QuickBooks Online For Dummies

YOUR ONE-STOP GUIDE TO TAKING YOUR BOOKS INTO THE CLOUDQuickBooks Online For Dummies is the go-to for cloud-based small business accounting. Online accounting could be saving you time and money. Newcomers to QuickBooks Online will love this updated edition of the classic guide to making the most of mobile accounting, while accountants will appreciate the practice management features in QuickBooks Online Accountant. Dummies makes it easy to learn the program’s key features, including getting started, creating invoices and credit memos, recording sales receipts, recording and paying bills, setting up inventory items, tracking business accounts and credit cards, printing checks, processing payroll and preparing payroll tax returns, building a budget, reconciling bank accounts, generating financial reports, job estimating, billing, and tracking, backing up your data, simplifying tax preparation, and beyond. Phew!

* Subscribe to QuickBooks online and enjoy the enhanced security and features of cloud-based accounting
* Learn all the ins and outs of the popular accounting software and transfer your data from QuickBooks Desktop or from spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or Google Docs
* Keep solid records, prepare accurate reports, and budget to identify cost savings
* Access your accounting information from anywhere, on any device
* Analyze your accounting reports in Microsoft Excel with PivotTables and Power Query
* Manage your accounting or bookkeeping practice with ease with the free QuickBooks Online Accountant version

This book is perfect for small business owners, managers, and employees who utilize QuickBooks Online and would like more fluid access to their business accounting. Bookkeepers and accountants would appreciate this quintessential resource as well. DAVID H. RINGSTROM, CPA, is President of Accounting Advisors, Inc., a spreadsheet and database consulting firm. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a technical editor for the For Dummies book series, and the author or co-author of five books, including previous editions of QuickBooks Online For Dummies.INTRODUCTION 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

PART 1: GETTING STARTED WITH QUICKBOOKS ONLINE 5

CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO QUICKBOOKS ONLINE 7

What Is QuickBooks Online? 8

Checking on QuickBooks Pricing 10

QuickBooks subscription pricing 10

Payroll and time track pricing 11

Other add-on pricing 13

Comparing QuickBooks Features 13

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed 14

QuickBooks Simple Start 14

QuickBooks Online Essentials 15

QuickBooks Online Plus 15

Usage limits for QuickBooks Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus 16

QuickBooks Online Advanced 17

QuickBooks Online Accountant 18

CHAPTER 2: CREATING A QUICKBOOKS ONLINE COMPANY 19

Signing Up for QuickBooks Online 19

Exploring Your New Company 22

Reviewing the QuickBooks interface 25

Updating the Chart of Accounts 28

Editing or inactivating accounts 33

Adding account numbers 36

Importing a chart of accounts 37

Reviewing Company Settings 38

Company preferences 39

Billing & Subscription preferences 39

Usage statistics 40

Sales preferences 40

Customizing sales forms 41

Expenses preferences 44

Payments preferences 44

Time preferences 45

Advanced preferences 45

QuickBooks Online Apps 46

QuickBooks Online Desktop app 47

QuickBooks Online Mobile apps 48

QuickBooks App Store 48

QuickBooks Labs 48

CHAPTER 3: IMPORTING FROM QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP AND SAGE 50 51

Knowing the Ins and Outs of Converting Data 51

Using an online tool to migrate QuickBooks Desktop online 54

Using an online service to migrate Sage 50 to QuickBooks Online 55

Double-Checking Your Data After Conversion 56

PART 2: MANAGING YOUR BOOKS 59

CHAPTER 4: CUSTOMER, VENDOR, AND EMPLOYEE LISTS 61

Adding New Records to a List 61

Creating a new record 62

Using customer types 66

Working with Records 67

Searching lists 68

Accessing attachments 69

Switching from record to record 70

Sorting a list on the Customers and Vendors page 71

Working with a batch of records 71

Changing Settings for Lists 72

Accessing Other Lists 73

Importing Customers and Vendors 74

Downloading the sample file 75

Importing lists 77

Exporting lists to Excel or Google Sheets 80

Introducing Spreadsheet Sync 81

Installing the Spreadsheet Sync add-in 82

Managing list records with Spreadsheet Sync 84

Uninstalling Spreadsheet Sync 86

CHAPTER 5: MANAGING SALES TAX, SERVICES, AND INVENTORY 87

Setting Up Sales Tax 88

Understanding sales tax liability 88

Enabling the Automated Sales Tax feature 89

Converting sales tax from QuickBooks Desktop 91

Switching from manual to automated sales tax 91

Exploring the Economic Nexus Feature 92

Custom sales tax rates 93

Auditing your customer list 94

Reporting and paying sales taxes 95

Working with Products and Services 97

Adding inventory, non-inventory, and services items 98

Reordering inventory items 103

Creating inventory adjustment transactions 104

Establishing categories 108

Changing item types 110

Simplifying your invoicing process 110

Using pricing rules 111

Working with bundles 112

Importing and Exporting Products and Services 114

Downloading the sample file 114

Importing lists 116

Exporting lists to Excel or Google Sheets 116

Managing Products and Services with Spreadsheet Sync 117

CHAPTER 6: INVOICING CUSTOMERS AND RECEIVING PAYMENTS 121

Getting Oriented with Sales Transactions 122

Creating Invoices 123

Configuring Automatic Subtotals 129

Creating Billable Time Entries 131

Entering time activities 131

Adding billable time and expenses to an invoice 134

Printing a Batch of Invoices or Packing Slips 136

Recording Customer Payments 137

Understanding the Payments to Deposit account 138

Recording invoice payments 138

Entering a sales receipt 140

Recording Bank Deposits 142

Keeping Tabs on Invoice Status and Receiving Payment 144

Giving Money Back to a Customer 146

Recording a credit memo 147

Issuing a refund to a customer 148

Writing Off Bad Debt 151

Setting up a bad debt account and item 151

Creating bad debt write-off transactions 152

Reviewing and Creating Transactions with Spreadsheet Sync 153

CHAPTER 7: PAYING BILLS AND WRITING CHECKS 157

Looking at Expense and Bill Payment Methods 157

Understanding the Transaction Types 158

Entering an Expense 159

Writing a Check 163

Entering a Bill 164

Paying Bills 166

Paying two or more bills at once 166

Writing a check to pay a bill 169

Recording Vendor Credits and Refunds 171

Entering a vendor credit 171

Applying vendor credits against bills 172

Recording vendor refund checks and payments 172

Managing Recurring Transactions 174

Reviewing and Creating Transactions with Spreadsheet Sync 179

CHAPTER 8: PAYING EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS 181

Getting Started with QuickBooks Payroll 182

Turning on QuickBooks Payroll 182

Setting payroll preferences 187

Setting up payroll taxes 189

Preparing Payroll 191

Recording payroll information 192

Enabling employee time tracking 193

Reviewing and generating payroll checks 194

Establishing or correcting payroll exemptions 197

Printing payroll reports 199

Managing Payroll Taxes 200

Paying payroll taxes 200

Viewing payroll tax forms 202

Paying Contractors 202

Setting up 1099-eligible contractors 203

Paying contractors 205

Reporting on 1099 vendor payments 205

Preparing 1099s 207

CHAPTER 9: WORKING IN REGISTERS 209

Understanding Registers 209

Customizing the Register View 211

Entering and Editing Transactions 214

Entering transactions 215

Editing a transaction 219

Performing Other Register Activities 220

Sorting transactions 220

Filtering transactions 220

Printing a register 222

Exporting a register 223

CHAPTER 10: ADMINISTERING BANK AND CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS 225

Setting Up a Bank or Credit Card Account 225

Making a Bank Deposit 228

Making a Credit Card Payment 230

Recording a Credit Card Credit 231

Reconciling a Bank or Credit Card Account 233

CHAPTER 11: SYNCHRONIZING WITH FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 239

Connecting QuickBooks Accounts to Financial Institutions 239

Connecting or not connecting 240

Accessing bank and credit card–related pages in QuickBooks 241

Being Direct: Connecting a Bank or Credit Card Account 244

Managing uploaded or downloaded activity 247

Reviewing transactions 249

Automating downloaded activity with rules 253

Fixing mistakes in uploaded or downloaded transactions 259

Using Indirect Connections to Financial Institutions 261

Downloading Web Connect and text files 261

Opening text files in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets 262

Editing text files 263

Saving CSV files 265

Uploading Web Connect and CSV files 266

Connecting to Online Providers through App Transactions 269

Converting Paper Receipts to Electronic Transactions 269

CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH PURCHASE ORDERS, ESTIMATES, PROJECTS, AND TAGS 275

Working with Purchase Orders 276

Enabling the purchase order feature 277

Creating purchase orders 278

Copying an existing purchase order 281

Receiving items against purchase orders 281

Closing purchase orders 284

Tracking open purchase orders 285

Working with Estimates 286

Preparing an estimate 286

Copying an estimate to a purchase order 288

Converting an estimate to an invoice 291

Copying an existing estimate 293

Creating a progress invoice for an estimate 294

Managing Projects 296

Turning on the Project feature 296

Contrasting projects with sub-customers 298

Creating a new project 299

Adding transactions to a project 302

Reporting on projects 302

Updating project status 304

Deleting projects 304

Tagging Transactions 305

Creating Tag Groups and Tags 307

Tagging existing transactions 308

Tagging new transactions 310

Disabling the Tags feature 310

PART 3: BUDGETING, REPORTING, AND ANALYSIS 311

CHAPTER 13: CREATING BUDGETS IN QUICKBOOKS 313

Creating a Budget 313

Importing Budgets 316

Basing Spreadsheet Budgets on Actuals 318

Deleting Budgets 320

CHAPTER 14: UTILIZING QUICKBOOKS REPORTS 321

Looking at the Reports Page 321

Finding the Report You Want 323

Examining standard reports 323

Finding customized reports 324

Reviewing management reports 325

Contemplating Multi-Co reporting 326

Searching for a report 327

Printing a Report 327

Customizing Reports 329

Saving a customized report 332

Taking actions with custom reports 334

Exporting Reports from QuickBooks 336

Exporting to Excel 336

Exporting to PDF 338

Exporting to Google Sheets 338

Custom Reporting with Spreadsheet Sync 339

CHAPTER 15: ANALYZING QUICKBOOKS DATA IN EXCEL 343

Automatically Opening Excel Reports Exported from QuickBooks 344

Sifting through Excel Reports 346

Filtering data 348

Guarding against a tricky trap 350

Slicing your data 351

Sorting data 354

Creating Custom Reporting with Pivot Tables 355

Understanding pivot table requirements 355

Adding fields 356

Removing fields 356

Spreadsheet Sync 358

PART 4: FEATURES FOR ACCOUNTANTS 359

CHAPTER 16: INTRODUCING QB ACCOUNTANT 361

Getting Started with QuickBooks Online Accountant 362

Setting Up Your Team 363

Assigning lead accountants 366

Examining the QB Accountant Interface 367

Using Your Practice commands 368

Toolbar commands 369

Adding Companies to the Client List 371

Inviting you to be the accountant user 371

Adding a client to your practice 373

Accepting primary admin rights from your client 375

Transferring primary admin rights to your client 376

Working with the Client List 377

Customizing the Client List 378

Removing Clients from Your Client List 379

ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing versus ProAdvisor Revenue Share 380

Signing Up for ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing 381

Adding existing clients to your consolidated billing 382

Removing clients from your consolidated billing 383

Stopping consolidated billing 384

Signing up for ProAdvisor Revenue Share 384

Using Your Free QuickBooks Online Advanced Subscription 386

CHAPTER 17: MANAGING YOUR CLIENTS’ BOOKS 387

Opening a Client’s Company 387

Utilizing the Client Overview page 390

Examining company setup information 393

Taking a look at the chart of accounts 396

Reviewing list information 397

Discovering QuickBooks Online Accountant Tools 398

Reviewing reports 399

Examining voided and deleted transactions 401

Looking at Books Review 404

Reclassifying transactions 408

Writing off invoices 409

Closing the books 411

Understanding the Prep for Taxes page 413

Taking a brief look at other accountant tools 419

CHAPTER 18: PRACTICE MANAGEMENT 421

Introducing the Work Page 421

Creating templates 425

Creating client requests 427

Managing projects and tasks 429

Looking at Work page views 431

Communicating with Team Members about Work 433

CHAPTER 19: AUTOMATING QUICKBOOKS ANALYSIS WITH POWER QUERY 435

Introducing Power Query 435

Connecting to QuickBooks Reports 436

Removing header rows 438

Promoting headers 439

Removing unwanted columns 440

Filtering unnecessary rows 442

Returning the data to Excel 443

Creating Self-Updating Reports 445

Setting Power Query to refresh automatically 445

Adding a total row 449

Transforming QuickBooks data 449

Unpivoting columns 451

Refreshing reports 452

PART 5: THE PART OF TENS 453

CHAPTER 20: TEN COOL CHROME SHORTCUTS PLUS TEN BONUS EXCEL SHORTCUTS 455

Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts 456

Opening and activating a new tab 456

Closing the current tab 456

Navigating to web sites faster 456

Saving open tabs as a bookmark group 457

Toggling full-screen mode 457

Opening your home page in the current tab 457

Activating a specific tab 457

Displaying the Downloads page 458

Displaying the History page 458

Creating a tab in a new profile 458

Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts 458

Switching between open documents 459

Switching between worksheet tabs 459

Closing an open workbook 459

Moving to cell A1 of a worksheet 459

Saving your work 460

Undoing your work 460

Toggling absolute or mixed references 460

Toggling Enter versus Edit mode 461

Calculating a portion of a formula 461

Summing a range of cells 461

Index 463