QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Creating Accounts and Subaccounts

The different types of accounts represent dramatically different financial animals, as described in the "Making Sense of Account Types" box. The good news is that accounts of every type share most of the same fields, so you have to remember only one procedure for creating accounts.

Note

If you look closely at the Chart of Accounts list in Figure 2-1, you'll notice that accounts fall into two main categories: those with balances and those without. If you're really on your toes, you might also notice that accounts with balances are the ones that appear on the Balance Sheet report. Accounts without balances appear on the Profit & Loss report. To learn more about financial statements and the accounts they reference, see page 371.

Creating an Account

After you've had your business for a while, you won't add new accounts very often. But you might need a new account if you start up a new line of income and want a new income account, take on a mortgage for your new office building, or want a new expense account for the ostrich infertility insurance you took out for your ostrich farm. The procedure for creating accounts is simple, which is a refreshing change from many accounting tasks:

UP TO SPEED: Adding Detail with subaccounts

Your company's travel expenses are sky-high and you want to start tracking what you spend on different types of travel, such as airfare, lodging, and limousine services. You could try creating reports that categorize expenses by vendor, ...