QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies

Book description

The easy way to manage business finances

QuickBooks is known for helping their users effectively handle their financial and business management tasks, and QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies is the go-to guide for anyone looking to gain insight into the latest version of the software. It gets you up to speed on the key features of QuickBooks and small business accounting and makes managing finances a breeze. This book will help you learn all the skills you need to know, like how to invoice customers, pay vendors, manage cash and bank accounts, use activity-based costing, and write a business plan.

Written by highly qualified CPA Stephen L. Nelson, this detailed reference combines eight mini-books into one complete resource. Small business finances can be complicated, but QuickBooks 2018 is a valuable tool for getting them right—and this guide makes it easier.

  • Troubleshoot and protect your financial data
  • Utilize Cloud storage and access your information from a smartphone
  • Plan and set up a QuickBooks system
  • Make sense of double-entry bookkeeping
  • Handle your financial and business management tasks more effectively

QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies is a helpful resource for getting started with QuickBooks 2018, and a reference guide that will provide insight and answers to experienced users as well.

Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Introduction
      1. About This Book
      2. Foolish Assumptions
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond the Book
      5. Where to Go from Here
    3. Book 1: An Accounting Primer
      1. Chapter 1: Principles of Accounting
        1. The Purpose of Accounting
        2. Reviewing the Common Financial Statements
        3. The Philosophy of Accounting
        4. A Few Words about Tax Accounting
      2. Chapter 2: Double-Entry Bookkeeping
        1. The Fiddle-Faddle Method of Accounting
        2. How Double-Entry Bookkeeping Works
        3. Almost a Real-Life Example
        4. A Few Words about How QuickBooks Works
      3. Chapter 3: Special Accounting Problems
        1. Working with Accounts Receivable
        2. Recording Accounts Payable Transactions
        3. Inventory Accounting
        4. Accounting for Fixed Assets
        5. Recognizing Liabilities
        6. Closing Out Revenue and Expense Accounts
        7. One More Thing …
    4. Book 2: Getting Ready to Use QuickBooks
      1. Chapter 1: Setting Up QuickBooks
        1. Planning Your New QuickBooks System
        2. Installing QuickBooks
        3. Dealing with the Presetup Jitters
        4. Running the QuickBooks Setup Wizard
        5. Identifying the Starting Trial Balance
      2. Chapter 2: Loading the Master File Lists
        1. Setting Up the Chart of Accounts List
        2. Setting Up the Item List
        3. Working with the Price Level List
        4. Using Sales Tax Codes
        5. Setting Up a Payroll Item List
        6. Setting Up Classes
        7. Setting Up a Customer List
        8. Setting Up the Vendor List
        9. Setting Up a Fixed Assets List
        10. Setting Up a Price Level List
        11. Setting Up a Billing Rate Level List
        12. Setting Up Your Employees
        13. Setting Up an Other Names List
        14. Setting Up the Profile Lists
      3. Chapter 3: Fine-Tuning QuickBooks
        1. Accessing the Preferences Settings
        2. Setting the Accounting Preferences
        3. Setting the Bills Preferences
        4. Setting the Calendar Preferences
        5. Setting the Checking Preferences
        6. Changing the Desktop View
        7. Setting Finance Charge Calculation Rules
        8. Setting General Preferences
        9. Controlling Integrated Applications
        10. Controlling Inventory
        11. Controlling How Jobs and Estimates Work
        12. Dealing with Multiple Currencies
        13. Starting Integrated Payment Processing
        14. Controlling How Payroll Works
        15. Telling QuickBooks How Reminders Should Work
        16. Specifying Reports & Graphs Preferences
        17. Setting Sales & Customers Preferences
        18. Specifying How Sales Are Taxed
        19. Setting the Search Preferences
        20. Setting the Send Forms Preferences
        21. Fine-Tuning the Service Connection
        22. Controlling Spell Checking
        23. Controlling How 1099 Tax Reporting Works
        24. Setting Time & Expenses Preferences
    5. Book 3: Bookkeeping Chores
      1. Chapter 1: Invoicing Customers
        1. Choosing an Invoice Form
        2. Customizing an Invoice Form
        3. Invoicing a Customer
        4. Billing for Time
        5. Printing Invoices
        6. Emailing Invoices
        7. Recording Sales Receipts
        8. Recording Credit Memos
        9. Receiving Customer Payments
        10. Assessing Finance Charges
        11. Using Odds and Ends on the Customers Menu
      2. Chapter 2: Paying Vendors
        1. Creating a Purchase Order
        2. Recording the Receipt of Items
        3. Simultaneously Recording the Receipt and the Bill
        4. Entering a Bill
        5. Paying Bills
        6. Reviewing the Other Vendor Menu Commands
      3. Chapter 3: Tracking Inventory and Items
        1. Looking at Your Item List
        2. Adding Items to the Item List
        3. Editing Items
        4. Adjusting Physical Counts and Inventory Values
        5. Adjusting Prices and Price Levels
        6. Managing Inventory in a Manufacturing Firm
      4. Chapter 4: Managing Cash and Bank Accounts
        1. Writing Checks
        2. Making Bank Deposits
        3. Transferring Money between Bank Accounts
        4. Working with the Register
        5. Using Edit Menu Commands
        6. Reconciling the Bank Account
        7. Reviewing the Other Banking Commands
      5. Chapter 5: Paying Employees
        1. Setting Up Basic Payroll
        2. Scheduling Payroll Runs
        3. Paying Employees
        4. Editing and Voiding Paychecks
        5. Paying Payroll Liabilities
    6. Book 4: Accounting Chores
      1. Chapter 1: For Accountants Only
        1. Working with QuickBooks Journal Entries
        2. Updating Company Information
        3. Working with Memorized Transactions
        4. Reviewing the Accountant & Taxes Reports
        5. Creating an Accountant’s Copy of the QuickBooks Data File
        6. Using the Client Data Review Commands
      2. Chapter 2: Preparing Financial Statements and Reports
        1. Some Wise Words Up Front
        2. Producing a Report
        3. Working with the Report Window
        4. Modifying a Report
        5. Processing Multiple Reports
        6. A Few Words about Document Retention
      3. Chapter 3: Preparing a Budget
        1. Reviewing Common Budgeting Tactics
        2. Taking a Practical Approach to Budgeting
        3. Using the Set Up Budgets Window
        4. Managing with a Budget
        5. Some Wrap-Up Comments on Budgeting
      4. Chapter 4: Using Activity-Based Costing
        1. Reviewing Traditional Overhead Allocation
        2. Understanding How ABC Works
        3. Implementing a Simple ABC System
        4. Seeing How QuickBooks Supports ABC
        5. Turning On Class Tracking
        6. Using Classes for ABC
      5. Chapter 5: Setting Up Project and Job Costing Systems
        1. Setting Up a QuickBooks Job
        2. Tracking Job or Project Costs
        3. Job Cost Reporting
        4. Using Job Estimates
        5. Progress Billing
    7. Book 5: Financial Management
      1. Chapter 1: Ratio Analysis
        1. Some Caveats about Ratio Analysis
        2. Liquidity Ratios
        3. Leverage Ratios
        4. Activity Ratios
        5. Profitability Ratios
      2. Chapter 2: Economic Value Added Analysis
        1. Introducing the Logic of EVA
        2. Seeing EVA in Action
        3. Reviewing Some Important Points about EVA
        4. Using EVA When Your Business Has Debt
        5. Presenting Two Final Pointers
        6. And Now, a Word to My Critics
      3. Chapter 3: Capital Budgeting in a Nutshell
        1. Introducing the Theory of Capital Budgeting
        2. Calculating the Rate of Return on Capital
        3. Measuring Liquidity
        4. Thinking about Risk
        5. What Does All of This Have to Do with QuickBooks?
    8. Book 6: Business Plans
      1. Chapter 1: Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis
        1. Seeing How Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Works
        2. Calculating Break-Even Points
        3. Using Real QuickBooks Data for Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis
        4. Recognizing the Downside of the Profit-Volume-Cost Model
        5. Using the Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Workbook
      2. Chapter 2: Creating a Business Plan Forecast
        1. Reviewing Financial Statements and Ratios
        2. Using the Business Plan Workbook
        3. Understanding the Workbook Calculations
        4. Customizing the Starter Workbook
      3. Chapter 3: Writing a Business Plan
        1. What the Term “Business Plan” Means
        2. A Few Words about Strategic Plans
        3. Look, Ma: No Strategy
        4. A White-Paper Business Plan
        5. A New-Venture Plan
    9. Book 7: Care and Maintenance
      1. Chapter 1: Administering QuickBooks
        1. Keeping Your Data Confidential
        2. Using QuickBooks in a Multiuser Environment
        3. Using Audit Trails
        4. Enabling Simultaneous Multiuser Access
        5. Maintaining Good Accounting Controls
      2. Chapter 2: Protecting Your Data
        1. Backing Up the QuickBooks Data File
        2. Restoring a QuickBooks Data File
        3. Condensing the QuickBooks Company Files
      3. Chapter 3: Troubleshooting
        1. Using the QuickBooks Help File and This Book
        2. Browsing Intuit’s Product-Support Website
        3. Checking Another Vendor’s Product-Support Website
        4. Tapping into Intuit’s Online and Expert Communities
        5. When All Else Fails …
    10. Book 8: Appendixes
      1. Appendix A: A Crash Course in Excel
        1. Starting Excel
        2. Stopping Excel
        3. Explaining Excel’s Workbooks
        4. Putting Text, Numbers, and Formulas in Cells
        5. Writing Formulas
        6. Scrolling through Big Workbooks
        7. Copying and Cutting Cell Contents
        8. Formatting Cell Contents
        9. Recognizing That Functions Are Simply Formulas
        10. Saving and Opening Workbooks
        11. Printing Excel Workbooks
        12. One Other Thing to Know
      2. Appendix B: Government Web Resources for Businesses
        1. Bureau of Economic Analysis
        2. Bureau of Labor Statistics
        3. Census Bureau
        4. Securities and Exchange Commission
        5. Federal Reserve
        6. Government Printing Office
        7. Internal Revenue Service
      3. Appendix C: Glossary of Accounting and Financial Terms
    11. About the Author
    12. Advertisement Page
    13. Connect with Dummies
    14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: QuickBooks 2018 All-in-One For Dummies
  • Author(s): Stephen L. Nelson
  • Release date: December 2017
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119397366