SETTING UP FAQs
Is QuickBooks right for you?
A1 ACCT INC will help you determine whether QuickBooks is the right software for your needs.  The Quickbooks Financial Software family consists of a range of products to meet the needs of a variety of small businesses. 

Does your business generate billions of transactions? 
Will your company require more users simultaneously access the company data files?  Do you have inventory?
Can you help me choose the right QuickBooks edition?
Yes.  We’ll discuss different features that you may or may not need.  The QuickBooks product family includes Simple Start Edition, QuickBooks Pro and Premier, Enterprise Solutions, Intuits QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac, and QuickBooks Online.

How flexible is QuickBooks ability to design the software?
QuickBooks allows some flexibility in the way a company’s transactions are entered and reported on.  This allows you to customize some aspects of the program to tailor the software to best meet your needs.

Can a company customize the Chart of Accounts provided by QuickBooks?
A1 Acct Inc can help you decide when to use preset Chart of Accounts and when to create your own.

What are customer types?
Customer types are useful for grouping customers into categories that are meaningful to a business.  For example:
ConstructionNonprofit
Commercial Corporate sponsor
Residential  Donor
Industrial     Patron
          Subscriber

Don’t use customer types for two different purposes.  Choose the type of information you want to track, and set up your customer’s type to suit that purpose. 

What are Job types?
Job types give you a way to classify jobs so you can group and subtotal similar jobs on reports.  Using job types allows you to determine which kinds of jobs are the most profitable for a particular business. 

How important are items?
Items are very important.  In QuickBooks, items are the goods and service a company buys and sells.  Use items to link sales and purchases to accounts in the Chart of Accounts.  Any line item on a sales or purchase form must be set up on the Item list.  It is crucial to understand items and A1 Acct Inc can help you effectively implement them.

What do Items perform?
  • They make it easier to fill out forms.
  • Link transactions to Chart of Accounts.
  • Allow you to track quantities purchased and sold.
  • Help you calculate amounts on sales forms.
  • What are some critical details necessary for creating and setting up a company?
  • Your QuickBooks Pro Adviser from A1 Acct Inc will ask many questions such as:
  • When does the company’s fiscal year start?  How close is today to the end of the fiscal year?  Is there an accurate balance sheet and income statement for the current fiscal year? 
  • Are there multi-users
  • Will we be Creating or converting company files
  • Identify lists
  • Choose the appropriate method for entering beginning balances
  • Allocation of Opening Equity funds
  • Do you have employees and do you require payroll services?  Will the company use QuickBooks to track payroll?
  • Are there any important historical transactions to consider?  From how far back in time do you want to enter historical transactions?  How many transactions occur during a typical month?

Can QuickBooks function with simultaneous access by multiple users?
QuickBooks Online, which supports up to 25 users working in a file simultaneously, allows you to add and manage multiple users by creating new login accounts and passwords (subject to subscription level).  Each user must install the same version, have read/write access and create and delete rights, and have a valid License Number and Product Number.

What are the Networking options?
In a multi-user environment, where no dedicated server is used (“peer-to-peer networkingâ€), each computer has its own version of QuickBooks installed.  The Quickbooks company file is located on one of these computers, and it must be left on and available to the network.

Networks with a dedicated server, (“client/server network) have at least one computer dedicated to sharing files, printers, or other resources.  In this environment, all users have a copy of QuickBooks installed on their network computer.  The company file is stored on this network server. 

In addition to peer-to-peer and client-networks, Enterprise Solutions can be installed on a terminal server so that licensed users can access the software and company file from multiple remote locations using clients.  Clients connect to the terminal server to access and run Enterprise Solutions from the server, not the local desktop.

Our company is currently using a different software product.  Will we need to create a new data file?
There are several ways with QuickBooks to create a data file.  A1 Acct Inc can show you how to:
  • Create a file from scratch
  • Upgrade a file from an earlier version of QuickBooks
  • Convert a file from Quicken
  • Convert a file from Peachtree, Microsoft Small Business Accounting, or Microsoft Office Accounting
  • Convert an file from another edition of QuickBooks

We followed the EasyStep Interview by entering our opening balance and historical transactions.  How do we know the data file is accurate?
A1 Acct Inc would be glad to test your setup for accuracy.  We compare reports in QuickBooks to the supporting schedules or last year’s tax returns to confirm that you entered all of the information correctly. 
Oops, we entered the incorrect beginning balance and start date.  How can we correct?
The easiest way to change a beginning balance or start date is through the account register.  A1 Acct Inc would be glad to help.

No matter how I try, after setting up a file I’m unable to reconcile an account.  What should I do?
It may be because you need to enter the outstanding checks and deposits for that window of time from before the start date to t he day you are trying to reconcile the account.

After setup, which report should I run to verify the accounts receivable detail as of the stat date?
Open invoices

In which list do you enter sales tax rates?
Item list

When entering individual historical transactions during setup, which transactions should you enter first?
You should setup Accounts Receivable transactions.

How would you best describe the use of Opening Balance Equity account during the setup process?
This account is used as the clearing account for each opening balance entry.
I discovered that we selected the incorrect tax form for our company.  Where should we go to make the correction?
Use the Company Information window.

How do preferences affect how QuickBooks handles data?
In QuickBooks, preferences are used to turn certain features on or off and to control the behavior of other parts of the program, such as the aging of transactions, the assessment of finance charges, and which options display on menus and the Home page.

How do you edit preferences?
Preferences are based on responses in the EasyStep Interview, but you’ll want to review all preferences and make any necessary adjustments to confirm that the file is set up appropriately for the company.  Use the Preference window to confirm and change preferences—you cannot go back through the EasyStep Interview to change then, to open the Preferences window, and choose Preferences from the Edit menu.

What is the difference between company preferences and personal preferences?
There are two categories for preferences in QuickBooks:
  • Personal preferences affect how QuickBooks works for one user in a company file, without changing the way it works for others. 
  • Company preferences affect how Quickbooks works for all users.  Only the QuickBooks Administrator can change these

Can you explain what the QuickBooks audit trail is used for?
In addition to having the ability to define user permissions and passwords QuickBooks maintains an audit trail, which can help you research transaction activity history and identify certain types of fraudulent activity. 

The QuickBooks audit trail keeps a record of each transaction that is created, modified, or deleted in a data file.  The audit trail also records who made the change.  The audit trail is always on and cannot be turned off.  This record of tracked changes ensures that an accurate record of clients’ data is maintained. 

A single group of transactions on the audit trail report may refer to multiple customers and accounts. 
Changing payment terms triggers an audit trail record.

Any attempts by users to use parts of the program to which they do not have access and changes to lists are not captured by the QuickBooks audit trail.

Should you need help researching transaction activity and identify certain types of fraudulent activity, please contact A1 Acct Inc immediately?

We have more than one company and we want to send lists, budgets and form templates, how do you transfer information between QuickBooks data files?

This can get a little tricky, however, QuickBooks allows you to export budgets and most list with their related information (addresses, phone numbers, etc.).  In Export window, you simply select the list that you want to export, and QuickBooks creates a file that you can import into another Quickbooks company data file.  You can also export Customer and Vendor list information directly to Excel, but first consult A1 Acct Inc for advice on how to redirect these data file correctly.

Will Quickbooks allow me to export information about transactions directly to Excel?
Exporting QuickBooks transactions and lists of information about invoices, purchase orders, and paychecks is allowed.

Converting from another accounting system and we want to know if we will be able to import transactions and lists into QuickBooks?
You can import lists and transactions from the other system into QuickBooks.  In order to do so, however, the other program must allow export to a text file (tab-delimited or comma-delimited).  If you want to import data into Quickbooks from other software applications you need to consult with A1 Acct Inc or any QuickBooks Pro Advisor for specific steps to follow.

Many of the company’s contacts are embedded within Microsoft Outlook.  Is there a way to synchronize QuickBooks with Microsoft Outlook?
Great question and the answer is yes you can.  Synchronization is available in QuickBooks Pro and higher editions only.  You can configure QuickBooks to that clients who use Microsoft Outlook to manage their contact information will no longer need to enter names, addresses, and phone numbers twice in an effort to keep Quickbooks and their contact manager up to date.  QuickBooks allows you to transfer information between the two applications so that both are synchronized with each other. 

The following are the lists Quickbooks list with which you can synchronize information:
  • Customer contact information with the Customer & Job list
  • Vendor contact with Vendor list
  • Any kind of contact information with the Other Names list
You cannot synchronize information in the Employee list.

Does Quickbooks contain prewritten business letters?
QuickBooks Letters are prewritten, preformatted business letters that include collection letters, credit requests for vendors, memos for employees and more.  You can use the preset letters as is, or you can modify them by adding or removing QuickBooks fields or by changing the wording.  You can generate Quickbooks Letters for names on the Customers & Jobs, Vendor, Employee, and Other Name lists by choosing Prepare Letters and Envelopes from the Company menu.
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