QuickBooks 2021 All-in-One For Dummies

Book description

Do the numbers in double-quick time with this trusted QuickBooks bestseller! 

Running your own business can be cool, but some of the financial side—accounting and payroll, for instance—is not always so cool! That’s why millions of small business owners around the world bank on QuickBooks to easily manage accounting and financial tasks and save big-time on shelling out for an expensive professional. 

 QuickBooks 2021 All-in-One For Dummies contains eight information-rich mini-books that account for all your financial line-item asks, showing you step-by-step how to plan your perfect budget, simplify tax returns, manage inventory, create invoices, track costs, generate reports, and accurately check off every other accounting and financial-management task that comes across your desk!   

  • Get the most out of QuickBooks 2021  
  • Sharpen up on the basics with an accounting primer 
  • Craft a world-class business plan 
  • Process taxes and payroll in double-quick time 

Written by expert CPA and small business advisor Stephen L. Nelson, QuickBooks All-in-One 2021 For Dummies is the best-selling blue-chip go-to that will save you time and money—and will allow you to enjoy the fruits of your labors!  


Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Icons Used in This Book
    4. Beyond the Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
  5. 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 …
  6. 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
  7. 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. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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?
  10. 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
  11. 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 …
  12. 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 Publishing Office
      7. Internal Revenue Service
    3. Appendix C: Glossary of Accounting and Financial Terms
  13. Index
  14. About the Author
  15. Connect with Dummies
  16. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: QuickBooks 2021 All-in-One For Dummies
  • Author(s): Stephen L. Nelson
  • Release date: December 2020
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119676805