QuickBooks 2013 For Dummies

Getting Ready for the QuickBooks Setup

You need to complete three tasks to get ready for QuickBooks Setup:

Make an important decision about your conversion date (the date you convert from your old accounting system to QuickBooks).

Prepare a trial balance as of the conversion date.

Go on a scavenger hunt to collect a bunch of stuff that you’ll need or find handy for the interview.

The big decision

Before you fiddle with your computer or the QuickBooks software, you need to choose the date — the so-called conversion date — on which you want to begin using QuickBooks for your financial record keeping.

This decision is hugely important because the conversion date that you choose dramatically affects both the work you have to do to get QuickBooks running smoothly and the initial usefulness of the financial information that you collect and record by using QuickBooks.

You have three basic choices:

The right way: You can convert at the beginning of your accounting year (which is, in most cases, the same as the beginning of the calendar year). This way is the right way for two reasons. First, ...