for your invoices. Also, specify payment options and write a subject line for emailed invoices.

Sales form content – Payment terms are entered here. Other information you want to be included on invoices can also be specified. Things like delivery methods, shipping fields, and custom fields.

Products and services – Add columns for SKUs, quantity, and rates to sales forms. If you want, you can also add rules regarding discounts for particular customers here. Don’t forget to turn on inventory while updating this field too!

Progress Invoicing – Set up customer billing for long-term projects – if applicable.

Messages – Customize the text in emailed invoices. This is also where you’d enter email addresses to cc or Bcc invoices to.

Reminders – Similar to Messages. You’ll set up follow-up communication emails here.

Online delivery – Specify if you want your invoices in PDF, HTML, or plain-text format. If you choose to not Attach sales form as pdf, you can take advantage of QuickBooks Online’s tracking functionality for online invoicing.

Statements – These are sent to customers to summarize all outstanding invoice balances. You can decide if you want all of the detail shown for each invoice, or just a single line.

Taking the time to customize the appearance of your invoices will help them stand out. So, consider taking the time to work through these fields.

create new quickbooks online company sales settings
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Expense settings

Bills and expenses

Show Items table on expense and purchase forms – Turning this option “On” allows you to see the Items grid when viewing purchase transactions. This is good because it allows you to view reports related to product and service purchases. Note that this option is only available if you have a QuickBooks Online Plus subscription.

Track expenses and items by customer – If you turn this “On,” you’ll be able to select customers when entering expense transactions. This will help you tie costs directly to customers. Also, only available with a QuickBooks Online Plus subscription.

Make expenses and items billable – With this option “On,” you can take expenses and turn right around and bill customers for them. For example, if your customer reimburses for travel expenses, then you would want to utilize this feature. The ability to add a default markup and/or sales tax rate is also available. Again, only available with a QuickBooks Online Plus subscription.

Default bill payment terms – Gives you the option of specifying a default for payment terms. Useful for helping to manage cash flow if your vendor doesn’t set its own terms.

Purchase orders

Use purchase orders – Allows you to add another level of tracking for purchases. Turning this “On” will let you create custom fields in purchase orders. Also, you can automate the creation of serial numbers and transaction numbers. Only available with a QuickBooks Online Plus subscription.

Messages

Default email message sent with purchase orders – If you decide to use the purchase order feature, this is where you can enter a custom message to appear at the bottom of every PO.

expense settings
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Payment settings

In order to accept payments from an emailed invoice, in person, or over the phone, you will need to create a QuickBooks Payments merchant account.

There are two plans to choose from.

  • The first has no monthly fee, but you’ll pay a higher percentage rate per transaction
  • The other plan has a monthly fee, but a lower percentage rate per transaction

With a merchant account, you can take American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.

With a merchant account, you can include a “Pay Now” button with your emailed invoices. This will allow customers to make immediate payment. They can do so with a credit card or via ACH. If they choose ACH, there is no fee to you.

If you use the mobile app, you can take payments via a card reader attached to your phone.

Another big advantage of using a QuickBooks Payments merchant account is that every time you get paid, the accounting transactions get made too! Plus, payments are automatically matched with invoices.

Oh, and if you’re using a bookkeeper/accountant, they can possibly get a discounted rate for the merchant account.

If you have an existing merchant account, you can just connect it to your new QuickBooks Online company.

Advanced settings

As the name implies, this is where you can tweak the finer points of your QuickBooks Online account. Unless you have a good grasp of what you’re doing, you might leave these settings to your bookkeeper/accountant. Make sure they know you well if you get third-party help though. The combination of settings you use here is highly dependent on the nature of your business.

These settings can be changed at any time. It’s best to address them when you set up your new QuickBooks Online company.

Accounting

Accounting – Specify the first month of your fiscal year and income-tax year. Plus, if you want to use an accrual or cash-based accounting method. This is also where you will close your books and set your password.

Chart of Accounts – Here, you can opt to use GL account number and set defaults for things like billable expenses, discounts, and shipping.

Other advanced settings

Categories – This setting is where you specify if you want to Track Class or Track Location. Turning this on will include a special field on your forms. Classes can be almost anything you want. For instance salespeople, partners, lines of business, and departments. Location tracking allows you to track inventory by warehouse, area, aisle, bin, etc.

Automation – If you’d like to populate fields on forms based on information entered previously, you can turn this option on. This can save time if you find yourself entering the same information repeatedly.

Projects – Some businesses are more project-based. Contractors, for instance. If you utilize this feature you can track sales, expenses, and timesheets by project.

Time tracking – This setting allows you to add a Service field to timesheets. Doing so will match employee on-the-clock time with services provided to customers. The billing rate and first day of the workweek are entered here too.

Currency – Conducting business in multi-currency is available in QuickBooks Online. Be careful with this setting, though. Once it’s turned on, it can’t be turned off. Extra fields will be added to your QBO database. If you’re importing data, this must be turned on before the import. Finally, you can’t change your home currency. If you conduct business in other currencies, then this setting will obviously be useful.

Other preferences – These are settings that don’t fit in any other category. Things like date and number formats. You can also dictate how you want to address customers (donors, clients, customers, etc.). Plus, be sure to turn on the option that warns you if duplicate bill or check numbers are used.

create new quickbooks online company advanced settings
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Create new QuickBooks Online company

That’s a summary of the settings that you should review when you create a new QuickBooks Online company.

Next, read my post on how to navigate QBO.

3 Ways To Navigate QuickBooks Online Including the QBO App

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navigating quickbooks online featured

“Where is the navigation bar in QuickBooks Online?” QBO and the QuickBooks app have two primary ways of navigating data:

  1. The left-hand menu
  2. The dashboard “cards.”

Many of the topics in these menus will have sub-topics. Navigating QuickBooks Online (and the app) is fairly simple once you familiarize yourself with the layout. Knowing how to navigate this software will help you do what you need to do and find what you’re looking for.

Accounting is the language of business (Source). So, your books are the story of your small business. This story, like all others, will have twists and turns, peaks, and valleys. Hopefully, when the story is finally finished, the ending will be a happy one.

Check out the Navigating QuickBooks Online Web Story.

Several options for navigating QuickBooks Online

A lot of what you do in QBO can be accessed in several different ways.

There are two primary means of getting where you need to be in QBO – the left-hand navigation bar and the Dashboard.

home screen
Click to enlarge
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1. Left-hand navigation bar

The left-hand navigation bar is organized by business function. The topics are listed below.

Clicking on some of these topics will expand your options into sub-topics.

  • Dashboard
  • Banking
    • Banking
    • Rules
    • Receipts
  • Expenses
    • Expenses
    • Vendors
  • Sales
    • Overview
    • All Sales
    • Invoices
    • Customer
    • Products and Services
  • Projects
  • Workers
    • Employees
    • Contractors
  • Reports
    • Standard
    • Custom reports
    • Management reports
  • Taxes
  • Mileage
  • Accounting
    • Chart of Accounts
    • Reconcile
  • My Accountant
  • Live Bookkeeping.
navigating quickbooks online left hand menu options

2. The Dashboard

This is the first screen you’ll see when you log in to QuickBooks Online. It is a snapshot of your most critical business information. Click on any of the Dashboard “cards” to open up a tab with further detail.

The cards (and tabs) are:

  • Invoices
    • Overview
    • All Sales
    • Invoices
    • Customers
    • Products and Services
  • Expenses
    • Expenses
    • Vendors
  • Profit and Loss
    • Profit and Loss Report
  • Sales

This information is conveyed as data and graphs. Bank accounts are also shown.

navigating quickbooks online dashboard options

Navigating QuickBooks Online’s mobile app

Owning a small business means that you wear many hats. It also means that you aren’t (probably) spending your entire day in front of your computer.

Maybe you’re too exhausted at the end of the day to sit at that desk and handle your accounting. QuickBooks Online gives you another option to access your books. That’s through their mobile app.

The app is free with a QuickBooks Online subscription. You’ll have access to some of the most critical functions. For example Company, Contacts, Transactions, Reports, plus Help and Settings.

quickbooks app menu
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When you first open the app, you’ll see your Activity screen. This will show your business’s cash flow transactions.

Click on Customers will show you all of the activity for a particular customer. Plus, you can easily call, email, or see a map of the customer’s address.

The Expenses option allows you to take a picture of receipts and you can capture the expense on the spot.

The QuickBooks app menu options are:

  • Home
  • Note & Attachments
  • Products & Services
  • Payroll
  • Customers
  • Vendors
  • Banking
  • Chart of Accounts
  • Expenses
  • Estimates
  • Invoices
  • Invoice Payments
  • Sales Receipts
  • Bank Deposits
  • Profit & Loss
  • Balance Sheet
  • Settings
  • Help & Feedback
navigating quickbooks online app menu dashboard

The QuickBooks app dashboard options are as follows:

  • Profit and Loss
  • Expenses
  • Account Balances

Navigating QuickBooks Online

QBO gives you multiple entry points for finding the information you need. Also, remember that tools and settings can be accessed from the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner.

The Dashboard is the first screen you’ll see when you log in to QBO. This screen is comprised of “cards” that give you a snapshot into relevant aspects of your business. Each card will show data and a graph.

The app allows you to access the primary functions of QBO via your smartphone. One of the main features of the app is the ability to take a picture of receipts in order to create an Expense transaction. The app is free with a QBO subscription.

Do you use the QuickBooks app?

What topics are too hard to find in QBO?

Join the conversation on Twitter!

Market Size for a Business Plan – 2 Methods to Gauge It

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In order to estimate how much in sales your startup can hope for, you’re going to have to estimate the market size for your product/service(s). This is critical for your startup because it will give you an idea of your business’ potential. It will also help you plan for capacity-related issues.

2 approaches to estimating the market size for a business plan

I cover this topic more in-depth in a post on market size and growth rate on my sister site, InvestSomeMoney.com.

The context there is focused on investing your money in a publicly-traded company. Though that’s a little different than what we are doing here, the fundamental principles remain the same.

The goal is to determine how many potential customers there are for a business and how much they are willing to spend. In order to do that, we can employ two general methods. These methods are a top-down analysis and a bottom-up approach to understand market size and growth.

One way to think about this is that a bottom-up approach uses multiplication and a top-down analysis uses division to arrive at an estimated market size.

After writing on this subject several times, I’ve come up with another way to think about these methods. I think a bottom-up approach should look internally, at things like unit size and capacity. A top-down analysis should look externally at things like demographics and market research.

Looking at this from these two different perspectives opens the door for further analysis. When you’re done, you should know whether you can expect to be capacity constrained or demand constrained. You’ll also start to flesh out some ideas that will help you further into your business plan.

If you do an analysis with both approaches, you can compare the results. For instance, if your bottom-up approach is higher, you’ll know that you could have excess capacity issues. You need to consider scaling that back or otherwise expanding your product/service offering to drum up additional demand.

Conversely, if your top-down analysis reveals that demand is in excess of capacity, then you are leaving money on the table. Time to start thinking about what you can do to scale up and capture as much of the market as possible.

Let’s start by taking a look at a bottom-up approach to estimating the market size for a business plan.

Bottom-up approach example

On my sister site, InvestSomeMoney.com, I researched three real-life examples of a bottom up market sizing approach. In those examples, you’ll see that they sometimes mix in a little top-down analysis with their bottom-up approach and vice versa. There’s no rule against doing that, but I would rather look at things from two totally different perspectives.

When using a bottom-up approach, try to start with the most simplistic piece of firm information you can get your hands on. Then, start to build on it with other information, or the best guess you can muster.

You can think of a bottom-up approach as one that focuses on how much and how often customers will buy.

This information might be something you have internally. Or, it might be from the information you found by researching online. Start with a single “serving size” of your product/service. Then, think about how often a customer would buy. Work your way up from there.

A bottom-up approach for my business plan

As mentioned in earlier posts about business plans – I’m building one as I write these. My theoretical product is an all-natural topical hair loss treatment.

In the post linked above, I performed something of a top-down analysis of market size for a business plan. I later discovered that I was operating with incomplete information.

There’s still a lot to consider regarding packaging volume and dosage. That will require more thought. But, for the time being, I’m going to estimate the volume of a one month’s supply and the daily dosage to be the same as Rogaine. If that changes as I progress with my business plan, I can easily circle back to this and plug in different numbers.

With Rogaine as my benchmark, I know that a dosage of my product would be 1 mL. The product would be used twice a day. My product would come in 2 oz (60 ml) bottles. Each bottle would be one month’s supply, as I said.

Thinking about capacity

Okay. Now that I have a grasp on the package size – what about blending and packaging? If this idea were to come to fruition, I don’t picture myself blending batches in my bathtub and filling bottles with a ladle and a funnel. I would need access to some sort of industrial equipment.

Fortunately, a quick internet search shows that there is no shortage of contract blenders and packagers out there. Especially for food and supplements. What it costs, remains to be seen. That’s an issue for another time. For now, I just want to get an idea of how much I could manufacture.

This company claims it can blend 1.25 million pounds per workday. We’ll assume, for now, this represents the average contract blender/packager. What does that translate into in terms of 2 oz bottles?

First of all, I wouldn’t need all 26 of their kettles. Only one, tops, especially at startup. So, if we divide the 1.25 million pounds by 26, we get a per kettle capacity of about 48,000 lbs per day.

Pounds are a weight unit of measure (UOM) and ounces are a volume UOM. To make the conversion, we’re going to have to do some more estimating.

Water weighs a little over 8 lbs/gallon. We’ll assume my product has roughly the same density.

8 lbs ÷ 128 oz (per gallon) = .0625 lbs/oz. With each bottle containing 2 oz, we know that it’ll weigh approximately .125 lbs/bottle.

This means that with one of this company’s kettles, I could blend 384,615 bottles worth of product per day. 96.5 million bottles per year. At an approximate sales price of $7.50 per bottle, that translates into nearly $725 million in revenue per year.

Okay, I’ve looked at things from a bottom-up, capacity-focused approach. Let’s now consider a top-down, demographic-focused analysis.

Market Size for a Business Plan capacity

Top-down analysis

Not surprisingly, I also wrote a post on InvestSomeMoney.com with examples of a top-down analysis to determine market size for a business plan. When you read through it, you might notice that some of the examples use Census data (or something similar). They take big chunks of information and start narrowing down their market from there.

Which brings us to three important terms for performing a top-down analysis. These are:

Total addressable market (TAM)
Serviceable available market (SAM)
and
Serviceable obtainable market (SOM)

A SOM is a fraction of the SAM. In turn, a SAM is part of the TAM.

The TAM can be thought of as every potential customer that you can reach geographically. The SAM is what’s left when you niche down a little into the population that is a good fit for your unique selling proposition. Finally, the SOM represents the percentage of the SAM you can realistically expect to take.

It’s unlikely that you will ever capture 100% of the SAM. Even in a specific niche, you can’t be everything to everyone. That’s alright, though. The goal of this exercise is to make realistic estimates so that you have a sound business plan to work from.

When doing a top-down analysis, start with a large population or an overall industry size. From there, narrow down your customer until you arrive at your SOM. It helps to have a “customer avatar” in mind before starting a top-down analysis so you know where to niche down to.

I would suggest you perform a business plan demand analysis first to get a crystal clear picture of what that avatar is. You might think you know it intuitively. But you might be surprised at what you find – like I was!

A top-down analysis for my business plan

I know that not every person in the U.S. (much less the world) is going to want or need an all-natural topical supplement for hair loss. Who might though???

I’ll refer back to my handy-dandy business plan demand analysis (linked above) to see what I can find.

Here, I’m reminded of the ages that men and women first started experiencing hair loss. I’m reminded of the percentage that has sought any sort of treatment. Finally, I’m given an idea of what types of treatment they have tried.

A quick visit to Data.Census.Gov and I find table S0101, which gives me the U.S. population by age and sex. I customize and filter the table real quick. Then, I copy and paste the data I need into my spreadsheet.

Market Size for a Business Plan data census gov

Next step is to narrow these numbers down. I’ll use the “regular” numbers and the pessimistic numbers from sensitivity analysis from my business plan demand workbook.

I want to know the percentage of men who have had hair loss and tried any sort of treatment. Then, I want to go deeper and estimate the number that has found supplements to be effective. I’ll do this for both the most-likely and the worst-case scenarios. On the women’s side, I’ll do, more or less, the same thing.

TAM and SAM

You’ll see that I didn’t use the same age ranges for men and women. I assumed that males would start experiencing hair loss earlier, but would also stop caring about it earlier too.

The age range for males in my TAM was 20 – 54. For females, it was 25 – 59. This translates into a TAM of 151 million people in the U.S.

For the SAM, my worst-case scenario estimated that .9% of the male population in the target age ranges would be part of my market. 1.54% of females in the target age ranges were also assumed to be part of my market. This translated into a worst-case SAM of 1.8 million people.

As for my most-likely SAM, I estimated that 1.41% of males and 2.4% of females in the target age ranges were potential customers. This resulted in a SAM of 2.88 million people. Over a million more potential customers.

SOM

SOM is tricky.

Who’s to say what percentage of the SAM my company could capture? Obviously, it would start at 0% and work its way up from there. Where would it stop though?

It will depend, in part, on the number of companies vying for this niche. As I often do, I will refer to the Pareto principle. The Pareto principle states that 20% of the inputs will be responsible for 80% of the outputs. Put another way, 20% of the companies will have roughly 80% of the market share.

I’ll refer back, again, to my post on business plan demand. In it, I found three direct substitutions for my topical hair loss product. I won’t include Minoxidil (Rogaine) in that group, because of its unnatural chemistry.

Again, without getting too mired in math, I estimate that there are approximately thirty companies in the topical hair loss supplement space. This was a quick and dirty estimate based on the results of an internet search.

Six of those thirty companies probably control 80% of the market. That leaves 4.2% (1 ÷ 24) of the remaining 20% as my short-term SOM. Obviously, if my product were to take off, that amount could grow considerably and could approach the SAM.

What that means as far as the market size is 15K people worst-case and 24K people most-likely. At 12 bottles purchased per year, this translates into 184K and 287.5K bottles per year respectively.

Here’s a look at the spreadsheet breaking that all down:

Market Size for a Business Plan top down
Click to enlarge

Comparing a bottom-up and top-down analysis when determining market size for a business plan

Obviously, a couple hundred thousand bottles (top-down) is a far cry from 96.5 million (bottom-up). So, it would appear I will not be capacity constrained in the near future. In fact, as this startup moves forward, I need to make sure I’m not over-buying capacity. Those huge fixed costs could kill my business before it has a chance to get off the ground.

Speaking of fixed costs, the information from this analysis has given me good data to build my pro forma financials – when that time comes.

Now, at some point in the future, selling my product internationally could be an option. However, in this tiny niche, it is unlikely that I’ll ever need that much capacity for this one product.

Market size for a business plan

What were there factors I didn’t consider (but should have) when estimating my potential market size?

How might you have approached this differently?

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