Quick Books® 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Loading the Master File Lists

In This Chapter

• Setting up the Chart of Accounts List

• Setting up the Item List

• Setting up the Payroll Item List

• Setting up classes

• Setting up a Customer List

• Setting up the Vendor List

• Setting up your employees

• Setting up the Profile Lists

Setting up QuickBooks, as a practical matter, requires that you take two steps: Run the EasyStep Interview described in Book II, Chapter 1, and load the master file lists. The master file lists store information that you can use and reuse. For example, one of the master file lists describes each of your customers. And this master file of customer information includes the customer's name and address, contact information, account numbers, and so on.

In this chapter, I walk you through the process of adding information to each of the master files — or lists, as QuickBooks calls them — that you need to fill (or mostly fill) before you begin using QuickBooks on a day-to-day basis.

One important note: You don't need to completely fill your master files before you start doing anything. If you enter your active customers into the customer master file, your active vendors into the vendor master file, and so forth, that amount of information may be all you need to get started. With the information you entered through the EasyStep Interview (as described in Book II, Chapter 1) and the addition of a few more entries into key master files, you may be able to add everything else on the fly. QuickBooks enables you to add entries ...