QuickBooks 2005 for Dummies

409 Pages·2005·10.423 MB·English

by  Stephen L. Nelson

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QuickBooks® 2005
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
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QuickBooks® 2005
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Stephen L.Nelson,MBA,CPA
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QuickBooks®2005 For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by
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Trademarks:Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the
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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. QuickBooks is a trademark
or registered trademark of Intuit Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004115443
ISBN: 0-7645-7661-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Stephen L. Nelson,MBA, CPA, has a simple purpose in life: He wants to help
you (and people like you) manage your business finances by using comput-
ers. Oh, sure, this personal mandate won’t win him a Nobel Prize or anything,
but it’s his own little contribution to the world.
Steve’s education and experiences mesh nicely with his special purpose.
He has a BS in accounting, an MBA in finance, and a Master of Science in
taxation. He’s a CPA in Redmond, Washington. He’s an adjunct professor
of taxation (S corporations and limited liability companies) at Golden Gate
University’s graduate tax school. And, heck, he even used to work as a
senior consultant and CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co. (er, yeah, that Arthur
Andersen — but, hey, it was 20 years ago). Steve, whose books have sold
more than 4 million copies in English and have been translated into 11 other
languages, is also the bestselling author of Quicken 2004 For Dummies
(Wiley).
Dedication
To the entrepreneurs and small-business people of the world. You folks
create most of the new jobs.
Author’s Acknowledgments
Hey, reader, lots of folks spent lots of time working on this book to make
QuickBooks easier for you. You should know who these people are. You may
just possibly meet one of them someday at a produce shop, squeezing can-
taloupe, eating grapes, and looking for the perfect peach.
Those folks include my acquisitions editor, Bob Woerner; and my editors,
Teresa Artman, Kevin Kirschner, and Joey Carstensen.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services
Media Development
Project Coordinator: Emily Wichlinsky
Project Editor:Kevin Kirschner
Layout and Graphics:CarlByers, Andrea Dahl,
Senior Acquisitions Editor:Bob Woerner Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey,
Stephanie D. Jumper, Barry Offringa,
Senior Copy Editor:Teresa Artman
Jacque Roth
Technical Editor:Joey Carstensen
Proofreaders: TECHBOOKS Production
Editorial Manager:Kevin Kirschner Services
Media Development Manager: Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services
Laura Carpenter VanWinkle
Media Development Supervisor:
Richard Graves
Editorial Assistant:Amanda Foxworth
Cartoons:Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley,Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings,Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder,Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele,Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple,Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey,Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................1
Part I: Quickly into QuickBooks ....................................9
Chapter 1:QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business .................................................11
Chapter 2:Answering Mr. Wizard ..................................................................................21
Chapter 3: Populating QuickBooks with Lots of Lists ................................................45
Part II: Daily Entry Tasks ...........................................77
Chapter 4: Creating Invoices and Credit Memos .........................................................79
Chapter 5: Reeling In the Dough ..................................................................................103
Chapter 6: Paying the Bills ...........................................................................................127
Chapter 7: Inventory Magic ..........................................................................................151
Chapter 8: Keeping Your Checkbook ..........................................................................171
Chapter 9: Paying with Plastic .....................................................................................189
Part III: Stuff You Do from Time to Time ....................199
Chapter 10: Printing Checks .........................................................................................201
Chapter 11: Payroll ........................................................................................................213
Chapter 12: Building the Perfect Budget ....................................................................225
Chapter 13: Online with QuickBooks ..........................................................................233
Part IV: Housekeeping Chores ...................................245
Chapter 14:The Balancing Act ....................................................................................247
Chapter 15: Reporting on the State of Affairs ............................................................259
Chapter 16: Job Estimating, Billing, and Tracking .....................................................271
Chapter 17: File Management Tips ..............................................................................281
Chapter 18: Fixed Assets and Vehicle Lists ................................................................293
Part V: The Part of Tens ...........................................306
Chapter 19: (Almost) Ten Tips for Business Owners ................................................307
Chapter 20: Tips for Handling (Almost) Ten Tricky Situations ...............................311
Chapter 21: (Almost) Ten Secret Business Formulas ...............................................319
Part VI: Appendixes .................................................335
Appendix A: Installing QuickBooks in Ten Easy Steps .............................................337
Appendix B: If Numbers Are Your Friends .................................................................341
Appendix C:Sharing QuickBooks Files .......................................................................361
Index.......................................................................369
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Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................1
About QuickBooks ..........................................................................................1
About This Book ..............................................................................................2
What You Can Safely Ignore ...........................................................................2
What You Should Not Ignore (Unless You’re a Masochist) ........................3
Three Foolish Assumptions ...........................................................................4
How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................5
Part I: Quickly into QuickBooks ...........................................................5
Part II: Daily Entry Tasks ......................................................................5
Part III: Stuff You Do from Time to Time .............................................5
Part IV: Housekeeping Chores .............................................................5
Part V: The Part of Tens ........................................................................6
Part VI: Appendixes ...............................................................................6
Conventions Used in This Book ....................................................................6
Part I: Quickly into QuickBooks ....................................9
Chapter 1: QuickBooks: The Heart of Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Why QuickBooks? .........................................................................................11
Why you need an accounting system ...............................................12
What QuickBooks does .......................................................................12
What Explains QuickBooks’ Popularity? ....................................................14
What’s Next, Dude? .......................................................................................15
How to Succeed with QuickBooks ..............................................................16
Budget wisely, Grasshopper ..............................................................16
Don’t focus on features .......................................................................16
Outsource payroll ................................................................................18
Get professional help ..........................................................................18
Use both the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet .....19
Chapter 2:Answering Mr. Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Getting Ready for the Big Interview ............................................................21
The big decision ..................................................................................22
The trial balance of the century ........................................................23
The mother of all scavenger hunts ...................................................26
Doing the EasyStep Interview ......................................................................27